book review

A Whole New Mind – a whole new world

by

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink describes the dawning of the ‘Conceptual Age’. Just as information workers surpassed physical laborers in economic importance, Pink claims, the workplace terrain is changing yet again, and power will inevitably shift to people who possess strong right brain qualities – inventiveness, empathy, … Read more

Four principles of problem solving

by

George Pólya in his 1957 book How to Solve It suggests the following steps when solving a problem:

  1. First, you have to understand the problem
  2. After understanding, then make a plan.
  3. Carry out the plan.
  4. Look back on your work. How could it be better?

If this technique fails, Pólya advises: “If you can’t solve a problem, then there is an easier problem you can solve: find it.” (1957:114)

Read more

Art of the Start

by

Art of the Start The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki (2004) Interesting book on what it takes to be an entrepreneur and a lot of these concepts can apply to transport strategy implementation. The Art of the Start gives  the essential steps to launch great products and services. It  shows … Read more

Are you living a charged life?

by

In Brendon Burchard’s book The Charge he begins by asking: are you trying to muster up enough energy and enthusiasm to get through your busy, meeting choked day? Are you also just trying to make it to the weekend so you can do the something you really want to do?

He identifies three modes of living and we all predominately live in one of these. More on that in a minute. The good news is that “you can choose to keep it, amplify it, or change it all together.”

Recent psychology research indicates we operate on either an internal or external locus of control – referring to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them.

Read more

The 80/20 Principle

by

Would you like to learn how to get more done with less effort, eliminate wasteful activities?
The 80/20 Principle, or Pareto Principle, or the Law of the Critical Few, has been described in all sorts of ways by many different people, but the central idea is the same: a few things are responsible for most of the results.

This is the basis of Koch’s book The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less. 

Read more