Free Audio source list compiled by PickTheBrain
A couple of days ago, I wrote about my top 10 knowledge audio sources. And yesterday I found this blogpost from the blog pickthebrain by John Wesley. He writes:
To help you find the best audio content the web has to offer, I've compiled a list of resources for free audio books and podcasts on a wide range of interesting topics.
Free Audio Book and Podcast Downloads to Juice Up Your Workout and Commute | PickTheBrain
Enjoy...
- Jens Poder
A few good creative Men
This is really well executed!
And very funny too!- Jens Poder
Firing the Brain and giving charge to the Body
If I look at the leadership style of my brain, it reminds me of WWII movies that have clueless officers that lead through theory instead of habit shaped by the reality of survival. My brain is preoccupied worried, really about a lot of things. It doesnt want to be bored. It is constantly looking for meaning and things that feel right. But because its my brain, Ive assumed that it knew what it was doing. Perhaps not. Im promoting the Foot and the Hand. The brain will retain its analyst function.
David Seah : Getting Focused 04: Firing My Brain
This is really funny. David Seah is firing his brain and giving responsibility to his hand and foot :) The reasoning behind this is, that the brain tends to overanalyze before getting anything done. The foot and hand is where action happens; in movement and doing.
If your thinking about a problem isn't tied up to any actions it isn't really accomplishing anything. It's just wasting a lot of mental energy. Sometimes though charging ahead without thinking will get you into serious problems.
So you need something to bridge the gap between thinking and acting. Some tools, that will let you feel you're actually accomplishing something, even though you're not solving the main task.
For me tools like this would be:
- Mind Mapping: Brainstorming through a problem, structuring and coming up with new ideas on my way.
- Valuestream Mapping: Defining the values and succesfull outcome of whatever problem and making a flowchart of tools and processes that will generate this value.
These tools lets me involve my brain and body at the same time, and lets me bridge the gap between worrying and acting.
- Jens Poder
My 10 favourite Knowledge Podcasts and Audiobooks
Today I want to share my favourite knowledge audio. I just love listening to an audiobook while doing something manual and boring. Anything like cleaning, gardening, shopping or being stuck in traffic. If I have someone clever in the ears, I'm happy!
Having a reservoir of knowledge audio on your ipod transforms wastetime into an opportunity to hear someone passionately talking about something they're really good at.
It's slower than reading books, but then again, it's so much more compelling to hear something told by the author. When William Zinsser hammers through the sentences in his audiobook On Writing Well, you're not for one moment doubting, that he's passionate about writing!
I must admit to be a late adopter of podcasts. I think the problem was always finding quality stuff. I got into listening to audiobooks from day one, and along the way I have stumbled upon a couple of nice podcasts.
So for those of you, who haven't tried out this great source of information out yet, here's the top 10 sources on my audiobookshelf:
- On Writing Well Audiobook - By William Zinsser. Very brief and cheap. In 25 minutes Zinsser will teach you to be a better writer, applying the principles of clarity, brevity, simplicity and humanity. A true classic!
- Killer Innovations Podcast - By Phill McKinney. This is a podcast with loads of gold for creatives. Phill takes on a single subject like "High Performance Innovation Teams" or "Corporate corruption of innovation" and talks knowingly about it with lots of practical tips.
- Getting things Done - I bought the abridged version in itunes for something like 10$. My first intro to GTD. Hearing David Allen telling the tale himself was just so cool.
- Lean Thinking - This is the way i got started with LEAN. Actually I didn't think much of LEAN to start with, but I thought, that I could always get to know a little more by listening to an audiobook about it... and then it made perfect sense!
- Lifehack: Trial By Fire Productivity. This is a montly podcast, that slowly has been improving. It started out really tacky but the latest couple of shows has been really interesting interviews with people about their personal productivity system.
- Blue Ocean Strategy - A great book, and so nice to have it read aloud. Stop charging into head to head market battles armed with old assumptions about your industry!
- Inbox Zero - This is a talk made at the googleplex by Merlin Mann from 43folders on how to tackle your email and get to inbox zero. Very nice and funny too! This is a link to Merlins odeo-channel. Check out his Productive Talk series to.
- Play Spirit and Character! - A remarkable interview with Stuart Brown about the importance of playing
- The Big Moo - How to be remarkable. A 2 hours pep talk read by Seth Godin, and cowritten by a busload of remarkable people.
- The 8th habit - By Stephen Covey. This is another example of how my more impacting a book becomes when read aloud by an author who is passionate about his material.
So! A couple of podcasts and a handful of audiobook titles. I hope some of you will find as much enjoyment in having knowledge audio in your pocket as I do. Please share some of your own by commenting.
- Jens Poder
Technorati Tags: audiobooks, podcast, productivity
Dunbars Magic Number – stop at 150 people in a group!
I have been reading "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell lately... highly recommended! One of the ideas that got me interested was Gladwells mentioning of the magic number 150.
Robin Dunbar discovered that 150 was the maximum number of people in an effective group. He did it by researching the way the size of the Neo-Cortex in the brain of mammals correlates with their preferred size of group. From the size of the human Neo-Cortex he could deduce the number to be somewhere around 150. Then, as an anthropologist, he went out and found out, that this number was the same as the size of the typical settlements in primitive tribes. It was also the maximum number of personel in military units.
Beyond 150 we begin to loose the ability to have full relationships with other people. We begin to think of them in 2D. We don't know what their interests are, what they excel at. We simply don't care about them anymore.
The consequense of this is, that groups above 150 are unstable compared to sub-150 groups. These groups need more control and structure, and formalized knowledge-sharing, than sub-150 groups. Before you hit the magic number you can rely on personal trust and relationsships to solve the groups problems. Beyond this the group starts to split up into smaller clans, with their own agendas.
It is really interesting how this maximum group-size has been adopted in the way Gore International (Gore-Tex) organize the corporate culture. Every time a division grows beyond 150 it gets split up. And because of this approach they succeed in having a much simpler leadership structure, and highly cross-functional teams.
Further Reading:
- Inside the Monkeysphere - A funny rant about the implications of the number 150.
- Wikipedia Entry on Dunbars Number
- Jens Poder
4 ways to strengthen your workplace bravery
Oh man have I been punishing myself lately! I have sinned against my basic "rules of engagement" at work. I have been through a demanding period of "mid project blues". It's the worst!
For me this happens when projects are well underway and my initial passion cools. This time it happened to a couple of projects at the same time. This is when I am most vulnerable. This is when selfdoubt and anxiety sets in. My usual strength in maintaining my OWN way of working, the way that I know creates value, the way that works, this strength is weakened. For me this is a humbling experience.
In times like this, I have to remember myself of the importance of workplace bravery, if you want to create something out of the ordinary. Here are my 4 basic rules of bravery.
- Preserve and build your fire! Losing your passion is the sure killer of your projects. So it's vital to let this fire burn. Take a break. Get out and relax before you succumb to the pressure, and lose interest in what you're doing. Your project won't suffer because you take a couple of easy days. It WILL suffer if you burn out.
- Act like the rules doesn't apply to you. You can drive yourself nuts trying to navigate corporate policies, when struggling to do something new. The best tip I know is to act like there's special rule-exceptions just for you. People around you will tend to accept this if you do it with a straight face.
- Stop mirroring your colleagues. Keep doing something that stands out. Work differently. Present differently. Find information differently. It'll make you valuable because it makes you unique.
- Check to see if your work is appreciated by your main sponsor frequently. This is of course pretty important. Acting after own tune is near-impossible to keep up if your not confident in your own worth. So seek feedback regularly. You'll often be amazed how much your boss appreciates you.
- Jens Poder
Technorati Tags: bravery, burnout
Clarity and brevity IN – Corporate Vaugetalk OUT!
If you want to impress me, then speak with clarity, simplicity and humanity. I'm deeply troubled by the corporate and academic mumbo-jumbo that contages communication everywhere in workplaces. The notion seems to be, that simple talking is the mark of a simple thinker. Not so!
How easy it is to shroud your own unclarified thinking in vague general concepts borrowed from books you have read, but barely understood. If someone forced you to explain yourself in plain and specific everyday language, you would have difficulties finding the words.
Among leaders this is a fools cancer. To impress their peers and justify their specialness, some leaders end up talking in a way that alienates them from the people they were supposed to lead. They try to sell vague ideas dressed up in pompous words, and come through as snake-oil dealers.
And it isn't so surprising. Many employees have bad experiences where impressive management concepts were weaselspeak for cutbacks and layoffs. A turd by any other name...
If you want to come through as sincere... If you want to be understood... You have to speak with clarity and simplicity. And you have to be there yourself inside your message. Speak with humanity. Don't tell me "it has been decided to..." tell me "I want you to..." It's so common that the subject, the doer, disappears in these endless adorned sentences.
But simple isn't stupid. Here's a great article from Scientific American Mind. It explains the reason why George W. Bush came through so strongly right after the world trade center tragedy. He was able, in simple words, to channel and mold the feelings of a whole nation.
Or another american leader, Kennedy. He didn't talk of being at the forefront of space age technology and leveraging this position to blablabla. He wanted to put a man on the moon!
So please… Stop hiding behind vague words! It's ineffective. It's stupid! Stop talking clever. start talking clear. Then you'll impress me.
- Jens Poder
Technorati Tags: communication, clarity, brevity, leadership