A gem from 1997! — The Circle of Innovation by Tom Peters — Part 1 of 2
Written by Tom Peters and Published in 1997, I recently came across this 500 page book at a Library. It had me smiling a lot!
The most fascinating thing about this book? Written about 23 years ago it talks about Leading by Design, Prototyping, 5 Day experimentation, Customer Focus, Mindset, way before concepts like Agile, Design Sprint, Lean Startup, Customer Experience, Growth Mindset were invented in the year 2000s!
This book, as its names suggests is about innovation. In Part 1 of my notes, I shall talk about how we as individuals can become more productive!
In Part 2, I shall talk about how organizations can become more productive and innovative.
Here we go!
- We are all Rapidly Depreciating Assets! — Wow! I have never come across anybody describing us humans, like this before!
Over a period of time our beliefs, filters over filters of looking at the world make us adopt a mindset and see things in a certain way that makes us blind to other perspectives, other ways of living. What is the percentage of your Depreciation Year over Year? Is it 10%? 20%? Whatever it is, it ain’t a low % of depreciation! - To counter your depreciation, you need to have a RIP (Renewal Investment Plan)
Write down on a notebook and be utterly honest with yourself what areas of your life needs investment for Renewal! Have somebody else review it over a period of 30 days. Stay committed! - How do you measure your RIP?
Have an Audacity Score!
10 on an Audacity scale means you are an Olympic level Reinventor. On this level, people are not only committed but extremely determined to turn their world upside down over the next 12 months with or without your Company’s help!
5 means the person is working hard on Reinventing themselves but not as paranoid as the number 10s. This group is largely unimaginative.
1 means, the person is overworked and is part of a ‘leave me alone’ gang. They have no time for renewal - Have a tiny notebook with you at all times! This method has been famously talked about and practiced by Richard Branson, James Altucher Write down everything that makes you feel curious or makes you go Wow!
- Think Think Think!
- Think You! — What does your Brand stand for? Take the Personality Brand Equity (PBE) Test
1. I am known for (2–4 Items) by next year at this time. I plan also to be known for (1–2 items.
2. My current project is provocative and challenging to me in the following (1–3 ways)
3. New learnings in the last 90 days include (1–3 items)
4. My public (local, regional, national, global) ‘visibility program’ consists of (2–4 items)
5. Important new additions to my Rolodex (Network) in the last 90 days are (2–5 names)
6. Important relationships nurtured in the last 90 days include (1–3 names)
7. My principal ‘resume enhancement activity’ for the next 60–90 days is (1 item)
8. My resume is specifically different then last year’s at this time in the following (1–3 ways)
- Think Resume — How significantly different is your resume this year compared to the previous year? Take the Resume Test.
1. You can point to 2–3 Completed Projects/Products/Features that generated certain Outcomes for Certain Customers which inturn had an Impact!
2. You can enumerate, qualitatively and possibly quantitatively the benefits in each of these delivered Projects/Products/Features
3. You can provide references of your Customers who can testify that you did a great job the last year
4. You can explain precisely what you have learnt that’s new and how it makes you more valuable on the labor market for skill your skill set
5. You can point to new members who you have added to your network by influencing their lives in a meaningful way
6. You can work up a resume that is distinctly different than your resume in the past year
Happy Learning and Become an Infinite Learner as Sachin Rekhi mentions! Maybe you could use my Productivity Framework Available here: https://medium.com/producthood/productivity-framework-for-product-managers-97aac74b9e9a to start learning and performing at the same time.
