Cambridge Business Association
A Beautiful Constraint
Book

A Beautiful Constraint

How To Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages, and Why It's Everyone's Business

Adam Morgan and Mark Barden
Wiley, 2015
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

In this richly anecdotal, conversational and groundbreaking approach to problem solving, iconoclastic marketing consultant Adam Morgan and co-author Mark Barden help you learn to identify your habitual thought and emotional patterns so you can sidestep them when you face obstacles. They show how a tiny shift in perspective can bring enormous changes. The authors offer remarkably perceptive advice, with insight into and compassion toward the almost infinite roadblocks people put in their own way when trying to overcome a limitation. Unlike most authors who combine the psychological and the practical, Morgan and Barden never exclude themselves from those who need help. They discuss overcoming their own patterns of pessimistic self-regard. The authors’ practical guidance applies to career and personal situations. getAbstract recommends this singular, joyous journey of self-exploration to CEOs, managers, entrepreneurs, the self-employed, students, those fascinated by the psychology of success and failure, and anyone who wants to deal more effectively with any restraint, including self-imposed limits.

Summary

“Beauty in Constraint”

“A constraint is a limitation that materially affects” your ability to act. Most people chafe at any boundary, even those they impose on themselves. Confinement feels “restrictive and adversely limiting.” But approached with a proper attitude, a limit can broaden your thinking and potential. For example, both worthy parenting and lean business improvement owe much to constraints. You may face time, technique or budget constraints. You may have to respond to a boundary you can’t control. Or, you may impose a limit on yourself to spur new ideas. Consider how shoe retailer Zappos deals with a primary limitation: its online customers can’t try shoes on to see if they fit. The firm’s success comes from its innovative solution: Zappos does not charge for shipping and accepts returns with no questions. Buyers can test shoes and send them back easily.

However, not every constraint has a beneficial resolution. Today’s human endeavors take place at the intersection of “scarcity and abundance.” Technology allows you to learn anything or to connect to anyone in the world, any time of the day or night. That’s abundance. Yet every business today, whatever ...

About the Authors

Adam Morgan wrote the bestseller Eating the Big Fish and founded the global marketing consultancy Eatbigfish; business speaker Mark Burden heads the firm’s West Coast operation.

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    J. P. 9 years ago
    A good summary and more precise than the usual "biz self help" around strategies to deal with challenges. But of course as per the genre the uplift is momentary and the onus is still on the reader to "magically transform" themselves and get the benefits.