Monday, October 12, 2015

Book Review – Beyond Measure: The big impact of small changes

Beyond measure: the big impact of small changesBeyond measure: the big impact of small changes by Margaret Heffernan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was listening to the NPR TED Radio Hour and heard Margaret Heffernan speak, and was inspired to pick up her book immediately. She told an incredible story about Super Chickens and how a team of top performs don't necessarily work as a team. Boom.. I pulled over to the side of the road to order this book before I forgot the name.

I only gave this book 4 out of 5 starts because it was too short, and I wanted more. Then again, that could very well be the genius of this book, it's such a quick and easy read, any busy executive or has-some-free-time software developer (such as yours truly) could read it in a heartbeat. The principles of the book are exceptional.. embrace that we all make mistakes, organizational hierarchies can stifle creativity, working more than 40 hours a week is not necessarily more productive, take time to get outside of the office and to walk around to get creative juices flowing.

It's all music to my ears, and sometimes too good to be true. But that's the other lesson of the book.. these aren't things that happen overnight, it's a cultural difference that if you can tweak in your own existing organization (or when creating a new one for yourself), you can build social capital that give you driven and focused employee's, all ready to buy in and lead.

If you're looking for a short, easy read on leadership, pick this up immediately, it's worth every penny.

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