HBR: Most Popular Articles of 2010

AN EXCITING YEAR IS DRAWING TO A CLOSE. Coming full circle of seasons it is winter again while the haven freezes over and a friend messaged from Leh in north-western Himalayas, "Its -15.4° C (4.2° F) here. Expect snow typing." I am almost sure it was meant to read "slow typing".

HBR on their part collectively published some 1000+ articles over the last 365 days. Recently, one of the editors listed the top 10 most popular articles among them (try here). Listed below are the five articles that I liked most.

1. Why I Returned My iPad by Peter Bregman
Peter Bregman stands in a two-hour queue-for-a-gadget for the first time to get his hands on iPad on its launch day. And within days, he is hooked. In this I-fear-I-might-loose-boredom post, Bregman talks about returning his iPad to Apple because it was "too good". He writes, "It's too easy. Too accessible. Both too fast and too long-lasting. For the most part, it does everything I could want. Which, as it turns out, is a problem." Because, he feared, he might loose his boredom, and hence, creativity. Go here to know why. [Tags: Managing yourself, Time management]

2. 12 Things Good Bosses Believe by Robert Sutton
Coming from Sutton’s popular book "Good Boss, Bad Boss", this short article is more of a link list where the items in the list go on to become articles in themselves. Some pretty common-sense stuff that sounds too apparently recognizable and one might just nod one’s head through it without the real attention or much effort in remembering it. That’s where the associated articles come in useful. Go here for the first branch of the tree. [Tags: Managing people, Leadership]

3. The Best Cover Letter I Ever Received by David Silverman
This remains one of the most popular articles of 2010 even though Silverman actually published it the year before. The answer to the question in the title is rather sarcastic. Silverman doesn't want people to waste time over writing cover letters, and explains the reasons in this post. Go here for this short and sweet post, and go here for his preceding and popular article - How to Write a Résumé That Doesn't Annoy People. [Tags: Career planning, Hiring, Business writing]

4. Define Your Personal Leadership Brand by Norm Smallwood
Smallwood published his book around personal branding about three years ago. This article provides a decent synopsis of his overall ideas. Targeted at leaders in general and consultants in particular, this five-step approach is a good lead to put the basics in place, and to build upwards from there. How different this is from developing and grooming a leadership personality? Well, I suppose a "personal leadership brand" is short-lived in comparison, and like most products, it carries a shelf-life and an expiry date. Go here for your own branding tips. [Tags: Personal effectiveness, Leadership development]

5. Six Social Media Trends for 2011 by David Armano
Published earlier this month, this forecasting post talks about the six likely trends that we could encounter in '11: Social media integration in corporate policies, Cheaper devices and faster connectivity, Facebook reigning over Foursquare for more business-friendly services, Social media schizophrenia and Identity crisis, Google to "strike back", and finally, Integration of brands in Social media e.g. Apple + Twitter = Ping. Go here for Armano's blog post. [Tags: Social media]

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Book: "Inside Steve's [Jobs] Brain"

WHILE READING "Inside Steve’s Brain" (sic) by Leander Kahney I got reminded of the following anecdote:

This diplomat from the East was deputed to their embassy in Washington DC, in the United States. Having come to live in a Western country for the first time, the little man decided to pick up the holy book and began studying it in hopes of getting acquainted to the new culture more thoroughly. After a while when he met with a professor of religious studies at one of the colleges in New York, the humble man pronounced his predicament that after reading through the book almost three times over, he couldn’t figure out any religion in it.

Nothing could be more illuminating in terms of human mindsets. For example, to an Eastern mindset that is used to live a life with abstractions and of elemental powers, such as the dance of the Shinto priests who proudly claim to have no theology; or with millennia old traditions of having religion a part of the daily routine as naturally as sun-drying the woodblocks with Indian sandalwood to gain aroma out of stove; understandably it could be a difficult comprehension in considering a given narration about a certain ruling family of a given tribe of Levantian peoples as a dictum of mainstream and organized religious practice, with due respects that it being the most successful, loved and practiced one in our contemporary world.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL, the world's largest IT company by market cap) fan following has attained a sort of a cult status for some time. And perhaps a similar experience could be derived by a business oriented mindset trying to approach "Inside Steve's Brain". It is a book that tells the story of an individual’s work-life, sketchily and at time contradictorily, and irrespective of what the text claims on the cover the book makes it rather difficult to draw business lessons out of it – unless one counts ‘gospels’ among them, akin to God’s word that cannot be challenged. The writer hardly makes any attempts in drawing his own conclusions or opining about certain event, or the controversies, or the specific products, or even the fallouts. Whatever is being said, is said by somebody else, and there are references quoted about them, which seem to come straight out of Google search results.

One can’t afford be judgmental about this being either a work of fiction or a factual biography; for anyone hardly knows, let alone understands, “The Holy Ghost” Steve Jobs (cf. pp112). The book takes off fairly well, and evidently Kahney has worked on “Forward” and the first chapters. But the landing is rough – from an iPod design studio to directly into acknowledgements is rather abrupt and bumpy. The writer should have cared to close the loop - summery pages would be an asset here. Towards the last 10% the reader gets a bit tired; suggesting that the writer was tired by the last couple of chapters.

But one must consider reading this book. At least for its entertainment value. It should also make a good companion for Pirates of Silicon Valley (try here). And most apparently, should sugarcoat the bitterness of the aftertaste of other fictions like iCon (try here). Initially, the title suggested that the book is a collection of leadership lessons, if not psychological analysis, about this enigmatic personality at the helm of Apple Inc. It turned out to be a gross error of judgment: First, there cannot be leadership lessons here, for Steve is not a leader in the classical sense of modern leadership. (In the contemporary sense of classical leadership? A "Great intimidator"? Perhaps yes, like many Generals in the army with their typical command-and-control leadership). And secondly, it is most likely that any attempt of psychoanalysis would end up in a lawsuit.

Apple products speak for themselves. Almost anyone who likes to love, hold and showoff a piece of electronics knows that a visit to the nearby Apple Imagine store does the trick. This book might just make that experience more enjoyable. On the other hand, if you are tech novice, looking for a practical yet well-built device and haven’t been to any Apple experience, the book might help you take the plunge and contribute toward your loss of innocence. And one would actually love Steve here before it start getting a little irritating, and then one is left to looking for his or her own reasoning to continue loving. Mostly, one finds one.

For that, Kahney deserves credit and appreciation for sure. And then, also for sticking his neck out and going all out in praising the man he adores.

Go here to check out the book at Amazon.

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