The Death of Common Sense

Phillip K. Howard, an accomplished attorney in New York has here written a scathing criticism of the over regulation in U.S. law that has arisen in recent decades. He illustrates his point with a large number of excesses and disasters caused by overly restrictive and regulatory laws and bureaucracies.

This book was written in 1994 when Howard already had plenty of fodder for his book, one can only imagine how much more he could write on today.

For anyone who loves liberty, cares about sensible government and cares about the impact of over-regulation on our society this book is an excellent read.

The Death of Common Sense ought to be read by every American. It presents a real problem that our system has increasingly created in an effort to eliminate all risk of harm and regulate nearly all behavior and conduct to achieve some ideal outcome while often guaranteeing quite the contrary.

This is not a book by someone who knows nothing about the law – it is written by a lawyer who demonstrates a keen understanding of where the law has often gone wrong. Perhaps it is time to consider what Howard is telling us and re-examine the purposes and limits of the law in the land of the free?

Against the Machine by Lee Siegel

This is a little different than the books we usually feature here but is worth taking a look at. The internet has changed out culture, our communication and our commerce in a great many ways. Are they all good? Are they all bad? Are they either? Is the internet a curse, a blessing or an amoral conduit to be used by anyone for any purpose they wish?

In Against the Machine Lee Siegel explores the cultural impact of the internet. While Siegel allows for the benefits of the internet he is mostly critical of it in this book. His first criticism is that anyone who dares criticize the internet is labeled as some kind of Luddite who is afraid of change and the future. There is certainly some truth in that observation although many writers have been critical of the internet and aspects of it.

Siegel goes on to criticize the commercial dominance of the internet declaring that it has made “prosumers” of us all – people who produce and consume at the same time on the internet for chiefly commercial purposes and serving primarily commercial interests. He assumes that is an evil thing.

He sees the internet as largely the enemy of high culture because anyone can do anything and be anything on the internet or try to. There are few if any standards and no one policing what happens. Bloggers with no skill or genuine claim to expertise can dominate discussions and threaten the success of a true artist or writer.

Siegel finds the mass of millions of bloggers, many semi-literate at best, to be a degradation of the art and science of principled journalism. He sees a lack of ethics, a lack of standards, a lack of quality control. Whoever shouts the loudest often dominates. Instead of a discussion supervised by people of talent and principle he sees a mass of bullies and popularity gluttons.

In fact one of his largest criticisms of the internet and much of the culture it has fostered is the replacement of genuine talent and accomplishment with a high school like popularity contest. From American Idol to the latest political blogger the aim is to gain “votes” or page views or attention – not to recognize genuine talent and quality.

To be sure Siegel at times is whiny and despises the democratization of the internet and its free wheeling freedom because of the price he thinks we pay for this. At other times the contrasts he claims that exist between pre-internet culture and internet culture seem strained if not downright wrong.

However many of his observations do have merit and are worth consideration. What Siegel never tells us is how to preserve the access and freedom of the internet while discouraging some of its lesser attributes. One suspects he thinks that there are cultural policemen who should be controlling access and content in search of some cultural ideal – but we never see the way he thinks it ought to be, only how terrible he finds it.

The internet has become a powerful part of our culture and communication. It is always worthwhile to stand back and examine where we have come and what we have wrought but in the end criticism without a constructive alternative adds little to the conversation. This book is worth reading to stimulate thought about what surely are some negative aspects of the internet culture, or the lack of it as Siegel might say. He does however leave us wondering, after all the moaning and groaning is done, what are we left with? Where do we go from here. You wont find that answer in this book, but you will find some stimulating questions and observations worth thinking about.

The One Minute Entrepreneur

Book Review: The One Minute Entrepreneur

Ken Blanchard and Don Hutson and Ethan Willis

Synopsis of Content:

This book about starting one’s own business is a story format about a young man who soon marries and together they form a company. The story covers their growing pains and problems and the solutions. At the end of each chapter are some One Minute Insights and most of them are below. The book uses both real and imaginary people to create mentorship situations and teach basic lessons.

Readability/Writing Quality:

Well written and very easy to read.

Notes on Author:

Ken Blanchard has made his mark writing on business management with his One Minute Manager series of books. He is well respected and invited to lecture and instruct Fortune 500 corporations around the world.

Related Website:

See: www.estrengths.com

www.gcu.edu/ome Ken Blanchard College of Business

Three Great Ideas You Can Use:

One Minute Insights (ok, more than three - this is good stuff, what are we going to take out?)-

Associate with people you admire and can learn from.

Keep a notebook of wisdom you read, hear, and learn, and distill that learning into One Minute Insights.

A good life is built on strong, solid values such as integrity, love, honesty, and purposeful work.

You never need to cheat to win.

What is right is more important than who is right.

You will be the same year after year except for the people you meet and the books you read. (Zig Ziglar).

You can get what you want in life if you help other people get what they want.

Lead with your ears.

Success occurs when opportunity and preparation meet.

It is not who you know that counts; it is who knows you and what they think of you.

When you feel moments impacting your destiny, seize the opportunity.

Humility helps you to be open to learning and growing in your field of expertise.

Take care of your numbers and your numbers will take care of you.

To create a successful business, you must first master the basics.

For a mentor to be effective, you have to be an enthusiastic and committed protégé.

Always visualize your desired outcome ahead of time.

In sales and in every other business, you are constantly on stage --- so act like it.

Ambition is the fuel that can drive life-changing events.

Identify what you are passionate about doing. Look to do more of it.

Don’t be afraid to dream big.

Don’t quit your day job until you have got some success under your belt.

If nobody will pay you to do what you love, you have a hobby, not a career.

On the entrepreneurial path, few people come into your life without a reason.

Becoming a successful entrepreneur and having a spouse are not mutually exclusive.

When it comes to finding a life partner, character and values trump personality and looks.

To build a great marriage, especially if you are an entrepreneur, make sure you commit to spending time together outside of meals and sleeping.

You and your spouse are a team. Act like one.

Too many people dream too small. You will never achieve more than you think you can. So create a big dream.

When opportunity knocks, seize it.

Never let your expenses outstrip your revenue.

Don’t be a banker for your customers. Timely collection of invoices is crucial.

Your customers are a company’s lifeblood—they pay the bills.

Nurture your people. They make it all happen. Without them, you have no company.

Unless you want to do all the work, you have to think of ways to come up with new sources of revenue.

If you focus only on managing costs, your business will never grow.

Don’t be afraid to seek advice when your business goes to a new level.

Making a profit is always a necessity if you want to stay in business.

As an entrepreneur the secret to success is generating CASH, CASH, CASH.

Without good cash management, you will never make it as an entrepreneur.

Profit is the applause you get for taking care of your customers and creating a motivating environment for your people.

Publication Information: © 2008 Blanchard Management Corporation, Don Hutson and Ethan Willis

Published by Doubleday

General Rating: Very Good

Wisdom of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin is the grandfather of success writers in the US. He may well be the first person to have published advice on success to the masses. Read what he taught 18th century Americans about success and discover how relevant it remains today in my article in James Strocks blog.

Wishing you success and prosperity,

Daniel R. Murphy
Helping People Learn to Build Wealth
www.Books2Wealth.com

Boiled Down Money Goo

Daniel and Deborah Minteer wrote a great little book called Boiled Down Money Goo. I reviewed it awhile back. They also have a great blog with a stream of informative articles on how to save money, avoid debt and gain financial independence. It is well worth a few minutes to look around and learn from some folks who practice what they preach and prove it is doable fo the average person. Check it out.

Wishing you success and prosperity,

Daniel R. Murphy
Helping People Learn to Build Wealth
www.Books2Wealth.com

The set of your sail

 

The late Jim Rohn used to say, “it is the set of your philosophical sail that determines the course of our lives”. To change your course you need to change the set of your sail, not complain about the wind.

This is so true. We like to blame the wind, the current, the waves, the weather and everything else for the direction we are going. Guess what, everyone is facing those winds and those currents and that weather. The direction you take is not governed by external forces, it is governed by how you act in response to those forces – or as Jim said, the set of your sail.

People who get this work to improve themselves and to change their direction – they take control over their own lives and accept full responsibility for their direction. Only then can they control their direction.

You can blame circumstances and misfortune and what others do all day long – it wont change anything for you. Only when you take control will you change anything.

This is really not s complicated concept. It is however a difficult one. No one really wants to accept full responsibility for their direction. It is so much easier to blame external forces – to blame others.

And this is not some new idea. It is ancient. You can read about it throughout classical literature. Man has long understood this. Yet we still resist it. Why? Because it is difficult to accept full responsibility for anything including one’s own destiny.

Are you wasting time and energy blaming others and the external forces in your life? Or are you ready to accept responsibility and take control over your own life?

~~DRM

Born to Win by Zig Ziglar

Read a free book review on Zig Ziglar’s latest book, Born to Win, the Books2Wealth Book of the Month for May 2012.

http://www.books2wealth.com/Born-to-Win.html

~~DRM