Five Minds for the Future by Howard Gardner, Recorded Books, 2008. (CD book)
It is critical in today’s ever-changing world to develop the skills and “minds” necessary to get the most out of the information around you. Gardner covers the five mental abilities (i.e. minds) necessary to succeed to your fullest potential. These multiple intelligences allow you to understand what is happening and the potential consequences of the actions. This book will show how to train your brain to grasp these five minds. These minds are disciplining, synthesizing, creating, respectful and ethical. These minds allow you to see every opportunity from multiple viewpoints and help you discern the best way to proceed to get the most from the circumstances.
Using these values developed by training your brain to see different viewpoints will allow you to “think out of the box” when dealing with situations. You will use the disciplined mind to view things from a mathematical or historical viewpoint, the synthesizing mind to try different combinations or potential answers and to see the best one for this situation and the creative mind to foresee new possibilities as the answer.
The last two other minds are more character based and cover the attitudes and ethics of the approaches. The respectful mind takes advantage of the diversity of the cultures and knowledge around you and the ethical mind takes into consideration the effects of the outcome on others as well as on you. Are you operating from a place that values all equally or sets others up for failure so that you can succeed?
When you develop these minds and utilize these newfound skills you will be better able to create the path you want to follow.
Leaders at All Levels: Developing the Talent Pool to Solve the Succession Crisis by Ram Charan, Recorded Books, 2008. (CD Book)
In today’s corporate world when the top management steps down for any reason there is often a waiting period while the company searches for a replacement. Often people are temporarily put in place to see to the day to day duties, but the company fails to keep moving forward as this person is not seen as having the authority to really do much that is new. One way of getting around this problem for your company is to hire and develop your own future leaders. Although positions from managers to CEOs are covered the author shows how hiring young people with future potential and making sure that they get assignments and positions to develop the skills needed in the future can affect the success of the company and can help your company.
Sometimes you may identify 3 or 4 potential newcomers at entry-level positions and give them opportunities to learn and show what they can do for you. By exposing them to all aspects of the business from many angles you will develop a person who really understands your business, the competition and the potential market. By fast tracking these people to specific goals, assignments or positions you can make sure they develop all of the necessary skills and relationships to take the company to the next level.
Ram Charan shares stories of companies that excel at developing their future leaders and he tells stories that show the progression of some of these future leaders. By reading this book you can help develop a process to create and nurture future leaders within your own company.
Are you trying to find the perfect location to rent for your new business? Or maybe you are trying to target a marketing campaign toward the largest demographic in your area? PPLD has recently acquired a new subscription database called BusinessDecision by CIVICTechnologies to assist you in finding out these facts and more.
Accessible via the Electronic Reference section of the PPLD web site, BusinessDecision provides demographic data from ESRI based on a location that you designate. You may designate a specific address, zip code, or hand draw on a map an area that about which you would like to receive extensive demographic information. Based off of GIS information, as well as Census data and others, BusinessDecision is able to provide detailed data and reports, including the Tapestry Area Profile, which identifies and profiles the top segments of the population for any given area. To learn about the BusinessDecision Tapestry Area Profile, check out the data manual to see what type of information BusinessDecision may be able to provide you about your potential customers.
To read the Colorado Springs Business Journal writeup about BusinessDecision, click here. For more information about BusinessDecision, or any other library business resources, contact the PPLD reference desk at 389-8968.
