Three recent books with notes of ideas

We bring to your attention a few good books published in various publishing houses in 2011. We bought these books, read them and offer you a summary-squeeze of ideas from each.



Harry Beckwith, "Without Thoughts"
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A small and interesting book in the style of "Free Economics" - a selection of interesting facts from the world of economics, advertising and psychology, followed by an explanation. Harry Beckwith is trying to answer the question “how do we really make a choice?” The book is also pleasant because it pleasantly fills you with stories, events and facts about the modern world.

Abstract:

• All people love to play. We play during the purchase of goods, in relationships with other people, in sex - all conscious life is spent in games. Companies that covertly offer their customers and customers to play (eBay), presenting goods as toys (iPod), displaying their service as a fun game (TGI Friday's), always win themselves.
• We adore surprises just as much as we love games - surprises in games, movies, jokes, music and band names.
• The names of goods that contain a riddle, a rebus, something incomprehensible and unusual, attract attention. Rhymed riddles, slogans, sayings are remembered much better than ordinary phrases.
• Another man’s passion is stories. We love stories, believe in them, invent, learn from other people and tell them ourselves. What is told in the form of a story is understood and remembered much more easily. Behind every well-known global brand has its own story with its heroes, milestones, events and achievements - when buying such a product or service, we feel we are a part of it all.
• We love small shops, restaurants, brands, preferring them to big megacorporations - small brands seem to us more heartier, closer, more understandable.
• We value our freedom, down to the congenital dissonance - we take advice and orders as an attempt to encroach on our freedom. And it is clearly manifested in the choice of products and services - the choice of hundreds of the same names is important to you. We all subconsciously do not like laws, respecting outstanding criminals, real and cinematic.
• The formula of the ideal social advertising: brevity + rhyme + surprise + choice. Banned advertising causes rejection, as it limits freedom.
• Economy and the desire to save - the irrational qualities of a person. The desire to save depends on the purchase amount and the discount itself. The more expensive the purchase and the smaller the discount on it, the less our desire to look for something in return for the desired product.
• Another fundamental property of a person is the desire to stand out, not to be like everyone else. From clothes to tattoos, from the make of a car to music styles, there’s a keen desire to stand out. Companies that help to stand out from the crowd and advertise uniqueness are always in fashion.
• We do not need things that we can easily buy - another irrationality. The more expensive, unusual thing, the harder it is to buy it, the more desirable and interesting it is for us. In this thirst for the game and the desire to stand out.
• We love when the world revolves around us, when we are approached personally, when our interests and needs are taken into account and predicted. Not someone's interests there, but ours.
• All people are mortally afraid of loneliness and want to be close to someone. However, the theme of loneliness excites and attracts in films, culture, music. Singles cause admiration or ... pity.
• We fanatically believe someone else's opinion, even though we are afraid to admit it. Buyers are ready to buy what others are buying, or what the store advises them, those who want to eat choose the most populous restaurant. Everyone wants what friends and neighbors have. And we love to join other people, join clubs and communities, and feel like a part of elite communities.
• Habits have incredible strength - people are willing to put up with everything, just not to change their habits. However, at the same time, we hate the obsolete. Our favorite things are constantly changing, while remaining unchanged.
• We love optimism, rely on it and try to inspire it to other people. In the history of mankind, there has not yet been a single tragedy that could even shake our ineradicable optimism for a little bit. We believe in smiling people from screens and billboards, we love people who enjoy life and want to be the same.
• While we live in the world of visual images, design rules this world. Visual differences provide competitive advantages. Designers become rock stars of the 21st century, and their creations become new icons and objects for worship. Civilization and design were born at the same time. The love of beauty in us, from childhood, we get used to the fact that “beautifully” means “good.” We subconsciously love symmetrical, smooth, clean, prefer round to rectangular, simple and clear - to complex. All things around us are complicated inside, trying to be as simple as possible outside.
• Design influences our behavior; it determines not only choices, but also actions. Design changes our sensation and perception. The cover is the book, the packaging is the product.
• All the futuristic predictions of the beginning and the middle of the century about how the world of the XXI century will look like are broken to pieces - we have changed very little. Most significant changes are imposed on us by public opinion and the media. We believe in trends and optimistic forecasts, that the world is getting a little better every day.
• The theory of expectation also has tremendous power - it is on this theory that the placebo effect is based. We feel the expected, see the expected and experience what we are prepared to experience.
• In the choice of goods, we have lost touch with reality, the categories “better” and “worse” exist only in our consciousness. The brain deceives the body, so it’s not enough just to develop a great product or service, you need to create expectations and impose them on customers.
• Reality for us is not what is actually happening at the current time, it is how you perceive it (or how we are forced to perceive it).
• We are all victims of a terrible disease called blindness inattention. Being engaged in several things at the same time, we are lost in the wilds of our own consciousness and sometimes we do not see the real world around us. The more we focus, the more we lose sight of.

Alf Rehn, Funky Ideas

Mostly boring, but generally quite interesting book about creativity and the role it plays in human activities. In many ways, the ideas of the book seem to be drawn from other books, but in places Ren writes very sharply and even brazenly.

• The word “creativity” has recently lost its value, just as creativity itself (sometimes turning into kretivnost) - even trainers and experts in creative thinking cannot say what it is and how to achieve it.
• Most of the books devoted to the development of creative abilities do not solve their problem - they reprint and retell each other’s tricks over and over again. Training on the development of creativity - is nonsense. They become original not through games and exercises, but by forcing the brain to do something that is alien to it, uncomfortable, difficult.
• Everybody shouts about creativity, this word is repeated in vacancies, resumes, at meetings. Creativity turned into a new religion, adherents of which have forgotten its essence and worship only the word itself.
• The process of developing creative thinking can be described in five steps: imitation (attempt to repeat, rethink existing) → expansion (exploring new areas, increasing the boundaries of perception) → provocation (consciously accepting foolish and dubious ideas in advance) → reevaluation (constantly changing ways of thinking) → risky thinking (the highest stage of creativity).
• The brain constantly deceives us, slipping miserable crafts instead of real creativity - we get stuck in the inner barriers of our thinking, in complexes and superfluous information. Comfortable thinking is the enemy of creativity and the killer of risky thinking.
• In order to go beyond the limits of comfortable thinking you need to learn how to accept shocking notions. What seems ugly, nasty, wrong, unpleasant to you should serve its service - most of the things around us also seemed once funny, unnecessary and inconvenient.
• The most creative person is not the one who has a lot of ideas or they are all very original, but the one who knows how not to dwell on only one of the points of view on a situation or a problem.
• All people tend to overestimate their ability to perceive new ideas and new information, while underestimating the ability of the brain to spread such information on the shelves that already exist in it.
• Cognitive fluency - the brain is nicer to think about what is easily imagined than what seems difficult and incomprehensible.
• Inspiration, passion, pleasure - this is just a smoke screen.
• To know creativity you need to be repulsive, unpleasant, shocking, provocative. Porn for old men? Cosmetics for men? Paint for pubic hair? This is embarrassing, but these are successful business projects.
• Zero eccentric - the first stepped over the edge of creativity, created the product and showed it to the world. Zero cranks move progress.
• Children are zero kooks, punk rockers from nature, free from restrictions. Be children.
• Creative development is different from the simple discovery of the need to fulfill the dream of the impossible, incomparable.
• An idea that has no enemies is a priori unsuccessful simply because any original in nature causes a natural opposition.
• Love your negatives and critics, feed your enemies - they are vital for creativity. Conflicts are constructive.
• Copy good. The imitator has the advantage of the last hand - he does not need to go all the difficult way, he can immediately step from start to finish.
• 7 laws of copying: stop being ashamed + learn the best + change the context + copy more + make small changes to get a big result + people like what they already know + learn from each copy.
• In creativity, quantity is quality.
• The scale of creativity is judged not by the number of invented ideas, but by the number (and quality) of the ideas implemented.
• Do as many activities as possible - each of them moves you one step up.
• You need to be able to interrupt the process of generating ideas, you need to be able to take up implementation and bring it to the end.
• Blessed are the heretics - people who see the truth, contradict the traditional ideas of the organization and are faithful to both the organization itself and its idea. They do not want to leave the church or betray the society, they want to change them so that they correspond to the truth. Heresy is one of the names of freethinking.
• Creative extremists are needed everywhere and always.
• Creativity has no laws, no color, form and taste, it is variable and elusive. If creativity is a violation of what we consider normal, does it mean that it is necessary to violate the idea of ​​creativity itself?
• Creativity is everywhere, it is part of our life. She is in time of famine or war, in prison and politics, in a rich district and a dirty drug addict. Creativity is the religion of the critics and the ability to see potential in the outside world.

Tom Peters, "These Important Trivia"

The next book is from Tom Peters, who no longer cake starts to run out of steam. Half of the book was relatively boring to read, but the number of interesting ideas is still high. It is a pity that the book was written without adaptation to an international reader and is expensive.

Abstract:

• Trivia and trivia are crucial in almost any business. The design of the toilet in the restaurant, the quality of the presentation, cleanliness and attention to detail are important factors for success in any business. Make sure that you take care of simple trifles and do everything qualitatively.
• It is impossible to motivate someone, you can only motivate yourself. The best way to motivate is to achieve excellence in your business. Achievement of perfection must turn from an idea into a real philosophy.
• The market in developed countries is determined by women and those over 50. A company that thinks about its customers in these two groups wins. Also those who think about ecology and green technologies benefit.
• Hire people for their sense of humor, vitality, breadth of interests, self-confidence, erudition, desire and ability to learn.
• In a crisis, you work more, better, more actively, work through the details, make connections, learn and invest in training, you are not looking for the guilty, but you give out praise.
• “Thank you” is the most important attribute of any communication. Always say thanks to everyone, even the packers in the supermarket and the bus conductors. Smile Respect the work of other people and thank them for it. Be honest and honest. Experience the highest respect for each person with whom you enter into interaction.
• Be able to represent yourself, treat yourself as a professional and specialist - and then you will become.
• Learn the art of creating stories and cases - collect them, collect and use wherever you can. Stories create impressions.
• If you cannot describe your position with a maximum of eight words, you do not have a position.
• Kindness is free - a benevolent attitude becomes your weapon of mass destruction. And also follow the rules of courtesy, always.
• As often as possible ask for the opinions of others. The question “What do you think about this?” And the answer to it are extremely important in any situation.
• The best way to turn an adversary into an ally is to engage him in your work, recognize his need and ask for advice.
• Learn to say "Yes" - sometimes we resist and say "No" for no apparent reason.
• The principle of sufficient quality - some things should not be done too well, it is enough to make them quite well.
• Learn to sell demo versions of your products and services.
• Changes will take exactly as much time as you allocate to them (or exactly as much time as you have).
• Emotionality is necessary and important in any sphere, emotionality is a sign of a leader and a component of quality.
• Appreciate those who bring the last 2% to perfection, who work to the last client, who do not leave the garden bed until the last strawberry has been removed. Try to be that way.
• Research and study are the fuel of development. Anyone can engage in research and innovation. All innovations are born out of anger and the desire to change what is wrong and inconvenient.
• Learn to listen and not interrupt people during a conversation - that's better for everyone (people like to tell, and you will learn much more).
• There are no idiotic questions. If something is not clear - ask. And use idiotic questions to understand how competent your interlocutor. But don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” - this is better than to lie and squirm in conversation.
• Continuously learn, develop writing skills, read as much as possible.
• Never be late.
• Study design in all its manifestations.
• The strength of the brand lies in the details - in the convenience of the remote from the TV, the purity of the manager's shoes, the attitude of the coffee shop employees. Sometimes it is enough to improve 10 small things in order to multiply the strength of the brand by 100 times.
• The only effective defense against rivals is to improve your work and make it unique. Love your competitors, help them develop your common market - so you will get a smaller share of a larger pie, which will result in multiple benefits as a result.
• One of the most important tasks is maintaining customer relations. Do not forget to write to them in two days, a month, a year - maintain relationships and improve them. Customers are not former.
• If you waste your work time, then you are wasting half of your conscious life.
• Study everyone and everything that comes your way, study yourself. Keep up to date.
• Simplify.

Dear habravchane, share your opinion - how do you like this format of the story about the books read? Not too many theses?