800-CEO-READ Blog

More Authors Blogging

It seems that authors are starting to get blogging. They see it as a place to talk about things that they can't in their normal writings.

The big news last week was Malcolm Galdwell dipping his toe in the blogging water. He says:

In the past year I have often been asked why I don’t have a blog. My answer was always that I write so much, already, that I don’t have time to write anything else. But, as should be obvious, I’ve now changed my mind. I have come (belatedly) to the conclusion that a blog can be a very valuable supplement to my books and the writing I do for the New Yorker.

The other blog you should be reading is that of John Hagel, author of The Only Sustainable Edge. His recent post on Disney, Pixar, and Jobs is outstanding.

The Wal-Mart Effect Spends Third Week on WSJ List

I wanted to send a shout-out to Charles Fishman. He is on his third week on the Wall Street Journal Business Bestsellers List with his new book The Wal-Mart Effect.

This is an accomplishment. It is very difficult to unseat titles that are there almost every week like Blink and The Little Red Book of Selling.

We have a great interview with Charles over on the Podcasts Blog.

New Podcast from Bo Burlingham

I thought I would start your week with some new audio. The lastest over on the Podcasts Blog is an interview I did with Bo Burlingham, author of Small Giants. Go check it out. Our conversation went so long that I divided it into three parts. We talk about Inc. Magazine, companies he thinks are Small Giants, and mojo. I also have lots o' links to additonal interviews and articles on the book.

Books for Doing Business Globally

In the April issue of HOW magazine, designer Christopher Liechty is interviewed about his firm's work. Based in Utah, Meyer & Liechty have done a tremendous amount of work globally. He recommends the following books if you want to learn more about doing business across cultures:

• Cross-Cultural Dialogues: 74 Brief Encounters with Cultural Difference by Craig Storti
• Designing Across Cultures: How To Create Effective Graphics for Diverse Ethnic Groups by Ronnie Lipton
• Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: How to Do Business in Sixty Countries by Terri Morrison, Wayne Conway and George Borden
• Dun & Bradstreet's Guide to Doing Business Around the World (ISBN 0735201080, out of print) by Terri Morrison, Wayne Conway and Joseph Douress

Chasing Daylight Part 4

I titled this part 3 because Jack has already written three posts on Chasing Daylight -- well, two and one review (post one, two and the review).

This book is something out of the ordinary for a "business" book. It's not about how to change the bottom line or lower employee turnover. It's about something more important -- life. The life that can sometimes be superseded by the commitment to a career. It's about balancing your work life and the other part of your life (I never know what to call it -- your "real" life?).

As Jack told you earlier, the author Gene O'Kelly detailed his last 100 days through this book. BusinessWeek recently did a passage from the book (registration required). It had one little gray box on the lower righthand corner of the two-page spread titled "Gene's Final Farewells". It explains that one of O'Kelly's dream of being able to "unwind" in his last days. To do so, he:

placed his many colleagues, friends and family in five concentric circles; those closest to him were in the innermost ring...Toward the end of his previous as a business leader he might have been 'too consumed by the outermost circle.' As he put it: ...'I realized that being able to count a thousand people in that fifth circle was not something to be proud of. It was something to be wary of.'

With all due respect, it reminds me of the "quality over quantity" saying. It definitely prompted me to question whether my inner circle was comprised of those with whom I spend the most time or not. And I wonder how many people feel the same as O'Kelly in where the majority of their people lie in their social circles.

Additional Brain Books and Thanks!

First, of course, you must read my book EMERGENETICS. After that I encourage you to read A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Informational Age to the Conceptual Age by Daniel Pink.

Another brain-based book is The Creating Brain: The Neuroscience of Genius, by Nancy Andreasen, M.D. A review is available here.

Thank you all for reading my blogs. It has been my pleasure sharing Emergenetics with you, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Be Aware -- Brain Awareness Week

Guess what is coming soon? Brain Awareness Week (March 13-19). Created by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, Brain Awareness Week is an international partnership of government agencies, scientific organizations, universities, and volunteer groups. It includes more than 1,850 partner organizations in 62 countries and many activities. The ultimate purpose of Brain Awareness Week is to make the public more aware of the benefits and promise of brain research. Here is the official web site, which includes brain games (remember blog #4!) and links to brain research news (remember blog #3!).

Brain Puzzles

Another subject I discuss in my book is brain fitness. Most people want their brain to work as well as possible for as long as possible. There are obvious things to do, such as oxygenating your brain with exercise, eating good foods that promote healthy cells, and avoiding bad things like cigarettes and recreational drugs that hurt your brain. Books and puzzles and social gatherings are all good for keeping your brain sharp, but it turns out the key is novelty. To keep those neural connections forming in your brain, do something you are not accustomed to doing. If you don’t do crossword puzzles, start now. If you already do crossword puzzles, try sudoku instead. If you have never eaten Indian food, I recommend a glass of mango lassi and anything korma. If you are already an aficionado of Indian food, then switch to Thai! You get the idea. New experiences refresh your brain.

Here is a fun web site that is full of different brain games. It might make you feel really smart – for about a minute!

Genetics -- The color of your hair

Who you are today is a result of certain characteristics that have EMERGED from your life experiences, plus the GENETICS with which you were born. I call this interplay between nurture and nature EMERGENETICS. People often wonder: “Which is more important: nature or nurture?� This is like asking: “Which is more important: water or air?�

In my book, I mention some of startling results of the studies that were done on twins separated at birth, and also discuss more recent findings about the “shy brain� and other brain research. The more scientists learn about the human genome, the more they discover about the relationship between genetics and personality. New articles constantly remind us about the genetic basis of our innate strengths. For example, here is an article called “Stoic Redheads� that appeared in the New York Times in December that explains why redheads can stand 25 percent more pain than blonds or brunettes:

Weather reports by different personalities

The East Coast recently experienced a blizzard that was reported on widely. Here is an example of a weather report at Forbes.com written from a Structural point of view. Note the careful attention to details (inches of snow, number of cancelled flights, cost of cleanup, etc.).

Here is an example of a weather report at CBSnews.com written from a Social point of view. Note the attention to the human interest of the storm (stranded travelers, cancelled schools, happy children sledding, etc.).

The moral of the story is that we all have innate preferences that influence everything we do. Both of these reporters provided fair and balanced articles about the blizzard, but they were influenced by their preferences. Recognize your own attributes, and know that it is always easier to go with your innate strengths. Understanding them is the key to better performance.

Emergenetics -- An Introduction

I love both talking and writing. If you could see my Emergenetics Profile, you would recognize right away that I have a lot of Expressiveness that has to go somewhere. This is my first blogging experience, and I’m excited to find a new way to share my life’s work. Blogging forces me to sit down and compose my thoughts in writing, but happily I can anticipate your responses in return. Falling somewhere between a slow conversation and a rapid exchange of letters, blogging lets me tell you what is on my mind, and hear back from you about what is on yours.

I have been told that in this first blog I should introduce myself. My name is Geil Browning, I am the founder and president of Emergenetics International and The Browning Group International, and I do corporate consulting, leadership coaching, and one-on-one executive guidance. I come from a long line of teachers, and my teaching gene – combined with the Expressiveness I just told you about – makes me eager to tell you all about Emergenetics.

With my colleague Wendell Williams, Ph.D., I developed the Emergenetics questionnaire, a self-assessment instrument that reveals each individual’s unique combination of Thinking Attributes (Analytical, Structural, Social, and Conceptual) and Behavioral Attributes (Expressiveness, Assertiveness, and Flexibility). Each personality attribute is given a spectrum, so your Emergenetics Profile is a picture of where you place yourself on all seven spectrums. You can access all seven traits to different degrees, but you will always return to your natural “set point� for each one.

Check out this page to see what an Emergenetics Profile looks like, and how we use different colors to represent the seven different attributes.

Also read the extended entry to see definitions of the different attributes.

The Seven Emergenetics Attributes

Emergenetics is a way of describing people using four Thinking Attributes and three Behavioral Attributes:

• Analytical thinking (represented by the color blue) is logical, rational, objective, factual, and skeptical.


• Structural thinking (represented by the color green) is practical, cautious, predictable, and methodical.


• Social thinking (represented by the color red) is sympathetic, connected, socially aware, and intuitive about other people.


• Conceptual thinking (represented by the color yellow) is imaginative, creative, innovative, visionary, and intuitive about ideas.

• Expressiveness is our interest in others and in the world around us. People who are Expressive are reserved, quiet, private, and self-sufficient. People who are EXPRESSIVE like attracting attention. They are outgoing, affectionate, and easy to talk to.


• Assertiveness is the energy we invest in communicating our thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. People who are Assertive are easygoing, amiable, and even passive. People who are ASSERTIVE are driving, competitive, and even confrontational.


• Flexibility is our willingness to accommodate the thoughts and actions of other people and to meet their needs. People who are Flexible have strong opinions, prefer defined situations, and can be stubborn. FLEXIBLE people are accommodating, open to suggestions, and can be indecisive.

Each of these attributes is independent of the others and can be measured separately. An Emergenetics Profile illustrates the way an individual mixes and matches the seven attributes – that is, the unique way he or she combines preferences.

Today's Blog Host -- Geil Browning, author of Emergenetics

Good Morning!

Today, Geil Browning, author of Emergenetics will be hosting our blog. She'll be chatting about personalities, genetics, and redheads and how they play into your work environment. If you have questions for Geil, ask away. She'll be here all day answering questions.

If you're interested in the book, check out inBubbleWrap today where we're giving away copies of the book and a few free Emergenetics personality profiles.

Stay tuned.

Hey, Coach

Michael Lewis, author of the very popular Moneyball and Liar's Poker, quietly released a book called Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life. It is a short book (92 pages) about Lewis' high school baseball coach. The only other place I saw it was on the S+B Best of List (see leadership).

Of all places, there is a short review in February/March 2006 issue of Paste Magazine. It is a part of their Best of Movies, Music, and Books. Writer Clifton Taulbert says:

A friend handed me the book Coach by Michael Lewis. The cover was not very inviting to a non-athlete, but I accepted it...and I'm delighted I did. Through Coach Fitz's unrelenting dedication ands his own youthful athletic experience, I gained terrific insight into people building. The book is more than the journey of a single-minded coach; it's a powerful lesson on the value of being guided by a picture of life bigger than fear excuses.

9 Lives of Leadership - Printing Problem

We got word that some folks were have problems with printing the 9 Lives ebook.

We had some security measures turned on from when we were selling it.

You should have no problems now.

Here is the link again if you need it:

http://www.800ceoread.com/blog/images/9LivesOfLeadership.pdf

Digitalized books: is the end of hardcover/softcover choices coming soon?

Books going digital has been a long time coming. Nearly every other information source has gone digital from magazines to the local newspaper. Yet the digital book craze has not yet hit. Most books are currently available in the digital format but most consumers are not to keen to purchase digital books.

Change is in the wind and this will probably change in the next few years. There's new technology out made by E Ink -- a company that focuses on delivering paper information in a digital form. This new technology enables digital book readers to become even better for readers. The method involves "arranging tiny black and white capsules into words and images wtih an electronic charge." It makes digital books as easy to read as a hardcover book.

Worried about batteries? According to a recent BusinessWeek article (registration required), batteries can last for up to 20 books. Wow; that's pretty impressive.

There's one reader in the making that uses the E Ink technology -- it's the Sony Reader (around $400) that's due out this spring. Right now, a popular reader is the Palm Treo. There are other readers that are due out this spring but most seem to be focused more on the business market rather than the consumer market.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with the digitalization of books. With the new reader technology and Google's book scanning pursuit, there's sure to be an influx of more digital book technology.

The question remains: will you go digital or stay with the traditional paperbacks and hardcovers?

Two Free Seminars

Just wanted to point you toward two free seminars that are coming up.

The first is will Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies. Jack reviewed the book in last month. It will be held on Wednesday, February 22nd at 1:00PM Central Time. You read more about it on co-host Brian Carroll's B2B Lead Generation Blog and can register here.

The second is a Live Meeting seminar hosted by Laurence Haughton, author of It's Not What You Say, It Is What You Do. Jack has also reviewed this back (see Jan 2005 JCS). The session is titled The Art of Follow-Through and will take place February 28th at 11:00AM Central Time. You can register for Laurence's talk here.

Number One Reason To Advertise

The Number One reason for any size business to advertise on TV, Radio, or in Print is to motivate your employees.

Advertising is all about how you position your company to the public. What you are really doing is sending a message about what your employees stand for and what the public should expect from them. Advertising at its best should make employees proud to be....employees. If it doesn't it is doomed to failure.

Focus Groups

Focus Groups are a waste of time and money.

You either know your business or you don't. Products or services must be actually tried in the marketplace--not shown on storyboards for opinion from outsiders who do not live or breath your business. If you still insist on focus groups--use your own employees-that might actually be of some value. Remember Henry Ford's famous quote:

"If I had asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse."

People Buy From People

People buy from People - not Companies.

You need a personality to be the "face" of your business. Not just a logo, a slogan, or a picture of your product. All those can help - alot! But having a credible spokesperson can really set you apart from your competitors.

Make sure your spokesperson, if not you or another employee, is exclusive for your use only--or don't hire them. And make sure they love your product or service and are willing to be integrated into all media that you use- brochures, internet, radio, your voice on your phone service, etc.

An effective spokesperson will make consumers notice you and will make that human connection that every company needs to achieve their maximum potential.

The Three Essential Elements

Every promotion of any kind must have three essential elements to have any chance for success.

1. You must create Excitement - though visuals and/or sound
2. Your promotion must have real news value
3. You need a compelling call to action- "Why should I drop everything right now and go buy your product or service!"

And make sure your promotions are crystal clear on Point 3. Make the call to action the HERO of your ad as in--"Call Us Now! You will get right through to an experienced professional ready and able to assist you!"

Increase Readership: Use Q&A

We live our entire lives in a world of questions and answers--Marketing material online or paper-based should be no different.

From your first breath til your last, you are in a Q & A environment. That's how humans learn--particularly in their school years by seeking the answers to questions. We are conditioned thoroughly to want to see the answers to questions. So, instead of just putting paragraphs to a page you can dramatically increase readership of your promotional materials by using the Question/Answer format.

Customers and Optometry

Think of every potential customer as 65 years old with poor eyesight.

Even if your market is teenagers this rule applies. The single biggest marketing mistake companies make is creating promotional materials that are too hard for the eye to comfortably read. Whatever your art director recommends--insist the body copy type size be doubled or tripled. Afterall, THE objective is to be read! And, no white reverse type--ever.

Steve Cone hosting our blog

Good Morning!

I hope the weather is better for you than it is here in Milwaukee -- sleeting like crazy. Today we are pleased to introduce Steve Cone, author of Steal These Ideas! Marketing Secrets that Will Make You a Star He will be here all day hosting our blog and answering your questions. Stay tuned to learn some of his marketing secrets.

The Dynamics of Presenting

We've all seen the great presenters -- the charismatics, the entertainers, and the storytellers. They have a way of connecting to the audience by using appropriate examples, constantly gathering clues from the audience's response and concluding at the perfect time.

The March edition of Entrepreneur magazine (not yet available online but should be soon here) featured a "Tip Sheet". The tips came from Marjorie Brody, author of Speaking Is an Audience-Centered Sport .

Here are her tips:

1. Know your audience.
2. Make it interactive
3. Tell stories, and use metaphors, analogies and quotes
4. Make it relevant
5. Be dynamic
6. IF you use powerpoint, go easy on the slides
7. Wear appropriate clothing
8. Manage stage fright through repetition
Posted by Kate at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)

Happy Valentine's Day - A Free Gift For You

I know there is a love/hate thing with Valentine's Day. I can't even begin to deal with that here, but we wanted to give away a little something to all of our readers to show how much we love you.

Starting today, the Nine Lives of Leadership ebook will be available for free. We originally produced with Lisa Haneberg for Boss' Day and decided it was time to let it loose on everyone. You can look at our original post and you can see all of the people we interviewed to put this together.

You can download the ebook at:

http://www.800ceoread.com/blog/images/9LivesOfLeadership.pdf

Happy Valentine's Day!

PS We are giving away more love at inBubbleWrap today...

Quote -- Leadership

While I'm still checking out the latest issue of 1-to-1 magazine, here's a quote from Patrick Lencioni, author of several books including the newly published Silos, Politics, And Turf Wars on leadership:

As a leader, you're probably not doing a good job unless your employees can do a good impression of you when you're not around.

Are we too altruistic? An inside look into customer service

There appears to be a new trend in customer service. Companies are actually starting to work towards the long term goal of customer loyalty rather than the short-sighted goal of month-to-month (and even quarterly) profits. Call it a relatively newfound focus on lifetime value and loyalty; this new focus benefits both parties -- consumers and companies.

Perhaps corporations and businesspeople, alike will stop being placed in the negative, profit hungry category and start being placed in the "they actually care" category. Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, authors of Return on Customer, pose the question, "Are U.S. firms going soft, suffering from an excess of altruism?" No, they have not. They've come to realize the value of treating customers well and in the competitive U.S. market, this is not only a good idea but its essential to any long-term success.

It's something that we've all known makes a difference -- superb customer service -- yet, implementing it isn't as easy as pie. According to Peppers and Rogers, "What customers value more than anything in today's complex world is to buy from a company they can trust to respect their interests, even if it means giving them a better deal than they might otherwise have known about, or letting them compare competitive offers directly."

One example they gave, Air Canada -- their customer "advocacy department" works to fix each complaint to the benefit of the customer. My example -- Harry & David -- my favorite delicious fruit provider, even if a little pricey. The two times I've had problems with the quality of their fruit (which is usually extremely delicious) they've always fixed it in a timely manner and with an appropriate response.

One interesting customer service note was on W hotels. They're new intiative is the "appropriate use of eavesdropping." (Under the on the beat section; registration required). I really enjoyed my one-time stay at a W hotel in San Francisco and am curious to see how this intiative will play out. According to the vice president of human resources, they're trying to make an "extra, unique customer experience that you'd only find at the W."

Wal-Mart: The Bully of Bentonville

The Bully of Bentonville (due out tomorrow on V-day) is the latest in Wal-Mart books (the most recent being The Wal-Mart Effect).

Business Week's February 13th issue featured an excerpt from The Bully of Bentonville. The topic: unions vs. Wal-Mart -- an inside look into the Canadian Wal-Mart. With 260 stores in Canada, Wal-Mart "is the country's second-largest retail chain." While popular above the border, "the Canadian shopper is far more likely than her U.S. counterpart to belong to a union."

In one Canadian town -- Jonquiere, Quebec -- Wal-Mart fought against the unions by closing its store. This town held the only "unionized Wal-Mart in North America." The Wal-Mart spokesperson explained that the store was not shut down because of the union. Yet, "Under, Quebec law, a company is legally entitled to shut down a store or a factory for any reason -- even to thwart unionization -- as long as the closure is permanent."

Read the whole story here (registration required).

Toyota Production System: Jim Womack's Insight

While there’s been a glut of articles bemoaning the fall of Detroit, there’s a certain herd mentality guiding them. Who isn’t urging the big three to make more exciting cars, while blaming excessive legacy costs, and taking shots at executive compensation and lack of vision? None of these conventional arguments is untrue, in my opinion. Yet none do enough to explain why, at a time when Detroit is shedding employees by the tens of thousands, employment in this sector remains stable due to the growth of foreign car companies producing vehicles in the state.

For the past year and a half, I’ve been learning about lean manufacturing, or TPS (Toyota Production System.) There are several excellent books on the topic, including Jeff Liker’s The Toyota Way and The Toyota Way Fieldbook. My favorite books in this area are by Jim Womack and Dan Jones (who I’ve done some work for as a consulting editor of late). Earlier this week Jim published an e-letter of his titled A Tale of Two Business Systems (registration required) offering a provocative explanation of how Toyota prevailed. I recommend that you read it.

This prompted me to ask Jim to explain how his books relate to the current crisis. I posed the following questions to him: "Jim, your recent post cast the current crisis in Detroit in an entirely new light. How did your earlier
book The Machine That Changed the World come to identify today's situation? And what are the applicable lessons that automakers, manufacturers, and any other businesses facing harsh market conditions draw from the latest Womack/Jones book Lean Solutions?"

Jim's Answer: It's been amazing to me that in the years since “Machine� came out readers repeatedly have told me that "it's a great book about production". But in fact the book devotes a chapter each to the lean (read Toyota) way to deal with suppliers, with customers, with the development process, with overall company management, and...with production. What's more the chapters are exactly the same length with the same level of detail! So how can anyone think that "Machine" is a book about production rather than what it really is -- a comprehensive description of two starkly different business systems?

I guess its just natural to think about the factory when you think about a manufacturing company (car plants are just so big and so vivid as industrial metaphors) but I'm now hoping that managers are ready to change their focus from that one element of a five part system to the whole system. And if they are willing I think it is largely because the production element of the system has largely been copied by American firms even as Toyota, Honda, and Nissan have rapidly build their own factories in North America. And it's the different Toyota approach to product development, supplier management, policy management (to effectively align the whole organization), and customer touch (in the case of Lexus) that is now killing MoTown, not creaky factories. Ford and GM wouldn't be in serious trouble if automotive competition was just about factories, because their factories are now very nearly comparable to Toyota's.

So, after sixteen years and as GM and Ford threaten to collapse, perhaps American managers are finally ready to look at the big picture rather than the partial picture and to get on with the task of creating complete lean enterprises. "Machine" gives a very clear picture of what these will look like.

The area where I think we've made the least progress in implementing lean enterprise is in the link between the customer and the provider. Part of the problem is that Toyota is only now trying to "lean" its own retail and distribution network in North America. So there has been no example. And part of the problem has been the service businesses -- retailers, distributors, maintenance firms, healthcare providers, and financial organizations -- don't seem to be able to translate easily what a manufacturing company has done to the activities they are involved in.

This perception gap was the motivation for my and Dan Jones's latest book, "Lean Solutions". We work backward from the customer's needs and desires, usually to solve a problem in their lives with no hassle, through the process they must follow to get the desired results. (And by the way, the usually need a combination of goods and services to solve their problem while most providers feel most comfortable offering one or the other on a one-time basis.) Then we look at the process the provider is following to deal with the customer. And...there is a gigantic mismatch in perceptions and expectations that creates an enormous business opportunity for a wide range of businesses. We consider everything from how to run call centers along "lean" principles to how to sell and service cars and to how
to rethink healthcare and airlines.

It's still early days for the early adopters now following this path but Dan and I are convinced that this is the real opportunity for business organizations in the U.S. and Canada in an age where more and more routine manufacturing tasks will be performed in lower-wage areas. The alternative is to use "lean" with zero creativity to try to squeeze ever more waste out of existing manufacturing operations. That's fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't go very far because the real issue for the future is creating a complete lean enterprise including every element of the value creating process. That goes far beyond the factory, if there still is a factory.

Business Book Authors on BookTV

Yes, I watch BookTV. Most of the time, you will get authors who have written books on politics or history. Over the past month, I have run across two segments on business book authors and they were both good.

The first segment was Richard Florida. He wrote the very popular Rise of the Creative Class and the follow-up Flight of the Creative Class. He talked about both of the books and his most recent research with the Gallup Organization. Two tidbits:

• In his first book, it talked about the sorts of things that a city needed to support a creative class. The most important is the attitude of openness in the community itself. In his polling research, he has found the largest prejudice to be against age. People often don't want young people in their community. This ranked ahead of race, religion, political view, and sexual orientation.
• Right before Katrina hit, Florida was doing spot polling around the country to find out how happy they are with their lives. He believes location is central to happiness. New Orleans ranked the highest out of the 22 cities polled. The two most important stated reasons were strong religious ties and nightlife.

The second segment was one with Yossi Sheffi, author of The Resilient Enterprise. He wrote most of the book while he was on sabbatical form MIT. He was doing some research for the UK government. Their concern was that the next terrorist attack isn't going to be against Big Ben or the London Bridge, but against Tesco and disrupt the food supply in to the general public. The book is about the operations side of business and how plan for vulnerabilities in the lean supply chains of today.

I only caught the first 15 minutes of this one, but I found it interesting that the CDC and NY Department of Health track OTC drug sales in the city. They believe that people will first look for something at drugstore to fix what ails them before going to the doctor. If they see a spike in Benadryl sales, they know the next place to look is admissions for something potential more serious.

Prepared Mind - 50% off and free shipping today

Yesterday, we were giving away free copies of The Prepared Mind of a Leader over on inBubbleWrap.

Today, we are giving everyone a chance to buy the book for 50% off and get free shipping with your order.

Everyone who won or purchased the book will be invited to a teleconference with the authors to kick off The Prepared Mind World Tour.

800-CEO-READ's Rollyo Search

Rollyo is an interesting search. They allow you to limit your search and choose the sites that you would like the results to come from. I remember hearing about it when it first launched, but I couldn't find a use for it then. I have seen it pop up a couple of place recently and decided to try it out.

One of the things we try to do here on the Daily Blog is give you what others are saying about business books. We'll often see a article that creates the basis for the post and then might search for some supplemental material. The problem with most business book titles is they use common words (ie Execution, Satisfaction, The Wal-Mart Effect). If you do a google search, you get a couple of good hits, but most are junk.

I created a Rollyo search for business books. My goal was to find what the major periodicals and great business blogs are saying about books. I also included the family of 800-CEO-READ sites. You can choose up to 25 sites to include in your roll. You can see the list done the left hand side of the Rollyo page.

I have been happy with the results thus far. I was looking for some more material on Alpha Dogs by Donna Fenn. If you do a Google search on "alpha dogs", you get alot of junk. If you use the Rollyo search, you see the Inc. magazine mentions (Fenn writes for them). The gem was the Inc. TV interview that I would have never found otherwise.

So, feel free to use the search or create another that works for you.

Malcolm Gladwell Profile in NYT

There was an extensive profile of Malcolm Gladwell in Sunday's New York Times.

Here are the numbers:

"Blink" has remained on the best-seller list since it first came out in January 2005, with 1.3 million copies in print in North America. It has also been translated into more than 25 languages. That compares with 1.7 million copies of "The Tipping Point," which was originally published in 2000 but returned to the paperback best-seller list when "Blink" first appeared.
Their success has given Gladwell an active, and extremely lucrative, second career as a public speaker. Much in demand, he is paid in the neighborhood of $40,000 per lecture. He's also on the recommended reading list at many companies and business schools, and has spoken at West Point and the National Institutes of Health, among many other institutions. Last year, Time magazine named him one of its "100 most influential people." Fast Company magazine called Gladwell "a rock star, a spiritual leader, a stud." Stephen Gaghan, the screenwriter of multiple-thread narrative movies like "Traffic" and "Syriana," is developing a movie based on "Blink." That book is also the subject of a clever sendup, "Blank: The Power of Not Actually Thinking at All," by the pseudonymous Noah Tall, which will be out this month.

New Excerpt -- Let Go to Grow

Interested in learning about the commoditization of products?

I posted a new excerpt today from the book Let Go to Grow--a book about the commodity market and how to grow by instilling new practices and letting go of the old ones.

You can check out the excerpt here.

Small Talk -- Practice Makes Perfect

I'm always in awe of those who have perfected the art of small talk. The people who can make it seem as casual as a conversation with your best friend.

Fast Company has an interview posted with Debra Fine, who wrote The Fine Art of Small Talk a few years back. In the interview, she shares a few tips on small talk. Here's a piece of it:

FC: What do you say first?

Fine: A good conversationalist has to assume the burden of other people's comfort. If I forget your name, whose problem is that? It's uncomfortable for me, but your comfort comes first, so I say, "You know, I forgot your name, and I'm embarrassed."

FC: What are some good icebreakers?

Fine: My favorite, if I've met you before, is: "Bring me up to date on your life."

She tells people to be sincere and show an interest. You can read the rest here.

You can also check out another author's tips here.

"Get Back in the Box"

Usually we speak about stepping out of the box. Douglas Rushkoff's new book, Get Back in the Box says otherwise.

I had to laugh when Fast Company reviewed it last December and commented that, "Because Rushkoff, a journalist and consultant, doesn't typically write about business, he isn't afraid to bite into companies. Or perhaps "chew" is the better word."

The blog entry explains that the message behind Daniel's book is to "get back to the basics".

If you're still curious about it, check it out on today's inBubbleWrap offer.

Being young and dealing with money

BusinessWeek's last issue featured two new books out about the young people in America and their money flow:

1. Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30- Somethings Can't Get Ahead by Tamara Draut


2. Generation Debt: Why Now is a Terrible Time to be Young by Anya Kamenetz

The article "Up Against It at 25" describes the books as "similar economic jeremiads, although Kamenetz is the better writer and Draut the more knowing policy maven."

What is it about America's 20- and 30- somethings that make them so strapped? "Flawed government policies that have forced many students to borrow huge sums for college", less traditional workplace benefits and "an older generation of self-satisfied baby boomers [that] will soon begin retiring, sucking up government resources."

Being in that 20- and 30- something category myself, I'm not sure I agree that it is a "terrible time to be young." It's true that education costs are at an all-time high but there are also more people graduating from college than ever before. There are still state universities, scholarships, and grants all out there for students seeking to pay less for a good education. Of course, there are also the student work programs that are dedicated to helping students finding on campus jobs.

As for the government resources, Social Security was meant to be a supplemental income; it was not intended to provide for everything. Thus, everyone in the U.S. -- not just the 20- and 30- somethings -- are in the same boat. Most of us cannot depend on these resources to get us through retirement; luckily, retirement programs such as 401Ks are implemented at most companies to help employees save for their retirement. I also believe that young people today have more access to information; thus, they are more informed about how to save properly for retirement.

While I can easily emphasize with Kamentez and Draut, I don't think that we are truly a generation of debt nor do I believe that we "can't get ahead" without changing our culture. Our generation has many benefits that no generation has previously enjoyed. We have a lot to be thankful for in spite of high education costs, government policies and retiring baby boomers.

Business in 2006 as Discussed at Davos

One of the questions directed to the attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this year was:

BusinessWeek printed the answers in their recent issue. The answers varied from person to person. Here are a few of them:

Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat: One word: energy. The biggest risk for 2006 is that prices stay high."

Ann Winblad, Partner, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners: "The most important issue is to be an innovator. You can't participate in the global market unless you're looking ahead."

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google: "The environment and escalating disasters. Global poverty. All businesses should care about these issues."

Check out more about the conference here.

What's the most important business issue for you this year?

One more book to watch for

We want to make sure you don't forget about The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. We didn't have this book on our list nor was it on the HBR list. It was a terrible oversight. The latest news is that the book's publication date is July 11th.

If you haven't gotten on the Long Tail train, you can read the original article from Wired and Chris' blog.

Harvard Business Review's 2006 Reading List

In the February issue, Harvard Business Review has their 2006 Reading List.

• The Elephant In The Room: Silence and Denial in Everyday Life by Eviatar Zerubavel (Oxford University Press, March)
• Working With Your Is Killing Me: Freeing Yourself From Emotional Traps In Work by Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster (Warner Business Books, March)
• Family Capitalism: Wendels, Haniels, Falcks, and the Continental European Model by Harold James (Harvard University Press, March)
• Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni (Jossey-Bass, March)
• The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy by AnnaLee Saxenian (Harvard University Press, April)
• Questions of Character: Illuminating the Heart of Leadership Through Literature by Joseph Badaracco (Harvard Business School Press, April)
• Guanxi (The Art of Relationships): Microsoft , China, and Bill Gates' Plan to Win the Road Ahead by Robert Buderi and Gregory Huang (Simon and Schuster, May)
• Leading Through Conflict: How Successful Leaders Transform Difference into Opportunities by Mark Gerzon (Harvard Business School Press, May)
• The Managerial Moment of Truth: The Essential Step in Helping People Improve Performance by Bruce Bodaken and Robert Fritz (Free Press, May)
• Treasure Hunt by Michael Silverstein and John Butman (Portfolio, May)
• Appreciative Intelligence: Seeing the Mighty Oak in the Acorn by Tojo Thatchenkery and Carol Metzker (Berrett-Koehler, May)
• The G-Quotient: How Gay Men Are Changing the Face of Leadership by Kirk Snyder (Jossey-Bass, June)
• Untapped: Creating Value in Underserved Markets by John Weiser et al. (Berrett-Koehler, June)
• Shopportunity! A Manifesto for Retail Revolution by Kate Newlin (Collins Business, August)
• CEO Pay and What to Do About It: Restoring Integrity to Both Executive Compensation and Capital Market Relations by Michael Jensen and Kevin Murphy (Harvard Business School Press, August)
• Applebee's America: What Political, Business, and Religious Leaders Can Learn from Each Other by Ron Fournier, DouglasSosnik, and Matthew Dowd (Simon and Schuster, September)
• The J Curve: The Shape of the World by Ian Bremmer (Simon and Schuster, September)
• The High-Purpose Company: Why It Wins, How It Grows, and What Sets It Apart from the Fakes by Christine Arena (Collins Business, September)

Launching The Prepared Mind World Tour

I want to introduce you to a book today. It is called The Prepared Mind of a Leader and it is written by Bill Welter and Jean Egmon. We at 800ceeoread like this book alot and will be doing a numbers of things to feature it over the next four months.

Why so much love?

1. I can 99% guarantee you haven't heard of this book. It has gotten no major media coverage. We like highlighting books you won't see anywhere else.
2. It is a really good book. We immediately identified with their definition of leadership:
   

   ...we see leadership as the practice of continously envisioning opportunities for growth within complex, dynamic environments, built on core principles the organization is committed to sustaining and using as the basis for value delivered to all its stakeholders. Implied in our definition is that leaders, no matter where they are in the organization, are strategists in terms of making opportunities explicit and knowing why and when and how to move into and navigate the problems and opportunities they face.

3. This is a book that expects alot from its reader. You are not going to charge through it on that flight from Chicago to DC. To get the most out of the book, you are going to have to commit some time to the skills it is teaching. For that reason, we are going to do a number of features across the 800ceoread family of sites.

Here is our plan. This week, we will be featuring the book on inBubbleWrap. That will give a number of you a chance to get a copy of the book. We are also going to do a follow-up offer for those who don't get your name pulled out of the hat.

inBubblewrap winners and those who take us up on the offer will be invited to teleconference with the authors. It will be a kick-off to a eight week book club. During the tcon, Bill and Jean will introduce everyone to the concept of the book and introduce the first of eight skills. Each week following, the authors will post a entry on here on the daily blog explaining another one of the skills. After we have gotten through all of the skills, we are going to invite everyone back for a final tcon to talk about what was learned and give people a chance to ask more questions.

We have never gone all out like this for a book. We feel like it is the right book and one that you need to spend time with. So stay tuned and we'll keep you posted on the next leg of the Tour.

Smartest Guys In The Room out on DVD

Over the weekend, I watched Enron: Smartest Guys In The Room. The movie is based on the book written by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind. The authors are both interviewed in this amazing documentary. The movie was produced Magnolia Pictures and distributed by HDNet Films (both Mark Cuban owned companies).

I think they did a great job with it. There really is an amazing story to the rise and fall of this company. There is greed, politics, and even natural disasters. If you never paid attention, it is the perfect way to get caught up now that the trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeff Skilling is underway.

It is rated R which surprised me a little. They have audio of traders on conference calls using some coarse language, but I think the true reason for the rating is some scenes of topless dancing in a strip club. Believe it or not, it has relevance in one of the characters to the Enron story. I think they could have made the plot point as just strongly without the awkward nudity.