By understanding how a few become great, anyone can become better

This is a well written and accessible book. I found it compelling reading and finished it in a few sittings. The main tenet of the book revolves around the Nature vs Nurture debate and there is no doubt that this book is on the side of Nurture. It debunks very effectively the myth of innate talent and lays out the argument that the route to World class performance is through deliberate practice. I, like most of us, am all too quick to blame my inability to master a musical instrument or an artistic pastime on my lack of talent. This book argues that with deliberate practice, this mastery could be within reach. It wouldn't be easy, but neither is it impossible.

It is critical to understand what is meant by "deliberate practice" as I suspect for many of us this will be a key learning. Deliberate practice is an activity designed to specifically improve performance, often with a teacher's help; it can be repeated a lot; feedback on results is continuously available; it highly demanding mentally; and it isn't much fun. There are great examples of what it is NOT and I can empathize with much of the anecdotal comments from my years of trying to master playing the drums. Understanding how to design deliberate practice is clearly key.

The book covers how this can impact organisations as well as individuals. Chapter 9 covers innovation and how deliberate practice can impact the creative process.

As the previous reviewer has commented, some of the material covered in this book also gets a mention in Malcolm Gladwell's latest book (Outliers), however, I found this book more interesting and definitely more practical. It leads the reader to a conclusion as well as providing practical ideas about how to improve your own and your company’s performance.

But probably best of all, I found it inspiring and upbeat. Great reading. Highly recommended.

Soduku Grab

Here's a blog from a friend of mine who has written an application for the iPhone. The application allows you to grab the image of a soduku puzzle using the onboard camera, the software then identifies the grid, the numbers that it contains, and then provides the answers! There is a video on youTube showing the application in action. You will find it here.

You can buy the application via the Apple store and Chris has kindly published his sales data on the blog. It will be interesting to see how this develops. Good luck, Chris.

Groundswell

There have been a few books written about "social computing", but few that go much further than simply providing observations or commentary. This book is different. If you are trying to make some sense of what you see happening on blogs and social networking sites and are trying to work out what you and your company should do, then this book is for you.

It is written by a couple authors from Forrester, so it will be little surprise that it is really strong on the strategy front. It successfully manages to link what we are seeing happening today on the Internet to strategies for succeeding in this space. The first part of the book provides us with an understanding of how to match solutions to an organisation's specific customer base. Users are categorised according to whether they are: creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators, or inactives. This categorisation comes from Forrester's Social Technographics tool and you can find more information on the book's website (http://www.forrester.com/groundswell) and even generate your own profile. The blog on the website is very good, by the way.

The authors then match technical solutions to an organisation's objectives: namely, listening, talking energizing, supporting and embracing their customers. Part 2 of the book is dedicated to stepping through each of these objectives providing worked through examples of how organisations have succeeded in each of these domains. As you might imagine, adopting the appropriate technique for your particular audience is absolutely key.

If you are interested in Innovation, chapters 8 and 9 have some useful insights on the role customers can play in the innovation process.

In a area that is frequently over-hyped, this book provides significant insight and examples that reinforce what following a successful strategy can do for you and your company. If you are about to embark on your first venture into this space, I would strongly suggest that you read this book first. Highly recommended.

Ideo innovation videos

I have long since been a fan of IDEO and here is a blog from Larry Fire over at the FireWire that contains links to a number of YouTube videos showing how IDEO works. Originally, from a ABC TV programme shot in the late 1990's (in fact, this programme is referenced in Tom Kelley's book).

Interesting stuff. You will find the blog entry here. Part 1 is below. You will find the other 2 parts on the FireWire blog entry.

Greenspeak

I love wordplay, particularly when it is pointed at something topical. I did some work recently on strategies for Sustainability, and while not a Green Freak, it did alert me to many of the issues that surround us.

I guess the first words that I encountered were the "Green Wave" and "Sustainability" but there are others....

Eco-Chic - anything fashionable made of recycled materials
Eco-Iconic - Toyota Prius?
Ecoholism - an addiction to everything ecofriendly
Carborexia - an addiction to reducing your carbon footprint
Negawatts - an excessive use of energy that will inevitably lead to negative PR
Dark Greenie - an extreme Green fanatic

And if this is all too much for you, you are probably suffering from "Green Fatigue" which will eventually lead to "Eco-pathy" if you are not careful!