Lougheed

I never read fiction

But I started to a few nights ago.  Instead of feeding my magazine addiction before bed the other night, my wife suggested some fiction.  She had read "Angels and Demons" and I had been avoiding the whole Dan Brown thing for years now.  I generally don't read much fiction and even at 33 I still hate big trends. 

I started reading and it's pretty much roped me in.  Secret societies of scientists and murder are keeping me entertained and looking forward to reading.  I'll still tear apart an Economist (ok Maxim), but fiction is a nice escape.

Good to Great

I'm only a few chapters in and I can say this is an incredible book.  The author looks at 11 companies (Abbott Laboratories, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberly-Clark, Kroger, Nucor, Philip Morris, Pitney Bowes, Walgreen, and Wells Fargo) and tries to figure out what made them great.  So far:

(1) Senior management needs to be what they call "Level 5 leadership".  In short, humble, driven individuals who put all their ambition into growing the company.  Level 5 leaders look at themselves when assigning blame for bad things, and point to their team when things are good. 

(2) People aren't your best asset - the right people are. The author argues that great leadership will assemble the team first then decide where to take the company.  It seems backwards but it makes a lot of sense.

I was introduced to the book by a client we were doing work for last summer.  He's a smart guy and so far he was right - the book is worth a read.

House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time

Probably only worth a read if you're familiar with the mad, odd world of management consulting.  The title is a little misleading - it's written more like a journal than the industry expose I was hoping for - god knows it wouldn't be hard to write.  It's disjointed and the author isn't particularly likeable, but it reminded me of the alternate reality that is "Big 5" consulting.

I learned a lot about business at CGEY, but I mostly learned that living life in airports and hotels isn't life at all.  I also learned that Pontiac is a dump in the suburban bowels of Detroit - a land of big trucks, big hair, and a big eye-opener for me.  Detroit ain't Toronto - thank Steven Harper's Koppel-kut for that.

Shoot Junk. Repeat.

Anthony Kiedis' "Scar Tissue" is about being an asshole and doing a lot of drugs.  I had no idea that he was brutally addicted to heroin for most of his career.  It's an interesting story and I enjoyed it. 

He's an egomaniac and a junkie, but he's an original.  I figured out I've been listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers since 1986's Thrashin, where they made a small appearance in a small movie.  I saw the Red Hots in 1992 at Lollapalooza in Molson Park.  We had an amazing day and saw the musical event of a lifetime.  Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Ministry, Ice Cube - all at the height of their relevance.

Pick up this book if you enjoyed the excellent "The Dirt:  Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band".  If you haven't read that one, read it just for the Ozzy story.  Trust me.

Know thy enemy

David Frum is the "mastermind" behind Bush's foreign policy.  He wrote this book to spell out why the US has no choice but to reach out aggressively and destroy the "enemies of freedom".  Frum is as far right as they come and uncompromisingly manifests just why the United States is entitled to world supremacy.

He has good points.  The lawless situation in Iraq bears striking resemblance to the 1980's Central America, and it "turned out just fine".  Frum reminds Europe that the US saved them twice from evil dictators and sacrificed American lives to do it, only now to have "Old Europe" betray the stars and stripes.

I believe Frum wants the best for the future of America.  However, I don't believe he could give a shit about the future of the rest of the world.  America's right wing uses the same literal interpretation of ancient writings to justify hate that the terrorists do.  How can we stop terrorism?  The long and short answer - alternative energy sources.  The alternative is a nuclear attack from extremists representing the short end of Uncle Sam's stick.

Libeskind in the flesh

I won tickets to see Heither Reisman interview Daniel Libeskind at Chapters Indigo's Manulife store.  Daniel is of course the master architect of the new World Trade Center site, and he is also a tiny man with very big feet.  He spoke eloquently and optimisticly about architecture, love, and art for about 45 minutes.  I bought a copy of his book "Breaking Ground" which Heather claimed she read from start to finish in a single night.   I haven't done that since "The Amityville Horror" and I still hate seeing 3:15AM on a clock.   Daniel was engaging, and reminded the audience of the importance of having a vision and believing in it enough to see it through.  I think it's important to make time to listen to optimistic people as the world becomes more dark and less certain.  The trouble, these days, is finding them.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs

Stay away from this one.  I was intrigued because the author is the same age as me and seemed as obsessed with pop culture as I am.  As it turns out, he's just angry and bored after a life of television and Gen X post-angst something or other.....

An entire chapter is dedicated to his love for MTV's "The Real Life" - all 12 seasons of it.  Other essay topics include Pam Anderson, Lakers/Celtics rivalry, and the Sims.   The most disappointing was his go-nowhere chapter providing painstaking detail of his roadtrip with a Guns N' Roses cover band.  I know that sounds good, but by the end I really didn't care.