Comments

Tom,

Thanks for contributing to this, and for posting it on your site.

I love the idea of making booboos at the speed of light!

Rob

Posted by Rob Christeson at December 14, 2009 7:43 AM

Tom,

I like it. I particularly like "if it ain't broke, break it" & empathy. If more people & companies followed these, I don't think we would be in the economic problems we are in now (the big 3 auto makers never made the decision to break their standard model & the financial and banking companies that needed more empathy is obvious).

Posted by Aaron Windeler at December 14, 2009 7:43 AM

Thanks for posting this! Excellent effort and great thoughts. Tom's 19 Es of Excellent are brilliant. I love Aaron's comment above. Arianna's admonition of sleep I probably need to adhere to more.

Posted by Judith Ellis at December 14, 2009 8:28 AM

This is without doubt one of the best Christmas presents I have been given, on the first day of me stopping some stuff, deciding sleep mattered and that this confirmed what I already knew!

Simply thanks for the gift of sharing.

Most kind, have the best of days, I now have the best of evenings reading all of this, assuming my 2.75 year old decides that beds are for sleeping in?

Warm regards

Patrick

Posted by patrick at December 14, 2009 2:33 PM

this one on passion strikes me:

"you grow (and thrive!) by doing what excites
you and what scares you everyday, not by
trying to ?nd your passion"

the key words are "excites & scares" at the same time!

Posted by bee at December 14, 2009 10:29 PM

I have just reached Gina Trapani's page on Productivity. It's one of the most stimulating and insightful things I have read in ages. Marvellous!

Posted by RobCH at December 15, 2009 9:59 AM

I see a lot of praise for the book as "thought provoking" Well and good. But what kind of thoughts are provoked, and are they the thoughts that get us where we really want to go?

I suggest that just as the doctor who delivers the baby must start the baby's life with a good slap, so the reader must do a safety-check on his enthusiasm with a good slap from "the Philosopher's Glove".

The Philosopher's Glove is a mnemonic for the five basic classes of questions which sound philosophy teaches us must be asked to approach thorough understanding of any matter -- but especially in business.

The classes are:

Little finger - "but is it really true?"
Ring finger - "what exactly is the issue?"
Big finger - "what are the causes (why)?"
Index finger - "are we going to excess?"
Thumb - "are there good books on the subject?"

So far I see significant overlap with Tom Peter's "Listen, Read..." from another post.

But the extra bonus you can mark on the Glove is for the palm: "slap face with this to re-establish contact with reality;)"

The Philosopher's Glove is an old idea, but it has stood the test of time. It has kept its relevance even for our days -- if not actually gained more relevance.

Posted by Matt J. at December 25, 2009 4:26 PM