800-CEO-READ Blog

Jack Covert Selects - The Mousedriver Chronicals

The MouseDriver Chronicles: The True-Life Adventures of Two First-Time Entrepreneurs by John Lusk & Kyle Harrison, Perseus Publishing, 260 Pages, $24.00 Hardcover, January 2002, ISBN 0738205737

“In short, we didn’t do anything you couldn’t do. That’s the point.” Prologue, MouseDriver Chronicles.

One of the true joys of this job is talking with authors. I admire them, to be honest. These folks take an idea, a blank sheet of paper or computer screen, and embark on a process that, hopefully, creates a concrete regurgitation of what is going on in their heads. And to top it all off, they do this believing that somebody (maybe even many somebodies) will care. What an act of faith and courage! The writer’s process is not unlike Lusk and Harrison’s first entrepreneurial endeavor. The “mousedriver” began when Kyle Harrison drew up their idea on a drink coaster with a borrowed pen: a computer mouse shaped like a golf club (a titanium driver, that is). Sounds lightweight, doesn’t it? Well, not only have Lusk and Harrison exceeded their 2 million dollar projected earnings, and written a book, but they have proven here that dot.coms are not the only way to make a buck these days. The true gift of this book, the retelling of a brave journey, is the power behind the idea, the authors’ conviction. They believed, and I love people that believe.

When I talked with John Lusk, I knew he believed, and I knew I had to read this book. What a joy! This is the story of two Wharton MBA’s who wanted to create a product, not just sign on to an investment bank or a consultancy after graduation. Life after the dot.coms? Sure. Obtaining a small investment, they took the leap into the entrepreneurial life. Most importantly here, during that first summer, they started a diary of their experiences, which was conceived to tell the truth of starting a business. Then that diary morphed into a sporadic newsletter to classmates and friends and became very popular. Now, we have The MouseDriver Chronicles. I don’t want to imply that everything went perfectly for our entrepreneurial brethren. Nope, bad color, busted switches, and more caused them heartburn—and give us an entertaining read.

As fun to read as it sounds, this book is a bit unexpected and a bit unorthodox. It is also loaded with extremely practical and helpful advice. As much as I enjoyed the book, this review was one of the hardest for me to write, not because the book wasn’t inspiring, but because every other page has a paragraph that I want to tell you about. I guess you’ll just have to read the book. But, before I close out this review, I will ask you to scroll up to the top once again, and reread the quote I’ve provided from the prologue. Need more inspiration? Pick up The MouseDriver Chronicles.

Jack Covert Selects - The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell, Back Bay Book, 290 Pages, $14.95 Paperback, January 2002, ISBN 0316346624

When The Tipping Point first came out in hardcover last year, it was an expansion of a New Yorker piece Gladwell had written previously. Normally, I (re)recommend very few books as they are re-released in paperback, but this book is an exception. Not exactly a “business book”, The Tipping Point is more of a “social concept”. And yet, when I read it, I found it to be one of the best marketing books I have read. The book explores the point where an idea, product, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Gladwell uses stories such as Hushpuppies shoes and how certain books became best sellers to illustrate this phenomenon. He divides consumers in to groups: Maven’s, Connector’s and Salesmen. Each group is in some way responsible for making products and ideas “tip.” The absolute marketer’s prize is the “Maven” because he/she is the type of individual that others listen to. In the afterward, Gladwell explains the concept of “Maven Traps” and how you can create them.

Don’t think this applies to your business? Well, I believe what we all do is to try and sell the “must have” product or be the “hip place” of the moment? That is the object of the game, correct? Intriguing and well-written, if you haven’t read The Tipping Point yet, it is well worth the price of a hardcover.

Jack Covert Selects - The New Imperialists

The New Imperialists; by Mark Leibovich; Prentice Hall; 244 pages, $25.00; Hardcover, January 2002, ISBN 0735203172

Diversity is not on this author’s agenda, but entertainment and enlightenment are. The author has chosen five of the usual suspects (all white, middle-age males with an outstanding intellect) who have lead the Internet revolution. With these “mini-biographies” of the heads of Time Warner/AOL, Amazon, Cisco, Microsoft and Oracle, Leibovich fleshes out the legendary figures. Beginning at childhood, the personal stories, supported by a great number of interviews, show that these leaders were exceptional from the get-go, despite a common pattern of early struggles. I must tell you that this book is a truly fun read. By the end, it is evident that the leaders, as exceptional as they are, are also unbelievably weird (not a very diplomatic way of saying it, but true non-the-less). From the story of Larry Ellison making a huge wake with his 248-foot yacht which caused Paul Allen’s “small” 200-foot yacht to rock and disrupt his dinner party to Jeff Bezo’s obsession with quantifying his employee’s intelligence through IQ scores and word problems.

I have talked in the past about “airplane” reads, and this is a classic airplane read. Each of these five guys gets about 40 pages, and essentially, you will get the “People Magazine” view of each. You will not learn their secrets of management, but you will discover something about their lives or their personality that you didn’t know. You may even see some of yourself in them.

Jack Covert Selects - The Big Red Fez

The Big Red Fez: How to Make any Web Site Better by Seth Godin, Simon & Schuster, 112 Pages, $11.00 Paperback, January 2001, ISBN 0743227905

Don’t let the title confuse you: The Big Red Fez is not about the Schriner’s, or, more appropriately for Milwaukee (the setting for Happy Days), Mr. C’s Grand Poobah hat. Instead, Godin’s red fez belongs to an organ grinder’s monkey looking for his banana—or, in actuality, it is an unusual metaphor for a web user looking for information. The gist is that the monkey (web user) will only look so long for the banana (the information you offer) before ceasing his search or, at the very least, looking for the banana elsewhere. Our lesson? Make the banana (your information, of course) easy to find!

Godin warns us not to underestimate online customers. A large percentage of web users are experienced and looking specifically for a streamlined research and order process. The other percentage of web users, as you can imagine, consists of newer users who also need a user-friendly approach. So, what to do? According to Godin, we must remember the adage, “You can’t please all of the people all of the time, just some of the people some of the time”, and not try to make the web site perfect for all users. This just creates a headache. Instead, concentrate on two things: keep your site interesting and easy to use. This advice first appears to be a bit obvious. However, Godin steps beyond the obvious, by doing the actual online research we’d all like to do, and offers up his picks of the very best web sites and why they work so well. It is like having a researcher in our back pocket without the burden of payroll.

Any of you who offer a website to a broad range of customers need to read this book. Like a second pair of eyes, it will make hidden problem areas on your site apparent to you. The best thing is that you can log onto the internet as you read and actually check out the sites he talks about – pretty hands on! The Big Red Fez is all about keeping customers, something retailers have focused on since before the advent of the web. Of course, it is more difficult than ever to keep those customers because we can’t speak to them one-on-one, and we can’t “know” them like we used to. So, we need to be proactive, read Seth Godin’s book, and make some changes, because, after all, we want the monkey to buy our banana first.

Jack Covert Selects - How Much is Enough?

How Much is Enough? Harness the Power of Your Money Story—And Change Your Life by Pamela York Klainer, Basic Books, 180 Pages, $26.00 Hardcover, January 2002, ISBN 0465037488

I’ve spent almost 19 years reading mainly about financially successful people. After all, rarely is there a business book written about abject failures. In 19 years, it is easy to develop a complex of sorts. (Just read another book I have listed this month, The New Imperialists, and you’ll understand how reading about millionaires can skew your view a tad). Anyway, regular readers of this newsletter probably have noticed that I seldom review a personal finance book. The reasons are many, but in a nutshell, I have no inside or historical knowledge about personal finance books, which is the intended value JCS brings to you. Also, personal finance books tend to give rarely achievable advice and make me feel worse about my money than I did before I read it! However, I was intrigued by Klainer’s differing approach, since reading about millionaires and billion dollar companies (and not being one myself) can really make you wonder just how much money is enough. MONEY + SUCCESS = HAPPINESS? Klainer doesn’t think so.

So, I started reading this book for myself, but became so involved in the process, and so impressed by the book, that I cannot recommend it highly enough. Intuitively, I have always felt that our upbringing had a lot to do with our attitude towards money. Klainer goes one farther and asks you to look at your entire “money story”—which is your retelling of significant events in your life from the money perspective. As the author states in her introduction:

“This is a money book, but not a book about earning, saving, investing, spending, or gifting…Instead, this is a book about your experience of money, as revealed through your money story. Talking about your experience of money is, at a very deep level, talking about you—where you came from, who you are now, what kind of person you ultimately want to be, what kind of relationship you value, and where you find meaning in life. Talking about your experience of money has everything to do with how you understand professional success and with whether or not you can allow yourself to be happy.”

Wow. Do I really not allow myself to be happy due to my monetary expectations? Klainer offers a framework through which you can explore whether your history with or predefined ideas of money are interfering with your happiness. Klainer’s writing style is special, almost completely devoid of buzzwords and jargon. The book is laid out with very short chapters with liberal use of italics for emphasizing key thoughts or notable points. This is a book you need to read now, or at least have on your bookshelf when you wonder how much longer you can keep up this pace.