Flirting with Disaster: Why Accidents Are Rarely Accidental by Marc S. Gerstein with Michael Ellsberg (forward and afterword by Daniel Ellsberg) is an analysis of famous disasters intended to answer the question, "Why do really smart people running very capable organizations with lots of smart people working for them often charge headlong into disaster?"  Another perspective is that the book tries to address the question we all have--"What were they thinking?"--after a space shuttle burns rapidly (Challenger's liquid fuel tank did not "blow up," it suffered a "hypergolic burn") or disintegrates on reentry and we find that the organization's leaders knew about the risks, but managed them (the nicest way to write it) so poorly?  Once we learn more about these problems, are there any steps we can take to make future disasters less likely?  I think the answer is yes, but read on.  I have some complaints about the book (i.e., that many of its key recommendations are overly simplistic), but most of it is on the mark and that makes it worth reading.

I continue to ponder what the emerging business models for sharing content on the Web might mean for knowledge management.

I see three characteristics of the emerging model that are relevant to knowledge management:

• Most content is free to the user, yet it cost someone else to create it.
• Access to others' content seems to bring high value to the user and to the "connector."
• Rare or expert content (that which can make you money) is still costly and often charged for.

Chris Anderson, editor of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, declares in his new book that the emerging online business model for content is Free: Give away your best content online, build a brand, and make your revenue on the ancillary services generated. In Anderson's case, his money comes from the book and his speeches. At $50,000 a pop, not a bad model for him. But what if you aren't "branded"? Is helping your colleagues by answering their questions a way that employees can build their personal brands within communities of practice? There is no additional money to be made by helping your colleagues, at least in the short term. The value must come from being seen as helpful and having good content. Then it must lead to reciprocity and, eventually, a promotion.

I recently provided a list of books that have had a big impact on my development and performance for one of my protégés.  I have many other books that I recommend on Amazon.com, but I am often asked for a list fewer than 50, so here it is.  These fall into the category of "if you are only going to read one book in a specific category, read this one"--although I recommend reading more than one on topics like leadership and high reliability.

It is brought home to me every time I take a long flight (which is far more often then anyone would like) how very few people read books and how very, very few read serious books. Without descending too far into anecdotage, I can easily remember taking flights where almost everyone was reading something or other, often serious fiction or a business book, not something about clever animals or eight bullets to change your firm. A few months ago I flew to Malaysia, and one fellow sitting across from me just stared straight ahead almost the whole flight--not even sleeping or meditating. I wanted to ask him what inspired such stupendous lassitude, but I realized I didn't really want to hear his answer.

In any case, I read all the time. I have done so since I was a mere lad, and I don't see how anyone can hope to offer useful help to any organization without doing so. It's one of the best investments in yourself you can make. Not the only one, but one of the most sustaining.

In this mode, let me alert you to three new books that have a real impact on many aspects of working with knowledge and learning. Books like this don't come along too often, and when they do they command attention.

I recently finished reading The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb. I thought the book was very interesting and got the bug to read it because of the presentation that Larry Prusak made (no PowerPoint!) at the May APQC knowledge management conference in Chicago.

The central idea of the book is that the world is much less predictable than the predictors and pundits would have you believe. Black Swan logic makes what you don't know far more relevant than what you do know. Our world is dominated by the extreme, the unknown, and the very improbable (improbable according to our current knowledge) while we spend our time focusing on the known and the repeated. We are susceptible to Black Swans (rare, extreme impact, and "predictable" only after the fact) because our intuitions are made for an environment with simpler causes and effects and slowly moving information.

The IEE system embeds a set of best practices derived from the strengths of past systems. This system applies structured metrics and a no-nonsense road map to initiate process improvement and achieve substantial benefits.

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• Integrated Enterprise Excellence Volume I - The Basics
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Click here to download the executive summary.

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