Top 100 Amazon Reviewer Favorably Compares "Awake at the Wheel" to "Who Moved My Cheese?"
This just in from Thomas Duff, Top 100 Amazon reviewer:
Awake at the Wheel: Getting Your Great Ideas Rolling (in an Uphill World) can, in my opinion, be compared to the classic "Who Moved My Cheese?". Ditkoff does for creativity what Johnson and Blanchard did for living with change... It gives the reader a short, humorous story loaded with meaning and concepts that hit the reader right where they live.
Ditkoff explores the world of ideas and creativity though the story of Og. Og is a caveman who spends more time thinking than the average Neanderthal. He stumbles upon the concept of a circle, and becomes obsessed with what it could mean to the group. Of course, most of his fellow cavemen are more concerned about maintaining the status quo... hunting, eating, staying warm.
Og takes a journey to talk with a wise one, and from that trip the wheel is born. But even then, others in his clan are more interested in shooting it down as something that will never work. But one person does figure out the practical application, and pretty soon everyone is "rolling along" with the greatest thing since dried mammoth...
I really did like this book.
Taking the concept of ideas and putting them in caveman terms freshens up what could be just another book on creativity. At the end of the book are 35 "tools" you can use to spur your own idea machine, as well as how best to make sure these fleeting thoughts don't disappear like smoke from a campfire.
Like many companies have done with "Cheese", this should be a mass purchase, handed out to all employees, and then discussed in team meetings. Those who are into this genre will love it, and the Neanderthals who are cynical will likely spend the 30 minutes or so it should take to read it.
And they might even come out of that experience as the new Og of your organization.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2008Blog Talk Radio Interview
OK. It's official. My new book, Awake at the Wheel, hit the bookstores yesterday.
In celebration of its coming out, Wayne Hurlbert of BlogTalkRadio, did a 60 minute interview with me last night. Click here, if you want to listen. Click here if you don't want to listen. In either case, I hope things are clicking for you, no matter what you choose to do.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:00 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 200824,000 Year Old Cave Man Invites You to a Book Signing in Woodstock
See that Neanderthal to your left? That's Og, the mythical inventor of the wheel and the hero of Mitch Ditkoff's new book which hits the book stores on May 1.
In honor of Og, I am inviting you to the book signing at the Golden Notebook in Woodstock, NY, Saturday, April 26th, 5:00 - 7:00 pm.
Here's what Og has to say about the book signing:
Morkel noophpa umphh! Kiaww noofti agu. Brrpp. Obama! Rok. Remu! Ditkoff sumphfta jabu.
Translation?
"Hey bipeds with Blackberries and cash flow problems! You don't even need to know how to read to enjoy a book signing! Free wine! Free cheese! The tribe reconvenes! And Mitch Ditkoff, who has recently developed full use of both opposable thumbs, will be signing books. Or eating crackers. Or talking too much.
Bring a friend. Bring two. Really, you don't have to buy a single book if you don't want to. Just come and be part of the fun.
And support the fabulous Golden Notebook!
If you want to listen to Mitch's two minute rap about the book, click here.
PS: If you can't make it to the book signing, so be it. You can still buy a copy here.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:58 PM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2007Fair Winds: linkage report
At the ripe young age of one month, The Heart of Innovation has been attracting some attention on the Web. Several blogs have picked up on our conversation recently:
Fast Company --
FC Now, Fast Company magazine's regular staff blog, ran an Innovation Wednesday feature, "Corel's Virtual Garage" (8/22) based on Mitch's post, "It's Innovation Time at the OK Corel."
They really got into it in depth:
"Intrigued by the Corel concept -- I first heard about it here - I got in touch with Adam McKinty, Director of User Experience Design at Corel, and Jennifer Fraser, the Lead User Experience Designer, who walked me through the development of the system."
And they got off one pretty sly remark in particular:
"At the end of the day, innovation must create value. (Otherwise it's just bloviation, which can also only be measured using trailing indicators.)"
InnovationTools --
Chuck Frey posted a summary on InnovationTools.com of Tim Moore's deconstruction of the failed Apple Newton.
Big Problem or Right Problem? The Egg Freckles Saga (8/17)
"Tim tells this innovation case history in a very engaging style. I highly recommend that you read it," Frey says.
Innovationpartners --
"En weblog om IP og Innovation,' Denmark. This Danish blog also just published an item on Tim's Newton story, "Succesfuld innovation løser det rigtige problem." But we really can't tell you anything about their take, because it is in Danish, which AltaVista's Babelfish translation ne parlez pas.
For anyone who does read the language, though, you'll be amused by their conclusion:
"Apple tabte markedet og en halv milliard dollars i forsknings udgifter. Hvad er moralen? Den er:* fokuser på din kunde
* hvad vil han have for en løsning,
* vil din løsning give ham mere værdi i forhold til andre"Det er jo ren LEAN ;-) "
Added us to their Blogrolls
- InnovationTools, "Innovation & Creativity Weblogs"
- Think For A Change (Paul Williams), "Innovation Blogroll"
(We watch these developments mostly from our lofty treetop perch on Technorati, where we can spot who in their network, at least, has found us.)
Thanks for reading!
Posted by Bill Ross at 03:56 PM | Comments (2)
