Lonnie Pacelli's Blog, page 15

Book Review: Your Identity Theft Protection Game Plan - 7 Critical Steps to Prevent the Fastest Growing Crime in America from Happening to You

Summary:
A concise guide outlining seven practical steps you can take to avoid identity theft.

Is it insightful?  4 Stars 
Great very practical actions expressed in both narrative form in each chapter as well as in checklist format at end of book. While the information is good, there were several instances where information was out of date. When taking on a fast-evolving topic the author needs to ensure content stays fresh and relevant.

Is it creative?   4 Stars
Information is presented in a very straightforward how-to format. What would have helped underscore key concepts is to have real-life stories accompany each of the steps.

Is the well written? 5 Stars
Read in about 60 minutes, including clicking on the many helpful hyperlinks. Author makes good use of supporting websites and materials, though at least one of the links transferred me to a “page not found” message.

Is it a page turner? 3 Stars
I almost stopped reading during the introduction. The author uses four hyperlinks: three of which either link to his other products or a teaser to get a checklist if I provided an email address.  I have no problem when an author links to other products at the end of a book (I do this as well), but to do it in the introduction and try to get a reader’s email address before he’s had the chance to establish credibility is poor form. I am glad I continued reading as there’s good information to be gleaned; I just wish the author didn’t take to shameless plugs in the first two minutes of reading the book.

Overall Rating:  4 Stars

Does Artificial Intelligence Have a Plagiarism Problem?

Artificial intelligence has quickly transformed from something only the techies talked about to a kitchen table discussion topic. As an author whose work has been frequently plagiarized, my interest in AI has increased as the technology becomes more pervasive. To get more information on the topic, I decided to ask Bing’s AI copilot about AI and plagiarism. I asked it three questions, and am sharing the responses I received:

Read more at ProjectManagement.com.

Free 8/9-10: If You Build It They Will Succeed

Free 8/9-10: If You Build It They Will Succeed

Get it at https://amzn.to/2Dz8E49

#freebook #teamwork #leadership #kindle #kindlefire #ebooks #ebook #Kindlefreebooks #Kindledeals #FREE #mustread #goodreads #greatreads #freebie #freebies #kindlebook

The Differences Between a Good Advisor and a Good Mentor

I’ve been thinking a lot about my role as an advisor and mentor. As someone who has been around the business block for nearly four decades, I’ve acquired many bumps and bruises along the way.

I love sharing what I’ve learned, but I have come to realize that when I serve as an advisor, I use a different method than when I serve as a mentor. I did some introspection and wanted to get some things down for you to consider if you are entering into an advisory or mentoring relationship.

A great advisor and great mentor both share the following similar characteristics:

Read more at ProjectManagement.com

Book Review: Asperger's and Adulthood-A Guide to Working, Loving, and Living With Asperger's Syndrome

Summary:
Provides supportive solutions-based strategies for navigating the ins and outs of balancing high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger’s with independent living, careers, socialization and romance.

Is it insightful?  4 Stars 
Author provides good insight into how someone with HFA typically thinks and behaves, and how their thoughts and actions are strengths or barriers to successful living. Topics and examples are easily relatable for someone with HFA or for someone who has a loved one with HFA.

Is it creative?   5 Stars
Very good stories which underscore each life skills topic establish a good rapport with the reader. Book uses shaded comment boxes to highlight key points the author wishes to convey. Great use of frequently asked questions at end of book.

Is the well written?  5 Stars
Read in about 90 minutes. The author’s writing style is very direct and uses simple, effective language. There’s strong focus on applications that the reader can take away to immediately work on. Very kindle-friendly, with chapters and external references hyperlinked. Only minor ding is chapters don’t hyperlink back to table of contents.

Is it a page turner?  5 Stars
The author has a very conversational writing style that feels just as if she is sitting down with the reader over a cup of coffee providing insight and advice. The author’s writing voice coupled with her sage advice makes for an easy, enjoyable, and informative read.

Overall Rating:  5 Stars

Are You Mentorable?

What does it mean to be mentorable? Let me start by taking this from the mentor’s perspective, as the mentor makes the assessment on whether a mentee is worth his or her mentoring energy. As a mentor, here’s what I look at:

The mentee honors the mentor’s wisdom and experience, even if the mentee doesn’t always follow the mentor’s advice.The mentee does what they say they are going to do.The mentee is honest.The mentee is courageous about admitting they have done something wrong and need to work on it.The mentee respects the mentor’s time and treats meeting times seriously.The mentee understands that the mentor’s primary return on investment (ROI) is seeing growth in the mentee.
It’s this last point, the ROI, that I want to dig into a bit more, as it’s where the mentoring relationship bears fruit.

Read more at ProjectManagement.com.

Book Review: Out of My Mind

Summary:
A fictional story about Melody Brooks, a young girl with Cerebral Palsy who is unable to communicate on her own and dismissed as mentally challenged. Through the use of a Medi-Talker, those around her are able to understand how intelligent she really is.

Is it insightful?  5 Stars 
Good window into Cerebral Palsy and dispels the assumption that just because someone can’t speak it doesn’t mean he/she isn’t smart. Underscores the importance of society to make the effort to better understand someone who cannot communicate.

Is it creative?   5 Stars
Very creatively embeds lessons about Cerebral Palsy into a fictional story, as told from a first-person account as if the reader could read Melody’s mind. The first time the Medi-Talker said “I love you” to Melody’s parents was a great example of how the Medi-Talker opens a window for someone who cannot communicate on his/her own.

Is the well written? 5 Stars
Read in about three hours. Easy, conversational reading style without trying to use big words to dazzle (or confuse) the reader. Author makes good use of chapter hyperlinking in table of contents but would want to see hyperlinking from chapter back to table of contents. Really liked how author used bold font to indicate words that Melody typed on her Medi-Talker or pointed to on her communication board.

Is it a page turner? 3 Stars
An interesting, believable and compelling read through the first ¾ of the book. Without revealing spoilers, the ending, while unexpected, just didn’t seem to fit and was almost as if the author was trying too hard to shock the reader. I would have ended the story with more of an inspirational message and one where there was a more obvious change in some of the characters. I also would have eliminated the event towards the end involving Melody’s sibling. It felt disjointed and didn’t add anything to the story.

Overall Rating:  4 Stars

Stresspensation: Evaluating the Impact of Stress in Career Decision Making

Brad was an incredibly bright young executive with a very promising future.  Ever since graduating college, he seemed to take on increased responsibilities in his company like a duck to water.  He married his college sweetheart, Nancy, right after graduation and has two small children.   Brad's talent didn't go unnoticed in the industry, with several competitors approaching Brad about his willingness to join another firm.  He steadfastly resisted, that is until the offer of all offers came his way.

Cantata Group, a larger and more prominent competitor to his current company, wined and dined Brad and ultimately offered him a VP position with a higher salary and better benefits.  The offer was too good to pass up so Brad talked with Nancy about the job and they both became enamored with how this was going to advance Brad's career and what they would be able to do with the extra money.  Brad joyfully accepted Cantata's offer, gave his current company two weeks' notice, and started in his new VP role.  

Within a year of joining Cantata, he noticed some unexpected side effects of his new position.  He was required to be in weekly global executive virtual meetings which could happen at any time of the day or night.  He was routinely working 60+ hours a week, missing dinner with Nancy and the kids.  He traveled at least once a week, many times to put out fires at clients. His eating habits were horrendous and he wasn't exercising due to his schedule.  He began putting on weight.  Nancy was frustrated with him not being around and his kids missed their daddy.  The stress was unbearable and led to Brad one day grabbing his chest and collapsing during a customer meeting.
While the above story about Brad is fictional, each one of us knows of a Brad (or perhaps is Brad) who made a career choice without considering the effects of the extra stress.  The American Institute of Stress (yes there is such an organization) has quantified the cost of stress to employers at $300 billion annually due to things such as absenteeism, accidents, turnover, diminished productivity, and medical costs.  Add to that the personal costs of stress (i.e., poor health, weight gain/loss, sleep deprivation) and the relationship costs of stress (i.e., fractured relationships, friends or loved ones alienation, missed school plays), and you have a perfect storm of negative factors which make any kind of work-life balance virtually impossible to attain.  In my 30 years of working with career professionals, stress typically takes a back seat to compensation and when considered, it is usually only a slice of the true stress level that the professional will endure.  In the first ten years of my own career I saw stress as a given and gave it no consideration when evaluating career alternatives.  This was a big mistake and a lesson I learned the hard way.  Fortunately I learned it early in my career and was able to make some positive changes. However, some professionals never get it.To help the professional evaluate the impact of stress when deciding on a career change, I've defined a comparative increase/decrease method to evaluate the impact of stress, based on three stress types:

(a) Relationship Stress
(b) Work Stress
(c) Personal Stress

For each stress type, a qualitative degree of stress is defined as follows:

1 - Minimal Stress
2 - Moderate Stress
3 - Significant Stress

In evaluating the impact of stress, each of the three stress types is assigned a value for the current and new job alternatives, then a comparative increase/decrease assessment is derived for each stress type.  Let's put this to an example.

Lets say that a systems analyst (I'll call her Ann) is currently in a job paying $90,000/year and she's been offered a new position paying $100,000/year.  On the surface, Ann likes the idea of a $10k raise and looks at the three stress types for each job, as follows:

Current Position
Relationship stress = 2 due to infrequent evening meetings only.
Personal stress = 1 due to ability to keep up with personal interests without sacrifice
Work stress = 2 due to some tight deadlines.


New Position
Relationship stress = 3 due to evening meetings and four international trips/year to work with offshore developersPersonal stress = 2 due to having to alter exercise schedule, and having to drop book clubWork stress = 3 due to mission critical deadlines and regular status updates to senior management.

When you look at the three stress types the following pops out about the new position:
Ann is now faced with the following decision:  Is the salary bump of $10k worth the incremental relationship, personal and work stress she'll endure?  Depending on whatever other decision criteria Ann factors into her decision, the answer could be yes or no.  Whether or not she takes the job is still her decision; what the process has done is forced her to consider the three stress types and derive data points in which she can use in her overall decision-making.
There are a number of important considerations for you to digest in using this methodology.  First, this is not an autonomic decision-making tool where the numeric answer is the sole job determinant.  The impact of stress methodology is meant to bring relationship, personal, and work stress factors to the forefront of your decision making process.  Second, you need to be realistic about stress levels.  "Wishing down" a stress level doesn't make it go away; it just sets you up for a letdown (or worse) after you've made your decision.  Third, you need to let your friends and loved ones come up with the relationship stress value and not assume a value for them.  The real benefit in the methodology is the thought process and discussions you have along the way.  Don't shortcut how your stress type values are determined or you'll miss out on some valuable nuggets.  Fourth, the methodology applies to any type of career change which involves new or different responsibilities, including promotions.  Most of us are wired to blindly accept promotions without regard for the additional stress which may accompany the promotion.  Fifth, there will likely be stress in any job change; make sure you look at your steady-state stress level versus the "learning curve" stress level.

"Relationship, personal and work stress must be actively and realistically discussed and considered during the career choice decision making process."

Your Go-Dos
When faced with your next career decision, follow these five steps to assess your impact of stress and help you decide on your career choice course of action:
Ask a lot of questions about the job and the degree of relationship, personal and work stress entailed in the job.  Seek out others who may have done the job before or others who have some inside perspective.Look at the job responsibilities (both stated and those you derive through interviews) and determine how much stress each of the responsibilities will create for you. Decide on a 1-3 work stress value.Write down the personal activities and goals you have (i.e. exercise 4x/week, sleep at least 7 hours a night) and determine how the career choice would impact each of the activities and goals.  Decide on a 1-3 personal stress value.Openly discuss with your friends and loved ones what the career choice would mean in terms of impact to relationship time (i.e. not being home for dinner, availability to help with homework) and ask them to decide on a 1-3 relationship stress value.Derive the increase/decrease in stress for each of the three stress types. Decide how you're going to factor the impact of stress into your overall decision.
Remember, the real benefit in utilizing the impact of stress methodology is in the discovery process you'll go through to understand relationship, personal, and work stress drivers for different career choices.  Be real with yourself as to how a career choice will affect you and those you love.
Lonnie Pacelli
Keynote Speaker | Board Director | Autism Advocate | Author | Project Management Expert | Microsoft/Accenture Veteran 
See his books on Amazon.

Book Review: From Longing to Belonging

Summary:
An approach to inclusion of people with disabilities and mental health conditions for faith-based organizations.

Is it insightful?  5 Stars 
Great perspective on what inclusion means and how it’s comprised of both a Structure of Inclusion (activities and actions that foster inclusion) and Spirit of Belonging (connections and relationships with people which make all feel valued members of a community).  While there is some specific applicability to faith-based organizations, many of the concepts apply to any organization.

Is it creative?   5 Stars
Uses lots of stories to underscore key points, including stories about the author’s son who is a person with Attention Deficit Disorder and Aperger Syndrome. Book makes great use of sample forms and assessment questions to help bridge the gap from theoretical to practical application.

Is the well written? 3 Stars
Read in about three hours. Book not at all adapted for kindle reading. Words hyphenated in paperback, i.e. accomplish-ments, left hyphenated in kindle version even though there was no line break requiring hyphenation. No page break or hyperlinked chapters. Book references charts on specific page numbers (which don’t apply to kindle) or references charts that don’t exist. Book also references a workbook however the workbook doesn’t exist on Amazon nor is there a hyperlink from the kindle book to purchase the workbook. Lost opportunity to cross-sell the workbook.

Is it a page turner? 3 Stars
Good interesting facts in the book, but other than in the first chapter where the author talks about her son any trace of a writer’s voice is absent. As the book went on it became more and more a dry read.

Overall Rating:  4 Stars

7 Ways to Be a Better Follow-Up Leader

Greg, a team leader, is meeting with team members Tarun and Priyanka. “So, you’ll get that report done next week?” he said to them.

“Sure thing,” Tarun said.

“Great, see you next week. Have a good weekend.”

Greg gets up and leaves the room. Priyanka closes the door after Greg leaves.

“Why did you agree to get the report done?” asked Priyanka, who had just transferred to Greg’s team and had no experience working with him.

Tarun smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Greg does this all the time. He makes these off-the-wall requests then totally forgets that he even asked us to do something. I used to burn the midnight oil stressing over meeting the requests—only to find out he didn’t even remember asking me. I learned to ignore the requests since they probably would never be brought up again.”
“So, you just say you’ll do it, then do nothing?” Priyanka asked.

Tarun got up and walked toward the door. “Yup, you’ll get the lay of the land here soon enough.”

“Um, okay,” Priyanka said as she got up to leave the meeting room.

*** *** ***

Tarun had been burned multiple times by seemingly important requests from Greg, only to find out that nothing would come of the hard work. Ironically, Tarun was able to positively influence his work satisfaction by not spending time on things he knew Greg would never bring up again. He figured out one of his manager’s biggest weaknesses...

Read more at ProjectManagement.com.