WE LOVE FRED.

Bureaucracy keeps companies stuck in the mud. It devalues masses of employees. Placing them under restrictive management conditions, removing any room for creativity or initiative. So why is it still so prevalent? Because replacing it is so difficult.

It requires radical change and many companies are simply unwilling to take on the task. To change their entrenched power structures.

Well, Hamel and Zanini think that they should, advocating instead a more human-centric approach. Where colleagues are incentivised (and compensated) to be more entrepreneurial in their roles and given a chance to contribute to a whole. Done through data analysis and case studies of companies on the cutting edge of anti-bureaucratic best practices, the case for Humanocracy is strong.

A recent brief required some hyper-visual messaging using humour to do most of the heavy lifting. After the shortest strategy session of all time it was decided there was only one way to go, cartoons!

Fred has had this book since before his hard hat head was fully formed and, despite a million other resources available on the art, always comes back to it when comms call for caricatured content.

Easy to follow, step-by-step instructions covering people, animals, buildings, objects, clothing, props, scenery, speech, it's all in here.

Performing all the exercises in here won't make you a professional overnight, but it does help to dispel the myth that some people 'just can't draw'. Learn some of the tricks from here and take them into your next project. You'll be pleased with yourself, promise.

We all know 'The Dip'... That dark place with steep sides that we slide into when things either remain the same for too long, or when something unforeseen happens. But how do you get out?

According to Godin, there are four ways through:

You can press play and keep grinding on.

You can press pause and hope that things will change on their own.

You can press stop and give up.

Or, you can press fast forward and blast your way through to the other side on your own terms.

I know which one sounds like WABT!

First published in 1975, The Inner Game of Tennis describes the perpetual tennis match happening inside our heads between our conscious mind (self 1) and our unconscious mind (self 2).

When you duff three in a row into the net and scream at yourself to 'up it, idiot!'... That's self 1 shouting at you.

When that important deadline is fast approaching and you tell yourself to 'hurry up!'... That's self 1 trying to panic you into action.

'but conscious trying directed by the conscious mind often produces negative results'

As long as self 1 is allowed to call the shots, self 2 can't ever take over, and we can never achieve peak performance - that magical state of flow when everything works together and progress is easy.

‘This break-out book from unknown American author Barack Obama delves into a life that is at once extraordinary and common across the world.’

In this 750+ page epic, Obama talks about his campaign, election, and the first four years of his Presidency. He reveals the big picture thinking behind the big decisions that he made, and all written in his usual down-to-earth, humourful, and often insightful style.

A Promised Land shines a light on some of the biggest events of the early 21^st Century, and shows genuine emotion and feeling from one of the very few honest politicians of our generation. A must-read for any boss or manager – because you can’t get any more managerial than the leader of the free world.

No, this isn’t the latest 2020 survival book. Although perhaps we should start stockpiling tins and toilet rolls…
 
We can all point the finger towards an organisation that we think just ‘gets’ it. Engaged employees, consistent growth, a fun workspace with beanbags and coffee grinders, charts that always seem to go up. What’s their secret?
 
In Be Less Zombie, Elvin Turner explores behind the scenes of these innovative companies, uncovering the methods that they use to promote creativity and break the status quo. This insightful how-to guidebook pulls back the cover on how to inject the spark back into your work life at a company level. In essence, teaching us all how to be a little less zombie.

This classic essay, first written in 1976, states unequivocally -

'A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.' 

Stupid people are everywhere and there's a lot more of them than you think according to Cipolla. Rife in all places and all walks of life it matters not whether you are a prizefighter or Nobel Prize winner you have just as much chance of being a prize pillock... And there is nothing you can do about it!

'One is stupid in the same way as one is red-haired; one belongs to the stupid set as one belongs to a blood group.'

If you have ever heard the phrase 'think outside the box' and wondered 'what the hell does that mean?' and 'how the bloody hell do i do that?' then this is the book for you.

Uncovering cases of ingenuity and creativity throughout history from the Crusades to WW2 to the invention of the credit card this is most definitely a 'masterclass in creative thinking'. 

Full to the brim with fascinating and colourful examples ONE + ONE = THREE demonstrates how changing the angle of approach when faced with an impossible problem can yield spectacular results.

Herein lies inspiration aplenty.

This Is Going To Hurt is a collection of diary entries from former junior doctor Adam Kay covering his first-hand experiences of everything from babies being born to light bulbs in the bum.

Some of the stories are hilarious, some are cringeworthy, some are heartbreaking but every few pages you will find something that reminds you of a sticky situation you and a friend once got into, or a situation you and your family and to face together, or maybe just a time when you were an idiot and wanted desperately to keep something a secret... One thing is guaranteed, your eyes will water!

A truly visceral insight into what the people who look after us when we aren't at our best see every day and trust me, they REALLY have seen it all before!

Checklists have been the scourge of industry for a long time now. Something to be embarrassed about. Avoided at all costs. After all, if you really were an 'expert' worth your salt you would know everything off by heart, wouldn't you?

Not according to journalist, CEO and surgeon Atul Gawande.

From the frontlines of surgery to natural disaster relief checklists are vital in the pursuit of excellence and eradicating errors, you just have to know how and when to use them.

For a deep dive analysis into this month's book check out the expanded edition - https://www.wearebrasstacks.com/insight

Growth for growth's sake isn't the only way. 'Business leaders are free to choose another path'. Boldness, creativity, and passion.

This isn't merely surface level fantasy. Case studies are varied - from brewing and storage companies to VFX houses and dressmakers. Covering essential topics such as hiring, training, and comms. It is fully aware that SIMPLY being bold and passionate isn't enough to survive. Cash-flow requirements, of course, have to be met. But it wants us to know there is more than one way to thrive.

Small Giants is never dishonest. This 10th-anniversary edition is full of updates. Following up with the companies involved whether they flourished or floundered. The results might just surprise you.

As you should know by now we’re fond of books that ruffle feathers and challenge established beliefs. And when it comes to the workplace, Messy is right up our street.

With a plethora of evidence to back up his claims, Harford makes a strong case for a more human approach. Championing autonomy and allowing room for risk and spontaneity, Harford applies his unkempt logic to everything from creativity and workplace happiness to politics and war.

'Many jobs, buildings, and relationships are monotonous and controlling. They sacrifice messy possibility for tidy predictability. And too often we let that happen, because we feel safer that way. That is a shame.'

'Since you know the outcome of the game before you analyse it, it is very difficult not to eye the eventual loser’s moves more critically, even when it may not be merited.'

Deep Thinking shines a light on and encourages us to overcome many of our ingrained biases when it comes to data and decision making. To help us effectively learn and take more informed action.

The kind of deeper, analytical understanding promoted by Kasparov is foundational for creating lasting change. Leading to results that are real and sustainable as opposed to mere novelty.

Come for the Man Vs. Machine storyline. Stay for the golden nuggets of reflection and wisdom from a truly insightful thinker.

Through plentiful experiments in social economics, Dan Ariely strongly contradicts the view that humans are completely rational beings with un-corrupted views of what we want and need.

He suggests instead that we have an inherent irrationality when it comes to major financial decisions, controlled by various external factors.

By showing that this irrationality is not random, the book works as a tool to help us understand our own decisions, and by doing so, helps us make them with a more planned and controlled approach.

After visiting the exhibitions at Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow and the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Fred felt obliged to pick up the full collection.

200 draughts in red chalk and silverpoint give immediate confirmation of Da Vinci’s consummate and unrivaled expertise in the fields of anatomy, architecture, biomechanics, botany, cartography, engineering, geology and so on ad infinitum. The detail is so mesmeric and precise that you must remind yourself every few pages that the purpose of the exhibition is to celebrate Da Vinci’s death… 500 years ago! Breathtaking.

See the entire collection for yourself at the Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh from Nov 22^nd to Mar 15^th 2020.

A journey from intelligent apes to the discovery of America via the printing press and myriad other examples, Ian Leslie traces the history of human curiosity. A clear advocate of lifelong learning, he argues for the importance of encouraging and nurturing curiosity despite its uncertainties, despite its distractions and despite theistic notions such as the dangers of forbidden fruit, and his case is strong.

By the end, choosing whether to ‘explore the worlds of knowledge that present themselves to us’ or to ‘turn our face from the beauty and the mystery and make for the next appointment’ doesn’t seem like a difficult decision to make.

After a rather heavy festive period, Fred didn't have a lot of reading in him, bless his hard hat. So, rather than skip this month, he thought it best to pick this beaut for his blog.

Elegant and tasteful photographs entirely in black and white give rise to fascinating thoughts on how tone and contrast can affect the human form.

Suffice it to say this is the only book to date which Fred has insisted on 'reading' twice.

A colourful read which centres on the need for more human-centric approaches to safety in the workplace.

Fred wouldn't go as far as Dekker to say that process and procedure infantilise the workforce but wholeheartedly agrees for the need to humanise HSE culture.