Idea Mapping: How to Access Your Hidden Brain Power, Learn Faster, Remember More, and Achieve Success in Business Review

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Idea Mapping: How to Access Your Hidden Brain Power, Learn Faster, Remember More, and Achieve Success in Business ReviewFrankly, I regret to point out that this book is just another 'how-to' mind-mapping book. Essentially, it's no different from what Tony Buzan or Vanda North or Joyce Wycoff had written earlier.
Except for one: The author has now fully incorporated the use of MindManager software to go with it. Undoubtedly, MindManager can expedite the mind-mapping process. [With all the available third-party add-ons, MindManager is really a godsend!]. In some way, you can say reading this book is like reading any of Tony Buzan's mind-mapping books, syntopically with the 'MindManager for Dummies' book! In reality, this book is not ground-breaking & does not offer any new insights into idea generation.
I must add, however, for a beginner into techno-savvy mind-mapping, this book is still great stuff. I also want to compliment the author for listing out a series of 28 mind-mapping applications & suggested practice activities in the Idea Mapping Menu at the end pages!. For beginners, this is obviously a very good place to start.
My only adverse comment about mind-mapping as envisioned by Tony Buzan & his staunch followers is that every topical idea must seemingly take a radial approach & commence from the centre. This book doggedly follows the same approach.
Nancy Margulies, in her debut book, Mapping Innerspace, during the early eighties, took a radical departure from the Buzan routine. She created 'mind-scaping' - your topical idea can start from anywhere you like - which I thought is really great!.
To some extent, 'Idea-mapping' as the book title is quite a misnomer. It is obvious to me that the author has a somewhat narrow perspective, arising from her only chosen exposure to Buzan's mindmapping routines & the MindManager software.
A truly 'idea-mapping' book should provide readers with a smorgasbord of options to go beyond traditional mind-mapping & just MindManager alone. To illustrate a quick point, 'mind-scaping' routines appear exceptionally wonderful with SmartDraw Pro (with its abundant templates & cliparts) or even Microsoft Visio.
'Concept mapping' routines, with the topical idea starting from the super-ordinate hierarchy as postulated by Joseph Novak, & 'causal loop diagramming' routines (from the field of systems thinking) are pieces of cake with 'Inspiration' software. 'Fish-bone diagramming' & 'flow-charting' (which are other forms of idea-mapping) with either 'Inspiration' or 'SmartDraw' softwares are some good examples, too. There are too numerous other software examples to cover in this review. [For readers who are visual thinkers with a high propensity towards conceptual modeling, I would even suggest the AXON Idea Processor. It has an impressive 3-D modeling capability, with a 500-level depth migration. Incidentally, it's also a Singaporean thoroughbred!]
In the course of my work, I have come across a lot of followers who are simply indoctrinated by the mindsets of mind-mapping as envisioned by Tony Buzan.
I would like to share with readers the true power & value of idea-mapping:
An idea-map is just a visual tool to jot down & organise ideas & then use it to generate insights, irrespective of whether they are from reading a book or just stretching your brain for a change. This is the initial response. Once, this map is drawn up - with or without software -, it's just an exploded-view (map) of what you have just captured. Period! Most kids at primary school level can do it very well.
After the idea- map is done, you step back, take an helicopter view & reflect on it, by seeing the bigger & broader picture as well as from the systemic relationships between what has been written or drawn on the map. You can then add to or may even subtract from the map. A lot of thinking (& reflection) on your part goes into this stage. Tactically, you also cross-pollinate from what you have read elsewhere as well as from your own &/or other peoples' experiences in connection with your reflections (or memory jogs!) from the idea map. This is what I call the reflective response.
Lastly, comes the final response, with which you readily integrate (or internalise) what you have done in the initial & reflective responses, into what you are thinking &/or planning to do. The resultant outcome is your assimilative response. Using another lingo, this is your strategic model. This is where the actual value of an idea map is primarily located! Not in the beautiful map - with or without software - you have drawn in the first place! (I also note that a lot of Buzan followers simply love to spend time & effort in beautifying their mind-maps! This is really crazy!)
I love to call this end-point process the 'water logic' of idea generation, to borrow a phrase from Edward de bono.
The true value or ROI of an idea-map is WHERE IT LEADS YOU TO.
Of course, having a beautifully drawn or crafted idea-map is good for the ego - looking good, but going nowhere!
Just as I have said earlier, this book has really great stuff for the beginner into techno-savvy mind-mapping. But, please don't just stop here because life as well as business issues are never centralised. So, keep exploring! The world is full of possibilities!
To summarise my review, the author, regrettably with all her good intentions, did not focus on the true power & value of idea-mapping in this book.
Idea Mapping: How to Access Your Hidden Brain Power, Learn Faster, Remember More, and Achieve Success in Business Overview

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Legacies of Crime: A Follow-Up of the Children of Highly Delinquent Girls and Boys (Cambridge Studies in Criminology) Review

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Legacies of Crime: A Follow-Up of the Children of Highly Delinquent Girls and Boys (Cambridge Studies in Criminology) ReviewThis book changed the way I think about intergenerational violence. It also changed how I saw the way a person's past affects their current life situation.
I loved reading this book and found it interesting and informative. I am passing it on to my mother and father to read.Legacies of Crime: A Follow-Up of the Children of Highly Delinquent Girls and Boys (Cambridge Studies in Criminology) Overview

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The Six Month Fix: Adventures in Rescuing Failing Companies Review

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The Six Month Fix: Adventures in Rescuing Failing Companies ReviewThis is a great book on business turnarounds. It is eminently practical, humorous in spots and filled with interesting stories that highlight the advice being given.
The author offers 69 small chapters of advice. There's everything from what to do first on a turnaround... to how to get the best price selling your company. Nearly every page is heavily underlined in my book.
The topics that I particularly found valuable were: "Find the margin, cut all other costs"; "Specialize, do it where the margin lives, stop everything else"; "franchising is more about real estate than the business";his chapter on "make what sells" and the importance of low cost and his abundant advice on how to cut costs; his recommendations on increasing price on certain product types; setting your debt levels at the "10 year flood plain" for your company; demoting IT because it operates with its own agenda; stopping the CFO from gambling; cutting down on consultants and moving them over to more of a performance basis... well the topics go on, but you get the idea.
There's lots of advice. It's blunt and somewhat in your face. The text is easy to read and interesting too. There are lots of small stories that illustrate the points.
Overall I recommend this book most highly, not only for business turnarounds, but for any CEO or CEO wanna-bee. It would make a great book to take on business travel and read on the airplane. It's easy to read with the small chapters, and many topics. This is easily a 5 star book.
John DunbarThe Six Month Fix: Adventures in Rescuing Failing Companies Overview

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Stalking the Black Swan: Research and Decision Making in a World of Extreme Volatility (Columbia Business School Publishing) Review

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Stalking the Black Swan: Research and Decision Making in a World of Extreme Volatility (Columbia Business School Publishing) ReviewIf you are serious about picking stocks, or making decisions generally, read this book. I am a portfolio manager that has valued the insights of Ken Posner for over a decade. I have long believed that the best and most useful analysts on Wall Street are the precious few that simply ask important questions about the companies they cover and set out to answer those questions without passion or prejudice. Peppered with what Charlie Munger calls "mental models", Ken explains how he does just that...and more. He reveals how he deals with the inevitable uncertainty in the answers he finds and, importantly, how he adjusts his conclusions for new information. Perhaps most interesting is the privilege of going along with Ken on his journey to revisit the recommendations he made on some of the most controversial financial companies during one of the most volatile times in modern financial history; essentially, a concentrated education in decision making during extreme uncertainty and volatility. Refreshingly, Ken balances academic contributions against the realities of a practitioner without jabbing at either side. The book is an essential read for all directors of research on both the "buyside" and "sellside" but also has broad appeal as a rare look into the mind of an effective decision-maker.Stalking the Black Swan: Research and Decision Making in a World of Extreme Volatility (Columbia Business School Publishing) Overview

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The Complete Guide to Mergers and Acquisitions: Process Tools to Support M&A Integration at Every Level (JOSSEY-BASS BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT SERIES) Review

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The Complete Guide to Mergers and Acquisitions: Process Tools to Support M&A Integration at Every Level (JOSSEY-BASS BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT SERIES) ReviewThere is already an abundance of resources on the subject of M&A, especially those available on the WWW. If you are looking for a single-volume source, this is probably one of the best. The authors devote 14 chapters to virtually all aspects of M&A. In process, with clarity and eloquence, they explain the "Watson Wyatt Deal Flow Model" which, after appropriate modifications, can be applied to almost any organization involved in M&A negotiations, either as a buyer or as a seller. The final chapter, all by itself, is well worth the cost of the book. In it, the authors suggest various "keys" to M&A success. They then provide:
Resource A: Sample Task Force Charter
Resource B: Integration Planning Template
Resource C: Executive Summary of Watson Wyatt Worldwide's 1998-1999 Mergers and Acquisitions Survey
What we have here is a single-volume in which two experts on the subject of M&A seem to share everything they know about the subject. Even if your company is not currently a buyer or seller, its senior-level executives should read this book. Why? Because you just never know. Perhaps sooner than now anticipated, your company will be courted by another...or it will be attracted to another company as a prospective acquisition. In either situation, this book (and the "Watson Wyatt Deal Flow Model" it discusses) will be invaluable.The Complete Guide to Mergers and Acquisitions: Process Tools to Support M&A Integration at Every Level (JOSSEY-BASS BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT SERIES) Overview

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