The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,600 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 15 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 34 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 1mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was January 6th with 54 views. The most popular post that day was Larry Evans, a Simultaneous Game.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were chess-tiger.blogspot.com, soapstonesstudio.blogspot.com, sites.google.com, facebook.com, and twitter.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for seven circles chess, silman reassess your chess, and dealing with assholes in the workplace.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Larry Evans, a Simultaneous Game January 2010
6 comments

Rapid Chess Improvement January 2010
2 comments

Silman’s Reassess Your Chess and Choosing Candidate Moves January 2010

Assholes in the Workplace? January 2010

Blog Purpose and Welcome January 2010
12 comments

Learning can be Fun: Ask any person who has a passion for a game if their pastime is enjoyable. Their answer will be “yes!” of course. However, chess is much different from just any game. Becoming involved in a chess game can increase the players IQ. Imagine the effect of children becoming seriously involved in games of chess repeatedly. They would naturally score higher on science, math, language, and many other tests. A case study that was conducted using chess teachers in elementary schools realized that “the patterning among the three groups of scores on the various tests, made at the beginning and end of the study period, point to positive changes with regard to ‘comprehension’ and ‘arithmetic’ skills in the ‘chess coaching’ group.” (Forest, Davidson, Shucksmith, and Glendinning, 2005, p.52).

A surprising benefit is that young people who play chess learn at an accelerated rate and may not have any idea that learning is one of the benefits of playing. He or she may simply be trying to have fun, which comes naturally for a child who sits down to enjoy a game. Some youngsters play for the feel of the heavy weighted chess piece in their small hand, ready to wage large-scale war on an eight-by-eight chessboard, never realizing that life-skills will be enhanced during this time of battle against an opponent. In effect, he or she becomes more open to learning new subjects, and retains an open mind concerning the learning process. However, this is not the only effect that chess has on children.

Concentration: Being very competitive, some children are willing to concentrate very hard to win a game of chess. The ability to calculate the possible outcomes is learned with experience over the game board, and this will help children deal with the consequences of their actions. One researcher explains, “Clearly, one crucial lesson all young people must learn is to think before they act. Chess teaches this skill in an authentic way: every move in chess has consequences, and successful players must learn to anticipate these consequences many moves in advance. An opponent’s expected response is what guides the player’s decision to make or avoid a certain move” (Kennedy, 2004).

Imagine a child who is putting fervent effort into beating an adult opponent. He is concentrating, his eyes are wide, and he is intent on winning – checkmate! The child is victorious. This young person would have learned that concentration and focus directly relate to winning and losing. He also would gain self-esteem having overcome an adult at “a game of wits”, as chess is often perceived to be. A victory like this enables a person to understand the true value in giving one’s full effort. This person can excel in elementary school as well as college using these skills, applying them to daily life while working with the people who they come into contact with.

Social Development: Chess is a very social game. It requires two people to sit and exchange moves over a chessboard and interact with each other physically, intellectually, and psychologically. This allows a player to make new friends who share a common interest. To interact efficiently, one might find the need to increase his or her vocabulary with chess terms or learn a new language entirely. Robert (Bobby) Fischer, 11th world chess champion, taught himself the Russian language to keep up-to-date with the latest chess theories at the age of 15. Though not all players would go to this extreme to interact socially, the chess player is more likely than the non-player to be involved in clubs and social activities. The smell of the vinyl chessboard, the sound of the ticking chess clock, the sight of the different types of chessmen are all senses that are shared by the chess players and inspire them to play. Children are mesmerized by the ancient game and are willing to harness the skills needed to succeed at it. Success is important for young people because they grow up to become adults with careers and lives of their own.

Career and Life: Each adult can remember the key activities that helped them learn the skills that they possess today. Would you have liked to learn chess as a child? Can you see the benefits that chess can instill as a learning device? The child who enjoys learning, can concentrate well and has outstanding social skills will become a very prosperous adult. Career wise, they can finish school achieving high scores on exams, graduate with a degree, and move on to starting a career which they will find fulfilling. “Chess-play assists the learning of ‘how to learn’ and creates a desire, alongside increased motivation and the will to use knowledge’. This initiative has made a significant difference to classroom life, family circumstances and community development.” (Aberdeen City Council, 2005) The child that learned chess will see the win or lose effect in life because the chess player is very good at setting goals. Therefore, he or she will work hard to fulfill the necessary tasks to reach the plotted goals in career and education. The minds of those who play chess can focus in on life like the tuning of binoculars to see a far away object. It is our job to help children pick up these life-skills and use them.

Conclusion: Making educated choices on what activities should be supported in the community is easier when you weigh the benefits that are offered against the costs. There is little to no cost in allowing, supporting and promoting this intellectual activity within the community. Chess offers a vast assortment of effects, all of which can contribute to a skilled and developed person. Would you like to enable children to become better learners? Whether you are a teacher, parent, principal, or any other person who has the possibility of influencing the learning process, keep the benefits of chess in mind when you are looking for an activity to present to youngsters.

References:
Aberdeen City Council (2005). Huge benefits for young chess players. Retrieved August
26, 2005, from the Chess Scotland website:

http://www.chessscotland.com/archives/abcity2005.htm

Forest, D., Davidson, I., Shucksmith, J., and Glendinning, T. (January 2005). Chess
development in Aberdeens’s primary schools: A study of literacy and social capital,
48-52. Retrieved August 26, 2005, from the Scottish Executive Research website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Research/Research/14478/21999

Kennedy, Mark (August, 2004). More than a game, eight transition lessons chess teaches,
¶7. Retrieved August 26, 2005, from Cyc-Online website:

http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0804-chess.html.

He sets up several rules and has his usual list of 7 imbalances – Minor Piece, Pawn Structure, Space, Material, Files and Squares and Development. He also includes rules to exploit advantages that may arise out of those imbalances. What is interesting about this book is that Silman uses his knowledge and experience as a chess instructor/trainer and includes the thought process from annotations written by his students during their exposure to positions that have a specific theme or idea that he wants to make clear.

In this way the reader can question him/her-self as to what they think about the position before reading on to see if any misconceptions or incorrect thinking patterns will occur, maybe matching that of the amateur’s mind. Some common problems are unearthed and Silman tries to show a recurring theme. After every main example he includes some tips for the amateur player to help with the corrections to the thought process that lead to inaccuracies.

If I had to write a theoretical statement to expound Silman’s main point (aside from the idea that he wants you to recognize and use his list of imbalances), it would be “it seems that the amateur is plagued by mindless king attacks and reactions to the opponents ideas and this action is possibly caused by a mental dominance by the opposing party that is allowed instead of combated”. In other words, the main point that Silman strives to make with this book is to follow your own plans to the best of your ability (and have plans!!). Base these plans on concrete concepts that can be found within the position.

I find that many players out there are looking for a methodical checklist or approach to thinking about positions. I have been working on my personal method for several years now and Silman surely offers an integral idea that every player should include in his/her method. That fundamental principal is that every single move should aid in improving your position somehow making it better. If you have no method at all, follow these three tips in the least:

1. Ask yourself “what is the threat?” after every single move that your opponent has chosen and played. Be sure to do this every time you have the move.
2. Make every single move count as stated above in bold. Play as if this is the only time that you will ever get to play that particular game – because it is!
3. Blunder check to avoid big trouble before moving. This will save you many hardships over the board and sidestep many heartaches and headaches.

“Watch to see where a child’s innate skills or talents lie… then gently lead or coax him or her into those areas. It may be difficult for a father who was a crack athlete to understand a son who would rather play chess than football. But chess, not football, is what such a boy needs if confidence is to grow in him. If he does one thing well he will come to believe that he can do other things well.”

The last sentence reminded me that the main motivating factor avalanching into the force that drives my subsistence is the belief that I can accomplish goals that I set for myself. If you find that you can do something and that the result is better than satisfactory, you may be inclined to give your best effort for other tasks. When I found that one of my favorite things in the world is to play a game of chess well, I found that it was also possible to finish high school and move on to higher education with decent grades. Goal after goal has been set and attained and the inspiration to live life better was found in a complicated game designed to exercise the mind.

Another very interesting section of the book discusses the art of failure. Recently I examined this same issue in another book titled What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 by Tina Seelig. I had never considered the power that failure can have on a person or questioned what drives someone to seek more punishment with another failure before smashing through the barricades on the path to success until these two books had maneuvered their way into my library. Some people get a taste of failure and choose paths in life to avoid the possibility of future failures as much as possible. On the other hand, some of the most successful people have actively sought the paths that are difficult, failed to reach their goal, learned from their mistakes and eventually trudged onward to the spotlight of victory and triumph. It all depends on attitude and the ability to cope with failure. This short video on success through failure gives some examples of success in the bay area by startups and internet companies.

The truth is that failures make us much stronger in so many ways. It can help us sharpen a skill, teach us the importance of determination or make us reminiscent of some needed humility. The best advice that chess coaches give on a regular basis is to analyze ones games to clear up any incorrect thinking or blunders to help refrain from future failures and chess players experience failure on a constant basis! In business, life or chess, will you flee from past and possible failure or will you show good will for the learning process by learning from your mistakes with the intent to accumulate and realize more failures? One of my favorite quotes comes from Vinnie in the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer “He didn’t teach you how to win, he taught you how not to lose. That’s nothing to be proud of. You’re playing not to lose, Josh. You’ve got to risk losing. You’ve got to risk everything. You’ve got to go to the edge of defeat. That’s where you want to be, boy – on the edge of defeat.”

1: Be well up in modern opening theory.

2: He must know and keep in his memory the principles behind typical middle game positions learned from both games of his own and from those of other players. The more you know and remember, the easier it is to strike upon the correct plan. Learn variations and calculate candidate moves.

3: A grandmaster must be able to assess a position accurately and correctly.

4: A grandmaster must hit upon the correct plan in any given position.

5: A grandmaster must be able to calculate accurately and quickly all the significant variations that may arise.

TIPS: Find candidate moves, analyse, and learn speed of analysis to achieve your greatest potential/opportunities.

Think about moves from a static (body at rest) and then dynamic (body in motion). At a glance know the pieces and pawns on the board. Which opening has this position arisen?

Work on pawn structure, open files, diagonals, and outposts.

Have I ever reached this position before? Have I ever seen similar positions? Hit upon the correct plan.

Solve the problem of who stands better.

Find the strengths and weaknesses of both respective positions.

What is the influence of the center? Who will defend and who will attack? The best answer to a flank attack is a blow in the center.

If the position is quiet or equal, you must maneuver quietly to provoke weaknesses in the enemy camp.

Cross your opponent’s plans if possible. Monkey wrench his plans.

Tactics List

1. Pins (relative, absolute, and cross pin)
2. Double Attacks
3. Battery (double battery)
4. Remove the Defender
5. Interference
6. Fork
7. Zwichenzug
8. Discovery
9. Double Check
10. Skewer
11. Under Promotion
12. Windmill Attack
13. Clearance
14. Overworked Piece
15. X-Ray Attack and Defense
16. Zugzwang

Rules of Attack

1. Don’t exchange attackers for defenders unnecessarily
2. You must have an advantage in order to attack
3. Attack to provoke a pawn weakness
4. Apply the force count – including King

Rules of Defense (Steinitz)

1. Use an economic defense (number of pieces)
2. Avoid pawn weaknesses

Time, Space (whites area and blacks area space count), Force (force count in piece value), and Pawn Structure determine the attacker from the defender and vice versa.

Rules of Time

Ahead in Time
1. Don’t close the position
2. Force pawn exchanges for open lines
3. Look for sacrifices

Behind in Time
1. Exchange pieces
2. Look for sacrifices
3. Counter Attack

Rules of Space

Ahead in Space
1. Don’t exchange pieces
2. Force pawn exchanges

Behind in Space
1. Place each piece effectively
2. Avoid pawn weaknesses
3. Exchange or defend weak pawns
4. Sacrifice for counter play
Exchange pieces

Pawn Structures

1. Weak – islands, isolated, doubled, backward (restrain, blockade, destroy)
2. Balanced – quiet (pieces are not very active), locked (use pawn storms), solid (systems like the stonewall and pawn triangle)
3. Dynamic – passed pawn (protected? split?), majority (create passers), minority attack (create weaknesses for the opponent), hanging pawns

1. Rules of the Combination

Open or weakened King position (stalemated King)
Undefended Pieces
Inadequately Defended Pieces (stretched/overloaded pieces)

2. Rules of the Minor pieces

Bishop: Good, Bad, Active – Bad Bishops must be solved by trading it, making it good by getting it outside the pawn chain or opening lines, or making it active and useful.
Bishops love open positions and are better in endgames with pawns on both sides of the board.

Knights: Need advanced support points to be effective. Knights are useful in closed positions. Knights are the best blockaders of passes pawns. Knights are usually superior to the bishop in an ending with pawns on one side of the board.

The Anti Knight Technique: Take away advanced support points for enemy Knights. Is the position open or closed and which piece will be superior? Are their support points for the minor pieces? Can his pieces get there? Does it matter if they do? Plan around these questions.

Two Bishops: The Bishop pair can be amazingly strong. To combat, create a blocked position, create advanced support points for your Knights to triumph, trade off one or both of the opponents Bishops to obtain a more manageable ending.

3. Rules of Space Advantage

The side with less space should initiate exchanges. The side with more space should avoid exchanges. If you have more space, find good outposts for your pieces, find a target and exploit it, or plan a possible breakthrough.

4. Rules of Pawn Structure

Doubled Pawns: Gives you an open file for Rooks, if they are central pawns you get central control, they can be used as backup control for squares, or can be battering rams against the enemy structure. These pawns have the tendency to be weak if they become targets.

Isolated Pawns: Gives you two open files for Rooks, the square in front of these pawns are most important, can be used as a post for pieces, can also be battering rams against the enemy structure, and can make pieces very active with open lines. These pawns also have the tendency to be weak if they become targets. Retain a Rook and a Queen to battle and win the pawn.

Backward Pawns: Is it on an open file? How well is it defended? Is the square in front of it defended? Is it serving a useful purpose (defending pawns, squares, pieces, etc.)? Can it successfully advance? These pawns also have the tendency to be weak if they become targets.

Passed Pawns: If it can be blockaded it is weak unless there is other play on the board. The most important square is the square directly in front of the passer. These pawns should be used as endgame insurance and should be pushed when possible! Knights are the best blockaders of these pawns.

5. Rules of Open Files

Is a penetration along the file possible for either player? Would it even be worth attempting to control or penetrate the file? Can I afford to take the time to control the file or is there more important play elsewhere? If I penetrate the open file does it work with the rest of my pieces and imbalances? Do certain factors in the position call for me to retain at least one Rook? If so, I might want to avoid the heavy exchanges and the file.

6. Rules of Material

Rule One: If you have a material advantage, find a plan that allows you to use the extra wood (trading, attacks, etc.). Don’t forget to play the rest of the game just because you won some material.

Rule Two: When you make a successful strike into the opponents camp and win material, you must often pull your forces back out towards the center reorganize. The reason is that after you fulfill a plan your pieces can often find themselves out of balance and no longer working together. If your pieces stay out of balance, the opponent may be able to launch a successful counter-attack. Material advantage usually proves decisive. Go to rule one.

Rule Three: Take material if you cannot see a reason not to. This puts pressure on your opponent to justify his sacrifice. This induces a certain element of panic sometimes that can send your opponents brain spinning!

Rule Four: When material up, you have the added defensive resource of giving it back if needed to stop an attack. While the opponent scrambles to get the material back, you can often quietly improve your position. You can equalize a difficult position this way, grab the initiative, or gain another advantage such positional plusses.

7. Three Keys to Success

1. Learn to recognize the imbalances and acquire a sense of which will be the dominant imbalance to hold.
2. Strive to prevent the enemy’s counter-play.
3. Never give up! Defend as if your life were hanging in the balance. Fight back with counter strikes!

By acknowledging these concepts and storing them in our long-term memory / subconscious its possible to find accurate plans. Imbalances can help our understanding of a majority of a position’s key nuances and recognize the available options quicker. Candidate moves are the key to choosing our path in any given game and finding these moves to decide which is the optimal idea for our personal goal is where a players style can emerge. Silman has a systematic approach to finding each move. If you need a system of “thinking” about chess moves then I recommend his book Reassess Your Chess.

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 Nd7
{This is not such a bad move as 3…, Nc6 would allow 4. d5 and the knight has to move again. Capturing in the center and continuing would save time and accept the more open center. I must officially correct that point and say that 3…, Nbd7 is better and not “akward”}
(3… Nc6 4. d5)
4. Bc4 c6
5. Ng5 Nh6
6. a4
{This is the try for a trap. Black could play a queen move now to avoid losing time in the future if white incorrectly tries to force the idea. Black can capture the pawn on d4 right now which would change the trapping pattern later. The point is that if black recognizes here that his queen is in possible danger, he can still subvert white’s plan.}
Be7
{This is everything that white was hoping for and allows the sacrifice on f7 to work. Pawn to f6, g6 or b6 can allow similar traps also.}
7. Bxf7+ Nxf7
(7…Kf8 8. Ne6+)
(7… Kf8 8. Ne6+ {Ne6 simply forks the queen and king.})
8. Ne6
{Now the knight has found the magic square, but this isn’t the only extent of white’s idea. The Queen is fully trapped at this moment because of the squares that are available to her and the path she must take. At the end of her road
is a dead end.}
Qb6
(8… Qa5+ 9. Bd2 Qb6 10. a5 Qxb2 11. Bc3 {Dead end number two.})
9. a5 Qb4+
10. c3 Qc4
11. Nxg7+ Kf8
12. b3
{Dead end number one.}
(12. Na3) *

This video emphasizes the danger of allowing a white knight to live on e6. This can become a very menacing piece.

The behaviors that characterize an asshole include all of the dirty dozen that Robert Sutton mentions in his book. This can include personal insults, threats and intimidation, sarcastic jokes or teasing, rude interruptions and public shaming among others. If these behaviors are consistent, then the person is labeled as a certified asshole as opposed to being only a temporary asshole (which we all act like occasionally).

These behaviors can be detrimental to creating a productive workplace and can break down a structure that is already productive in the workplace if these assholes are allowed to continue the performance. The effects of their behavior are felt by a large group of people within the organization and can be transmitted like a disease. It is possible that people, who at first are agitated by a behavior of an asshole, may not be able to solve the problem on their own and in return start to act like assholes themselves so as to survive the anxiety in the work environment. These behaviors are usually small repetitive events but can also be large scale dramatic episodes that disrupt the workplace. This can contribute to reduced job satisfaction and productivity, trouble concentrating at work, and mental and physical health problems. Each worker is part of a larger organization so the effects can be felt by the organization as a whole. The top sales partner was a great example of how an entire organization can feel the effects.

Sutton suggests that two tests be applied to discover whether you are dealing with a certified asshole or not. First you want to examine how the asshole makes the target person feel after the encounter. If they are left feeling down, depressed, unhappy or totally annoyed by the experience, you may be dealing with an a-hole, but need to further examine. The next step is to test whether these behaviors are being enacted against someone who has more power within the organization or less. Typically assholes will be harassing those who have less power and if your examination shows that harassment is to someone with less power, combined with the first part of the rule, you know you are dealing with a certified asshole.

Once you know you have assholes in your organization, you need to create a rule to screen out or limit those behaviors. It helps to make the policy or rule public so your actions against assholes are seen by others in the organization. It is also good to keep an asshole around the workplace to provide an example to others of how not to act. As for selection and hiring, the most important point is that we tend to hire others who are like us and this would only spread assholes if we have them in the organization! It is very important to create the rule, enforce it and remove as many as possible so that more are not hired into the structure. This was referred to as the homosocial reproduction or cloning effect found in the selection process.

When dealing with assholes in the workplace, you should use this to do list for students and organizational members to survive the experience. You must apply the tests to know the true status of the person you are dealing with. Test one – does the target feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized, or belittled by the person? In particular does the target feel worse about him or herself? Test two – does the alleged asshole aim his or her venom at people who are less powerful rather than at people who are more powerful? If test one and two are affirmative, you are dealing with a certified asshole and need to implement the some steps to deal with that person. Sutton offers a list of ways to deal with a certified A-hole. Depending on the situation, one should offer some relief.

a) First, change how you see things. Try to let the energy just slide down you like raindrops on a glass wall. Don’t let it stick and remember that you have other things that will enter your day soon. The author gave the example of a woman who fell out of the raft during a rapids expedition and remembered what her rafting guide has instructed her: if you fall out of the boat, don’t try to fight it. Just rely on your life vest and float with your feet in front of you to protect your head. You can do the same with assholes.
b) Hope for the best and expect the worst. In this way you will live for the little good things that happen around you and the big bad nasty things that happen periodically will be expected and not have any surprise factor.
c) Develop an indifference and emotional detachment. Don’t be passionate about the encounters with assholes. It is very hard and nearly impossible to convert a certified asshole where he or she stands barking at you. Instead try not to be emotionally involved in the discussion and pursue other roads to eliminating assholes from your environment.
d) Look for small wins. Like with the idea of hoping for the best and expecting the worst, little wins throughout the day are meaningful. Especially when you win a small battle over an asshole, resonate in it and enjoy it. In a book titled Judgement in Managerial Decision Making by Bazerman and Moore (Harvard Business School and Carnegie Mellon University, respectively), we learn that losses hurt much more than gains because of the decreasing marginal utility of gains. For example, a gambler may play 11 hands of blackjack in a row for bets of equal value. When he or she loses 3 or 4 it is much more memorable than even a majority of wins (7 or 8 more wins than losses!). Overcoming this bias in the mind is important when dealing with assholes. Accumulate the small wins, enjoy them and value the damaging encounters less.
e) Limit your exposure to assholes. If you are forced to attend a meeting or if you boss is the asshole it can be tougher, but try to surround yourself with others who effect you in a more positive way rather than surrounding yourself with assholes consistently.
f) Build pockets of safety, support and sanity. Like with the last suggestion, hide from the assholes using a network of people who feel the way you do about assholes. Together you can survive much better than relying on your own.
g) Fight and win the right small battles. This will help you accumulate the small wins that were mentioned before. Be careful not to throw all your resources, passion and effort at a battle that you cannot win. That would only leave you traumatized and beaten.

Bob Sutton’s book is an integral part of organization behavior and is widely recognized for its approach and insight. I recommend it to anyone who has a job and most definitely to anyone who has subordinates. Analyze YOUR behavior and make sure you are not being an asshole!

The book includes some blog posts by Pam herself and other authors who are becoming well known via Web 2.0 while combining some past feedback that she has given to readers as well as insights from respected personalities who have enjoyed the journey to free enterprise. Notable to me was to learn that Seth Godin had many early ideas that pushed on to become serious career ending failures before major successes were realized and materialized. This reminds me of Richard Branson of Virgin who experienced major setbacks previous to becoming a behemoth of the corporate world and that failure is part of the evolution of the entrepreneur. We must work hard to develop an idea to solve a problem, provide a service or product, learn how to achieve that ideas greatest potential in marketing, develop financial plans and other typical business practices, be open to learning and sustaining change, persist in our market and keep an eye on competitors. Along with these factors and others, she guides you through the process of escaping the corporate life that drains most of its members.

Some of my favorite parts are seen early on when she discusses the fear of starting your own business. Many of us believe that we will be “35, divorced, and live down by the river” as she describes Matt Foley on Saturday Night Live (played by Chris Farley). Many fears blockade employees from reaching for individuality and striving toward their dreams. She reminds us to find our “inner tiger” and to examine ourselves deeply to logically remove blockades that do not hold any true value. Step by step, one can unlock the potential of the creative mind and discover the possibility of turning a passion into reality. Defining what the passion is and brainstorming how it can be delivered and maintained is a start, but actually making a prototype as ugly as it may be can be even better. The example of garage start ups really does show a silhouette of how many of the Silicon Valley companies got started and may be applicable to your idea.

Bob Sutton and Guy Kawasaki offer knowledge and are good examples of the entrepreneurial mind. Pamela, as well as the others mentioned, has the type of character that allows her to network with people who have experienced the process of becoming self employed and she has obviously created some great friendships with respected authors and business owners who agree with her. Good spirited brilliant people tend to partner with like minds. I like that so many perspectives and views are compatible enough to include in the book and its goal to motivate people to make change where necessary. Personally I have been inspired to make some changes to products and services that I provide and am in the process of developing new material to benefit the people who I work for. One of my ideas was sparked directly from this book. The key takeaway from Escape from Cubicle Nation is to get up and take action and make changes if they are needed without the fear of failure. Analyze your idea and come to a conclusion. Will it work? If so, get up and do it! Don’t sit around waiting for the perfect time because it will slip right past you like a cool breeze on a winter evening. All your dreams will vanish into the wind.