Creating Magic

When I read a business book, I’m often looking for the hot, sexy idea that puts a new spin on things, the innovative perspective that helps me see things in a new way, the dead-on research that makes a compelling case all by itself. Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney by Lee Cockerell is none of these things.

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Shatzkin’s Bad News, Good News

Someone recently asked me a helpful diagnostic question for those in leadership, a question that helps you get at the big picture. “What causes you to lose sleep at night?” Certainly for me the Great Recession and the sea changes it may be bringing in book publishing have been right at the top of the list for me.
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400 Years Ago Today, Galileo Didn’t Invent the Telescope

There are many myths about Galileo. One is that he invented the telescope. (He didn’t. Hans Lippershey gets the honors. A year afterward, on this date four hundred years ago, Galileo demonstrated his version of the device to merchants in Venice. (The sale price was not a pound of flesh.)

Here’s a little quiz to see how good you are at separating fact from fiction. Jot down which you think are true and which are false:

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The e-Book Competition Heats Up

Offering competition in the marketplace is the American way–and the Japanese way too, apparently.

Sony has just announced that it will be adopting an open e-book format (called ePub) to help counter the early lead Amazon’s Kindle proprietary format has taken in the market. Those who buy e-books on Kindle can only read them on Kindle (or iPhone). The open ePub format will allow readers to buy e-books and read them on the device of their choosing.
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The Presence of War

Someone recommended to me that at least once a year I should read a book that is over fifty years old. What seems so hot and compelling now may be forgotten and rather pointless ten or even five years from now. Dave Barry, for example, describes the 1960s as an era in which “a nation gets high and has amazing insights, many of which later turn out to seem kind of stupid.” That’s kind of like what many bestsellers turn out to be.
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160 Million

I was with a group of friends recently when another common myth of western civilization was trotted out as if it were gospel. “We all know religion has caused more violence and death than anything else.”

“Well, actually, that’s not true,” I ventured.

Heads turned. Mouths gaped. The planet itself seemed to wobble on its axis. “What facts do you have to support that?” said the historian in the group, eyebrow arched.
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