November 09, 2006
Mavericks at Work: I'll take "Regurgitation of insights I've read in more well-written tomes" for 500 Alex
Mavericks at Work
* is the new media-darling of a book by William C. Taylor and Polly LaBarre, both former Fast Company elite. Now, let me start by saying that I was a huge fan of Fast Company. Huge. I still have a stack of old FCs sitting on my bookcase. Every once in awhile I'll thumb through them for a refresher. And then I'll reorganize them so that I'll be prepared to hawk them on eBay when the first bubblers have new cash to spend from the Web 2.0 bubble.
So, Fast Company? I'm a fan.
So imagine my excitement. No, I'm serious. Imagine my excitement.
Okay. Got it? Good. Let's move on.
Tom Peters' dust jacket endorsement of the book reads "I didn't read this book. I devoured it."
I wish I'd followed Tom's lead. It had to taste better than it read.
Imagine my excitement when I saw that Mavericks at Work was written by not one but two former FC staff. Be still my heart. And what's more, imagine how that excitement increased when I found out that one of the authors would be speaking in town.
Keep imagining it my friend, because that's all that excitement is anymore: a figment of our collective imagination.
I was completely disappointed in the book.
So, I waited. Maybe the author talk will convince me otherwise. Inspire me to re-read with fresh eyes. Share an insight that would send me racing back to immerse myself in the pages that suddenly contained knowledge I had somehow overlooked.
No dice.
So that's it. I'm done with the review. Nothing to review.
But I want something to read, I hear you whining. There, there. Don't go crying like a little titmouse. I'll give you something to do. In fact, here's what I'd suggest instead of spending your money on this one.
First, read Good to Great
by Jim Collins, since it's the foundation, the lobby, and the 2nd through 50th floors of this Mavericks book. (Apparently "coming up with new content" wasn't part of being a maverick.) If you don't own Good to Great, Amazon
is currently offering a "Buy Both and Save" option for Good to Great and Mavericks at Work. Want to know how to save even more? I'll tell you how: Just buy Good to Great.
Next pick some reading from the following list to get the "edgy" that may be missing from Good to Great:
- Zag
- Whatever you think, think the opposite
- Gonzo Marketing
- Rules for Revolutionaries
- Purple Cow
Or if you feel like you need to get all educated and professorial choose from
- Blue Ocean Strategy
- The Deviant's Advantage
But most of those are old books you say. Guess what? So is Mavericks at Work. You've read it all before. Trust me. (And don't give me the old "There are no new ideas" argument. I use that one all of the time. I am familiar with the technique, the parry, and the retort. Rest assured that the recycled ideas in the reading list above were far fresher in those works than they were in Mavericks.)
Sad. I expected so much more from the brains behind Fast Company.
*I only include the Amazon link to Mavericks at Work
because if you're dumb enough to buy it, I want to make money off of your stupidity.
Mavericks at Work: I'll take "Regurgitation of insights I've read in more well-written tomes" for 500 Alex
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