800-CEO-Read announced their 2011 awards for best business books.

You can read the entire book summaries on their blog post here.

The winners are:

Head over to 800-CEO-Read’s website and check out the many resources they make available.

Enjoy!

I saw a wonderful movie recently and I want to use it as an excuse to send you over to my new personal blog… both because it’s been a number of years since I’ve published a more 

personal set of reflections and because the movie is as pertinent here on Working Matters as it is there.

The movie is Finding Joe, and I recommend it highly. Click here to read my review.

The blog is called, Karl on Life, and is me thinking out loud about the rest of life… which also matters as much as—if not more than—Working Matters.

- Karl Edwards

Yes, you heard me correctly. Have you celebrated your latest failure yet?

We celebrate failure because failure is a potent form of learning. Those of you who have worked with me know how we go about reframing our negative failure experiences into positive learning events.

This week’s Economist has an interesting article on the value of failing early and often. (You can read it here: “Fail Often, Fail Well”)

They point out not only that failure is a good teacher, but also a sign of creativity and the ability to adjust and persevere.

There are even companies that throw “failure parties”!

What about you? Does failure knock you out of the game or provide valuable information about how to move forward differently?

In the one case failure feels like an enemy, from another perspective failure can be quite the friend.

Check out the article. Then throw yourself a failure party!

On your side,

- Karl Edwards

As if looking for work wasn’t stressful enough.

Interviews can be nerve-wracking affairs. No matter how mutual you try to make the exchange, there is no getting away from the fact that the hiring person has the job and you don’t.

As a result of this power differential, we can easily feel that we are the only one on trial, the only one being evaluated, the only one with much at stake.

Mike King is someone I keep my eye on. He has put together an almost overwhelming list of 100 interview tips. You can find it at: “100 Ways to Ace an Interview” on his web site Learn This.

Suggestion for benefiting from King’s list
Read quickly through the list paying special attention to your initial responses as you do so.

1. Which three tips seem most immediately helpful to you?
   Decide how you will incorporate these three ideas into your next interview.
2. Which three tips were brand new or surprising thoughts for you?
   Reflect on what you might be able to learn from these three tips.
3. With which three tips do you disagree most?
   Disagreement is often a clue to an important value of your own. What underlying values of yours do these three tips violate?

We want to be playing at the top of our game when interviewing. Playing at the top of one’s game, though, does not mean play-acting. It means showing up fully yourself and comfortably yourself.

Click here for Mike King’s “100 Ways to Ace an Interview.”

On your side,

- Karl Edwards

“The numbers demand…” “We have no choice in light of the numbers.” So go the rationale (read excuses) for avoiding the stewardship of their power because of the illusory objectivity of raw data.

Amar Behidé of Tufts University in The Judgment Deficit argues that we have set aside what the economy really needs, i.e. “individual judgment and initiative” in favor of “statistical models and algorithms.”

I recommend you give this article a good hard read. While Bhidé writes specifically to the financial sector and its practices, the case for individual judgment is broadly applicable and immediately relevant. (Download here.)

We need you to show up at work today!

On your side,

- Karl Edwards

I‘ve long interpreted “maybe” as a polite “no.” My experience in my circles has been there are only two answers people give, “yes” and “maybe.” But evidently there are as many definitions and uses of the word as there are socially indirect communicators.

After offering a variety of reasons why a person might respond to a question with an answer that is not an answer at all, Bernstein does a nice job of alerting us to awkward, insensitive and unhelpful impact our “maybe” has on the questioner.

While interesting to read the reasons (excuses?) people opt for the non-response of “maybe,”  the insight is small consolation. That’s like asking an abused spouse to be more understanding of why her or his spouse is so violent.

The person needing the counseling is the perpetrator not the victim.

This is where Bernstein’s insights about the negative impact of a “maybe” response are worth their weight in gold to the discerning reader. If a few more of us find more direct ways to communicate our situations, then the word, “maybe” wouldn’t have to do so much more work than it really can.

Take a look at the article here. How often do you find yourself using “maybe” as a response? How do you feel when you receive “maybe” as a response to your invitations?

On your side,

- Karl Edwards

Voracious reader friend Don Silver always has an eye out for what interests me. Clippings from Don is a column where I pass on some of these articles, stories and resources to you.

I wanted to let you know that he’s blogging now, and you need to be taking advantage of this free access to this great guy.

Logan Leadership is sure to become a valuable gathering place to discuss the state of the art in leadership practices, develop practical resources for enhancing personal effectiveness, and for thinking creatively and critically about the future of the Christian community.

I have both worked alongside Bob in education and retained his coaching expertise for my own business. He is refreshingly direct, practical and fully focused on you and your pressing issues, concerns and directions.

I‘m excited that of the many ways he is actively sharing his breadth of knowledge, he has added the social web as one of the places where we can easily find, learn and interact with him.

Click on over to Logan Leadership and make Bob a regular part of your on-going leadership development efforts. You won’t be disappointed.

On your side,

- Karl Edwards

A reminder to simplify. A reminder that less is more. A reminder that we cannot do everything. A reminder that we must, in fact, do something.

I’ve been advising myself and others to “focus and push” in various ways and forms for years now.

This week valued friend and associate, Rodney Walker of Walker & Associates, offers a helpful piece, “3 Common Mistakes Businesses Make By Doing Too Much” on his blog.

Check out his practical suggestions for exchanging busyness for effectiveness. His advise on allocating time, nurturing connections, and continually improving are excellent.

Rodney Walker is a must-meet professional. Make a point to have a conversation with him if you haven’t yet.

On your side,

- Karl Edwards

Just because your employer will lay you off the very moment their cash flow slows, doesn’t mean that you don’t give your best right up to that moment.

You do this not because you owe anything to your employer, but because you owe it to yourself.

I came across a great article this morning, A Year-End Commitment: Engage Yourself wherein Susan Cramm at the Harvard Business Review makes a great case for showing up fully engaged at work simply because that is what kind of person you are.

Check it out.

You’d be in my dream office.

Now we can do it. IdeaPaint is here.

I’m seeing whole new worlds emerge. Creativity unleashed. Random ideas captured. Boundary-less brain maps.

This is emancipation day for the right side of the brain!

Check it out.