An Escape Velocity Bookshelf

Posted: 30 May 2010 07:43 PM PDT

I just used Amazon to build an Escape Velocity Bookshelf (amazon affiliate link). You’ll recall that I’ve been very big on escape velocity (the ability to leave a situation that isn't helpful or desired) for a little while now. It’s actually my big thing for 2010-2011 (and maybe beyond). My goal is to help people humanize business, and find their escape velocity.

In saying this, I’m talking about either adding a few bucks to your bottom line, and/or people who break out of their employee role and take on an owner’s view of the world.

To that end, here are some books that have helped me. Here’s my Escape Velocity Bookshelf (which will pop open a new window). Descriptions are below.

HOW TO GET RICH – by Felix Dennis (founder of Maxim, amongst other magazines) is a great book to give you a sense of a mindset outside that of an employee. Felix starts from poverty and becomes one of the 12 wealthiest people in the UK. It’s not that we might all aspire to be rich, but without seeing another perspective, it’s hard to think beyond where you are.

THINK AND GROW RICH – by Napoleon Hill. This is one of the first self-improvement books of the modern day, and still one of the best. You see a theme here? It’s not “rich” simply in the sense of wealthy, but again, the mindsets in the book help us see something different. Biggest takeaway in the book: the law of attraction type stuff.

RICH DAD, POOR DAD and CASHFLOW QUADRANT – by Robert Kiyosaki. Okay, these books are about getting rich, but what I got out of it was how middle class people see money, and it totally changed my view of money. One example: I used to want to pay my house off, and thought that meant that I’d own an asset. He explains why it’s still a liability, and taught me how to better understand assets.

BUSINESS STRIPPED BARE – Richard Branson. I used to think my ideas for how to build a business were crazy. Well, if I’m crazy, then so is Sir Richard. This book is the best of Branson’s books. I liked it exponentially more than the old books. My copy is written in about once every page or so with notes and ideas.

ESCAPE FROM CUBICLE NATION – Pamela Slim. Pam’s a friend. I think her book is a great way to plunge into thinking differently about life outside of standard employee roles. There’s lots in here and it’s definitely a great book to dip your thoughts into, if you’re still living as an employee, but thinking about whether or not you want to break out and do your own thing.

THE 4 HOUR WORK WEEK – Tim Ferriss. I should qualify this. I like Tim. I like his book. Parts of it are a bit deceptive. It’d be like reading a book by Michael Jordan where he says, “Just throw the ball in a hoop.” But, understanding lifestyle business people’s mindset certainly comes in handy, as does understanding how people outsource this and that.

THE POWER OF LESS – Leo Babauta. Leo’s book is a great way to remind us that multitasking isn’t the be-all, end-all mindset. It’s a book from someone who succeeded quite a lot, and who did it quite differently than most of us. It’s a really great book, and helps me get into a great state of mind every time I read it.

TRUST AGENTS – Me and Julien. Okay, I can’t talk about this without sounding full of myself, but I put it on the list, so let me explain why I think this is important to escape velocity. Make Your Own Game is about differentiating. Between that and several of the other lessons, Julien and I wrote the book for people thinking about achieving escape velocity, even though we didn’t label it that way.

A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS – Donald Miller. This book is about the importance of story. I think there’s a lot of application in it to understanding how to craft your own story. This is vital to making your own path for escape velocity.

SWITCH – Chip and Dan Heath. If Million Miles is about the importance of story, SWITCH is about the best way possible to effect change. This book is the winner for making change work. This book has helped me immeasurably.

LINCHPIN – Seth Godin. Linchpin is a book about becoming indispensable. What it does most for me is remind me that there are lots of mental land mines between me and success.

7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE – Stephen R. Covey. This book changed my life. It gave me a strong sense of realizing that I write my own story. It gave me a sense of how to organize my goals. It told me how to align my priorities. And ultimately, it taught me that you don’t do any of that just once, but over and over in a continuous way.

UNLIMITED POWER – Anthony Robbins. I re-read this a few weeks before I went out to meet Tony Robbins in California to shoot a video project with him. It reminded me about his approach to neuro linquistic programming (NLP), and it gave me a few techniques that I hadn’t used in a very long time. It’s a very tactics-minded book, but has helped me tune some of my approach, and that’s worth it.

SELF-ESTEEM – Matthew McKay. If there was one book to plug a hole in what a lot of us feel bad about, this is it. Self-Esteem by Dr. Matthew McKay has helped me more than most any other book ever written. It did a lot to help me rewrite the insides of my head and give me an internal assessment system instead of needing external validation.

THE WORLD IS FLAT – Thomas Friedman. There are a few parts of this book that changed how I understand business. The part on “value chain disaggregation” was very important to me. It’s already helped me with business decisions several times since the late 90s.

FREAKONOMICS – Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner. This book teaches us that no matter what we think SHOULD happen, it’s all about understanding incentives. The stories are great; it’s well written. But that’s nothing. Look beyond the stories and into the mindset of incentives.

ON WRITING – Stephen King. If I had to recommend any one writing book, it’d be ON WRITING by King. Thing is, skip the first 1/2 unless you really want to know King’s biography. The rest of it? Pure gold.

So Now What?

These are books that have helped me along my path from employee to motivated employee to leader to president to business owner. There are many ways to get to the goal. You might have other books that helped you get there. You might find some of my books aren’t your type of book.

I read two or so books a week (not always to completion, but I fly a lot and don’t watch TV). I might have missed a few of my favorite books along the way, too. That said, these are a pretty good estimation of what made a difference.

Okay, there aren’t very many spiritual-ish books in this pile, but I don’t read many spiritual-ish books. I read 300 Words a Day. Between that and some private spiritual guidance, I’m all set.

So, what should YOU do with the list? See if any of those books appeal to you. If so, consider adding them to your Escape Velocity Bookshelf.

Frames and Assumptions

Posted: 30 May 2010 06:52 AM PDT

I was talking with Rob Hatch about his experience with Touchpoints, an approach to help child development practitioners work with children and families. In that system, there are “assumptions” and “principles.” This has me thinking about how Julien and I talk about “frames,” and frameworks, and how this all applies to human business.

In Touchpoints, an assumption is “The parent is the expert on his/her child.” This means, no matter what you know as a pediatrician, you’re still not the expert of THAT child. You know stuff. The parent knows that child. See the difference?

Squint a bit, and you could say “you are an expert on YOU.” Meaning, you know more about yourself than a doctor, than a teacher, than anyone. In this case, we’ve shifted the frame from “parent” or “child developer” into “person,” and the assumption is still usable.

You with me?

Frames and Assumptions

Think of a frame as “a perspective, with boundaries.” So, when I frame myself as running a media company, it gives me a way of thinking and creating assumptions for my business. If I just framed myself as a blogger, those assumptions are quite different.

We haven’t talked about principles. Principles don’t change. They’re something we apply to various situations. One of my principles is “be helpful.” In all circumstances, I ask myself is there’s a way to be helpful. So, presuming you have a sense of the principles by which you live and operate, then what you can work with are your frames and your assumptions.

Set Your Frames

The single-most powerful thing I do with all things business and self-improvement is to start by setting my frame.

When I took my role at CrossTech Media, I was hired to build out their strategy and grow the business. I pushed everything through the frame of, “I’m here to grow this business.” It was a great way to stay on target, and a great way to look at the opportunities.

Set your frame. Consider who you are and your role in the situations that matter the most to you. At home, how do you frame yourself? What are the right assumptions to carry that frame? At work, same thing. Now more so, do you frame yourself around your place of employment? I say no, by the way.

Your frame is around you. You’re the CEO of your future (or pick a title that you love). And now? Let’s go one layer deeper.

Re-Set Your Frames

One thing where people get tripped up is that we have to re-set our frames from time to time. I’d argue that we have to reset them often. For instance, at CrossTech, I went from being VP of strategy to telling my bosses that I wanted to take over a division and run it as my own company. That’s certainly a bit different than my frame of “define strategy and grow the business.” I changed my frame and decided I’d frame around “do social media marketing well.”

Resetting your frame is so important to your development. I think we get locked up in keeping our old frames around, especially when we consider our job to be the same as our frame. I’m a newspaper reporter; I can’t find work as a newspaper reporter (versus “I’m a content developer; there are tons of jobs for me!).

The Assumptions Follow

Once you have a new frame, determine your assumptions, and make sure you stay aware to how they alter your perception. For instance, if you decide you’re a content developer, maybe you’ll assume that you should always be making new media. But that might have you miss a different type of opportunity. Decide how your assumptions will support your efforts.