What are you going to reboot today?

Today is the day. My second business book, CTRL ALT Delete, is now available. This book is broken up into two sections. Section one is titled Reboot: Business and in it, I define the five movements that have changed business forever that brands are doing little (to nothing) about. These aren't trends (as in, things that are coming). These are movements. They are here. They are backed up with data. They are massive. This will freak out many - but more importantly - provide an amazing opportunity for anybody (from startup to multinational) to take advantage of. Section two is titled Reboot: You and in it, I define several triggers that we - as individuals - now need to think about (and do!) to make ourselves indispensible in this new era of work. We have moved from a world where people would change jobs 4-5 times in their careers, to a place where individuals will change careers 4-5 times in their lifetime. Don't let this creep up on you. Be prepared.

Do you want to be employable in the next five years?

It's a massive provocation, but ultimately, I wanted this book to help people no longer have to think about answering this question. From a digital-first posture to embracing the squiggle in your career, CTRL ALT Delete is your business roadmap out of what I call "business purgatory." I hope you will join me on this adventure.

So, before I ask you to buy the book....

1. Please read what Seth Godin wrote about CTRL ALT Delete yesterday: You should buy the book.
2. If you're not willing to read the book, maybe you can listen to the audiobook? You could get CTRL ALT Delete as an audiobook for free here (with a whole host of other goodies and help the charity Jumpstart): CTRL ALT Delete - The Ultimate Business Reboot Audiobook Sweepstakes (thanks to the good people at Audible).
3. If you're still uncertain, please check out what people like Arianna Huffington, Tony Hsieh, Dan Ariely, Susan Cain, Dan Pink, Jeffrey Gitomer, Julie Burstein and many more have already said after reading the book in terms of endorsements and reviews right here: CTRL ALT Delete Book Reviews And Media.

Please buy CTRL ALT Delete.

The first week of book sales are critical. We have set-up an interesting digital experience to tell the story of just how much has already changed in business, and to illustrate how few businesses are doing anything about it. This experience is also a live survey (three simple questions) that will be updated to demonstrate how we feel about the changes, and what we're doing about them. We partnered with Google Consumer Surveys to get a pulse on where we're at in terms of the great reboot and now we need you to join the fray as this continues to evolve. But, more importantly, the experience is filled with mind-bending pieces of data. You can check it out right here: CTRL ALT Delete.

A little something more.

If you buy a copy of CTRL ALT Delete (in any format), you will also be invited to a special Google Hangout event that will take place in the coming weeks. This event will feature me answering your questions, along with some very special guests. All you have to do is email me (mitch@twistimage.com) your receipt and the best email address to contact you about the details surrounding this very special event. Trust me, you won't want to miss this one.

A little something bigger.

If you buy fifteen copies (or more) of CTRL ALT Delete (in any format), you will be entitled to a free 30-minute private Google Hangout event with me that will take place on a mutually agreeable date and time. You can invite whomever you like and feel free to either ask me questions, or I would be happy to present a couple of new(ish) trends and what they mean to businesses. All you have to do is email me (mitch@twistimage.com) your receipt and the best email address to contact you about the details.

A bigger something.

If you buy 500 copies (or more) of CTRL ALT Delete in hardcover format (which I can offer you at a discount of close to 50% off of the retail price), you will be entitled to a free 60-90 minute live keynote presentation at your company. You can invite anyone you like (employees, clients, peers, industry friends, etc...). On top of that, I am willing to do the exact same presentation for the charitable organization of your choice. This could be a unique (and cost-effective) way for your company to have a special event. It could be a lunch and learn, an executive breakfast or a cocktail event in the evening. Along with that, it enables you to offer a special event to a charitable organization that you hold near and dear to your heart. If you are interested, all you have to do is email me (mitch@twistimage.com) and we can discuss (as there are some additional rules and stipulations to make this one happen).

And now, over to you. Are you ready? Let's go: CTRL ALT Delete...

By Mitch Joel

Episode #358 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

There are certain people that business leaders and marketers should be paying a lot more attention to. Adam Alter is one of those individuals. He recently published his first book, Drunk Tank Pink - And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel And Behave, and it is a truly fascinating journey into the relationship between the forces of our environment and how this shapes the outcomes of our lives. Yes, it's deep stuff, but it is told in a very fun and compelling way (no dry academic fodder here!). Alter is an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at NYU's Stern School of Business and psychology department. His research focuses on the intersection of behavioral economics, marketing, and the psychology of judgment and decision-making. He's also an all-around nice guy. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #358.

By Mitch Joel

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

• Don't make fun of renowned Dan Brown - The Telegraph. "Possibly the best book review I have ever read. Saying more would spoil it." (Alistair for Hugh).
• Creepy or Cool? Portraits Derived From the DNA in Hair and Gum Found in Public Places - The Smithsonian. "Today, when I watch a procedural thriller of a certain age, I find myself thinking, 'one mobile phone and this whole plot collapses.' The title of this post makes it pretty clear what's going on. It's not perfect--the artist is using a lot of guesswork, and only knows things like race, eye color, and propensity for weight gain. But it's great foreshadowing. How long until our kids watch an episode of Castle or The Mentalist and shout, 'come on, just print the killer's face already'?" (Alistair for Mitch).
• What Norway did with its oil and we didn't - The Globe And Mail. "A nice way to go about life is: look at the things that work, and then do those things. Norway shares some important characteristics with Canada. Among other this: it's northy, and lots of oil. But Norway seems to have been a bit smarter with what it has done with its oil, and the huge income it has generated, over the past few decades." (Hugh for Alistair).
• What universal child care does for Norway - The Globe And Mail. "It's all Norway today. Here's an argument you don't hear often for expensive social programs: they make your country richer. In particular, Norway has free university education, and deeply subsidized child care. Results? Norway has the most productive economy in the world." (Hugh for Mitch).
• Big Data Is Watching You - The New York Times. "Evgeny Morozov is a controversial character in the online world. HIs latest book, To Save Everything ,Click, was recently published and this review in The New York Times Sunday Book Review is a fascinating read. Morozov sees the Internet from a very different perspective than most of us. And, while you may not agree with some (or all) of the things that he has to say, it's important for all of us 'believers' to read the thinking of someone who hasn't taken a swig of the Kool-Aid." (Mitch for Alistair). 
• The Twidiocracy - The Weekly Standard. "Maybe there's something in the water this week. Both of my picks seem (somewhat) anti-Web. This is a rant against Twitter. Again, if all you do is think that the Internet and social media are lollipops and bellyrubs, you may be missing the bigger (and more diverse) picture. It seems like those who have access to an audience through a traditional media channel hate the fact that everyone has access to a publish button. What these people fail to realize is that the Web is what you make it. If you have too many stupid tweets in your feed, it doesn't mean that Twitter sucks. It does mean that you suck at finding interesting people to connect to. Don't blame Twitter." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

By Mitch Joel

Have you thought about education lately?

When you say the word "education," most people run in the opposite direction. I dropped out of university (and, if I am to be candid, I was dragged - kicking and screaming - through both elementary and high school). But, I still never allowed my school to get in the way of a good education. I always had sparks of curiosity and the desire to be creative in whatever work I was trying to accomplish. I always had a deep passion to learn, read, write and create (regardless of how bored I was in classrooms). Now, many places in the world have an educational system that is in crisis. We are still training people for an industrial work environment that is quickly fading. We are teaching the children of today for a world of tomorrow that will look very different. Nobody knows this better than Sir Ken Robinson. I've had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Sir Ken on multiple occasions and have been fortunate enough to have significant one on one time to discuss education, the work that the we do and what kind of world we're preparing our young people for with him. Recently, TED published a new TED Talk featuring Sir Ken Robinson that you should watch. If you have kids, if you care about your own education, and if you think about the future, please spend 18 minutes watching this... and make sure to share it.

How to escape education's death valley...

And, if case you missed his first talk, watch this too...

By Mitch Joel