800-CEO-READ Blog: The Company

Launching The Countdown Book Club

Our communication has been sporadic on the book project. Kate, our air traffic controller, is imploring us to get with it and start telling you what we have been up to. She's right and there is a lot that has happened.

The book has a name:

The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You

It has a beautiful cover:

The words have been written and most have survived the first round of edits. We are now in the polishing stage known as copyediting.

While we found ways to personally celebrate the completion of the manuscript with our families and the 800-CEO-READ team, we now want to share our growing excitement about the book with you.

The title is a bit of a giveaway, but our book is about business books. So we decided the best way to celebrate is to give you a sneak peak of some of the books we've included in The 100 Best.

We invite you to join The Countdown Book Club: Six Months To The 100 Best Business Books of All Time.

You'll receive six books. The first book will be sent to you in September. We'll send you five books, one a month, through January. And then in February, you'll receive your copy of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time.

The cost is $99, which includes the six books and all the stamps to get them to you.

Now, we won't tell you which books we will send to you, but we promise you that they are more than worth your time and dollar.

Open Position: Customer Service Representative

Customer Service Representative

We are looking for an individual to join our operations group as a customer service representative.

Your job will be to take care of our customers, managing their orders from the time they are taken until the time the shipment arrives. This will involve obtaining all the pertinent information for the order, placing the purchase order with our suppliers, and tracking the order during shipment.

Some important things to keep in mind:

• The job involves an enormous amount of communication over the phone, through email, and with other members of the office.
• The position requires patience and empathy as you work with expected and unexpected situations constantly that can impact the customers you work with.
• You will be working in an open office with 12 other people. This works for us. It may not work for you.
• We sell and promote books. Liking books will help you like the job.

800-CEO-READ is a division of Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops and specializes in selling business books to corporations, universities, and individuals. The company was started in 1984 and located in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. In the last five years, we have experienced double-digit growth each year and tripled the size of the business.

We have a lot of fun things planned. Come join us!

Location: Milwaukee, WI

Salary Range: $30,000 to $35,000 per year

Benefits: Health, Dental, 401K, and profit sharing

Please respond to by sending a resume and cover letter to todd a t 800ceoread d o t com.

Pecha Kucha Night - Slideshow - June 17, 2008

Our first Pecha Kucha Night was a great success! We had a ton of fun--check out the pictures--and were impressed with each of the presenters. I'm sure we'll share more thoughts this week, but for now we invite you to enjoy Pecha Kucha Night as we experienced it. You can also view the show over at our Flickr site.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The next Pecha Kucha Night is August 26 at the Hi Hat Garage.

Cubicle Warfare - office fun for the summer

No matter how fun or creative your job is, there's always the office space issue to deal with. Cubicles, frustrating fax machines, a copier that seems to run out of toner only for you, fluorescent lights and the scent of old coffee grounds. One of the best ways to cope with these conditions is humor--and sometimes pranks. My dad used to send his brother letters, to his office, in envelopes addressed to Our Preferred Preparation H Customer, complete with logo and official design. From time to time at 800-CEO-READ HQ, people have returned from vacation to find their belongings wrapped* in bubble wrap or aluminum foil, or suspended from the ceiling. Recently, Jon returned to find his entire desk area housed in a cardboard shanty**.

There's a new book out called Cubicle Warfare: 101 Office Traps and Pranks by John Austin. Just a few pranks suggested:

"Pickled Chair" - adding a food smell to someone's office chair
"Walkie-Talkie God" - planting a walkie talkie in the ceiling tiles above someone's desk, then transmitting music, the news, or the gospel from a secure location
"Industrial Velcro" - velcro everything to the desk
"Elevator Fun" - post warnings like "Warning- Cables Are Rusting, Please Do Not Jump"
"Paper Hole Door" - place chads from the 3-hole punch along the top of a door
"Decaf Espresso" - not funny

Now, I don't condone carrying out any of the pranks suggested in this "Tactical Manual," but you will certainly enjoy a chuckle or two reading it.

* Meg's desk

** Jon's shanty

Just an interesting tidbit: Jon worked in the shanty for an entire week.

Thoughts on Seth Godin's "How To Read a Business Book"

Seth Godin wrote a great post on Wednesday titled How to read a business book. I encourage everyone to go read it in its entirety. The main points are that business books are essentially recipes for action, but that the majority of a book's words are spent convincing and motivating the reader to action. "Cookbooks don't spend a lot of time trying to sell you on why making a roast chicken isn't as risky as you might think," Godin writes. He continues saying that readers don't get enough from the experience if they are just reading for the recipe.

Here are my extensions to what Seth started with his post:

• I think business books are self-help, in the most positive sense of the word. And you'll pay $30 for a business book in hardcover because the potential payoff is huge.
• I am not sure cookbooks are the right metaphor for business books. Business in all its components lacks the certainty of the physics and chemistry. There is a repeatability problem. Following a business book recipe does not guarantee the same results for different cooks.
• Having said that, the biggest contributor to failure is most don't follow the recommended recipe to start with. People like picking and choosing the easiest pieces and are surprised when they don't get the roasted chicken like the one in the picture.
• Book summaries are the distilled recipes. I know they are popular with a certain segment, but I don't get it. You don't remember the five important points from a book by reading them in a list. You do it by understanding the context and internalizing the stories the author uses. Whenever we write a Jack Covert Select or publish a manifesto on ChangeThis, our intention is tell you about the book and convince you it is worth your time to read it in its 225 page form.
• I surprised by the number of people who tell me they skip the introductions to business books. I will admit before I started reading "professionally", I did the same. DON'T SKIP THE INTRODUCTION. It often does the same thing as the opening credits to a good movie. You get an idea of what you are getting into, the sort of language the author will be using, and what the compelling points are going to be. If the introduction doesn't grab you, put the book down and find another.
• Take notes and I am going to strongly suggest you do this electronically. Open a text file. Name it with the title and author. And just start writing what you think as you are reading or right after you are done. Writing about what you learned and ability to go back to find it later will pay back in spades. If you want to keep things in the meatspace, get some of these. They were invaluable as we were doing research for our book.
• Finally, reading books is an act of meditation. It is a mental refuge for you to explore your thoughts and feelings about work, but also life as a whole. Take some time to help yourself.

What Is Wrong With Business Books?! - Part I

I first found out through email from my friend Sara at Cave Henricks Communications about the publication of my letter to the editors of Fast Company. Below is the full text of the letter I sent in response to Elizabeth Spiers' Library of the Living Dead essay that appeared in the April 2008 issue. I have used bold to highlight the portion they published in the magazine. I'll leave it to you to determine if their editing captured the essence of my argument:

I write to provide a needed counterpoint to Elizabeth Spiers April 2008 Not So Fast column titled "Library of The Living Dead."

I will start where she ends, agreeing in fact with Spiers' ultimate conclusion: Business books are self-help, by their very definition. The implication that business books fall strictly into the "I'm OK, You're OK" segment of self-help is where Spiers and I diverge. A book publisher recently shared research with me that showed the number one reason people buy business books is to find a solution to a problem. Sitting at the educational crossroads between "I know nothing about this," and "Let's hire a consultant," business books contain a high value proposition for the twenty dollars and two hours spent. Not, as Spiers says, to abdicate responsibility for the choices they make. Instead, it takes a great deal of personal awareness to look for answers from those who offer experiential lessons in books.

The packaging of those lessons receives the majority of criticism in Ms. Spiers column and I am always dismayed by the problems pundits have with this aspect of the industry. Human civilization is built upon stories and when an author chooses a fable as the delivery device, the writer is making the lessons more accessible to a wider audience.

The "12-step-ification" is a crutch that bloggers, business magazines, and book publishers certainly use alike, in the same way celebrity authors are used to garner attention and sell product. This is simply product marketing through concreteness and social proof.

The bestseller list as a guide to the "best" in the category is just another form of social proof. My optimism for the category would bring me to highlight Gallup's research-based StrengthsFinder 2.0 or Jim Collins' insightful and wonderful written Good to Great as evidence that some books that make the bestseller list really deserve the title.

In the case of John Kotter, we have the benefit of choosing either his current top-selling fable, or his 1996 book "Leading Change," which has sold over a million copies. Both books tackle the same content, but offer options for the reader to choose his method of consumption.

Ms. Spiers overall indictment of the entire business book category is an easy mark and one that could be applied to any genre of media. Her elitism about what constitutes good reading compounds the problem further. While I can appreciate her hyperbole as a method to communicate some criticism about the genre, a more subtle treatment of the subject would, I believe, be more effective.

Beyond that, Fast Company is a magazine that has always supported business ideas. A simplistic column like Spiers' goes against the very DNA of your publication. The mantra "WORK IS PERSONAL" matches well with Thoreau's or Emerson's definition of self-help. The publication of this column leaves me wondering just how that mission has been served.

It's done.

We seem to have skipped the news that the manuscript is done.

The likely cause of that lack of reporting is everyone left town (physically or mentally). Jack hopped on a plane catch some Florida sun. Sally is spending time this week reading something (anything) besides reviews of business books. Others are taking days here and there.

I got on a plane this morning and have landed in Austin. I am spending a few days decompressing and hanging out with the various members of Austin Book Posse.

This just taken photo is me relaxing at the lovely Hotel San Jose.

And notice--the smile and no beard.

Beard or Book: Day 16

It's Day 16.

The book and beard are both longer. The book currently weighs in at 87,126 words spread out over 429 manuscript pages.

It is leaving our hands tomorrow.

Can you see the joy on my face?

Beard Or Book

Facial hair is a popular accessory at 800ceoread. We have folks who sport both beards and mustaches in the office.

It was recently suggested that I should join the crowd; do what all the cool kids are doing. In a short moment of weakness, I decided to jump on the bandwagon...for a limited time.

Under the banner "Beard or Book", I am growing out my beard until we get our book manuscript turned in to our publisher.

Of course, it is silly and of no real consequence, but seems give people the impression that we are working really hard and lack time to do simple things like shave. We have been coming in early to work on edits and have a few people convinced we stayed all night given my new appearance.

We'll keep you updated on both the book and the beard. Both will be gone by next Friday.

"The Modern Era's Second Worst Promulgator of Intelligence Reduction"

The following is my letter to the editors of Fast Company Magazine on Elizabeth Spiers recent column in their publication. You can read Spiers column here. Kate wrote about it earlier in the week, and I couldn't let it pass either.

***

I write to provide a needed counterpoint to Elizabeth Spiers April 2008 Not So Fast column titled "Library of The Living Dead."

I will start where she ends, agreeing in fact with Spiers' ultimate conclusion: Business books are self-help, by their very definition. The implication that business books fall strictly into the "I'm OK, You're OK" segment of self-help is where Spiers and I diverge. A book publisher recently shared research with me that showed the number one reason people buy business books is to find a solution to a problem. Sitting at the educational crossroads between "I know nothing about this," and "Let's hire a consultant," business books contain a high value proposition for the twenty dollars and two hours spent. Not, as Spiers says, to abdicate responsibility for the choices they make. Instead, it takes a great deal of personal awareness to look for answers from those who offer experiential lessons in books.

The packaging of those lessons receives the majority of criticism in Ms. Spiers column and I am always dismayed by the problems pundits have with this aspect of the industry. Human civilization is built upon stories and when an author chooses a fable as the delivery device, the writer is making the lessons more accessible to a wider audience.

The "12-step-ification" is a crutch that bloggers, business magazines, and book publishers certainly use alike, in the same way celebrity authors are used to garner attention and sell product. This is simply product marketing through concreteness and social proof.

The bestseller list as a guide to the "best" in the category is just another form of social proof. My optimism for the category would bring me to highlight Gallup's research-based StrengthsFinder 2.0 or Jim Collins' insightful and wonderful written Good to Great as evidence that some books that make the bestseller list really deserve the title.

In the case of John Kotter, we have the benefit of choosing either his current top-selling fable, or his 1996 book "Leading Change," which has sold over a million copies. Both books tackle the same content, but offer options for the reader to choose his method of consumption.

Ms. Spiers overall indictment of the entire business book category is an easy mark and one that could be applied to any genre of media. Her elitism about what constitutes good reading compounds the problem further. While I can appreciate her hyperbole as a method to communicate some criticism about the genre, a more subtle treatment of the subject would, I believe, be more effective.

Beyond that, Fast Company is a magazine that has always supported business ideas. A simplistic column like Spiers' goes against the very DNA of your publication. The mantra "WORK IS PERSONAL" matches well with Thoreau's or Emerson's definition of self-help. The publication of this column leaves me wondering just how that mission has been served.

Another way for Your Voice To Be Heard

The presidential election is taking center stage right, so we thought to remind you have another election going on right now.

We are looking for you to help us choose the best business books of all time. My last report on our Reader's Poll at the vote count at 500. We are now over 1400 votes, and still looking for more.

Take a moment to jump over to The Reader's Poll: see what others have voted for and place a couple votes yourself.

Update from Tools of Change Conference

Yesterday Kate and I got to hear Douglas Rushkoff, author of Get Back in the Box, talk about how content context contact is king. He explained that what people are really looking for online is social currency, the opportunities to interact with and respond to other people. The predominant marketing model has been to get people to interact with products, to take them away from other people so that, as Doug said in an example, they buy their oatmeal from Quaker, and not from Joe at the local farmer's market. That's changing as marketing is shifting from the hands of producers to the hands of consumers, whose opinions are more valuable because they can be shared without bias (for the most part) directly with other consumers.

The idea of social relationships in publishing has been a major theme at this year's conference. This morning I heard Gavin Bell from Nature Publishing Group talk about how your online services deserve the same degree of customer service your bricks and mortar business boasts. He talked about "Moderation" -- talking to people and finding out what's working and what's not, whether you're an online retailer or a blogger trying to join a broader conversation. One of the hardest parts of moderation is, Gavin explained, listening to what people say and accepting that they know what they want.

Good morning from TOC

Kate and I are at the kick-off of the O'Reilly Tools of Change Conference in NYC. People from all over the world are here for this year's conference; the MC just told us that attendance tripled over last year's inaugural conference in San Jose (Todd and Dylan were there).

Today there are two articles in major newspapers about the future of publishing:

New York Times: HarperCollins Will Post Free Books on the Web

Wall Street Journal: Publisher Tests Selling by the Chapter

We'll try to update more over the next few days. Unless we're busy playing with all of the new gadgets in digital publishing.

500 votes and counting...

If you haven't voted for your favorite books yet, jump over to our Reader's Poll and click a few buttons.

Special Offers on Seth Godin Books

For those you have been following the tour and to our loyal readers, here are a few offers:

1. We are offering Meatball Sundae for 40% off. This will run through the weekend and close on Tuesday.
2. If you buy 10 copies, we'll send along a Seth Godin Marketing Guru Action Figure. Use this link for the offer.
3. We also have a Seth Godin Library. Nine Books for $99.

In The Books: Most Notable Business Books 2007

It's here!

Yesterday a pallet of boxes arrived at our office. We get pallets nearly every day, but this one was special: it contained copies of our first ever 800-CEO-READ review of the year in business books.

The publication is called In The Books: Most Notable Business Books of 2007. Our editorial team here at 800-CEO-READ, along with help from Erika Andersen, Dan Roam, and designer Joy Panos Stauber, compiled this annual of what we consider to be the year's most notable titles and trends in business book publishing. Check out the Table of Contents below to get an idea of what's covered.

We're extremely proud of this publication; it marks a big step for our growing business and the people here who make 800-CEO-READ such a fun place to work. We hope you'll see the spirit of our company throughout the piece.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1 Jack and Todd's Year in Review
2 Our Mission
3 An Insider's Perspective
4 Why We Love Business Books

Awards
7 Book of the Year
8 Sales
9 Leadership
10 HR and Organizational Development
11 Entrepreneurship and Small Business
12 Finance and Economics
13 Advertising and Marketing
14 Globalization
15 Fables
16 Biographies and Memoirs
17 Personal Development
18 Innovation and Creativity
19 Industry
20 New Perspectives

22 800-CEO-READ Best Sellers

Trends
25 China Redux
28 We the Internet
30 Sustainability is Smart
32 Business is You
34 The Silent Revolution: A ChangeThis! Manifesto
38 InBubbleWrap: A Farewell Interview

Views, Reviews and Excerpts
41 Jack Covert Selects
44 The Value of a Good Story
46 Industry Books
48 In Their Own Words
53 On the Importance of Books
56 The Birth of a Book

Order your copy here: http://800ceoread.com/products/?ISBN=8crannual

Post Pow-wow Thoughts

I promised I'd write more about the pow-wow. With the assistance of the words from some of the pow-wow-ees, here goes. This year was our second annual Author Pow-wow. It's two days where business authors and some of the best of the publishing world gather to pick each others' brains, meet interesting people, and walk away a bit more energized. The setting: the brilliant Catalyst Ranch in Chicago.

Nearly a week has passed since the 50 (or so; thanks Phil) of us bid farewell and journeyed home. For us, the pow-wow is the only time in the year where we meet many of our customers and colleagues in person. It's easy to forget how important quality face time really is. As Mike, one of the pow-wow-ees, explains,"there is still no substitute for face-to-face, real-world meetings."

There's an amazing dynamic that occurs when a group of people are brought together; especially so when a group of people who usually play the role of teachers and consultants come together to learn, converse, absorb and share. Each of us had to unbuckle our egos and leave them at the door and so we did. For many authors, like David, it was the first conference they attended that year for themselves and many, like Raj, didn't know what to expect but brought their passion. I imagine they felt like the business leader who sits down to hear the consultant's advice or read the business book that will help them turnaround the company strategy.

"In a world where cut throat competition is celebrated and civility too often gets lost, it truly was magic to watch people who compete for contracts, shelf space, and media time, willingly reach out to those around them to offer insight from their own experiences that would help their colleagues. I'm guessing that no one left this two day session without learning at least one thing about publishing that had never crossed their mind." (From Barbara.)

As Erika blogged, "It was a delight to be in a room full of smart people trying to get smarter." At the end we had an exercise where everyone reflected with one word on what the pow-wow was for them. [I'm stealing this from Kevin's blog.] "Words included: fun, invigorating, energy, relationships, generosity, memorable, learning, and fattening (that was right on Ben).I [Kevin] chose the word Remarkable. The group chuckled at my choice, but it truly is the best word I could have chosen."

Remarkable it was. You see, as Jose points out, "There is nothing more personal than business and as long as we continue to exchange currency for goods and services, relationships will be the foundation of our economies. And as long as we have business, we will need to understand how to navigate the pitfalls and adventures that come with work...Business books will never die because there will always be incredible people with wonderful stories to share." That is really what the pow-wow was about: connecting and sharing. And for that, I thank each pow-wow-ee and everyone that helped make the two days a success. We can't wait to do it again!

Photos of our days at the ranch: via Phil, Jose, and our collection. And a pictorial representation of the two days by Dan (woot. woot.).

A Milwaukee Company

It has been a little quiet on the blog this week because most of our crew is in the Windy City to meet with business book authors and publishers. I was there yesterday and it was a blast - I'm sure we'll have more to tell you over the next few weeks.

I'll take this opportunity to mention something our sister company, Schwartz Bookshops, is participating in this winter. It's an alliance of Milwaukee businesses called "Our Milwaukee" and their mission is this: "Our Milwaukee advocates for locally owned businesses that provide a genuine, quality experience - in celebration of our community's unique character."

At 800-CEO-READ, we believe strongly in supporting our local economy. So if you're in town at all, we encourage you to check out some of our favorite establishments:

Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops
Alterra Coffee Roasters (It's scary how much of their coffee we consume each day.)
Beans & Barley
Lakefront Brewery
Laacke & Joys
Outpost Natural Foods
The Pabst Theatre and The Riverside
Brewers Credit Union

Happy Thanksgiving

Whether you are officially celebrating or not, tomorrow is a great day to take a moment and give thanks.

We continue to have a lot to be thankful for here at 800-CEO-READ.

You can see here what I am most thankful for this year.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Getting Our Audio More Easily

Just a little reminder...

We have two easy ways to get our audio podcasts delivered to your computer automatically.

1. You can subscribe to the RSS feed.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/800ceoreadPodcasts

This will notify you when new interviews are posted and many RSS readers will download the mp3 files automatically.

2. You can subscribe through iTunes. Here is the link:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=73329501

Once you subscribe, you will see the subscription in your Podcasts section. The audio is automatically downloaded to your iPod when you sync it.

800-CEO-READ's Long Tail of Interest

I am fascinated by Chris Anderson's The Long Tail. These power law curves exist in so many facets of the world.

We pulled data yesterday on our linking behavior to books on our site and...

...and what do we see again.

We have linked to 1267 books in the last three years and here are the top twenty five most linked to books:

#1 The Long Tail - 31 links
#2 The World Is Flat - 29 links
#3 Battle for the Soul of Capitalism - 29 links
#4 Good to Great - 23 links
#5 Prepared Mind of a Leader - 21 links
#6 Freakonomics - 20 links
#7 Made to Stick - 19 links
#8 Mavericks at Work - 19 links
#9 Blink - 17 links
#10 Radical Edge - 17 links
#11 Purple Cow - 15 links
#12 The Number - 14 links
#13 Brand It Yourself - 14 links
#14 The Wal-Mart Effect - 14 links
#15 Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators - 13 links
#16 Hard Facts - 13 links
#17 Purpose - 13 links
#18 Growing Great Employees - 13 links
#19 Small Is the New Big - 13 links
#20 Whole New Mind - 12 links
#21 No Asshole Rule - 12 links
#22 The Power of Unfair Advantage - 11 links
#23 The Ultimate Question - 11 links
#24 Winning - 11 links
#25 Citizen Marketers - 11 links

Comments down

There is a weird error coming up when you try to post a comment right now and leaves you unable to save the comment.

We are working on it and I'll post something when we get it fixed.

Update: They are working perfectly now. We would love to hear from you. :)

Meet Jon and Dylan.

You'll probably see these two wandering around here and changing our world for the better. I thought we should properly introduce them.

Meet Dylan
Dylan has been here for nearly five years and recently moved over to our marketing side. You'll see his name pop up on blog entries (rumor has it, one will appear soon) and various other places. If you ever saw our annual report (link to a large pdf version**), he's the talent behind the illustrations. What else should you know about him? He collects books, loves baseball, is one of the three Schleicher brothers here, and rides his bicycle everywhere.

Meet Jon
Jon came to us from a media technology company just north of us. He's been here nearly a month and is already an accomplished rubber band shooter (well, almost). We're glad he's here. He's joining Aaron (another of the three Schleichers) over in our author services. In his spare time, you can probably find him over here or maybe here.

If you do run into them, feel free to say hello. They have both added a bit more magic to our crew.

**If you'd like a printed version of our annual report, drop me a note kate[at]800ceoread.com.

These are a few of our favorite things

I thought it would be fun to take a cue from Ben and Jackie and ask the 800-CEO-READ crew to compile a list of our favorite things about Milwaukee. Wow, a very passionate discussion ensued -- don't worry about Milwaukeeans failing to supply an opinion. All in all, we came up with a great list. We had to group a few things to include everyone's favorites, but that just serves to paint a more complete picture of our city.

In no particular order, here are our Ten Favorite Things about Milwaukee:

• The Lakefront and Lake Michigan
  
• Theaters: Pabst Theatre, Theater X, Oriental Theatre
  
• Festivals and Concerts: Summer Fest, Irish Fest, Bastille Days, Festa Italiana, Pride Fest...you name it, we've got a festival for it.
  
• The Milwaukee Public Market (Third Ward) and neighborhood Farmers' Markets
  
• Independents: Alterra Coffee, Schwartz Bookshops, Anondyne Coffee, Bulls Eye Records
  
• Milwaukee Parks
  
• Restaurants and Bars: Palm Tavern, Riviera Maya, Crawdaddy's Cajun Restaurant, Pizza Man, Paddy's
  
• Neighborhoods (and affordable living): East Side, Bay View, Riverwest, Downtown, Third Ward, Brewer's Hill
  
• Miller Park Stadium and baseball and beer
  
• Milwaukee Art Museum
  

Winter sunset on Milwaukee's East Side

Flickr fun

I finally got around to posting some pictures from our May event with Nikos Mourkogiannis, author of Purpose. You'll also find a few new pictures from around the office and from our trip to New York City for BEA.

Here's a link to our Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/800ceoread/

On glossy paper, no less!

Jack and Todd were recently interviewed for an article in the Summer 2007 edition of Executive Living, a special publication of Milwaukee's Business Journal. The story is about current reading trends in corporate book clubs.

What you can't see is the rest of us making faces at them behind the photographer.

Recovering From Hardware Failure

If you were having problems getting around our site yesterday, we had a hardware failure. The disk drive that ran our site blew up.

We have been working on migrating a new server over the last couple of weeks. Today we needed to accelerate that process.

That means that things are a little rough around the site right now. Bear with us as we get these things cleaned up.

If you find anything catastrophic, drop me at note at todd -at- 800ceoread -dot- com.

Thanks for your patience.

We are leaving town.

The whole blogging crew is heading to New York City today. Book Expo America, the annual booksellers convention, is taking place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

If we see or hear something interesting, we will drop a post here. Otherwise, expect some reflections from each of us next week.

A Book of Decencies

Over the past few months, Jack and Todd have been taking each of us out for lunch. It's a chance for them to ask, "How are things going?" As they work their way around the office, they're learning about the things that are working well in our environment and the things that could be improved. More importantly, they're showing each of us that our experience at 800-CEO-READ matters, and that we can come to them with anything.

Jack and Todd are doing what Steve Harrison refers to as "decencies" in The Manager's Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies. In describing his father's role as a psychiatrist, he says "My father's job was to listen--perhaps the ultimate decency of all." As most managers know, there are even more decencies a company can extend to its employees--small decencies like a coffee cart, a work-at-home day, introductions at meetings, and the freedom to choose projects that interest them. And then there are large decencies like company-wide mentoring programs, flexible schedules/shifts, defined employee rights, gestures of gratitude, and inviting employees to voice their opinions and concerns.

This book provides a list of these decencies, categorized under chapter titles like Consideration Decencies, Recognition Decencies, and Executive Humility Decencies, that can lead to workplaces where people are excited to come to work and happy to do their jobs. Harrison profiles a number of decency-extending companies like Lee Hecht Harrison, Disney, HP, Nabisco, Starbucks...the list goes on. Here's a brief excerpt on building great companies:

"Creating environments that employees describe as "a great place to work" and in which employees are free to speak their minds relies on the practice of decencies on a regular basis by everyone in the organization. It also takes leadership at the top to start the process, reinforce the efforts along the way, and communicate the long-term benefits of creating and sustaining an organization culture based on trust. These practices go beyond the leaders at the top to become common acts among people throughout the organization."

What I love about our workplace is our culture of extending decencies--of shutting up when someone's taking an important call, helping tip letters into a thousand books, toasting an important event in one of our lives, and taking the time to meet every two weeks and talk about the things we're working on. And the employee lunches haven't been half bad.

Happy Blog-day!

Three years ago today, we started this little side project called the 800-CEO-READ Blog.

We are 1960 posts old today.

There have been more than 80 people who have contributed.

This blog accounts for about half of the web traffic we get in a given month.

Thanks again for reading.

Happy Birthday Blog!

There's nothing like bad clip art to say Happy Birthday Blog!

Here's to three years of 800-CEO-READ blogging!

You're Already a Citizen Marketer

The second event in our LeaveSmarter Series took place last Thursday afternoon. We're crazy busy around here (just ask inBubbleGuy) so we haven't had a chance to blog about it, but we'd be remiss not to mention how enjoyable Ben McConnell's presentation was. He even took a few technical glitches in stride, showing off his shiny red sneakers to keep the momentum going.

One of the strongest messages I took away from the event is just how powerful social media are. Ben showed us some pretty cool (and, in a few instances, kind of scary) examples of the videos, blogs, and other online content that citizen marketers are creating. I particularly liked the fan version of Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" music video.

Using our nametags as a talking point, we shared with each other the products and services we're citizen marketers for. For instance, I wrote down Sala da Pranzo, a great little Italian restaurant on Milwaukee's East Side. inBubbleGuy promoted the bacon-wrapped water chestnuts we provided --one of the driving attractions to the series. Todd talked about More Space.

The name tag idea was Ben and Jackie's, and I highly recommend it as a way to get people mingling at your next event. Speaking of the next event, we would love to see you at our final LeaveSmarter event on May 16. Nikos has a powerful message that we're sure will bring this season to an inspiring end.

We'll have some photos from the event up on our Flickr site very soon.

Shout out from Seth

ChangeThis got a nice mention on Seth Godin's blog today. He has a really great entry up about how you can benefit from publishing an e-book. Here's a direct link to the post:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/03/you_should_writ.html

I feel compelled to boast a little bit about ChangeThis (since I've only been here for a few months and it still fascinates me). Seth Godin conceived of the project in 2003. In the summer of 2005, 800-CEO-READ took over managing the site. We have a great editor, and we're seeing record downloads. It seems like the ChangeThis reader community is growing each month. If you've never been over to the site and are wondering what it is, here's a blurb from the FAQs:

ChangeThis is a new kind of media. It's calm and thoughtful and direct and transparent. And unlike almost every other form of media, it reaches people through community. If an idea is a good one, it'll spread, because people like you will send it to their friends. Unlike a broadcaster, we're not using FCC frequencies to send our ideas to people who don't want to hear them.

Unlike a book or a newspaper, it's free. And there are no ads.

I really like this explanation of why we're doing this:

Because we're tired of the yelling, tired of the irrational posturing, and tired of the lies. We decided to do something about all three. Our bet is that smart people will embrace being talked to with respect and will spread the word.

We have no secret plan. No ulterior motive. We wanted to see if it would work. The fact that you're reading this sort of implies it did, at least a little.

Check it out. And thanks, Seth, for the shout out.

Cabin Fever

Here at 800-CEO-READ, we see things a little differently...

Jack in Newsweek

Jack was quoted in Newsweek a few weeks ago, in the February 19 issue. The article was about Ram Charan, a long-time consultant to top CEOs and the author of several books--most recently of Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform From People Who Don't.

The article, The CEO Whisperer, demystifies this nomadic, private man who sleeps in hotels 365 days a year, rarely lectures, and has acted as a quiet consultant to dozens of top executives--most notably Jack Welch, when he ran General Electric.

Here's Jack's quote (we added the spotlight):

P.S. You might not have seen this article in your issue - it was only featured in the Enterprise edition of Newsweek, a special edition for executives and businesses.

8cr's Social Styles workshop

Yesterday our team partipated in a Social Styles workshop, led by Erika Andersen, author of Growing Great Employees and founder of Proteus International.

By the end of the day we had mapped ourselves out across four social styles: Analytical, Driver, Expressive and Amiable. Now, understanding our social weaknesses and strengths, we have new ideas for how to interact with one another and develop a stronger workplace. It was a really valuable experience, one we'll be talking about for a while.

See more photos from the workshop here: www.flickr.com/photos/800ceoread/

A captivated audience

Taken by Kate at our event with Dan and Chip last week.

Visit our Flickr site to see the rest of the photos!

www.flickr.com/photos/800ceoread/

Jack on IBM and Business Development

From Jack....

I am currently reading The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. He tells an interesting story about what Tom Watson, the founder of IBM, attributed IBM’s success to. He is said to have answered:

IBM is what it is today for three special reasons. The first reason is that, at the very beginning, I had a very clear picture of what the company would look like when it was finally done. You might say I had a model in my mind of what it would look like when the dream—my vision—was in place.
The second reason was that once I had that picture, I then asked myself how a company which looked like that would have to act. I then created a picture of how IBM would act when it was finally done.
The third reason IBM has been so successful was that once I had a picture of how IBM would look when the dream was in place and how such a company would have to act, I then realized that, unless we began to act that way from the very beginning, we would never get there.
In other words, I realized that for IBM to become a great company it would have to act like a great company long before it ever became one.
From the very outset, IBM was fashioned after the template of my vision. And each and every day we attempted to model the company after that template. At the end of each day, we asked ourselves how well we did, discovered the disparity between where we are and where we had committed ourselves to be, and, at the start of the following day, set out to make up for the difference.
Every day at IBM was a day devoted to business development, not doing business.
We didn’t do business at IBM, we built one.

BusinessWeek reviews 800ceoread Blog

We were a little excited yesterday when we found out BusinessWeek wrote about this blog in their Blogspotting column. I figured we wouldn't get into too much trouble if we showed all 102 words in its original form.

Word to The Wise: Whenever I talk to people about the blogging world, I always say to start by listening to what others are saying. I received a Google Alert yesterday that I have set for "800ceoread". The email highlighted a post on a discussion board, which referenced someone seeing a piece in BusinessWeek about "an interesting blog to keep an eye on". That is how we found out about the mention. It pays to keep your ears open.

There _is_ such a thing as a free lunch.

Remember that special offer I mentioned?

It's up at inBubbleWrap.com.

[Note: This offer expired at 9 am this morning. However, you can still make your reservation for LeaveSmarter at www.800ceoread.com/events]

Susan Quandt at Mequon Schwartz Bookshops

This is for the Milwaukee area residences in our audience.

Local business book author Susan Quandt is doing a talk the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop in Mequon. She is the author of Sudden Impact on the Job: Top Business Leaders Reveal The Secrets To Fast Success. I am giving you plenty of warning, so set time aside and put this on your calendar.

Date: Tuesday, March 6th, 2007
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, 10976 N. Port Washington Rd., Mequon, WI 53092

Fast Company stuck on Made to Stick

The February issue of Fast Company magazine is calling Made to Stick a candidate for this year's Freakonomics. It also mentions Dreaming in Code by Scott Rosenberg and Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart.

That reminds me, have I mentioned lately that Dan Heath and Chip Heath (authors of Made to Stick) will be in Milwaukee on February 6? Check it out.

800ceoread Blogs Now Available Through Email

I got a request this week to make our blogs available to people through email. Since we use Feedburner to host our RSS feeds, adding Feedburner Email was a snap.

So, if you have friends and neighbors who might enjoy what we do and don't use RSS yet, let them know we now welcome everyone.

New Feature: New Release Blog

With it being the New Year and all, we thought it was time to give you something new. The new thing even has new in the title.

Let me officially announce the launch of the 800ceoread New Releases Blog. The purpose of the site is to notify readers of new business books hitting the market. This information is not readily available to the general public and definitely not all in one place. It seems most people hear about books from other people or seeing them in the media.

On the day a book is released, a blog post will be published in the site. You will see cover art, title, author name(s), and a description of the book. You can subscribe to the whole site via RSS or to individual categories if you like.

The site is in late beta testing, so please send me suggestions if you them (todd @ 800ceoread . com).

Launching LeaveSmarter

If you're in or near Milwaukee, or will be in Milwaukee, or need a reason to come to Milwaukee this spring, we've got one. Our LeaveSmarter series. Actually, it's three reasons. Made to Stick, Citizen Marketers, and Purpose. We're bringing five business book authors to three events. We hand-picked some of the brightest and smartest business thinkers out there, and we want to introduce them to you.

Last fall 800-CEO-READ brought Bill Taylor (Mavericks at Work) and Carly Fiorina (Tough Choices) to Milwaukee. Overwhelmingly positive feedback reinforced something we suspected about the business community in and around Milwaukee: people are hungry for refreshing, cutting-edge business thought.

LeaveSmarter (coined by the lovely Kate Mytty) is about creating an environment that encourages learning, discussion and creativity. We all know what the typical business event is like...and we all wish it were better. Well, that's what we're trying to do with this series. We want you to feel like you've left with something. We want you to leave smarter.

We'll share with you the Heath brothers, whose new book Made to Stick is full of ideas for making your message stick, work and last. Then, meet Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba, authors of Citizen Marketers. They'll tell us about the new faces of marketing. Finally, join us to hear Nikos Mourkogiannis, author of Purpose, who has an important message about the centrality of purpose in any group.

Go here for more details: http://800ceoread.com/8cr/events/

800ceoread: Our Year In Review

As the year closes, I wanted to share with you some of the milestones for 800ceoread. 2006 was a special year, one I believe we are going to look back upon as a turning point.

This year 800ceoread went from sell books to being in the business of moving ideas. We stepped away from the constraints of looking at ourselves based on our competitors. Since I joined the company, Jack and I have talked about 800ceoread being a unique company in the marketplace. This year we finally believed it.

You can see it in the products and services we launched this year. inBubbleWrap built a unique online community connecting readers with authors and publishers. ChangeThis regained its voice as a place for innovative thought. The live events in Milwaukee got the business community excited again about ideas. The perfect ending was the Author Pow-Wow we held in Chicago.

In 2007, expect more. More events in Milwaukee. More resources to help authors be more successful. More ways to access the recommendations we provide.

Here is the part where I need to thank everyone.

It starts with the folks that make up our little company -- Meg, Roy, Dylan, Scott, Aaron, Kate, Ryan, Jake, Rebecca, Sally and Shane. You have all made our company the success it has been and the wonderful place it is to work.

Jack is what makes 800ceoread a magical place. I say magical because you sometimes don't believe you could be working in such a great place or that such a place exists. I have been around. Few of these places exist. Thank you, Jack.

I want to thank Mary, Mel, and Shawn from Schwartz. Our growth and continuing diversification put stress on the whole system. Thank you for letting us do what we do (it seems to be working :).

If you are an author, publisher, agent, or work in publishing in general, thanks for your support. Our company doesn't exist without great product (ideas) to sell.

Finally, I want to thank our customers. You put trust in us to make your efforts successful. We take it seriously and I hope it reflects in the services we provide.

Have a Wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy Happy Happy New Year!

Todd
800ceoread

Which would you rather get?

We get 10 to 15 books every week. The majority of the time it is just a book with a letter telling me why I should like the book. Every once in a while, we get something more. I highly recommend to authors taking the extra time. It is not difficult to make your book standout in the pile.

There are two pictures below showing what authors did to go above and beyond. Both of the examples below were remarkable, but only one of them got me to read the book. I will let you guess which.

800ceoread's Holiday Gift Giving

Rather than give you some list of books that we think you should buy for holidays, we thought it would be more authentic to tell you what we have purchased for our family and friends.

	This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, Edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman, with a foreword by Studs Terkel, produced in association with National Public Radio
	Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
	Acme Novelty Library #17 by Chris Ware
	Children's Hospital by Chris Adrian
	What Is The What by Dave Eggers
	U2 by U2