The Book	What we thought
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell offers a compelling theory into what makes ideas, products, fashion trends, crime waves, or in fact any phenomena in society, transform into wide spread epidemics within a short amount of time. For example, Gladwell explained how the American Revolution was started literally overnight by one man on horseback spreading the news across the country that the British were coming.

According to Gladwell there are three rules required to create an epidemic; the law of the few, the stickiness factor and the power of context.

The Law of the Few

coming soon…

The Stickiness Factor

coming soon…

The Power of Context

coming soon…

Gladwell explains each rule by using real life examples that run throughout an entire chapter. This proves to be very effective because not only does it make for interesting reading, but it gives the reader a thorough understanding of the idea without bogging them down in the theory. The end of the book contains two case studies that pulls all three rules together. In short, Gladwell concludes by saying that it is possible to change the world in positive ways using just the right forces.

The Tipping Point provides a fascinating insight into epidemics that have swept through nations seemingly overnight. It feels as though he has removed the mystery behind the triggers of social phenomena. I give The Tipping Point a 1 in this binary review.

The Book

What we thought

In 1906 the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of Italy’s wealth came from only 20% of the population. This principle has since become known as the 80/20 rule. In Living the 80/20 Way, the author Richard Koch explains how this rule can be applied to many different areas of our life.

The book is divided into three parts. In part 1 the concept is introduced and explained to the reader. Part 2 focuses on how to apply the principle to five key areas of life: yourself, your work, money, relationships and ‘the simple, good life’ as Koch describes it. In part 3, the author presents a method you can use to adapt the 80/20 rule to your own life to assist in achieving your own needs and desires.

Every chapter is filled with real life examples that show how countless others from many disciplines in life have benefitted from applying the rule. I found myself applying many of them to my own life. As a simple example, since I use about 20% of my possessions in my house about 80% of the time, I decided to discard all the junk I don’t need or use. Not only did this result in a much cleaner and clutter free house, but somehow I have found more time to spend on activities that I enjoy. The numerous examples are what give this mathematical rule substance and relevance to everyday life.

Living the 80/20 Way is probably the simplest and most effective self-help book I have ever read. Given that the subject of the book is centered on the principle of ‘less is more’, Koch succeeded in delivering his message in an easy to read and concise writing style. It’s almost too simple to start applying the lessons he teaches to every facet of your life.

If you would like to live ‘the simple, good life’, where you can achieve more with less effort within every area of your life, then I suggest that this book be the very next one you read.

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

Full Disclosure – yes, that’s a tracked link to Amazon shown above.

We buy quite a large number of books on a wide range of topics, all relevant to our business in some way. If you did happen to purchase the book from Amazon, they’d throw a few shekels our way, which would help us to buy (and hence publish reviews of) even more books. Hence, Karma would return the benefits to you…

The book is divided into four sections, one for each letter of the DEAL acronym. The DEAL explains the process of becoming a member of the New Rich.

Definition – This section describes what it means to be a member of the new rich. It replaces common self-defeating assumptions with a new perspective on life. You define your goals and what you really want out of life.

Elimination – The concept of time management is destroyed. Topics such as selective ignorance, low information diets, and the art of refusal are discussed. Also introduced is Pareto’s Law or the 80/20 rule. This application of this principle is discussed throughout the rest of the book.

Automation – This section describes how to automate your cash flow and run a business on autopilot. Ferris recommends outsourcing your life to virtual assistants that can take care of all the menial tasks.

Liberation – Liberate yourself from the physical location of your job. Take mini retirements by redistributing your retirement years throughout your life. In this last section, Ferris introduces the concept of mobility and explains how to pick up your life and relocate to anywhere in the world.

Scattered throughout the book are handy little hints and tips such as, how to read twice as fast in 10 minutes, how to start making your dreams a reality, an effective way to manage email and phone calls, how to reduce the clutter in your life, the art of non-finishing and how to make the most effective use of virtual assistants.

I also enjoyed the “comfort challenges” placed throughout the book where you are instructed to go out into the world and perform some activity to increase your level of comfort in awkward situations. For example, would you lay face up in the middle of a train station for two minutes?

How can Global-Roam benefit from the lessons taught in this book? These are my top three suggestions for improving the performance of the business.
1. Hire a web design company to re-design the online ordering system (includes comprehensive FAQ)
2. Hire a web design company to re-design the Global-Roam website (includes comprehensive FAQ)
3. Explore the possibility of outsourcing the most time consuming and no-brainer tasks to a remote assistant

Whether the thought of redesigning your life appeals to you or not, this book is still an interesting read that offers an alternative to the 9 to 5 drudgery and a new perspective on life.

For the next three months I was in charge of my own project. I was given the task of building a system that automated the building and distribution of a report for the National Electricity Market (NEM). After scoping out the project with my supervisor at Global-Roam, I spent the first three weeks here researching, trying to find a tool or API that could put together a detailed report. Once I had found a suitable tool, I started designing and implementing each component. I built a database, two data processing applications, a secure website, and a console application that builds the report. In the final weeks of my project I started to pull together all of these components and after much testing and debugging the system was actually working! There are still a few loose ends to tie up but it shouldn’t be long now before this new product is revealed to the world.

When I started at Global-Roam I knew nothing about the NEM and nothing about the .NET framework and the C# programming language. I appreciated the fact that Global-Roam was willing to take me onboard and was actually looking forward to absorbing all this new material. The guys working at Global-Roam always found the time to listen to every annoying question I had and send me off in the right direction. In the beginning I spent a lot of my own time reading a great book they purchased called Pro C# 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform, Fourth Edition (Windows.Net) by Andrew Troelson. I also spent some time reading the NEMMCO website to gain a basic understanding of the NEM.

The interesting thing about working at Global-Roam is that everyone is their own boss. Therefore, the company is run not so much by an individual, but by a team of people that collectively make decisions on a weekly basis. This was a fantastic experience, and one that I did not expect to come across.

My time at Global-Roam was very rewarding and was certainly far more beneficial than going to university for the semester. The many obstacles that I faced made the experience all the more worthwhile. I gained new technical skills, managed my own project, learnt about the NEM industry, and experienced what happens in the day to day running of small business. I will definitely recommend this program to fellow students when I head back to university for my final semester.