Accidental Conversations – a review
Do you believe that controlling people and circumstances is the
way to make life work out the way you want it? Jack Ricchiuto has
other ideas you might want to hear about—possibly because,
simply, they work better.
In Accidental Conversations Jack Ricchiuto unabashedly mines quantum
realities for the precious nuggets they yield about leading our
everyday lives—whether personal or business— with greater
openness. According to quantum science, there’s so much energy
available to us outside our regular activities—“at the
edges” of the observed—that it’s futile to waste
our efforts attempting to channel and control everything. Things
happen in spite of us, and they're frequently better than what we
might have engineered.
Imagine this: everyone who works in the company gets to participate
in the discussions about the new cubicles. Anarchy? Not "in
a world that has always created order for free." In Accidental
Conversations you’ll discover, both in multiple real-life
examples and in beautifully stated theory, how individuals and companies
(the ones who aren’t afraid of losing control) are making
quantum leaps in creativity and bottom-line success.
Whether you’ve read anything about quantum physics or not,
you’ll find this book presents a compelling case for allowing
serendipity to guide you in invoking passionate investments of talent—from
your employees, your family, yourself. And all it takes is a little
letting go…
“Information is everything,” says Jack. And we make
the most of it when we invite it in at every possible opportunity—not
by writing rules that keep us from discovering new sources of it.
Tinker, he says. Stop “clutching the blanket of the status
quo” if you want new results. And who doesn’t?
Jack talks about the “power of stories” to convey
information far beyond what the words themselves say. Doesn’t
the story your best customer tells about how you “took care
of her” when there was a problem say much more than a list
of features about why your prospects should do business with you?
I am reminded of the powerful book called “The Uses of Enchantment”
by Bruno Bettelheim, who wrote in great detail how fairy tales help
us all process some of our biggest emotions. Yes, stories work with
all of us—young and old, in every setting.
Jack talks about asking questions. That we always discover more
by asking questions than by providing answers. The biggest piece
of advice Jack has for us business owners and managers is to let
people be themselves; let them talk and interact naturally and at
will. When we do, water cooler conversation begins to yield solutions
to thorny problems instead of undermining the ‘rules’—as
it tends to do when people are prevented from freely exchanging
their information. I love this quote: “No company needs to
send out a memo saying: Don’t learn. People get the message.”
From the numerous citations and references mentioned in Accidental
Conversations you can create a personal reading list that’ll
make you a lot more knowledgeable in at least business, Zen, quantum
physics, and maybe cooking.
Check it out. And make notes while you read. Some beautiful phrases.
Lots of cool thoughts.
Barbara Payne, a ReallyGoodFreelanceWriter.com
