Today's episode (#313) of the podcast is a bit of a departure from the norm. Instead of interviewing a guest about their book or other work, I'm reading what's basically an audiobook-style excerpt of the first part of my new book Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More.
I say “audiobook-style” because it's not professionally produced and my voice has been bad after being sick last week… but I thought this would be one way to share some of this material and promote the book. I won't be doing a full-blown audiobook because the book is so full of charts, I don't think it all translates well to the audiobook format. But, here I'm reading the foreword, the preface, the introduction, and part of Chapter 1.
You can read the entirety of Chapter 1 here on my book's website. Or you can view the Leanpub “Free Sample.”
I also hope you'll check out the two free webinars that I'm doing on August 20 and 27 — on some of the core concepts of Measures of Success for a healthcare audience (the 20th) and a broader crowd (the 27th).
Streaming Player:
For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/313.
For earlier episodes of my podcast, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS, through Android apps, or via Apple Podcasts. You can also subscribe and listen via Stitcher.
Thanks for listening! And I hope you'll check out the book!
My Book's Daruma Doll
I've had a “Daruma doll” sitting in my office since, I think, my trip to Japan in 2014. It was just sitting there, as I bought it. I hadn't used it for goal setting or good luck. It was just a decoration. But I decided to use it for the goal of writing Measures of Success.
My friend Katie Anderson has written about Daruma dolls on her blog (and she loves giving them out to people):
And the Daruma doll is a theme in Matt May's book The Shibumi Strategy, as we talked about in an earlier podcast (and you can hear his daughter explain how they work in the video that follows):
As Katie wrote in her blog post:
“The concept of the Daruma doll is that the owner colors in one of the doll's eyes when setting a goal. When the goal is achieved, the person colors in the other eye. The doll is supposed to be a visual reminder of the goal and help motivate the person. Daruma dolls can be found (big or small) in shops throughout Japan.”
Below is my Daruma doll after I colored in the first eye… it's sitting on a sheet with some early cover design concepts that I didn't end up going with.
The Daruma sat there staring at me (when I was home at my desk), reminding me to keep working toward my goal (and bringing me good luck).
As Katie wrote about, they are weighted at the bottom, so they are hard to tip over, as you can see in this video I made:
It was an exciting moment when I got to color in the second eye… I waited until the book was officially on sale on Amazon:
What goal would you use a Daruma doll for?
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Check out my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation:
