Remarkable Reading # 21: THE SEVENTH SENSE: Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks and INVISIBLES: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion
The aim of this section Remarkable Reading is pay a tribute to the books that taught, share trends & insights into where our world in the 21st century is heading in a technology enabled world, and ask the right questions.
Bolded and italics quotes and references do not belong to myself and belong directly to the author. The focus is to share valuable insights and teachings from the book to win business for the authors.
Page 12 - “We need to understand that we've not living at a normal moment. The Enlightenment and the Age of Reason type up almost every institution in Europe. The Industrial Revolution that followed produced our most violent wars. We’ll come to understand how a world where we're all connected, all the time, represent every bit as profound a shift. Maybe more profound”
Page 4- “I started exploring a group I’ve banned the Invisibles because I was fascinated by people who chose to do work that required extensive training and expertise, that was critical to whatever enterprise they were a part of, yet knowingly and contentedly, they rare, if ever, were known by, let alone received credit from, the outside world for their labor. What makes Invisibles so captivating is that their approach is near antithetical to that of our culture at large.
Both books are exhilarating and reinvigorating reads for keeping ahead of technological advancements in the 21st century.
You can follow Joshua Cooper Ramo's on Twitter here and purchase a copy of THE SEVENTH SENSE on Amazon here and visit his website here.
You can follow David Zweig on Twitter here and purchase a copy of INVISIBLES here and visit his website here and
Joshua Cooper Ramo’s THE SEVENTH SENSE: Power, Fortune and Survival in the Age of Networks is a complex, involved and intricate book about business in the 21st century in a highly connected world. Fusing history, present and the upcoming future,THE SEVENTH SENSE: Power, Fortune and Survival in the Age of Networks is easily one of the most important commerce books I’ve read this year.
It’s Joshua Cooper Ramo’s ability to hone in on exact specifics in terms of the impact of complex networks and connectivity that ensures that this stands out. His ability to utilize history effectively to formulate possibilities for our present and future is something difficult he makes seem seamless.
Two Trends I wanted to share take-out’s on include:
- American’s role in the 21st Century correlated to modern technological advances
- Workforce and career goal's.
Page 12 - “We need to understand that we've not living at a normal moment. The Enlightenment and the Age of Reason type up almost every institution in Europe. The Industrial Revolution that followed produced our most violent wars. We’ll come to understand how a world where we're all connected, all the time, represent every bit as profound a shift. Maybe more profound”
Page 13 - “Pretty much any expert you talk to describes a world heading into chaos, with an ever weaker America. In fact, once we look at the networks, they suggest a very different outcome. Yet human history, has been paced by wars and power struggles between nations. This is what Europe endured in the last five hundred years. But think about all of history. Some systems endure for centuries. The roman Empire. Chinese dynasties. Assyrian or Mughal Kingdoms. The decline of the United States is a popular subject now - in Washington and also in places that are less friendly to American interests. But the networks, when we understand them properly, suggest something very different is possible. In fact they tell us exactly how our most vexing problems - the very problems networks have created - might be solved”
Page 273 - “Yes, in sheer GDP terms, the United States economy may not be as dominant as it once was, but the country can still control many of the most important gatelands that will emerge, simply by building systems that fit its own needs. In per capita GDP, America may hold a dominant position for another century, and it’s not clear that mere spending power is a measure of influence”
Page 71 - “The optimistic bumper sticker of our age - Any disruption is good disruption - marks a wonderful feature of the American character. It is, perhaps, to be expected of a nation built by immigrants who overturned their lives in the gospel of something better. To pull up and leave home for a land where you did not speak the language and knew little of the culture demanded faith. You had to believe. Any disruption is good disruption. But no nation, even the most heroically, hopefully is immune to the forces of history. Edmund Burke’s old line that “every revolutions contains in it something “evil” runs like as countermelody though the hopeful music of the age now. America’s remarkable spirit does not make the demand for an American grand strategy any less real. American's Are starting to feel that this age is more dangerous than they had expected”
Page 72 - “Americans have a sense of where the United States is going and why. The Country needs a grand strategy”
Page 79 - “There's A misplaced confidence at work here, an assurance that American-Style power, along with the country’s model of politics and economics, is the only answer to the question of how the nations of the world might be patient. The world will catch on. And if you grew up in the United States after World War 2, a “smart power” worldview would certainly be consistent with your own experience”
Page 300 - “We need to cultivate a sensibility that permits us to see through this manipulation and then to act. The instincts of technology and of history must emerge in our calculations now. What will serve us best in a technical age is a sense of humanity that the old political machines or the new thinking machines can’t match”
David Zweig’s INVISIBLES: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion is strong in detail and Zweig is a fluid and smooth writer in terms of honing in on the exact details in terms of exacting the changes, and pinpointing the traits future employees may be required to have. Seth Godin’s LINCHPIN was another book that touched on a similar topic, and David Zweig’s INVISIBLES: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion adds more understanding and awareness about employment and employees in the future. This a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the future of employees in a fast-moving technological age and a important contribution to business books in the last 5 years.
Here are some of the key take-out’s I found informative:
Page 4- “I started exploring a group I’ve banned the Invisibles because I was fascinated by people who chose to do work that required extensive training and expertise, that was critical to whatever enterprise they were a part of, yet knowingly and contentedly, they rare, if ever, were known by, let alone received credit from, the outside world for their labor. What makes Invisibles so captivating is that their approach is near antithetical to that of our culture at large.
”Page 80- “People are happier when they are pursuing significant goals (such as career advancement) and are making progress toward them”
Page 101 - “The Invisible cares deeply about his craft. He has likely studied for years, gained credentials , and worked toward a level of expertise that an enthusiast couldn’t approach. This is not to say that we all must strive to become experts or not bother doing something at all”
Page 161 - “Being innovative, ,tinkering with the norm, is where ge gets his fulfilment. This isn't surprising because being a successful invisible, both professionally and personally, means being motivated by personal rewards, enjoying the process of finding funique solutions to challenges”
Page 226 “As I’ve argued, economically we are losing out by no longer valuing critical yet unflashy jobs. And psychologically, the more we view our lives as brands to be commodified, the more disconnected from ourselves and one another we become. It’s clear we are increasingly ourselves and one another we become. It’s clear we are increasingly in need of a cultural and personal corrective away from this ethos of attention. The good news is there is a collective of people working silently among us, whose work is not flashy but is critical, and whose lack of need for recognition has led them to business success and personal fulfilment, whom we can follow toward more prosperous, healthier and grounded lives. They are the Invisibles.
Page 227 - “learning to embrace responsibility is daunting, but ultimately empowering. Striving to work harder and be more meticulous at tasks we value or enjoy offers rewards that cannot be rivaled by accepting just “good enough”. Having silent pride in one’s work itself rather than seeking outward recognition is a long-established path to true gratification. It takes courage and effort to pursue the traits of the Invisibles, and I've been humbled by the people I’ve met who practice and live them in their jobs everyday”
You can follow Joshua Cooper Ramo's on Twitter here and purchase a copy of THE SEVENTH SENSE on Amazon here and visit his website here.
You can follow David Zweig on Twitter here and purchase a copy of INVISIBLES here and visit his website here and
Thank you,
Praz
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