We’ve been talking about the evolution of modern daily planners/organizers from paper-based, to computer-based, and then to synchronizable computer/hand-held pairs. This began as a fairly simple process, but as the reach of technology grew, greater ambitions in these hand-held devices became realizable. Before long, I had moved from my original Palm Pilot to a Dell Axim, and then, for the past few years, an HP iPAQ. . .
Many of us recall the days when paper-based daily planners made the jump to the computer. Like many such advances, this offered a new platform with even greater usefulness and flexibility than the ingenious design of the original. The problem, though, was the jump: it had to be made repeatedly in both directions. There was no way to transfer information from the hand-held medium to the computer. Then, along came . . .
When the daily planner craze hit many years ago, I bought in fairly quickly. More than just an agenda with room for phone numbers in the back, it promised to organize virtually all of your business planning and action management needs in one cleverly designed format. I purchased a large version, one that could take full letter-size paper, so I could write more easily and so it would have greater capacity. It came together in short order, and then there it all was . . .
We’ve been talking about reading, the past few days. The purpose of this for a manager is to help increase the perspectives available to you from which you can view and understand complex and intense issues, so that you can make better and more timely decisions. It is perfectly acceptable that in order to accomplish this aspect of it, you must read things that aren’t strictly “professional,” and that moreover are thoroughly enjoyable. Nothing illicit in that – go for it. But all of this should also be seen as part of a wider struggle entered into by every manager . . .
A good part of Adam Nicolson’s gripping retelling of the great Naval Battle of Trafalgar, “Seize the Fire,” turns out to be an exceptionally insightful depiction of the complex and powerful societal undertows that threw the combatant nations together on that awful day in October of 1805. . .
If, as we noted yesterday, mechanically consuming the latest management and leadership books as they roll off the presses is not necessarily illuminating, then what should we read? One thing you might do is . . .
A book I’m currently reading pokes a little fun at the general belief among managers, especially in the United States, that they must read only the “latest” “research” on management. Anything not excruciatingly current runs the risk of leading them down dangerously out of date side paths. It’s as if management “science” is equivalent to quantum physics, continuously transforming our view of reality as new facts are uncovered. Have you read anything lately that uncovered any new “facts” about management?
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