andreweverett360 Art, Book Review

Drawing Is Thinking

drawing-is-thinking-milton-glaser


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.”

drawing-is-thinking-seated-woman
Seated Woman, 2000, Collage
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andreweverett360 Book Review, Marketing

The Brand Challenge

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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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andreweverett360 Book Review, Marketing

Fans Not Customers

fans-not-customers


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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andreweverett360 Art, Book Review

My Life as a Street Painter in Florence Italy

my-life-as-a-street-painter


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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andreweverett360 Book Review, Psychology & Neuroscience

The Tao of Pooh

the-tao-of-pooh


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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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

Managing the Unexpected

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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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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

People Tools For Business

people-tools-for-business


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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andreweverett360 Book Review, Creativity

A Technique for Producing Ideas

a-technique-for-producing-ideas


A Technique for Producing Ideas
by James Webb Young

This concise booklet was first published in the 1940s by James Webb Young, who became vice president of the advertising firm J. Walter Thompson and the first chairman of The Advertising Council. He wrote it in response to the question, “How do you get ideas?”

Before explaining the process, Young presents two principles.

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