Who has time to read books? We all should, but it's tough to know what is worth reading. Each week, this blog will spotlight a new book relevant for marketers or people in business with ideas worth learning and sharing. Through a combination of a personal interview with the Authors, and short review – you'll get the basic premise of the book and why you might want to read it. To recommend a book to be featured, send an email pitch to influentialmarketing@gmail.com.
This week's featured book is Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality, a book extension to the tremendously useful suites of websites. online tools and printed books from Scott Belsky, the Founder of Behance.
THE INTERVIEW (Thoughts from Scott Belsky):
1. What inspired you to write Making Ideas Happen?
I was most inspired by a sense of frustration. There is SO MUCH discussion in the creative world about inspiration and creativity, but very little discussion about organization and execution.
2. What is the big idea of the book?
For over five years I have been studying (borderline obsessed) with execution and organization in the creative world – and among entrepreneurs.
As we all know, most ideas never happen. But some people/teams are able to consistently defy the odds…and execute their ideas time and time again.
Finally, after years of thinking on the topic, I have written a book that summarizes the methods, insights, and best practices used by leading creative people and teams across industries - companies like Google, IDEO, and Disney, and individuals like author Chris Anderson and Zappo’s CEO Tony Hsieh.
I hope that the book helps start SERIOUS discussion around execution and how creative people and teams should operate to make ideas happen.
3. Who is the perfect person to read this book?
People with ideas and solutions to problems, with a genuine desire to take action and make their ideas happen. Sadly, most ideas never happen. This book chronicles the best practices of those who defy the odds.
THE 30 SECOND REVIEW (Why You Should Read It):
Ideas and innovation are popular fodder for all kinds of books, with plenty of spiral-bound advice on how to have more ideas, which ones to focus on and generally how powerful new "blue sky" thinking can be. The only problem with a list of ideas is that too often none of them amount to anything. Anyone who has come out on the other side of a "great" brainstorm that has led to few results knows this already. The mission of this book should be obvious from its title … and Scott manages to deliver on that promise by sharing a philosophy that he has created out of frustration–The Action Method.
Simple yet powerful ideas abound in this book – like maintaining a "backburner" for great ideas which may not be relevant right now, reducing projects to their most simplistic state and how to master the underrated skill of prioritization. In an inspired moment later in the book, Scott advises the reader to "develop a tolerance for ambiguity." Scott himself, however, demonstrates no such tolerance in this book and as a result you'll find his strong point of view both enlightening and empowering. Used as a companion with the amazingly useful (and free) Behance.net website – this book will help you give your ideas the full and fruitful life they deserve. (Review written by Rohit Bhargava)
LINKS AND MORE INFORMATION:
Official Book Website: http://the99percent.com/book
Author's Website: http://www.scottbelsky.com
REVIEW PHILOSOPHY (Why This Review Matters):
All the books that are reviewed in this series are worth your time. That's why you won't find any negative book reviews on this blog. As an Author myself, I have hundreds of book on my shelf and have researched hundreds more. I get many invitations to preview books and choose just one every week to share here on this blog. Read my other book reviews at http://rbarchive.flywheelsites.com/book-reviews/.
WE RECENTLY REMOVED COMMENTING - LEARN WHY HERE >