Think Out of the Box
by Mike Vance and Diane Deacon
People use the term “think out of the box” in reference to creativity, innovation, or unconventional approaches to solving a problem. I suspect many people who use this cliché have no idea where it came from.
The term was popularized in 1995 by the book Think Out of the Box. The box is a puzzle.
Drawing Is Thinking
by Milton Glaser
This book starts out with a 13-page interview with Milton Glaser by Peter Mayer followed by 188 pages of Glaser’s art.
A recurring theme in the short text is ambiguity. “I have always been aware of the need to provoke the mind when communicating ideas because that is the only way that you prod someone into understanding anything. That is why ambiguity is such a useful tool… Why are we unmoved by many of the skills of academic painting? Because their information is complete and unambiguous, so you have nothing to add. The philosophy of modernism suggests that the viewer completes the work.”
Art is Work
by Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser is best known as the graphic designer who created the I Love NY logo in 1975. He has also designed and illustrated album covers, book jackets, advertisements, posters, magazines and newspapers, and architectural interiors.
People Tools: 54 Strategies for building relationships, creating joy, and embracing prosperity
by Alan C. Fox
Alan C. Fox writes with the tone of a grandfather sharing advice. Each “people tool” is described in a two to four page chapter, making it easy to read in small increments of spare time. Here is a sampling:
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The Brand Challenge: Adapting Branding to Sectorial Imperatives
Edited by Kartikeya Kompella
The Brand Challenge consists of four general branding topics followed 11 sector-specific chapters, namely: luxury, retail, business-to-business (B2B), media, financial services, non-profits, fashion, hotels, cities, technology, and football (soccer). Each chapter is written by a different author.
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Fans Not Customers: How to Create Growth Companies in a No Growth World
by Vernon W. Hill II with Bob Andelman
Vernon W. Hill II founded Commerce Bank in 1973. In 2007, the bank “was sold to Toronto-based TD Bank for $8.5 billion, producing a 30-year, 23 percent annual shareholder return. Everyone profited, including shareholders and team members.” In 2010, he co-founded Metro Bank, bringing the same service culture to British banking. In Fans Not Customers he reveals the secret sauce of his business model. This book is about branding, differentiation, corporate culture, and organic growth, but the dominant theme is providing exceptional customer service.
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My Life as a Street Painter in Florence, Italy
by Kelly Borsheim
American sculptor Kelly Borsheim is living her dream, working as an artist in Florence, Italy (or Firenze as the city is called in Italian). She first visited Florence to see the marble sculptures of Michelangelo in person. Once there, she discovered the world of the Madonnari, meaning street painters. (Madonnaro is masculine singular. Madonnara is feminine singular.)
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The Tao of Pooh
by Benjamin Hoff
The Tao of Pooh is about “how to stay happy and calm in all circumstances.” Benjamin Hoff uses the characters and stories from Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner to explain basic concepts of Taoism. He also brilliantly integrates his own brief dialogue with the characters as segues into explanations of Taoist principles. Tao (pronounced DAO) means “the way.”
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Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity
by Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe
University of Michigan business school professors Weick and Sutcliffe studied common management attributes of “high reliability organizations” (HROs) such as aircraft carriers and nuclear power plants, where glitches can have deadly consequences. “The key difference between HROs and other organizations in managing the unexpected often occurs in the earliest stages, when the unexpected may give off only weak signals of trouble… Managing the unexpected is about alertness, sensemaking, updating, and staying in motion.”
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People Tools For Business: 50 Strategies for Building Success, Creating Wealth, and Finding Happiness
by Alan C. Fox
Alan C. Fox writes with the tone of a grandfather sharing lessons learned “in business and in life,” drawing from more than forty-five years of experience as a lawyer and commercial real estate investor. There are 50 brief chapters.
Fox shares a great metaphor explaining the difference between a short-term transactional attitude and a long-term relationship building approach. “Not every sales call, or every contact, results in a sale. And each sale does not always produce a profit. I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that compared the American style of business to the Asian model. Americans were described as hunters, with the goal of making as much profit as possible from a single kill. The Asian model was more like farming—cultivating the fields of their business relationships.”
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The Key Point 