Beyond the PIG and the APE

Book Review: Beyond the PIG and the APE

Dave Kinnear4-ExtPost, Blog, Book Reviews

Beyond the PIG and the APE: Realizing success and true happiness, By Krishna Pendyala and Mike Vargo Backward: Authors Krishna Pendyala and Mike Vargo suggest we have things backward: Success may not make us happy. But, on the other hand, learning to be happy may well bring success! Further, he suggests that we are happy because we belong to life, …

Mental Laziness

Dave Kinnear1-On Leadership, 4-ExtPost, Blog

Curiosity: One of the attributes of strong leaders is curiosity. But curiosity takes much work. And brain work takes energy—science tells us that the human brain consumes about 20% of our total body energy budget. That’s why another common trait for solid leaders is keeping themselves in good physical condition. They pay attention to their mental and physical health through …

The Story

Dave Kinnear1-On Leadership, 4-ExtPost, Blog

It’s More Than Data: If we take the time and make an effort, we can find the stories hiding in our data. I began thinking about this when a friend presented me with some demographic data for our state (California). The data showed that there was negative population growth for the first time in many years.

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She Swallowed a Fly

Dave Kinnear1-On Leadership, 4-ExtPost, Blog

When our children were young (it seems like yesterday!), we would often sing nursery rhymes while traveling in the car. One of them was, “There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly.” I won’t go through all the verses (if you’re interested, you can watch it on YouTube here: https://wordsforlife.org.uk/activities/there-was-old-lady/), suffice it to say that this mythical old lady somehow swallowed a fly, “I don’t know why she swallowed a fly—Perhaps she’ll die.” And then, to solve the fly problem, she, in turn, swallowed a spider, bird, cat, dog, cow, and finally, a horse. She died, of course.

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Book Review: The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton

Dave KinnearBlog, Book Reviews

Several years ago, I read a few articles about MMT. Those articles gave me enough of an understanding that I stopped worrying about the U.S. national debt. When I attempted to explain to others why the deficit itself isn’t a problem, they responded with skepticism. I decided to educate myself further and, coincidentally, my son recommended this book as a beginning to understanding MMT at a deeper level.

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A System of Activities

Dave Kinnear1-On Leadership, 4-ExtPost, Blog

Business Model Canvas:
When I searched for “Business Model Canvas,” Google returned about 120 million links. A quick perusal of the results shows that there are many different kinds of business models and ways of outlining those models. One block in common in these different canvasses is the “Key Activities” block. Most of the other blocks are support or enablers of those activities.

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The Ever-Changing Market

Dave Kinnear1-On Leadership, 4-ExtPost

What? Me Worry? There is much discussion on how change is accelerating and how dangerous the big tech companies have gotten. I do not believe big is terrible by itself. Neither do I think that big means impervious to change or disruption. So while I’m not particularly worried, I also believe we would do well to restructure a couple of these behemoths.

Consumers frequently benefit from the economies of scale large corporations gain. In some cases, the gains in pricing, innovation, and delivery may far outweigh any perceived negatives from a corporation growing large. Properly governed large companies can be a win for everyone.

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Scaling Your Business

Book Review: SYSTEMology

Dave Kinnear1-On Leadership, Book Reviews

When David Jenyns contacted me and asked if I would read and review his book, I was knee-deep in books to read already. Another author referred me to him, so I agreed to review his book, but I couldn’t promise when. With that understanding, I purchased his book and put it in the stack.

I did get to reading SYSTEMology, and I am pleased that I did. To begin with, I am a system and process kind of guy. I believe in documenting what we are doing and working to improve it over time. I use checklists and process outlines in my work every day.

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