I have long been a fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done™ (GTD). If you are serious about increasing your productivity, this is the one book you must read. His methodology is the most effective I have seen.
I have written extensively on my implementation of David’s system. Here is a sampling of previous posts:
Like every other company, we are looking for ways to cut costs. One of the things we have been experimenting with is video conferencing.
Two years ago, I looked at a very sophisticated video conferencing system. It had cameras that you could move and zoom on both ends of the conversation. But it was about $80,000—a little more than I wanted to spend.
Continue reading "Cut Travel Costs with Video Conferencing" »
The new iPhone 3G launches next week. July 11 to be exact. You’ve seen the ads. You’ve read the hype. Now let’s be honest. You’ve already made the decision to buy an iPhone 3G. You fell in love the first time you saw it. Now, you just need to justify the decision and enroll your brain in the process.
Here are my top ten reasons to buy (or upgrade to) the iPhone 3G. These might also come in handy in trying to convince your spouse!
Continue reading "Top 10 Reasons to Buy the New iPhone 3G" »
Last week, one of my friends asked, “How do you get through all of your email. It’s killing me. I just can’t seem to get on top of it.” I know the feeling.
Actually, I get asked this question a lot. Despite all the current technology and software tools available, many people are falling further behind with each passing day. They just can’t seem to keep up with the avalanche of digital messages hitting their inbox.
The Amazon Kindle has sparked (pun intended) a great deal of debate. It seems that people either love it or hate it. Me? I’m probably somewhere in the middle. Despite its obvious shortcomings, I think it’s a giant step forward, and I want to see it succeed.
But I think the device has a ways to go before it creates the kind of seismic shift that the iPod created in the music world. In order for an eBook to succeed, it must incorporate four essential components. I have listed these in priority order.
Since I wrote my initial post last night, Amazon’s Kindle page has gone live. If you don’t do anything else, go to the page and watch the basic intro video. (If you scroll down, you’ll see a larger version of the intro video.) It looks even more interesting than I thought. It has certainly come a long way since I first saw the device 18 months ago.
As of today, Thomas Nelson has 668 titles available for Kindle download. Bob Edington, our VP of Internet Sales, tells me that many, many more are on their way. (Evidently, Amazon is trying to catch up with the backlog.) Just to put this into perspective, Zondervan, the second largest publisher in our space, has 53 titles. Tyndale, the third largest publisher in our space, has 57.
According to a new Newsweek report, entitled The Future of Reading, Amazon will introduce a device this week that could usher in the long-awaited ebook revolution. It is called the Amazon Kindle, named to evoke the crackling ignition of knowledge.
According to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (pictured above),
This is the most important thing we’ve ever done.... It’s so ambitious to take something as highly evolved as the book and improve on it. And maybe even change the way people read.
I was just browsing SlideShare.net and stumbled across an excellent set of slides called, “Death by PowerPoint” by Alexei Kapterev. (Click on the image below to watch it.) He talks about why so many PowerPoint presentations are so bad. More importantly, he teaches you what you can do to make your presentations stand out.
If you use PowerPoint (or Apple Keynote) to make your presentations, this is well-worth a careful look. If you want even more help, I recommend two sites. The first is Presentation Zen. This is Garr Reynold’s site and one of my personal favorites. He doesn’t post that often, but it is always worth the wait. He also has a book by the same title coming out in January. I can’t wait to get my hands on it and have already pre-ordered it.
Several people have written to ask how I am managing my current workflow. Most of those writing are “GTD practitioners” (inspired by David Allen’s bestseller, Getting Things Done) who are specifically interested in what software tools I am using. So, I thought I would I would dedicate a post to providing an overview of my current practices.
My current computer is an Apple MacBook Pro with a 2.4 GHz processor and 4 GB of memory. I installed the new Leopard operating system a week and a half ago, when it first came out. I made two complete backups of my hard drive before I installed it, and so far I am enjoying it.
Yes, I agree that the interface is elegant—even seductive. I was blown away by Steve’s demo. It made me drool.
Our company has had an Intranet site for several years. We call it, “The House,” as a reference to our corporate logo. It has housed our company phone directory, employee handbook, various policies, etc.
The problem was that our Intranet was static—“read only.” If you wanted to make a change, you had to get someone in the IT department to do it.
If you do a lot of speaking, you’re eventually going to experience a technological malfunction. Your computer will crash. The projector won’t work. Your clicker will stop responding. The sound system will short out. Something will go haywire. Count on it.
Yesterday, I felt like I watched a train wreck in slow motion. I was attending a trade association conference. One of the speakers had a technological meltdown. First, his lavaliere microphone wouldn’t work. So, the conference organizer gave him a hand-held mic. He briefly apologized and then launched into his introduction.
It was great. Except that the production guy, walked to the stage while the speaker was speaking and stood in front of him like a dog waiting for a biscuit. He wanted to change out the batteries in the lavaliere. Of course, this was incredibly distracting to the speaker and the audience. So, we waited for the batteries to be changed out. This didn’t fix the problem, so we went back to the handheld.
I frequently use Amazon to track how our books are ranked. More importantly, I use it to track how those ranking change over time. This is especially important on big books where you need near-immediate feedback. Often, you can see a direct correlation between a specific promotion or publicity event and upward movement in Amazon’s rankings.
The problem is that this can be a slow and tedious process. You have to go to Amazon’s Web site, search for the book you want, go to the specific title page, and then scroll down to the metadata to see the “Amazon.com Sales Rank.” However, unless you are willing to manually log this data into an Excel spreadsheet, there’s no way to keep track of the ranking history.
Continue reading "Track Amazon Sales Rankings with TitleZ " »
Warning: this post will likely only be relevant to you if you are a blogger or are thinking about starting a blog.
I’ve been blogging on and off for almost three years. Periodically, I am asked about how to start a blog. I have posted on that topic previously, so I won’t repeat myself here.
However, I also get asked about the specific tools I use. Since I started blogging, I have used several. But for the last six month or so months, I have settled into a grove with the following four:
Presentation software, like PowerPoint or Keynote, can be wonderful tools if used correctly. They can also be a dangerous distraction that interferes with communication rather than facilitating it.
In my role as CEO of Thomas Nelson, I sit through scores of presentations. Most of these are on PowerPoint. Most of them are done poorly.
I often think the presenter would be more compelling if he would ditch the presentation software and just speak. Because of this, I’ve even thought of outlawing presentation software in our company. But alas, It has become a staple of corporate life. It is the ubiquitous prop that attends every presentation.
Iam a frequent reader of Guy Kawasaki’s blog, How to Change the World. If you haven’t yet discovered Guy, he is must-reading.
Recently, I began noticing some of the cool features on his blog. One of them is a “star rating” at the bottom of each post. It is powered by MajikWidget. So I thought I’d give it a try here.
I am now including a star rating at the bottom of each post. I really do want to hear from you, so please use this opportunity to provide feedback. It just takes a single click to register your rating.
Technorati Tags: blogs, cool software, guy kawasaki
Seth Godin: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
I am really enjoying this book. It presents a whole new model of leadership.
David Viney: Get to the Top on Google: Tips and Techniques to Get Your Site to the Top of the Search Engine Rankings -- and Stay There
This book is mind-blowing. If you have a Web site or a blog and are serious about getting it to the top of Google’s organic rankings, this is the book you need.
Daniel S. Harkavy: Becoming a Coaching Leader: The Proven Strategy for Building Your Own Team of Champions
This is a critical resource for every leader. It is different than every other leadership book you have read. Guaranteed.
Leander Kahney: Inside Steve’s Brain
To understand Apple’s amazing success, particularly in recent years, you have to understand how Steve Jobs thinks. If you buy into the premise that extraordinary outcomes come from extraordinary actions and extraordinary actions come from extraordinary thinking, you’ll want to understand how Jobs thinks and what you can learn from it.
Richard Rohr: Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer
I have two books by Richard Rohr. Both of them blew me away. This book must be read in short doses. It is very potent. It is more than a book about prayer. It is a book about life.
Shelby Foote: The Civil War: A Narrative (3 Vol. Set)
If you like David McCullough (1776, John Adams, Truman, etc.), you will love this history of the Civil War. I could not put it down. As is the case of most history, the book is full of leadership lessons and insights.
Dr. Bob Rotella: Golf Is a Game of Confidence
From time to time, I enjoy reading books on golf psychology. This is one of the best I have read. It basically focuses on directing a golf ball like you direct any ball—you focus on where you want it to go!
Eugene O’Kelly: Chasing Daylight
A remarkable by the former CEO of KPMG. Diagnosed with late-stage brain cancer, O’Kelly figures out life only when he is faced with his own imminent death. Must reading!
Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
I'm reading this now for our book club. I haven't read it since high school. It is an amazingly well-written book. It gives you a peak into pre-civil-war America.
Graham Greene: The Power and the Glory
We just read this book in our book club. I wanted to throw it across the room after three chapters. But I stayed with it. I'm glad I did. It is an amazing novel with some powerful, redemptive themes.
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