Some interesting tidbits about him from the book:

• He loved poetry and quotations
• Would bet on just about anything (how much snow tomorrow), but never more than $5
• Never had more than one beer at dinner
• Old school manners

There’s a great section that talks about cameras in the Court. Obermayer (“Obe”) was in favor of them, but it covers there conversations about how recording trial courts might serve as a leveler, but how those recordings could also be used over time to create caricatures of Justices. It’s a conversation about transparency and how to do it in a way that is positive, a question I continue to try to answer well.

I said above it’s a different book. It’s a friend grieving and sharing for a close friend now gone, and I think it’s written in the way I associate with Card’s speaker for the dead. It doesn’t feel like a book meant to capitalize on the friendship for money. At the same time, I think; would I want someone to write something like this about me, without my implicit ok? It shares things said between friends with the expectation of privacy, does that stop at death, even if well meaning? I don’t know the answer to that.

You won’t find anything revealing here about Court decisions. You’ll get a filtered view of it from one perspective, something the author discusses well in the afterword. If you’re interested in the Supreme Court you’ll find a few small things, and if you’re interested in the man, you’ll learn a few things. I think you’ll learn more if you think about the issues I noted above, and then for a few quiet moments reflect on what a book about you might say.

I found a couple things interesting. One was some discussion of how Americans want their President to behave, basically they expect to see the big dog out and about and within hand shake distance at times even though it represents some level of risk. Another is imagine a job where you have to accept that a certain number of people would kill you if given the chance. Do you block it out? Seems hard to do so when you travel with that kind of security contingent.

But maybe the most interesting is to consider how do you keep an agency and team of protectors…searching for right word here, not motivated/committed, how about satisfied? How do you attract and retain people for a job with just about zero recognition, the very mission is to stay in the background, a job when the very people you guard often resent your presence and often make things hard for you because of political concerns? It’s hard enough at a plain old business, and that doesn’t have anywhere near the level of stress.a

I’m fan of personal brands, so it did catch my eye, but I wasn’t really expecting a lot going into it, I think everyone likes personal brands. But I was just thrilled with the book, and it’s not often I’ll rate something that well. D’Alessandro is the former CEO of John Hancock Insurance. The book has some really great stories from his career, some that are just funny, some that talk about his mistakes and missteps. It’s not quite a formula, but there really are some good lessons in this book, some that I’ve learned the hard way and some that I still need to learn.

For example, he talks about knowing when it’s time to move on, dealing with a bad boss, and how to deal with enemies at work. I like his take on remembering that you never know when what seems like a simple and unimportant conversation or decision can turn out to have a big impact later on. He talks about how to do well, how to stand out from peers, how to compromise. Yet, he acknowledges that there are times when you have to go to war, clearly and aggressively. A man after my own heart all around!

I wish I had read this 20 years ago. Some of the lessons  are obvious, some are cynical, and they reflect how to live in an imperfect world in a pragmatic way.  Would I have been ready to hear them then? Maybe. But definitely now. That doesn’t mean I’m a shining example of his approach, just that I see the hard truth of experience in the lessons.

If you’re serious about branding you need to read this one.

The series is good, though I’ll admit to thinking it might have been done in five books or maybe even four. It’s naval battles set in space, with a lot of tactics in three dimensions. There is a bit of intrigue and politics, especially the latter in this last one. A big focus on honor and not descending to the level of opponents, stuff I largely agree with but is rarely so simple in real life, and the author manages to show some of that throughout the books.

The ending is reasonably happy, though parts of it feel rushed – a strange feeling given that overall the story was stretched too much. The villains end up feeling not quite as formidable as they seemed earlier on.

Still, I can easily recommend the series, and it’s always nice to know that when you read a book there are more to follow already done and waiting.

Imagine taking over managing a team (of DBA’s even) that have been playing at the middle of the pack level, and in very short time taking them to the World Series. Impressive, though certainly only a portion of the credit can go to the manager. But, then imagine that based on those results the fans and the owners don’t just hope for the same performance next year, they expect it, even demand it. That’s pressure, and it’s a lot of what this book is about.

There’s some useful stuff in here for managers, understanding that different people need a different touch, and realizing that in some cases using a back channel to deliver a message accomplishes the goal without the pain that often results when done directly. It’s also interesting to see how much relationships matter, how much good comes from the strong ones, and how much damage results from the weaker ones.

My take on it was that working for the Yankees owners wasn’t fun, and would have required more patience and politics than I could have managed, but the trade off was getting to do things that no other team was doing.

The book was reasonably done, and worth reading if you’re even a casual baseball fan. There are other lessons there, but if you don’t follow baseball you might find them tedious to get to.

My really short summary is that the book talks about how most promises are perceived as light weight or meaningless, and that businesses that take the risk of making deeper promises also buy credibility at the same time. Lots of interesting examples of it in the book, and it feels like a good analysis. As consumers we’re trained to expect fine print and conditions on everything, the rare business that just makes a simple and direct promise stands out of the crowd easily.

It’s got me thinking more, because I’m deep believer in trust and credibility, and in truth there’s nothing I like better than the kinds of things that stem from living and working that way. When you know you’re good at something, willing to cover the loss or mistake if it happens, why not make sure customers know that?

It’s a small book, only about 150 pages, maybe a 30 minute read. I think my only negative was that I wish it was longer, but in fairness it does a good job of covering a fairly narrow topic. The real value is taking the idea and seeing what you can do with it personally or professionally.

The main setting for the book is a hospital and talks about trying to reduce surgical errors and infection rates. One of the interesting tidbits from this is that administering an anti-biotic within 60 minutes of the first incision causes a huge reduction in the chances of post op infection. Even if delivered 30 seconds prior, it still works. Yet, things would happen, the start of surgery would be delayed, and it wouldn’t get done.

Checklists are a simple idea, that turn out to be harder to implement. They have to be specific, but not overly detailed. They have to be crystal clear about who is responsible for doing and checking on items on the list.

The author says (and I agree) that many people don’t like checklists, thinking they take the knowledge/skill out of a task, and uses the example of flying an airplane, where checklists add obvious value, and obviously don’t matter it possible for a non-pilot to just jump up front and fly. There’s also a great story in there about one particular checklist has step #1 as ‘FLY THE PLANE’, because they had figured out that in this situation pilots tended to get buried in fixing the problem…and stopped flying the plane.

I’m going to read this again, and look at places at work where using this will help me. I really recommend this book. It’s not just the idea of checklists, it’s about how to get them to work. Powerful stuff.

Here’s what it looks like:

The book covers the refocusing of Team USA in 2009 to try to win, starting with the competition between US chefs, then the selection process, and finally the months of thinking and preparation leading to the final event. It’s interesting how much thought/work goes into what to cook, then more time on learning to cook it the right way, and then doing it over and over again to make sure that every step is choreographed.

It’s a play by play account, and I found it reasonably interesting.The US team placed 6th, not bad – but not a win either. Little things matter in this competition. For example, the shrimp at the final event were much smaller than they had practiced with, only afterward did they realize the information was available in advance – they just didn’t see it.

It also felt like a look into a world beyond the Food Network. Shows on the Food Network are fun, and meant to be entertaining. This was more of a look at people really serious about their craft, and that’s interesting to me regardless of the topic, understanding just how big the gap is between me making from scratch brownies and these guys.

It’s also a lesson in preparation. From the book you get the impression that we lagged behind a bit all the way, with one more month of prep could have done better (maybe). It’s got to be hard, doing a five hour practice session over and over, and having to clean up each time, making little notes to help things go better the next time. Yet, it’s the repetition and attention to detail that make the difference, not a contest where you can just show up and throw something together.

Here’s a link to the US site: http://www.bocusedorusa.org/

I can see this making reinstalls a lot easier. I can also see me biasing towards tools listed here even if I’m used to using something different – maybe convenience is the trump card.