The Science of Serendipity

The Science of Serendipity by Matt Kingdon shows large, complex organizations how to open the door to the kind of creative thinking that leads to commercial success. With a focus on the twin concepts of serendipity and innovation, Kingdon explains how established businesses can shake off the rust, dodge bureaucratic pitfalls, and find new directions while boosting their bottom lines. Kingdon, cofounder of ?WhatIf! Innovation Partners, cites abundant examples drawn from his company’s experiences working with different corporate clients. After considering what qualities a corporate innovator must have, Kingdon discusses specific techniques and strategies for every stage of the process, from an initial idea to a successful launch. His emphasis is always on the concrete and practical: how to test an idea, sell it to the hierarchy, and bring it to market.

Rice Wine with the Minister

In Rice Wine with the Minister, Andrew and Nada Kakabadse organize their wealth of personal experience in the global marketplace into a logical structure of steps that the global executive can take to succeed in today’s business world. The predominant themes of the text are the ubiquitousness of globalization and the critical importance of cultural sensitivity for effective leadership. Replete with examples of multinational organizations’ successes and failures around the globe, this text elucidates abstract concepts and distills them into practical applications. No area of the globe is overlooked, and the authors work hard to compare and contrast global cultures, highlighting the challenges of conducting business in a world that is both homogeneous and heterogeneous.

The Principles of Ethical Intelligence

There are five simple principles of ethical intelligence that all leaders must follow:

1. Do No Harm. This is inspired by the classic oath taken by doctors and other healthcare professionals. While there are some situations in which doing harm is unavoidable, individuals are obligated to reduce the amount of harm that is done to a person or a company.

2. Make Things Better. This is tied to the belief that improving one’s own life is the key to improving the lives of others. The message of this principle ties with something that frequent air travelers are quite familiar with: the idea of securing one’s own oxygen mask first during cabin decompression. With their own mask secured, people can better assist others who may be struggling.

3. Respect Others. In addition to respecting legal rights, leaders must also be respectful of people by following the golden rule: “Treat others as you wish to be treated.” Telling others the truth, and keeping their confidential information a secret, is the path to true respect.

4. Be Fair. Being Fair means giving others what is due to them. This can be broken down into three main prongs: rectifying injustice, disciplining people proportionally, and spreading scarce resources around in an equitable way.

5. Be Loving. This can also be thought of as being compassionate toward others. This fifth and final principle can be compared to a can of WD-40 lubricant. While not absolutely necessary, the idea of compassion “makes things flow better.” In some ways, Being Loving is the most important of the five principles. While it may not be necessary in the business world, compassion toward others can help people more fully embrace the other four principles of ethical intelligence. Being Loving is more of an ideal than an ethical requirement, but it is an ideal that Weinstein believes leaders must aspire to.


This article is based on the book "Ethical Intelligence" by Bruce Weinstein, PhD. The book summary is available online at Business Book Summaries.

Networking: Business Talk for "Getting on with People"

Looking for meaningful networking opportunities? It is essential to focus on on in-person networking events, rather than social networking sites, as sites such as LinkedIn are simply a step or conduit to securing a face-to-face meeting.

Furthermore, sales representatives are warned to not be fooled into thinking that just because they are “connected” to hundreds of people online that they have a real relationship with those people, let alone a relationship that would lead to any sort of actual business. Alternatively, actual in-person networking with strangers can be a very worthwhile endeavor.

Not only does it pay to practice conversational skills and the ability to empathize with total strangers, but by showing genuine interest in other people, an opportunity for locating a new target or lead may materialize organically in conversation. More often than not, however, networking events are formal, structured events.

Salespeople should avoid general networking affairs and instead focus on events that include members of a specific target market. For example, Person A has a company whose services benefit lawyers. Therefore, he attends those meetings where lawyers or those who do training at law firms are sure to be in attendance.

One of the biggest benefits to networking only within target markets is that with each attendance a person can raise their profile and be noticed. Getting noticed is also why it is suggested that it is important to not just attend, but also speak, at these events. Standing up in front of one’s target market is the best way to stand out and be remembered.

This article is based on the book "How to Be Great at the Stuff You Hate." The book summary is available online at Business Book Summaries.

Create a Culture of Learning

When something goes wrong within an organization, there is a tendency to focus on identifying who dropped the ball. While discovering the source of the problem is a logical starting point to prevent a reoccurrence, it can also demoralize employees.

Focusing on blame creates a culture of fear in which creativity is stifled and employees concentrate on avoiding punishment--whether public embarrassment, disciplinary action, or dismissal--at any cost. There are several examples of this type of culture, including doctors who are fearful of being sued for a missed diagnosis so they classify healthy patients as sickly.

On the other hand, creating a culture that embraces learning sends the signal that mistakes are an inevitable part of growth and success. For example, Children's Hospitals and Clinics in Minneapolis created a culture of learning by implementing an anonymous reporting system that allows any of the hospital's employees to report medical errors without revealing their identity.

Also, the organization has adopted an open communication policy that admits liability to patients for medical errors. Ironically, research involving drug-administration errors reveals that high-performing medical institutions and teams are more likely to admit errors, and these disclosures provide opportunities to learn from and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

However, the institutions that reported the least amount of errors were not rated as highly in performance and reputation. Their failure to acknowledge mistakes impedes opportunities for growth and improvement.

Leaders can create a culture of learning by rewarding responsibility over denying or shifting blame, and by creating a system of open and honest feedback. They can also shape a learning-based culture by admitting their own vulnerability to make mistakes.

Both leaders and employees can help to create a better environment by taking a rational approach to blame and credit. Most people are inclined to expect and accept praise while rejecting accountability and criticism.

Realizing the historical, cultural, and situational dynamics of credit and blame can help individuals to better understand themselves and others. Armed with this knowledge, companies can sidestep blame game triggers and focus on learning from the past while forging a successful future.

This article is based on the book "The Blame Game." The book summary is available online at Business Book Summaries.

Fire, Flow, and Future

Today's business managers benefit from an unprecedented number of quality improvement tools, such as lean manufacturing, re-engineering, Total Quality Management, and Six Sigma. Yet despite substantial investments, many companies continue to see slow improvement in the quality of their products, services, and processes.

Management is routinely troubled by questions such as "Why are my sales dropping off?"; "What can I do about excessive scrap?" and "How do I reduce high turnover?" How they decide to answer those questions has a measurable impact on both quality and the bottom line.

LEO can help organizations find ideal solutions to these questions not because it is a better management tool than the likes of Six Sigma, but because it causes a shift in every person's frame of mind, affecting how they approach problems and how they decide which actions to take. LEO is a broad methodology that transforms how existing management tools are used, and it operates best when used by people at all levels in an organization.

While designing LEO, there are three scenarios with the most room for quality improvement: Fire, Flow, and Future. In a Fire deployment, LEO is used to solve an isolated, often unexpected problem that needs immediate attention and an accompanying change in quality -- for example, when a food manufacturer's product is suddenly and inexplicably underweight.

A Flow deployment seeks to improve quality in the operational processes of an organization--for example, a hospital's procedure for hiring nurses or a manufacturer's process for creating an RFQ (a request for quote). In a Future deployment, quality is built into the process of innovation.

All three of these scenarios are focused on improving an existing product or service or developing an entirely new one. Regardless of the type of deployment, a LEO team should be appointed to follow same three-step process of Listen, Enrich, and Optimize.

While the composition of the team will vary by deployment, in general it should be led by someone from management, and team members should be chosen based on who the scenario effects and requires input from. No deployment can succeed unless the executive cadre is actively supporting it each and every day.

This article is based on the book "Power of LEO." The book summary is available online at Business Book Summaries.

The Science of Personal Success

The findings concerning personal change are based on research focused on "Changers." Changers are people who were able to overcome significant personal challenges and successfully changed their behaviors and habits for at least three years. 

Research conducted by the Change Anything Labs found that a major barrier to successfully changing behavior is not a lack of willpower, but the false belief that willpower is essential for change. In reality, skills can be learned that improve a person's ability to successfully change behavior.

Many sources of influence prevent people from altering their habits. Individuals who use tools to control those influences, however, tend to be much more successful at changing behaviors.

For example, Change Anything researchers discovered that after learning a few simple skills to control influences, 50 percent of experimental subjects were able to resist temptations. There are identified six sources of influence that affect people as they try to change their habits. They are also identified change tactics that can help counteract each of these influences.

People who follow these steps and align sources of influence in their favor are more likely to achieve personal success.

1. Personal motivation. Although personal impulses can be compelling, it is possible to interrupt these impulses by connecting with personal goals during crucial moments.

2. Personal ability. A proven way to change habits is to enhance personal ability and to learn new skills.

3. Social motivation. There is a clear social component to bad habits. When friends encourage bad behavior and also engage in it, this is very difficult to resist. If individuals can transform "accomplices" into "friends" who encourage good behavior, they are more likely to change their habits.

4. Social ability. To change longstanding habits, people usually need support from other people. Individuals who get a life coach or mentor are often more successful at changing behaviors.

5. Structural motivation. People who connect short-term rewards or punishments to new habits are usually more likely to adopt those new habits.

6. Structural ability. Researchers have found that minor environmental changes can have a significant effect on a person's choices. Individuals experience faster behavior changes when they add visual cues to help them focus on their goals.


By understanding these influences, it is possible for people to consciously design change plans that address them. Individuals who incorporate the six sources of influence into their change plans are ten times more likely to succeed than people who do not take this approach.

This article is based on the book "Change Anything." The book summary is available online at Business Book Summaries.