“Frogs into Princes” Understanding the Magic that Happens When We Talk

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You may have heard of NLP, but if you haven’t it’s not your fault: Neuro Linguistic Programming (fittingly) has been simmering below the surface of the public consciousness for a few decades now. NLP is the study of how our minds use, interpret and process language and thought. This seemingly geeky subject turns out to be incredibly fun and useful, if you can figure it out. Using NLP in your day to day life effectively is kinda like the ‘stop the bullets in mid-air’ scene in The Matrix. Yes, I’m talking about hypnosis. Buckle up. Continue reading →

“Borderless Economics”: World Peace, Nirvana and other Economic Models

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Author @TheEconomist

The thing that you have to understand about Economists is that they’re generally an optimistic bunch, but they’re really annoyed by the complications of…reality. They love models: models are perfect and simple. Because they omit externalities and oddities, they work perfectly. The simplest of models involve but two variables: wine and cheese, money and time, socks and shoes, and so on. As you progress further in your studies of the dismal science, you must heartbreakingly accept that in the real world, there is almost no application for a two-variable model.

It’s heartbreaking because in the sterile simplicity of Economics, the world works perfectly. Everyone who wants a job, has one; everyone who wants to borrow money, can; if you want time off work, you just work fewer hours. In the world of Economics we are all Utility Calculators, and we’re very good at what we do. We scan the job market for opportunities, spot them, and train to be the next Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, or Homer Simpson, depending our utility/salary demands (shockingly, no one ever chooses to be homeless, or a drug addict, or unemployed in this model).

In the world of Economic models, not only do we all have jobs, but we all have jobs that we’re good at, so we make a lot of money. On top of that, we enjoy our jobs. In other words, if you simplify the model enough, you can actually create the conditions for perfect Human Capital Allocation.

My point is this: there are a few differences between the skills in this world, and where they are most needed (likewise, the low-skill human labor, and where that’s needed). It’s just of a pain in the butt that these two groups can’t find each other more easily. If they could, so theorizes Robert Guest, we could solve most if not all of the world’s problems. In a perfect Economic World, every product has the perfect price, there is no Economic profit, and everyone is maximizing their happiness. How adorable. Continue reading →

“The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding” How to build a Reputation for your Company (and yourself) with Branding

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What is a brand? Is it a name? A logo? A funky design or attitude? A brand is a symbol for an idea. More specifically, a brandname is a word that can be uttered in any country, in any ‘language’ and mean the same thing. If a company is consistent and strong in repeating the same message over and over, in time, its brandname will become synonymous with an idea. If the company keeps changing its stripes, the name never catches on, and means nothing. McDonalds is about Family Food. Subway is about Fresh. Pepsi is about Fun. If you get really good at this, as a Brand Manager, and you create a brand new product and its name can describe an entire category. A few examples of unbeatable brandnames often mistaken for actual words:Xerox.Band-Aid.RollerBlade. Even the iPod for a time was the ‘placeholder’ word that meant ‘Digital Music Player’.

Moreover, brands are not only synonymous with ideas, they’re synonymous with colors. Again, this only works if, after decades of promotion, the company has been consistent:Coca Cola is Red. IBM is Blue. John Deere is Green

The list here is short, because frankly, many companies screw this up. They pick the wrong color. They don’t pick a color. They pick two colors. Pepsi, though a very successful company, foolishly picked Red and Blue as their colors when going up against the Red of Coca Cola (the leader in the market). Obviously, they should have just gone with deep Blue. They figured it out eventually, but they’re still stuck with a blue and red logo. Oops. Continue reading →

“21tiger Days” My Story of Graduating, Surviving, and Thriving in the New China

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Author: @21tigermike

“The Expat Era is over, you know. No more hand holding.”

These were the words of my Grad School advisor. Despite her warnings, a few years later, I’m still in China. Now and then people ask me about my first year, and I still look back on that time with fondness: everything was so new, so raw, and so free. If you’re working abroad, or thinking about it in future, definitely check out my true story of getting into, and surviving, China, and all the things I had to learn to make it happen.

21tiger Days includes:

  • The real narrative story, as well the critical ‘missing chapter’ Continuum that unifies all the previous books in a whole new light, multiplying their value immensely
  • 300+ pages covering all topics in the previous 21tiger books and tons of additional material,including the essay that started it all, and the origins of 21tiger
  • Completely redesigned layout and style, perfect for reading on a Kindle or other eReader

Get this book
Download $2.99 eBook
Download Free 21tiger Days Sample
(Don’t have an eReader yet? Click Here to check them out!) Continue reading →

“Innovator’s Dilemma” The Disruptive and Counterintuitive Path of Innovation

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Author @claychristensen

For decades, the United States has been the bastion of great Capitalist Innovation. With the American system, it was thought, you had the greatest chance to take a great idea to tremendous wealth and power. What does that really mean? It means having a great education system, a great financial system, and a great patent system. When you finally take your widget to the market, your accountant might even tap you on the shoulder and ask you about taking the company public. An IPO (Initial Public Offering). Taking the company public is a great way to motivate your employees (they can be paid in stock), and allows the company to grow rapidly in value, based on public perception. A few years later you’re issuing quarterly reports and the stock price is bouncing up and down based on the contents of that report. After a few years, the company begins to stall out: your widgets are more advanced than they ever were, but you latest model hasn’t done so hot in the market. Your loyal customers are content with last year’s model, so the growth prospects are middling, and the stock starts to slide.

What the hell just happened?

The Innovator’s Dilemma reveals the true source of groundbreaking and game-changing technologies, and why the Modern Corporate System works against real innovation. If you can understand why certain companies and entrepreneurs stall out, you can understand how to avoid it. Continue reading →

“Print is Dead” How Creative Professionals will Survive the Internet Tidal Wave

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Author @thatjeffgomez
I just wanted a book about the Publishing Industry. Okay, what I really wanted was an eBook about the Publishing Industry, published in the last five years. What I found was much, much, more.

The more you try to understand what’s happening to the Publishing industry, the more you start thinking about what’s already happened to the Music and Film industry. It’s all part of the same story.

The Internet = Disintermediation. Taking out the middle man. Here we are, in 2011. Gone are Tower Records and Blockbuster Movie rentals. Many of their competitors have been sold off, and everything (legal and illegal) is going digital, and put up on the web, to be shot between our phones, tablets and connected TVs. This is the dream, right? But if it means Artists aren’t making any money (so they quit making art, and become bankers) then what’s it all for? We need to understand how creative professionals (no matter what form their creativity takes) are going to deal with the onslaught of the Internet. Continue reading →

“Blink” Learn to Speak the Language of Intuition

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Author @gladwell

Years ago, Legendary NBA Coach (recently retired) Phil Jackson started handing out books to his players, to rectify any flaws or hone any mental aspects of the game in the offseason. If a player had a problem with his jumpshot or defense, that could be rectified in practice, but if a player had an overarching attitude problem, or consistency problem, maybe that would have to be rectified with reading, and contemplation. And so, as far back as the Chicago Bulls era, Phil was handing out what he thought were great books, each one suited for each unique player’s game, personality and weaknesses.

A few years ago, I remember hearing he gave “Blink” to Kobe Bryant. Kobe, more than anything, has been known for these insane last second buzzer beater shots. He’s taken tons of them. And if you factor in all the shots he missed, frankly, his hit/miss ratio isn’t even that good. As the leader and captain on the team, he keeps finding himself with the ball in his hands at the end of games, and usually, he can get a shot off. Phil knew that Kobe was under incredible pressure late in games, in moments where every millisecond counts, and that’s why he gave Kobe this book. If Kobe could just stop thinking altogether, he’d know exactly what to do. What could you improve if you could switch off your mind in the clutch?

This review is going to sound like a Coda to the Steve Jobs book from last week. It just turned out that way. Steve, time and time again, relied on his intuition, laying waste to months and months of work, design, coding, budgets etc. What is our Intuition, really, and why is it so damn smart (at some things), if our senses and hunches seem, at first, so vague? Continue reading →

“Steve Jobs”: Asshole. Impresario. Artist.

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Author @WalterIsaacson Recommended@gruber

Before I’d even got this book on my Kindle,I’d already written about 3000 words of ‘notes’ for this review. After all, I’d been using Apple products my whole life. Surely, I thought, there’s nothing in the book that’s going to change my opinions. Boy was I wrong. A word of warning: if you love Apple, or its co-founder, or its design aesthetic, or its amazing brand, be prepared to see everything in this book, including things you don’t wanna read. Finding out intimate details about Apple, is kind of like going backstage at a Led Zeppelin concert in the 70′s and seeing your heroes wasted, and babbling like babies, surrounded by bimbos. You might not be ready to meet your heroes, and find they’re human. Maybe that’s what’s so heartbreaking about Steve’s passing. He was human after all. And we wanted him so bad to live up to his image, as a perpetually young, dashing, charismatic genius, who seemingly waved his hands, and showed us the future. Continue reading →

“Chinese Lessons” History of Modern China through the eyes of an American

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About 4 years ago, I first made it to China, landing in Hong Kong, and then dragging my worldly possessions into Shenzhen the following day. At the time, I could read and speak a little Chinese, learned mostly from textbooks. My listening skills were hardened by countless hours of Zhang Yimou movies, and late night Mandarin radio shows. What followed was the most intense year of ‘Chinese Lesssons’ I could have asked for.

Shenzhen in those days (and yes, 4 years ago, in Shenzhen, in ancient history) was pretty much devoid of foreigners. My first year was disorienting, and thrilling. Apart from overcoming huge language barriers, it was my first time to meet and befriend Mainland Chinese. John Pomphret’s story, exceptional and poignant, reminded me of that first year. Continue reading →

“Hooking Up 2011″: Creating that Spark

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Introducing Hooking Up 2011. I just keeps getting better and better: while scores of poets, romantics and fledgling pickup artists have devoted entire libraries to the following subject, we’re going to try and handle in under thirty pages. When you start going out, invariably you’re gonna meet some beautiful people who want to get to know you better, up close and personal. And when they do, you’ll be ready, you’ll be smooth, and you’ll be in control. Have fun!

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“The Personal MBA”: Two Years and $100k in sleek portable book form

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Author @joshkaufman

“You dropped 150 grand on an education you could have gotten for $1.50 in late charges at the public library.” Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting

In The Personal MBA Josh Kaufman makes a very compelling case (as does Will Hunting) that for people considering an MBA, the economics aren’t that great. For many graduate students (not just Business majors), it feels like a Casino: everyone takes the tests, and gets primed, then takes out a huge loan from the bank (often a six-figure amount) hoping that when they come out the other side, there will be an awesome, high-paying job waiting for them. It’s a financial transaction, not really an educational one. In fact, much of the education gleaned from an Master in Business Administration is theoretical and marginally updated from the projects and Case Studies done in Bachelor of Business and Economics programs; after all, how can you possibly sit in a classroom and ‘learn’ how to be a Manager, or an Executive? Of course you can’t. But the schools are more than willing to let you try, as long as the cheques clear. Continue reading →

“Kindle Fire” and “Kindle Touch”: Meet Amazon’s latest crop of Kindles.

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Maker @amazonkindle

Today, Amazon held a press conference in New York to launch their 2011 line of Kindles, and they are beautiful. This full color version, known as the Fire (clever, I know) marks Amazon’s first entry into the tablet market. No small feat for a company that, up until a few years ago, had zero experience designing electronics. What started as a quick and dirty eReader has grown into an entire product line of sleek, web-enabled, and now Android powered devices, with a nice price range from $79 all the way up to the $199 tablet. While the top range Kinde isn’t going to kill the iPad anytime soon, it doesn’t really have to: still a couple months away from launch, the Kindle Fire is already the best Android tablet on the market. Slim pickings. Continue reading →