Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths For Winning At Business Without Losing Your Self by Alan M. Webber, HarperBusiness, 270 pages, $24.99, Hardcover, April 2009, ISBN 9780061721830

Books like The Wisdom of Crowds and Super Crunchers show that groups and algorithms beat gurus and experts consistently in the decision-making department. It seems the usefulness of the sage is waning, but maybe something is being lost. Logic trees and collective aggregations may be more accurate, but they lack the compelling richness of a person’s life experience. In the case of Rules of Thumb, missing out on Alan Webber’s insights would be a terrible loss.

Webber spent his initial years out of college in Portland city politics. From there, he landed at the Harvard Business Review, where he worked under the legendary Ted Levitt and met his future business partner, Bill Taylor. Alan and Bill left HBR, and in 1994, founded Fast Company magazine. The duo sold the magazine in 2003 for $350 million to the magazine division of German media giant Bertlesman.

In Webber, you have someone who has sailed in the sea of business ideas for thirty years, as both discerning editor and successful entrepreneur. His new book, Rules of Thumb, is a compilation of the wisdom he collected over the years on 3″X5″ index cards. He says he learned this technique of note-taking from Levitt, who used it as a way to organize all of the ideas he was exposed to each day.

Fifty-two rules fill the 270-page book and the stories Webber tells to illustrate each insight are personal. Webber’s Rule #19 is “Focus on the Signal to Noise Ratio.” He quotes Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer to help explain: “Too much measurement is no different than no measurement all. Pick a few metrics and stick to them.” The same rule applies for purpose and values: identify two or three that represent what you do, and live by them. But, in contrast to the problem of too many metrics, it’s often the lack of values or the absence of purpose that causes confusion.

Here is a sample of a few of the other rules:

Rule #15 – Every change needs four things: change, connections, conversation, and community.
Rule #16 – Facts are facts; stories are how we learn.
Rule #34 – Simplicity is the new currency.
Rule #43 – Don’t confuse credentials with talent.

Read Rules of Thumb slowly, in increments of ten or twelve pages. Spend some time contemplating a few of Webber’s rules in those following days, as these truths need some time to sink. Then go do something. Do something different with the knowledge you’ve gained. As Webber says, “It’s the best chance of creating the future we all want.”

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod, Portfolio, 176 pages, $23.95, Hardcover, June 2009, ISBN 9781591842590

Creativity is a tough thing to dissect. Everyone has it… Wait! Really? Is everyone creative? Are you? Is the person sitting in the next cubicle? Is your boss? More than likely, you don’t truly believe that everyone is creative, but Hugh MacLeod does. He believes that there are two groups of people: the creative, and those who don’t realize they’re creative. MacLeod clarifies, “[I]f you don’t see yourself as particularly creative, that’s not reality, that’s a self-imposed limitation. Only you can decide whether you want to carry that around with you forever. Life is short.” Whichever group you are in, this book with the surprising title of Ignore Everybody brings everyone together as innovators, creating an alignment where real change can occur sooner than when relying on one group with the “creative” label to carry the load.

Not only is the title of MacLeod’s book is surprising, but some pages contain business card-sized rectangles filled with scribbles and blunt, often profane, yet profound statements. Intriguing for a business book, to say the least. While the cards contain some messages that will likely make some people blush, every page is filled with insight into how to manage creativity; how to do whatever it is you do differently, creatively, and with powerful results.

The keys MacLeod offers in Ignore Everybody don’t so much tell you what to do, as they will make you think critically about what you do and how you do it; a refreshing change of perspective that’s as smart as it is self-empowering. Statements like, “All existing business models are wrong. Find a new one.” and “If your plan depends on suddenly being ‘discovered’ by some big shot, your plan will probably fail. Nobody suddenly discovers anything.” open the door for people to take the next step.

One of MacLeod’s great strengths is his ability to transcend the message beyond one audience channel. This isn’t a book for business people; it isn’t a book for artists or entrepreneurs; it’s a book for everyone. Because creativity isn’t just about drawing pictures or writing interesting things. Creativity is about how we approach situations, how we communicate, how we do business, and how we live our lives. If you take MacLeod’s advice and shift your perspective away from becoming better in ways others expect, and instead “ignore everybody,” tapping into your personal creativity to accomplish things that you may be good at (but might be afraid to try), then organizations will change, business will change, and your life will change—for the better.

Where Underpants Come From: From Cotton Fields to Checkout Counters—Travels Through the New China and Into the New Global Economy by Joe Bennett, The Overlook Press, 250 Pages, $25.95, Hardcover, July 2009, ISBN 9781590202289

Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, written by academic Pietra Rivoli, was deservedly nominated for some major awards when it was published four years ago. Rivoli reported on her adventures as she followed the creation, manufacturing and distribution of her t-shirt. The book’s premise was simple, but the insights Rivoli uncovered were sharp and revealing, and the writing was engaging. When I saw this book, Where Underpants Come From, I thought “been there, done that”—and no one could do it better than Rivoli. But I have to say that with this book, Joe Bennett has successfully added to our understanding of the global wardrobe while keeping us entertained.

The premise of Bennett’s book is as straightforward as Rivoli’s. Having purchased an economy pack of underwear, Bennett is intrigued by who could possible make a profit on such merchandise and begins his quest. As he follows the underwear from his native New Zealand to Shanghai to Thailand, Bennett, a travel writer, offers us a more palpable feel of the countries he visits than many of the other globalization books that have been written in the past five years—perhaps because he allows himself to be part of the story. Even Bennett’s stories about his meals are hilarious, such as when he recounts his attempt at getting the hang of chopsticks.

But Bennett’s book isn’t simply a travelogue that lacks substance, however. He is a master at mixing the entertaining with the informative. When relating the history of how the west used opium to open China, Bennett writes:

It’s a complex story that took a century to work itself out, but the eventual and inevitable conclusion was that by shameful means predicated on superior weaponry, Great Britain and other Western powers gained footholds on Chinese territory, including Hong Kong and the port of Shanghai. To the Chinese it was nothing less than a slow invasion by barbarians. They have a point.

One of my favorite business insights came when Bennett describes how, when New Zealand customs workers unpack a Chinese shipping container to check its contents, they can never, without exception, fit all the stuff back in because the Chinese are master packers of the products. Bennett uses this example to show how the Chinese are conscientious of every small thing in the name of economy.

What the majority of us understand about doing business and traveling internationally is limited to watching the cable news networks and the Olympics. Where Underpants Come From offers a view of how business is done globally from an observer’s perspective, and Bennett makes it seem like, for a short time, we are there observing it all with him.