Welcome to the Book Club!
Each month, I’ll suggest 2 or 3 books that you might like to read – one will be a biz-explorer pick (something to help you in you navigate your business) and one will be a general fun (or creativity) pick. I’ll provide links to Goodreads (so you can easily add it to your queue), IndieBound (buy from your local bookseller!) and Amazon Kindle (if available).*
Last month, we started reading The Art of Possibility and Six Thinking Hats. What did you think?
Did it change the way you think about making decisions? Leave a comment to tell me. (That's where I'll be sharing how I'm using Six Thinking Hats in my business).
April's Books
Contagious, by Jonah Berger. I haven't read it yet, but it was suggested by Jessica of Storied Yarns and it just came in at my library. I look forward to reading it along with you!
GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon
The for-fun pick is Dinner: A Love Story, by Jenny Rosenstrach. More than a cookbook (since I don't eat meat, there's not a lot of recipes from it I'll be trying!), it's a lovely story of getting dinner on the table every day. I especially loved this bit, where she talks about how she and her husband end up “owning” recipes (Jay and I do EXACTLY this):
GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon
*A reminder: I got both of these books at my library – so try yours! If you buy from IndieBound or Amazon using the links below, I get a tiny percentage for soy lattes.
If you’re joining me in reading these books this month, say hello in the comments! If not, what are you reading?
Tara Swiger
April 1, 2013 at 1:34 pm (12 years ago)A reader (Vanessa, I think?) mentioned that she didn’t really get how a tiny, one-person business could use 6 Thinking Hats, since it’s really written for managers and CEOS, so I wanted to address that.
For me, the framework of 6 different ways of looking at a decision (each with it’s own time, and it’s own responsibilities) is one I use on MYSELF.
For example, if I’m trying to decide what new product to make (or class to teach), I’ll list out the options, then put on each hat.
Black hat: What won’t work? Why won’t this class work? What don’t I know?
White hat: What are the figures? how much time do I have? What sold well last time? How many? How much time would this product take to develop? How much would I have to charge? How many would I have to sell to break even.
Red Hat: How do I feel about this? Where’s my enthusiasm?
Yellow Hat: Why would this be awesome? What would make it amazing?
Green Hat: What does this remind me of? What else? What could this inspire? What might happen after it? What else is this connected to?
Blue Hat: Ok, now, let’s narrow it down to the one I’m most excited about!
I’m also using this while talking about decisions with my husband. We’re moving soon, so I’ve been thinking about how to use this framework as we look at houses. I imagine saying: Ok, let’s White Hat this place before we Black Hat it. Now it’s time for Red Hat feelings. Ok, and Yellow Hat thoughts?
This will (in theory) keep us talking about the same thing (Am I the only partner who finds myself talking about Spock-facts while he’s talking about Kirk-gut-level thoughts? And two minutes we’re on two different hats, and we booth feel un-heard and misunderstood?)
Have you started to use the 6 Hats in your decision-making?
Vanessa
April 3, 2013 at 11:22 am (12 years ago)I did ask you how a micro business could use “6 Thinking Hats.” Honestly, the book just didn’t draw me in. 🙁
Tara Swiger
April 3, 2013 at 1:09 pm (12 years ago)Yeah, I got bored with it, and halfway through just started reading the last chapter for each hat (where he summarizes the previous chapters). I kinda hated his endless examples!
Gregg Bell
April 10, 2013 at 10:32 pm (12 years ago)Great stuff here, I’m not crafty, but I’ll be back for the fun of it