Mike Lally

Books of 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 00:43:00 +0000

Thought I would list out everything I read this year and tell you about my favorites.

Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel - Gary Shteyngart - this was the second time around for me. I still think this is one of the best pieces of fiction I have read. I almost want to commit to Shteyngart being the Douglas Coupland of the 2000s.

Egypt, Greece and Rome - Charles Freeman - This was a book for a course on the Ancient Mediterranean. Its a textbook.

Men Of Bronze - Kagan/Viggiano - You will most likely not geek out over this book like I did and that's ok. I LOVED this book. I want to drive to New Haven and kidnap Donald Kagan a la Field of Dreams. Do you know Donald Kagan? Can you get him to a coffee shop with me? I would do anything for you. I based two papers and an academic presentation off of the content of this book. Greece. Hoplites. Democracy.

One Second After - William Forstchen - another second time around read. Great post-apocalyptic piece of fiction. Quick read. Gets you thinking about a lot of stuff.

The War of Art - Steven Pressfield - Another second read. I may get on a steady annual read of this book. It helps me focus on what is important. Like finishing my degree in History.

The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation - I have been on a continuous journey to change my health. I like Mark Sisson's approach. I just need to work out more.

Turning Pro - Steven Pressfield - second in the series of The War of Art. I do love me some Steven Pressfield.

The Western Way of War - Victor Davis Hanson - I RAN directly to Hanson as a result of reading Kagan. Love the depiction of hoplite battle. Shield on shield. Legs digging into the mud and blood. Not sure how realistic it is, but I love it.

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 - Rick Atkinson - if you love WWII, you need to read this series of books by Atkinson. I just started the second book on Italy. I read the D-Day and forward one first. Read them in any order you like. I really just love his approach. The way he weaves together personal correspondence, journal entries, news, documents, etc.

Antigone - Sophocles- for school.

Its Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens - Danah Boyd - if you have kids and are really wrestling with the phone/tablet/social media thing, you should read this book. If you aren't wrestling with it, you should read this book. It will be a wake-up call either way. SUPER informative. Really helpful.

A Brief History of Ancient Greece - Sarah Pomeroy - text book for a History of Ancient Greece class.

Fingerprints of the Gods - Graham Hancock - going to re-read this one again in 2015. A) because I think my brain is still exploding from reading it. B) because the second edition is coming out and I want it to be fresh. Follow Mr. Hancock on Facebook. You will learn stuff.

One Bullet Away - The Making of a Marine Corps Officer - Nathaniel Fick - solid book. I am a huge fan of Greitens' The Heart and the Fist. Marines or SEALs.

The Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday - this was a game-changer for me. A really great introduction to the Stoics from Holiday. Set me on the path of reading Seneca. I am appreciating the Stoics. Well worth the wicked cheap kindle download. I hope this comes out in paperback so I can carry it with me.

The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World From Scratch - Lewis Dartnell - interesting. Very interesting. Its a manual for surviving some form a cataclysm. This is the book you take with you when the EMP hits and takes out the Eastern Seaboard or when Stephen King's killer allergy-super virus hits.

Ancient Wargaming - Phil Barker- so I am a wargamer. Little metal and plastic men on a tabletop. I love it. Shut up. Barker is the guy behind my gateway game.

Great Battles of The Ancient World Vol I and II - Garrett Fagan- this year I started listening to The Great Courses. I loved these lectures. I loved the lecture notes even more. I probably listened to this whole lecture series 3 times. I read the notes another 3. I am ticking off books from his recommended reading list. Not really a book per se. But awesome. If you are in to military history and want the list, let me know.

Full Dark, No Stars - Stephen King - not sure what made me pick this up. I haven't read King in a long time. I think I needed something fictional to read. Just to work that part of my brain. He didn't disappoint. Lots of great stories here.

Fun As Hell - L.J. Kummer- no idea what this was about. I had to look it up. It is a Kindle Single. I am sure someone recommended it. It didnt really move me.

A New Earth - Eckhart Tolle - I am stealing a review from Susan NYC on Amazon. She sums it up perfectly. She writes: "I love this book. Tolle describes ancient truths and applies them to life in the 21st century in a way that is inspiring and comforting. I took away from this book three simple, yet profound ideas. First and foremost, Tolle believes that we are all connected to each other and that everything we do matters and has an impact on our world. His second idea lies in the power of listening: he suggests that if we can quiet our egos long enough to truly listen, it is possible to feel a sacredness and inner harmony where everything has its perfect place. And lastly, the author speaks of the power of awareness. The moment you notice a pattern of behavior that is no longer working for you, you are a success." I need to hit this one again in 2014. I am sincerely trying to improve. Trying to be more present. Trying to be a better listener. I suck at both. But I am trying real hard.

The Peloponnesian War - Donald Kagan - more Kagan. Basically his chop at Thucydides. Loved it. You can pick this book up (as you can with Thucydides), open to any page, and start reading. Much more accessible than Thucydides. I love his translation.

Jayber Crow - Wendell Berry - this is my must read of the year. The Art of Manliness introduced me to Berry. I am resisting the urge to dive in and read everything he's written because this book has stuck with me. It rattles around in my head. Its like the fiction version of Tolle.

Twelve Tomorrows - ed. Bruce Sterling- needed some fiction. I do like the post-apocalyptic stuff. This wasn't all post-apoc. But it was 12 different views of the future. I liked it. Its important to mix it up.

The End of the Bronze Age - Robert Drews - I am basing a paper on Drews' conclusions in this book. The paper is for my History of the Ancient Near East class. Originally, I really liked this book. As I have dug in to his sources, I find myself starting to be annoyed with Drews.

A History of the Ancient Near East - Marc Van De Mieroop - textbook for my History of the Ancient Near East class.

The Ancient Near East - Mark W. Chavalas- technically, I did not read all of this. But! This is an excellent collection of source documents from the Ancient Near East. Great to have as a reference book.

A Very Short Introduction to the Ancient Near East - Amanda H. Podany- I discovered these "Very Short Introduction" books and LOVE THEM. About 2/3 of the way through the course, I went off the rails. I totally lost track of who was doing what and when. I needed to piece it all back together. This book was the perfect answer. A Very Short Intro to Alexander is next. :)

Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations - Kenneth Harl- another Great Course. Not as awesome as Fagan but valuable.

The Call of the Wild - Jack London - this was an Art of Manliness book club recommendation. I had read this when I was young. It is so much better as an adult. So much better. It might also help that I am a dog owner now, but damn, this was a top read of 2014. Way to go Brent!

Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain - I have to thank Super Punch for the recommendation that this book was on sale for $1.99 on Kindle. I have always wanted to read this. I am late to the Bourdain cult, but I love this guy. I will finish this by the end of the year and right now it is a top book.

Farmers, Shields, and Money: An Iterative Approach to the Rise of the Greek Polis

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 19:32:00 +0000

I was selected to give a presentation at the SUNY: Empire State College's 10th Annual Student Academic Conference. The presentation combines two papers I wrote on the emergence of the Greek Hoplites and the influence that group had on the rise of the Greek polis. I am working on recording the audio of the presentation to go with the slides. Until then, here are the slides:

Farmers, Shields and Money: An Iterative Approach to the Rise of the Greek Polis from Mike Lally

Further Examination of the Hoplite Debate

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 20:27:00 +0000

This is a paper I wrote for a class in Ancient Greek History. This is a continuation of the theme I explored in "A Proposed Alternative to the Hoplite Debate." I examine the thesis of John R. Hall in Donald Kagan's "Men of Bronze." I filter the thesis through Kagan's definition of the debate points and conclude by incorporating Hall's thesis (that hoplites emerged from Greek mercenaries) into my own iterative model.

Further Examination of the Hoplite Debate from Mike Lally

Donald Kagan on George Will's Baseball Book

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 01:14:00 +0000

I was conducting a brief experiment with a tumblr focusing on history. Then I realized that I needed to actively start the process of publicly re-focusing my public presence. So.....I'm back!

I just finished reading Donald Kagan's essay/critique of politico and Cubs fan, George Will's book on baseball ("Men at Work"). Kagan's essay is called "George Will's Baseball, a Conservative Critique".

I really just wanted to share a quote from the opening paragraphs on Kagan's friend, Yalie, and former commissioner of baseball: A. Bartlett Giamatti. Kagan says:

"From a more classical perspective Giamatti regarded baseball as a kind of Homeric Odyssey. The better is its hero. He begins at home, but his mission is to venture away from it, encountering various unforseeable dangers. At each station opponents scheme to put him out by strength or skill or guile. Should they succeed he dies on the bases, defeated. If his own heroic talents are superior, however, he completes the circuit and returns victorious to home, there to be greeted with joy by friends he left behind. But Giamatti knew the Iliad too, and as a long time Red Sox fan, he believed that the tragic epic best corresponded to baseball; thus he observed that the game 'was meant to break your heart.'"

I love this passage. It provides a form of convergence for me that is almost unreal. Kagan, my guide star (not to be too dramatic), Homer and in particular, "The Iliad", baseball nada my Red Sox. (Even though they have one three championships since he wrote this and might not be so tragically romantic anymore with the league' second highest payroll.

A Proposed Alternative to the Hoplite Debate

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 19:59:00 +0000

This is the paper I wrote for the History of the Ancient Mediterranean class I took with Denise Kawasaki through SUNY Empire State University. In this paper, I took a deep look at a chapter from Donald Kagan's Men of Bronze which reviews the origins, evolution and current fighting points of the "hoplite debate". After considering all sides, I propose an alternative model based on an iterative approach.

A Proposed Alternative to the Hoplite Debate from Mike Lally

Book Review: Practice Perfect

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 23:38:00 +0000

I don't know what happened. I finished Practice Perfect back in September and I never wrote a review! I got turned on to this book from Tom Peters. He was doing a piece on a leadership self assessment and talked about this book.

[Interesting sidebar here: I had to go google "tom peters practice perfect" to make sure that is how I got turned on to this book. I found Tom's 2012 reading list. This book was on it. As were 54 others!

54.

I hate him. My list this year will top out at 23 or 24. Keep in mind, I am also reading a G.I.A.N.T. text for my History of the Ancient Mediterranean course. But 55, Tom? Damn.]

I knew right away this was going to be a great book because only 1 or 2 pages in they start talking about John Wooden. The famous coach of UCLA basketball. 10 NCAA Championships. In there, an 88 game winning streak. Seven of those championships were in.a.row.

The authors help teachers get better. They are educators. They are coaches. So the guy that has written the first review on Amazon that says that this book is only worth reading if you are an educator. That guy should be banned from Amazon. Actually, he should be banned from the Internet. That guy is what is wrong with the world.

This book is for everyone that has to (or wants to) stand in front of a group of people and LEAD them. Everything these authors have done for teachers and educators DIRECTLY applies to every leader down to the newly minted team leader of a small quality assurance team.

I went through my kindle highlights as I set about writing this review. (I have no idea how to link them even though they are "public." But two things struck me. First, I may have highlighted the most passages of a book EVER. Second, I forgot to include PARENTS in my list of people that would benefit from this book. My daughter's CYO basketball season just started. I just re-read my highlights and have remembered some critical tips from Lemov on how to coach her.

Here is the summary of rules included at the end of the book. Go read the book. Highlight it. Write notes. Put post it notes on it. The summary is mostly there for me as a quick place to go refresh myself. But they will also serve as a very high level introduction for you, dear reader.

SUMMARY OF RULES

1. Encode Success Practice getting it right. Take the time to check for understanding and work for mastery before adding complexity. Remember, failure builds character better than it builds skills.

2. Practice the 20 Be great at the things that matter most. Spend 80% of your time practicing the 20% of skills that are most important.

3. Let the Mind Follow the Body Get skills going on autopilot. Build up automated skills to master more complex situations.

4. Unlock Creativity . . . with Repetition You can’t do higher level work if you are wasting brain power on the basics. Drill the fundamentals to free your mind to be creative when it matters most.

5. Replace Your Purpose (with an Objective) Purpose is not enough. Focus practice on measurable and manageable objectives.

6. Practice “Bright Spots” Tap into the power of what works. Find your strengths and use practice to make them stronger.

7. Differentiate Drill from Scrimmage To develop skills, use drills. Reserve scrimmage for evaluating performance readiness and mastery.

8. Correct Instead of Critique Help people repeat a task in a concretely different way rather than simply telling them what was wrong.

9. Analyze the Game The skills needed to deliver a winning performance are not always obvious. Watch, gather data, analyze, and let yourself be surprised.

10. Isolate the Skill New skills are best taught and practiced in isolation. Challenge yourself to define small, specific skills and to craft precise drills for each.

11. Name It Give skills a name and create a shared vocabulary for practice in order to focus people’s discussion and reflection.

12. Integrate the Skills After initial mastery, weave together multiple skills in increasingly complex environments and situations.

13. Make a Plan Great practices depend on great planning. Create plans with data-driven objectives, detail activities down to the last minute, then rehearse and revise.

14. Make Each Minute Matter Every moment is precious. Find efficiencies and make them a routine part of practice.

15. Model and Describe Good teaching requires both showing and explaining to ensure understanding.

16. Call Your Shots When modeling —whether it may be a specific technique or how to run a meeting— alert observers to what you’re trying to demonstrate so they see it happen. Help them watch strategically and with intention.

17. Make Models Believable Flawless modeling in ideal settings can be easy to dismiss. Ensure that modeling occurs in conditions that are true to life and credible.

18. Try Supermodeling Directly modeling a skill in context is an opportunity to show how other skills can be applied.

19. Insist They “Walk This Way” Many people resist imitating others, thinking it’s cheating or uncreative. But sometimes this is the best way to learn. Make “copying” a good word and tell people what they should strive to copy.

20. Model Skinny Parts Break down complex skills into narrow steps, modeling each part separately. Let people succeed and then stop before they try to do more than they can successfully execute.

21. Model the Path Modeling the perfect result can sometimes lead to poor performance. Model the process of how to achieve as well as the achievement itself.

22. Get Ready for Your Close-up Video has many advantages. You can edit what gets shown, highlight important points, analyze, and review. Use it to capture real-life situations—both in the performance and in practice.

23. Practice Using Feedback (Not Just Getting It) It’s one thing to accept feedback; it’s another to actually use it. Make putting feedback into practice right away the expectation.

24. Apply First, Then Reflect Reflection is worthwhile, but it is best done after you’ve tried out feedback, not before.

25. Shorten the Feedback Loop Feedback works best when it’s given (and used) immediately. Timing of feedback (and the right time is right away) beats strength of feedback every time.

26. Use the Power of Positive Feedback is not just a tool for repair. Identify what people do right, help them repeat it, and guide them to apply it in other settings.

27. Limit Yourself Too much feedback is overwhelming. Feedback from too many sources is confusing. Discipline yourself and others to keep feedback focused and productive.

28. Make It an Everyday Thing Make feedback the norm by consistently giving and receiving it from the start. Create an environment where feedback is not only accepted but welcomed.

29. Describe the Solution (Not the Problem) Make sure guidance is specific, actionable, and tells people what to do. Find ways to abbreviate frequently-given solutions to make them easier and faster to apply.

30. Lock It In To insure feedback is fully received as intended, ask recipients to summarize it, prioritize important parts, and identify their first step in implementation.

31. Normalize Error People will not take risks if they are afraid to fail. Approach error as an opportunity to learn.

32. Break Down the Barriers to Practice Practice can be stressful and sometimes scary. Develop strategies for overcoming barriers in order to start practicing successfully.

33. Make It Fun to Practice Integrate elements of play, competition, and surprise to cultivate an environment where practice is both valued and enjoyed.

34. Everybody Does It In a true culture of learning, top leadership can’t just stand back and watch. Model risk taking and openness to feedback in order to invest others in practice.

35. Leverage Peer-to-Peer Accountability When people on teams make mutual commitments to each other, investment and follow through are more likely to occur.

36. Hire for Practice Build a team that is open and ready to do the hard work of practice. Ask candidates to practice and implement your feedback.

37. Praise the Work Normalize praise that is meaningful and supports the work your team is doing. Praise actions, not traits. Differentiate acknowledgment from praise.

38. Look for the Right Things Closely align what you look for in performance with skills taught in practice. Create observation tools to keep a focus on the right things.

39. Coach During the Game (Don’t Teach) Performance is a time for cues and reminders. Introducing new skills should be reserved for practice.

40. Keep Talking Take the shared vocabulary developed during practice into the field. Finesse it to create a shorthand for communicating (but not teaching!) during performance and when debriefing.

41. Walk the Line (Between Support and Demand) Be the warm/ strict coach. Reward hard work and communicate urgency when improvement is necessary.

42. Measure Success Measurement drives results. Gather data during performance to improve practice.

I am Reinventing Myself.

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 02:48:00 +0000

I have read "The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Reinventing Yourself" by James Altucher from TechCrunch roughly 20 times since October 19th. It probably works out to EVERY DAY since I first read it. I've let it bake. I've let it permeate my cells. It is in my breath.

I started my first college class since 1989 last Monday, October 28, 2013. The class is The History of the Ancient Mediterranean. I love history. My wife is found of saying with a "can you believe this?" voice that I "read history for fun." I am weird. I understand. My goal is to teach. After years of thinking about it and thinking about it some more, it finally dawned on me that I love history and that I should do something about it. My short term goal is to become an adjunct history teacher at a local community college. I need a degree for that. Empire State College is going to let that happen for me.

Back to Reinventing Yourself.

I am reinventing myself. This article is fantastic. Altucher makes a ton of great points. I am going to run through some of them here and hopefully, tie it back to my path.

1. REINVENTION NEVER STOPS. The only constant is change. We are always in a state of change. Altucher says we decide whether we go forward or backward. In a sense, my decision to go back to school is a decision to go backward and FINISH what I started in 1986 at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

2. TIME IT TAKES TO REINVENT YOURSELF: FIVE YEARS. From the article:

Here’s a description of the five years:

Year One: you’re flailing and reading everything and just starting to DO.

Year Two: you know who you need to talk to and network with. You’re Doing every day. You finally know what the monopoly board looks like in your new endeavors.

Year Three: you’re good enough to start making money. It might not be a living yet.

Year Four: you’re making a good living

Year Five: you’re making wealth

My thinking is to a) do what I love and b) create a side hustle for myself. I am not too worried about creating wealth from it. But I am not ruling out wealth. :)

3. WHEN CAN I START DOING X? Altucher says TODAY. "Start buying 500 books one at a time and start...." I love it. I just bought approximately 10 books for my first class. Only one was on the syllabus, but I bought others because I know I am going to need them soon. He goes on to answer the question of "What if I can't read 500 books?"

GIVE UP.

I love it.

4. HOW SHOULD I NETWORK?

Make concentric circles. You’re at the middle.
The next circle is friends and family.
The next circle is online communities.
The circle after that is meetups and coffees.
The circle after that is conferences and thought leaders.
The circle after that is mentors.
The circle after that is customers and wealth-creators.
Start making your way through the circles.

This is probably the biggest take away from this article. I was already on this road of reinvention. This is a great field manual for how to connect with others to LEARN.

The next biggest take away is to start teaching via YouTube.

Start with an audience of one and see if it builds up.

Again, this article is so great.

I've been stressing about the actual coursework. I had lost sight of the end goal. I need to do more than just take class after class. I need to get out there. I need to hustle. YouTube, here I come.

Book Review: Eleven Rings

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 18:05:00 +0000

I just finished reading the EXCELLENT book, Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success by Phil Jackson. Jackson was a player and ultimately a coach in the NBA. He won 11 championships (and the rings with them) in his career. Six with the Lakers and 5 with the Bulls. Don't make the mistake of dismissing this book as a piece of basketball history.

This book is about leadership and Jackson's approach to winning. Jackson's coaching/leadership style is grounded in the religion of his parents, Zen Buddhism and the spiritual teachings of the Lakota. Jackson believes in always learning. For me, the book has four major themes:

- Love
- Mindfulness
- Tribe or Tribal Leadership
- Selfless Leadership.

Regarding "love", Jackson quotes from Sebastian Junger's book, "War" (which I also highly recommend by the way). Junger states that the most essential ingredient for team success is "love." Love is what bands the band of brothers together. Jackson also quotes his brother who believes that one of the things that can help you cope with fear is love. (The other is faith.)

Mindfulness is about quieting your monkey brain and focusing on being present. Jackson brough in George Mumford to help the Bulls.

George taught mindfulness as a way of life, what he called “meditation off the cushion.” That meant being fully present not just on the basketball floor but throughout the rest of the day as well. The key, he said, was not just to sit and calm your mind but to learn to read and react effectively in any situation based on what’s happening at that very moment.

Jackson refers heavily to Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan et al. (Added to my reading list.) Logan and company lay out their thoughts on the 5 Stages of Tribal Leaderships. Tribes/groups exist in any one of the 5 stages and can move from stage to stage. The five stages of tribal development are: life sucks, my life sucks, I'm great and you're not, we're great and finally, life is great. Jackson leads his teams through these stages to get them to perform at high levels.

Throughout the book, Jackson shares his leadership style. He believes in Selfless Leadership. He believes everyone is a leader. He wants his players to think for themselves, not look to him for decisions. He believes is distributing power. Jackson said, "...the more I tried to exert power directly, the less powerful I became." He believed that leadership "is not about forcing your will on others. Its about mastering the art of letting go."

Again, this was a fantastic read. I strongly recommend it. It will set you on a path for sure. As I sit here reflecting on the book it strikes me that this is a book about systems thinking. Jackson shares his system with us. His system is about systems thinking. How to get the system (team) to run harmoniously. Wow.

The anatomy of the perfect technical interview from a former Amazon VP

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 14:00:00 +0000

The anatomy of the perfect technical interview from a former Amazon VP

This article is a MUST READ on not just technical interviewing but interviewing and even the hiring process from start to finish. Knowing the type of person you want to hire all the way through team interviewing.

Loved this piece.

Book Review: The Guns at Last Light

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 20:06:00 +0000

I think this might be the best book on World War II history that I have read. Apologies to Stephen Ambrose but Rick Atkinson's The Guns at Last Light was thoroughly engrossing and put me IN the decision making and the fighting. I came to this book through a book review in the New York Times. I went back to that review and recalled this line:

Atkinson is a master of what might be called “pointillism history,” assembling the small dots of pure color into a vivid, tumbling narrative.

That is a dead on assessment.

Atkinson unfolds the narrative of events from the D-Day planning to the German surrender by sharing details of the correspondence and journals of everyone from the Generals, infantrymen, embedded journalists, wives and mothers, the familiar and the ordinary people. His approach and level of detail was...moving.

The numbers really crept up on me. When you start getting into the millions of casualties, it starts to take on a different meaning when I started studying WWII in high school and college. When he details around liberating the many concentration camps, I found myself moved in a way I had not been before.

I particular liked the focus on the leadership challenges of Eisenhower and his generals.

Chris Carter's Football Hall of Fame Speech

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 14:06:00 +0000

I watched Chris Carter's Football Hall of Fame induction speech this morning. It crushed me.

It was incredibly moving. His theme was that he has always been fortunate to play on great teams. He recognized his family, his group of childhood friends, his high school coach, Eagle's teammates, Vikings teammates. He started off with his oldest brother who was his role-model and father figure. When he closed on him, he said: "You're going to the Hall of Fame." He continued in this format.

He did not get to the Hall of Fame or "Football Heaven" as he called it, alone. He got their with teams. He got their with LOVE. All the teams he "played" with had one thing in common - LOVE. He shared his own appreciation and love with everyone.

Carter said that most Hall of Famers talk about "five people" they've met who got them to where they are. Carter named his five people: his mom, his high school football coach, his wife, Reggie White, and the duo of Wheelock Whitney and Betty Trilogy, two people who helped him get sober when he joined the Vikings after Buddy Ryan cut him from the Eagles.

I am also reading Phil Jackson's latest book: Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. That concept of love appears again. I will have a review for that when I am done. Reading is going slowly these days for me. Two months ago, I was experiencing pretty intense headaches and other side symptoms. One month ago, I went to my doctor who sent me for an immediate MRI. The neurosurgeon admitted me immediately. I had a blood clot. There was fluid on my brain that was compressing my brain. I had surgery the next day.

One month later, I still have a constant but low level headache. I believe that I am improving. The fluid that I could hear seems to have gone. The headache doesn't seem as bad. It is still there. The only challenge is that I get fatigued very quickly and the headache increases in strength when I am overly active. Bright sunlight and loud noise have a negative impact on me. It has taken me several sessions to write this post. I need breaks.

Back to the LOVE theme. At some point, I hope to be able to go back to work. I want to change some things. I want to experience the love that CC and Phil Jackson reference. I want to play on a team that functions at that level. I want to affect a change. I don't want to sleepwalk through the status quo. I want to excel. I want to play on a team that excels.

4 Weapons of Exceptional Creative Leaders

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:16:00 +0000

The article: 4 Weapons of Exceptional Creative Leaders by Charles Day in today's Fast Company co.create is fantastic. It is a #mustread for me. It is a #readitknowitliveit for me. :)

Stop and go read the article. I will wait here for you.

The 4 Weapons (and I love the aggression of the word "weapon"...LOVE it!) are:

Context
Clearly Defined Values
Trust
Momentum

My quick and IMMEDIATE take aways - I wrote these down as I read the article. (That almost never happens).

Context - build it from the future back. (Vision!)
Clearly Defined Values - Culture creates boundaries. Values provide foundations. The former restrict. The latter empower
Trust - foundation of COLLABORATION
Momentum - aggregate marginal gains. Get wins.

Really great piece.

TED: Ric Elias: 3 Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:11:00 +0000

This is old but I ran across it again today. Its a great TED talk. 3 Powerful lessons:

Book Review: Succeeding with Agile by Mike Cohn

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 05:52:00 +0000

I have been continuing to prepare to take a certification test to become a certified Scrum Master. I just finished reading Mike Cohn's Succeeding with Agile.

This book was recommended (and I am sorry, I cannot recall who recommended) along with Software in 30 Days (my review).

I started a hackpad of "notes" from these books. You can check it out here. My notes are a lot of direct pulls right from the text. Sometimes I have some of my own thoughts in there. One of the biggest learnings for me was the following (from page 308):

Scrum teams make testing a central practice and part of the development process rather than something that happens after the developers are "done". Rather than trying to test quality after a product has been built, we build quality into the process and product as it is being developed. W. Edwards Deming was an American professor and consultant best known for his work in Japan emphasizing the impact of quality on cost and productivity. He maintained that quality could be added to a product later. He wrote that we should "cease dependence on mass inspection to achieve quality. Improve the process and build quality into the product in the first place."

This is something that we are trying to work through. I think we are doing a good job. We are due for a Quarterly release and we are going to miss our target by about a week. THIS IS A GREAT IMPROVEMENT. I will take a week versus a quarter any day.

If you are THINKING about deploying/embracing the Agile framework you should get this book. Cohn does a great job of laying out the adoption PROCESS. You can't just jump in. You need to think about some things. :) I like the format he uses. He calls out objections. He addresses them with practical and deep experience.

TED: Bruce Feiler: Agile programming -- for your family

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 17:05:00 +0000

Interesting TED talk about about using the Agile process with your family.

Book Review: Software in 30 Days.

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Has it really been more than two months since my last post??? What a slacker!

I just finished Software in 30 Days by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland (the Godfather's of Scrum). Late last year, we shifted to an Agile software development framework. We went through some initial training and I was dubbed "Scrum Master".

Since then, I have decided to get certified by the above-mentioned Godfather's as a Scrum Master. This book was recommended as a good primer on Agile/Scrum. I completely agree. I wish we were given this book first. It was very helpful in clearing many things up that we were taught in training.

I started a hackpad of "notes" from the book. You can check it out here. My notes are a lot of direct pulls right from the text. Sometimes I have some of my own thoughts in there. One of the biggest learnings for me was the following:

p.105 Scrum is not an approach or process that can be modified to fit the existing organizational culture; the culture must change to enable Scrum.

We are trying to modify it. The rollout was a shotgunned. So we adopted what we could. We are pulling the rest in as we go in most cases. In one team that I am Scrum Master of - I shouldn't even really use the term "team" because it is not a team in the Agile sense.

One of the roles of Scrum Master is to mentor and coach and support the Agile framework. I am doing that for my teams. At least I hope that I am.

A great tool from the book is a lengthy "Definition of Done" table. Go to the hackpad and you will see it there. Our company was a start-up. We were bought by another start-up. Then we were bought by a mature company. This all happened within the span of one year by the way. But we were a "good enough" development team. Agile is a quality focused framework and we are trying to adopt it completely. Our definition of done versus the suggested is no where near as comprehensive. We have work to do.

Slowly. Slowly.

Pressfield's Videos On Long Tail Businesses

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 23:21:00 +0000

Here is a youtube link to a Playlist I created of Stephen Pressfield's and Shawn Coyne's series of short videos about long tail businesses. The videos are short, 2-3 minutes a piece. I love my Pressfield both the fiction and the non-fiction works. I liked this series. I love Shawn Coyne at the end of video 14 or 15 where he talks about working in a nice, safe, secure, 9-5 job and being a "muckity muck."

"It's just not fun."

The 2012 Reading List

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 02:12:00 +0000

Thought I would post a list of the books I read in 2012. They are listed in the order in which I finished them.

The Profession - Steven Pressfield
Pressfield shows up on this list many times. Four times with his own books and a couple of times with recommendations. I will tell you right now that next year I plan on wrapping up the non-fiction and I already have a couple of recommendations queued up for 2013. I love him.

The Story of Stuff - Annie Leonard

Getting Real - 37 Signals - Jason Fried
I started learning and implementing Agile - a quality process framework for software development this year. Start here.

Eating Well for Optimum Health - Dr. Andrew Weil
This was a re-read. But I like to re-visit Dr. Weil from time to time. He helped me lose 100 pounds. I'm struggling with the last 50 or so, but he brings the science to getting healthy.

11/22/63 - Stephen King
Stephen King tackles the JFK murder. Loved it.

Agile Project Management with Scrum - Roman Pichler
If you are learning about Agile, read this book after Getting Real.

The Heart and the Fist - Eric Greitens
Loved it so much I bought it for my Kindle. Will most likely re-read in 2013. And I think he has another book coming out.

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
Geek fest. Really liked this. Top 3 fiction this year for me.

The Virtues of War - Steven Pressfield
Alexander examining his life.

Eagle in the Snow - Wallace Breem
meh.

The $100 Startup - Chris Guillebeau.
I really liked their one page business plan.

How Will Your Measure Your Life - Clayton Christensen

Renewal 1 - 10 - JF Perkins
Top 3 fiction for me. E-book(s)! Post apocalyptic survival. Loved the serialized format. Great story. Kept me riveted. Was hard to walk away from.

Standout - Marcus Buckingham
Get it. Read it. Take the assessment. Learn something about yourself. Then go read Christensen's book. The combo will change you. In a good way. Read my series of posts here, here, here, and here.

Thinking in Systems - A Primer - Donella Meadows
Great introduction to systems thinking. I liked putting the science to what I do every.waking. moment. :) Read my review.

After The Apocalypse - Maureen McHugh
Read my review.

The Warrior Ethos - Steven Pressfield
My favorite of the Pressfield books I read this year. I liked the format of the book. We are ALL warriors. This is a book that I found myself picking up and thumbing through again and again. Read my review.

In Rommel’s Backyard- Alistair Timpson
I thought this was a Pressfield recommendation. I think it was James Roach.

Little Brother - Cory Doctrow

HBR: On Managing Yourself
Acutally, add this to the list. Buckingham, Christensen and this compilation. Just do it. Read my review.

No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden - Mark Owen
Semi-controversial but well written. I cranked through this book. I am a military history fanboy so this is squarely in my wheel house.

The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
I read this with my daughter at the end of the summer. Looking forward to seeing the movie adaptation with her as well.

The 4 Hour Body - Tim Ferriss
Read my review.

The Lost World of the Kalahari - Laurens Van Der Post
THIS was a Pressfield recommendation. Read my review.

Makers - The New Industrial Revolution - Chris Anderson
I started out the year with The Story of Stuff which examines the damage the supply does to the environment. I closed the year with this examination on the state of manufacturing and the proposition that manufacturing is returning to the U.S. just at a smaller, more customized scale. I think this is a must read. Read my review.

Dinah of Seneca - Corrinna Lawson
Crazy town book. Vikings and Romans in New York! Read my review.

Last of the Amazons - Steven Pressfield
Closed out the year with some Pressfield.

That's a pretty typical year quantity wise. I think it was an exceptional year quality wise. Fiction and non fiction! I might squeeze in another one before the 31st. I am officially on vacation until January 2nd!

Book Review: Dinah of Seneca

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 12:37:00 +0000

OK, I think I just read a romance novel. :) I got here from Geek Dad because they called out the alternate historical fiction aspects of it. And I really liked those elements. Here is the setting: It is the 10th century A.D. and the Roman Empire has expanded to the New World and established a settlement in New York. Two problems, VIKINGS! and native indians, specifically, Mahicans. (Mohicans).

In Dinah of Seneca by Corrina Lawson, the story focuses on Dinah, a former slave trained as a spy working for the Romans. There is battle, shifting alliances, culture clashes, romance. The story is told from Dinah's point of view.

The story moves fast. If you are one of those people that needs things to be completely historically accurate, this is not the read for you. If you like the concept of Vikings sailing their longboats down the Hudson River to attack a Roman Fort, then I strongly recommend it.

Book Review: Makers: The New Industrial Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:38:00 +0000

I think this is the best book I have read this year. Maybe in a few years. Seriously. This book expanded my brain. The theme of the book is taking the "internet revolution" of the last 20 years and applying it to the real world of bits and atoms. The last 20 years saw huge growth in innovation and entrepreneurship. That same growth is going to happen through automation and the reinvention of manufacturing.

The idea of a 'factory' is, in a word, changing. Just as the Web democratized innovation in bits, a new class of 'rapid prototyping' technologies, from 3-D printers to laser cutters, is democratizing innovation in atoms.

The digital age will transform manufacturing. It already HAD transformed. Digital fabrication is upon us. Anderson says, "I realized that the killer app for digital fabrication is personal fabrication. Not to make what you can buy in Wal-Mart but to make what you CAN'T [my emphasis] buy at Wal-Mart."

The author takes a lengthy look at Maker Spaces. This is something I am very interested in. Anderson refers to them as "shared production facilities". I really like that concept. Shanghai is building ONE HUNDRED of them. 3-D printing "could be the transformative technology of the 2015-2025 period," according to Rich Karlgaard.

Manufacturing will shift from a large scale model to an artisan model. Small design shops with 3-D printers. Or design shops sharing MakerSpaces.

I am actually feeling somewhat overwhelmed by this book. I mean that in a good way. Anderson documents the trends and backs them up with solid data as he makes his predictions. I am bought in to all of it. This review doesn't even touch half of the topics covered in the book.

It is really all about the shifting paradigm from large scale manufacturing to small scale design. At one point, he likens it to the PC era of the late 70s and early 80s. People in their garages with soldering irons and circuit boards. Look where that has ended up. You're going to have people that aren't paid, professional designers - designing things and then selling them, globally, on the internet. It is incredible.

Its a must read.

$100 Startup One Page Business Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:23:00 +0000

I read The $100 Startup earlier this year.

Here is a link to their site.

Here is a link to their one-page business plan. I love it for its simplicity.

Here is the quick outline:

Answer each question with one or two short sentences.

OVERVIEW

What will you sell?

Who will buy it?

How will your business idea help people?

KA-CHING

What will you charge?

How will you get paid?

How else will you make money from this project?

HUSTLING

How will customers learn about your business?

How can you encourage referrals?

How will your business idea help people?

SUCCESS

The project will be successful when it achieves
these metrics:

Number of customers

What will you charge?

How will you get paid?

or

Annual net income

How else will you make money from this project?

(or other metric)

OBSTACLES / CHALLENGES / OPEN QUESTIONS

Specific concern or question #1

Proposed solution to concern #1

Fred Wilson's Accounting and Financials Statements Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:58:00 +0000

I wanted to collect, in one place, the articles from Fred Wilson on accounting and financial statements that he ran (and then re-ran) on his AVC blog.

First, here is a link to the Table of Contents for his MBA Mondays series.

Accounting

The Profit and Loss Statement

The Balance Sheet

Cash Flow

Analyzing Financial Statements

Projections, Budgeting, Forecasting

EBITDA

Burn Rate

I am doing this because I am helping a group trying to get off the ground. More later. Maybe.

Books: The Lost World of the Kalahari

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:18:00 +0000

I got here via Steven Pressfield. Specifically, from a post of his on breakthroughs that he wrote: "How We Get Better, Part Two." Pressfield references TLWOTK as one of his favorites. Being the fanboy that I am, I had to check it out. In that same post referenced above, Pressfield says:

Van der Post’s idea is that something in us needs to be transformed at the cellular level if we are to permanently evolve aesthetically, emotionally, morally or spiritually.

I really enjoyed this book. It reminds me of Bruce Chatwin's "The Songlines" . It is part Nature writing (of which I am a fan going back to my college days with Professor John Becker) and part travel log.

The book reflects Van der Post's journey to capture, on film, the last of the Bushmen before modern "civilization" overtook them and colonial-ized them. He provides an amazing view of the flora and fauna of Africa. He explains his love of the Bushmen people. Their simplicity. They feel like the last true line of people that you can trace back to a truly "primitive" line of humans. But they are not primitive by any means.

Here is why I think Pressfield calls this one of his faves, a quote from the book:

All the odds were against the little man and my sympathies have always been with those who fight back, without losing heart, though all the gods and life itself, seem against them. Our aboriginal hearts know no neutrality: we are all born either Greeks or Trojans. As a boy of six I helped, in my imagination, to man the walls of the Great Plain, for I was born a Trojan. From the start, I was on the Bushman's side, and the moment I was old enough to contemplate the full spectacle of our conflict with the little hunter I found myself in passionate revolt against the consequences of the past.

Greeks or Trojans.

In a way, Van der Post is a traitor to his fellow European colonialists. But he has a profound respect for the culture of the Bushman and his cousins. He reveres them.

There are challenges to the book. It takes almost the whole book to FIND the Bushman. Oh, sorry. SPOILER ALERT. :) I would have liked more detail on his time with them and less detail on his problems with his original camera-man. And less detail about getting lost in a swamp. But when he is on, he is on. He nails the anthropology of the Bushman beautifully.

Book Review: The 4-Hour Body

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:00:00 +0000

I finished reading Tim Ferriss' The 4-Hour Body over the weekend. I know someone that has sustained a significant weight loss over the last year. He was following the dietary guidelines of Tim Ferriss. Why me? I need to lose weight. Over the last six years or so, I have been working to improve my health. I have had back troubles for as long as I can remember. Last year, I had my second surgery. I had 3 vertebrae fused together. After the first surgey, I lost a significant amount of weight. 100 pounds. I could easily stand to lose another 100. My first goal is to get to my high school football "playing weight". 225. I have been stuck and on an up and down run after that first back surgery.

Last year's surgery really messed me up internally. I struggled for the better part of the last year to get my weight stable along with my "numbers" - blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar. A few months ago, I started to embrace the methods of Paleo and 4 hour body. At the same time, my wife started reading Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis. Wheat Belly says no wheat. Wheat is evil. I've settled on a "protein and produce" approach, trying to eliminate carbs from wheat.

You have to keep your eye on Ferriss. I like the book. I like his philosophy. You have to be careful though. I like that he measures everything. You have to measure. I see my doctor quarterly. We went down to 3 times per year. I'd like to go monthly. But quarterly is ok. We do tests, we review results. Not as in-depth as Ferriss. But it is a good place to start.

Here are his Rules:

RULE #1: AVOID “WHITE” CARBOHYDRATES.

RULE #2: EAT THE SAME FEW MEALS OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

RULE #3: DON’T DRINK CALORIES.

RULE #4: DON’T EAT FRUIT.

RULE #5: TAKE ONE DAY OFF PER WEEK

The no fruit rule is founded in his low glycemic load approach. I get it. I like grapes though.

Taking one day off has its merits. Spiking caloric intake "tricks" your body. It is scheduled binge-ing. It relieves the mental pressure. It doesn't allow the body to think that you are changing the program which will make it slow your metabolism down.

He brings a lot of science.

Which brings me back to Dr. Andrew Weil. I need to go back and re-read. I feel that, at the end of the day, if I followed Weil very STRICTLY, it would get me to the same place. I need to look into it.

Anyway, I feel protein and produce is working. I got myself stable. And I have been consistently dropping weight. I am going to try the weight lifting program that Ferris lays out. The overall approach in 4HB is to find the minimum effective dose. He does that with weights. I am ready to start working out again. I have "graduated" from the surgeon. :) No more visits needed.

Do you need to buy this book? Not really. ALL of it can be found in different places on the Internets. I can see using this as a reference book of sorts. And he even calls that out. Its not a book you read cover to cover - although that is exactly what I did. :) Open it, flip to what you need and dive in.

Can Dungeons and Dragons Make You Awesome?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike L.) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 19:46:00 +0000

Does Dungeons and Dragons or other tabletop games contribute to success?

.