Graham Allcott

Fun, engaging, with plenty of diagrams and a perky British sense of humour, this is one of the better productivity books I've come across. As others have noted in reviews, I felt that Allcott relied quite heavily on principles developed by earlier writers - David Allen's "Getting Things Done" loomed large, as always - and there's a far amount of simple common sense. Nevertheless, he brings it together in a playful fashion that is very much aimed at a UK audience. I always really appreciate show more this, as I've found many of the American books in this genre to be over-earnest and not really applicable to anything but a conventional office workplace. It's currently (2017) pretty much up to date in terms of the apps and technology it recommends, and it's good that it does suggest specific programs because David Allen's "Getting Things Done" deliberately steers away from this. However, that does mean it'll date pretty quickly. I don't think I'm committed enough to buy into the whole Ninja thing myself - I prefer making up my own system - but Allcott has some bright ideas, reinforcing and encouraging some of the principles I've picked up from elsewhere. Worth a look for a bit of light relief, or a more down-to-earth approach than some of the US offerings. show less

KIND: The quiet power of kindness at work by Graham Allcott is a highly recommended self-help/leadership training book that focuses on creating a kind work culture. He turns to psychology and neuroscience along with management theory and business research to show how kindness helps encourage productive and positive work cultures.

The narrative is based on and written like a presentation or training seminar to help teach the information and principles shared. Graham Allcott offers practical show more advice on how leaders can make kindfulness part of the work environment. In the opening he shares the touching personal story of how his son Roscoe, who has autism, is developmentally delayed, and has some physical challenges, has taught him about kindness.

The information is presented in three parts.
Part One: The Case For Kindness takes a look at the science of kindness.
Part Two: The Three Myths of Kindness: The Evil Genius Myth, The Pushover Myth, and The Do-Gooder Myth
Part Three: The Eight Principles of Kindness at Work. These are: 1. Kindness starts with you; 2. Set clear expectations; 3. Listen deeply; 4. People first, work second. Always.; 5. Be humble; 6. Treat people the way THEY want to be treated; 7.Slow down; 8. It doesn't end with you.
Followed by Notes and an Index

Within the chapters, which are open with a pertinent quote, are stories of a kindful hero. At the end of each chapter there are reflection questions for you to work through. These are followed by a Kindness challenge, taken from his courses.

After encountering many people over the years who could benefit from this training, I'm doubtful it will ever reach the ears and be put into practice by many of those who need it. I realized inadvertently that I used some of the principles when I was in management, but I also observed more people around me who would never consider even thinking about the idea. There is also something to be said about everyone throughout any workplace and in all positions keeping these principles in mind. Graham Allcott has other resources you can find online.

Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/12/kind-quiet-power-of-kindness.html show less

Allcott's engaging book on productivity is a bit overlong, but his methods are mostly commonsense and easy to apply. He freely (with acknowledgements) borrows good ideas from elsewhere, such as the Zero Inbox, Big Rocks, and so on and weaves them together into a useful toolbox that you can pick and choose from--for the most part. You do need to adopt his CORD method--collect, organize, review, and do, however. Among the best tips here is the idea of a second brain, i.e., a to-do list of some show more sort, which could be a paper planner or an online/app productivity tool such as Toodledo, which he recommends, and which I ended up picking for myself after experimenting with a few alternatives. The key to the second brain (again, commonsense) is just to record those other nagging things you may need to do so that you can get back to the task at hand. This includes all those things sitting in your inbox that you are using as a proxy for a to-do list. Instead, process the ones that take less than a couple of minutes, add the others to your to-do list, leave your inbox at zero--and get back to work!

Allcott's writing is not overbearing, but also not overenthusiastic and annoying. It is very British, however, and hasn't been adapted for an American office. I hope you know that when he is referring to having biscuits at meetings--which he mentions multiple times--he is talking about a crunchy cookie. show less

Lost a few points for not being particularly applicable to my job, but it did make me think about stuff and how to organise my work life better. I read this in short bursts and I did find it interesting and thinking fodder. I am in the middle of a stressful change path in work and needed this reminder to stop and breathe and just keep going.