If I could only have 20 books that would help me Do More Great Work, what would they be?
The Arbinger Institute’s Leadership and Self-Deception would be one.
If you can’t see my short video review, watch it here.
Kevin Carroll has an amazingly cool background. Raised by his grandparents in Philadelphia, his first job really was with the U.S. Air Force where he served as a language interpreter and translator. And in those ten years he became fluent in Croatian and Czech and Russian and German. But while being fantastic at languages, he was also an athlete and soon an athletic trainer. Leaving the Air Force, he worked his way up to be the head athletic trainer for the Philadelpha 76ers. So he’s already cool. But then he was tapped on the shoulder by Nike. He spent a number of years at Nike helping to deepen their understanding of athletic performance and team dynamics and interpersonal connection, basically helping Nike become one of the forces it is today.
And then things shifted again, and he put his experience and wisdom into a terrific series of books, starting with the Rules of the Red Rubber Ball. In this interview we talk about:
You can follow Kevin on Twitter at @KCKatalyst and find him on the web at www.Kevincarrollkatalyst.com.
Jason Fried’s new book Rework comes out today, and I’m delighted that we managed to talk just a week ago in the lead up to its launch. Now here’s a quote to kick us off. It’s from Seth Godin, and he says (and I’m paraphrasing), “Make everything a project – and run it through 37Signals’ Basecamp.” Jason is the one of the founders of 37Signals. They design useful software to help people work better – connect with people, run projects, managing stuff. (I know, because I use it!)
And what’s cool is they haven’t done it by practising business as usual, but by practising business as unusual. In this interview Jason shares some of his successful and counter-intutive approaches to how to get stuff done. We talk about:
You can pick up the new book on Amazon , follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonFried, and learn more about 37 Signals’ products at their website.
(And by the way, Jason’s surname is pronounced “Freed” – Apologies to Jason, and please ignore my mistake at the start of the interview!)
Lord Carnavon: Can you see anything?
Howard Carter: Yes, wonderful things.
It must have been quite the moment in 1922 when Howard Carter first peered through a small crack into the antechamber of King Tutankhamun’s tomb.
I do love this exchange between Carter and his sponsor, Lord Carnavon. You can almost hear the amazement and astonishment and excitement in Carter’s voice.
Occasionally, just occasionally, I’m smart enough to stop the rush, step away from my own busywork, and take a look around at my world and my life.
And lo and behold, I too see wonderful things.
If there were two things you’d point to as amazing in your life now – what would they be?
Professor Isaac Getz is the professor of Idea, Initiative and Innovation Management at the EACP Europe Business School and author of a new book that gets right to the very heart of what it takes to do Great Work in an organization: Freedom Inc.
It’s a terrific book and follows on nicely from the previous interview with Bob Cialdini. The book tells the stories of organizations that are approaching work by thinking about how to work differently and succeeding because of this approach. The subtitle says it all: Free Your Employees and Let Them Lead Your Business to High Productivity, Profits and Growth. Isaac incorporates his own background of innovation but looks at a bigger picture of how work is evolving, and that’s what we talk about in this interview. We discuss:
You can learn more about Professor Isaac Getz and his book at freedomincbook.com.
