Rolf Smith Jr.'s recommendations

By Innovators Guide

MY MISSION: Guide! Continually explore the unknown with Thinking Expeditions, trailblaze. Lead people on high-energy, exciting adventures with their minds to discover who they really are. Stay out in 3-Sigma as much and as long as possible and take other people there with me. Teach others my skills and grow them past me.

MY VISION: On Expedition! Transform people into who they are through self-discovery. Make my life extraordinary.

OCCUPATION (WHAT I REALLY DO): I Guide. I mindshift, energize and teach through Thinking Expeditions and the School for Innovators.

Although my book, The 7 Levels of Change, is not yet available through this web site, you can order a copy at Powell's (https://www.powells.com/book/7-levels-of-change-diffferent-thinking-for-diffferent-results-9781930819504) or on Amazon.

The 7 Levels of Change is a field-guide for innovators, a hand-book for thinking different, for doing different, and for guiding others in thinking different to get different results. There are tools and mind maps for the visual learner to make positive change happen. It is about effecting continuous improvement and innovation both in your personal and business life. The book frees you from linear thinking and opens a world of possibilities. It has been used for some of the worlds largest corporations, for instance, Texaco, Royal Bank of Canada, IBM, Exxon, General Mills both for corporate thinking expeditions and individual study. The reader will experience new energy, commitment, and self-confidence at any level. While the concept is presented in seven different levels, the reader can wade in at Level 1, move immediately to Level 3 or jump to Level 7 as they will.

Dead Poets Society (UK)

N. H. Kleinbaum

$8.99 $8.36

To order the book, click the "Add to Cart" button below OR get the recommended DVD at this link: https://www.familyvideo.com/dead-poets-society-12158/ ... Rolf says... A profound movie about thinking diffferent at every Level of Change. Actor Robin Williams, as poetry teacher John Keating, takes his students through increasingly higher levels of change and shifts in their thinking. He has the class Riiipppp! out the whole introduction to their text book in dramatic Level 4 Change (Cutting – stopping doing things). The famous scene where he stands on his desk in order to look at the world in a diffferent way is pure Level 6 Change (Diffferent: Doing what no one else is doing). It premiered with our first School for Innovators and we gave everyone two tickets to go see it. A must see (over and over) for anyone who sees themselves in the role of a change agent – or a real teacher.

Breakthrough Thinking Nonprofit C

Bernard Ross, Segal, et al.

$50.95

An excellent mix of western and eastern perspectives and thinking about creative problem solving, the authors describe seven principles that can lead to breakout thinking and breakthrough results. Chapter 3 (Pushing for Breakthrough) and Chapter 5 (The Purposes Principle) are valuable in looking at the higher levels of change (6 and 7) as well as in understanding the corresponding shifts in thinking that must take place at every level of change.

Hot Groups: Seeding Them, Feeding Them, and Using Them to Ignite Your Organization

Jean Lipman-Blumen and Harold J Leavitt

$75.90

The authors’ define a “Hot Group” as a special state of mind, task-obsessed and full of passion. Hot Groups are not new – they’ve probably been around forever. In re-reading the book, the AhHA! for me was that Thinking Expeditions create Hot Groups that produce surprising results in a very short period of time (read the case studies on pages 269-298)

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell

$18.99 $17.66

The main subject of this book is "thin-slicing" - our ability to gauge what is really important from a very narrow period of experience. Spontaneous decisions are often better than carefully considered ones. We do that by "thin-slicing," using limited information to come to our conclusion. Experts often make better decisions with snap judgments than with volumes of analysis. If the big picture is clear, then decide from the big picture without using a magnifying glass. [source: Wikipedia]

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

Daniel H. Pink

$17.00 $15.81

A Whole New Mind posits that the future of global business belongs to the right-brainers in the “conceptual age”. Creativity and Level 6 and 7 Thinking becomes the competitive difference that can differentiate commodities. Pink outlines six essential senses: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, Meaning. It’s all about thinking different about thinking diffferent…

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Chip Heath and Dan Heath

$28.00 $26.04

Engaging stories are related to principles. Stories that “stick with you” range from urban legends (the "Kidney Heist") to business stories (Southwest Airlines, "the low price airline"); to inspirational, personal stories. Each chapter includes a "Clinic" where the principles are applied to a specific case study or idea to demonstrate the principle's application. Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories.

Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers

James Macanufo, Sunni Brown, et al.

$39.99 $37.19

This book includes 80+ games [i.e., tools and techniques] to help break down barriers, communicate better, and generate new ideas and insights. The games range from Level 1 to Level 7 from some of the world’s most innovative professionals - whose teams collaborate and make great things happen.

Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us

Daniel H. Pink

$18.00 $16.74

Pink suggests that motivation with rewards or fear of punishment, dominated by extrinsic factors (e.g., “money”) is broken: effective motivation is intrinsic for anything but mundane work; autonomy and mastery with purpose are key at any Level of Change. It reinforces the 3rd order mindshift in the Mindshift Model: thinking about thinking in order to think diffferent.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

Chip Heath and Dan Heath

$29.00 $26.97

Heaths observe that we use two systems in making decisions: One is more rational, analytical, focused on details and concrete; the other is more abstract, both emotionally and impulsively. The book describes successes in bringing about big changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives.

Brain Power: Learn to Improve Your Thinking Skills

Karl Albrecht

$21.95

At 30+ years old, this book, coupled with a short video by the same name and featuring John Houseman, still profoundly impacts my approach to thinking different and my thinking about thinking every time I re-read it. It played an unusual role in the development of The School for Innovators as a way to teach people how to think, be, and do different. Albrecht does a great job of establishing a vocabulary and conceptual baseline around the art and practice of thinking – especially for Level 6 and 7 Change. A classic J.I.T. book, it can be opened anywhere anytime for any length of time with a high return in value; it also has lots of pithy quotes.

In browsing back through these books while I put this list together, I saw how much I’d written in most of them – and realized the importance of marginalia - the art and practice of writing in books. Marginalia take takes an author's thinking beyond his or her original thoughts, introduces your own perspective and experiences, personalizes if for you, and moves you into getting deeper value from the book. TIP! Write in your books (and in other people’s books when they loan them to you).