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230 pages
ISBN 9780814408155 Published June 2004
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Posted Nov. 25, 2009 10:53 a.m. by dylan
In General Business - 800 CEO Read Blog
You're darn tootin' Wednesday links. We're leaving the realm of the Internets until Monday, so we thought we'd leave you some reading material until we get back.
We know this last year hasn't been an easy one for many people. It was a year many of us or our friends lost their jobs. It was a year that saw the closing of the Milwaukee institution we sprang forth from, Harry W. Bookshops, after 80 years in business. Everything certainly did look grim there for awhile, and for many it still does. But, we still feel we have a lot to be thankful for and hope that those of you on the other side of this screen feel the same. In other words... Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
◊ Company friend and former president Todd Sattersten linked to a great series from the wonderful illustrator Scott Campbell earlier this week (with a tip of the hat to Dave Gray and Adland). It's an illustrated guide to ideas and how to kill them. Here's a sample of Cambell's work.
◊ We're really excited about Greg Mortenson's upcoming book, Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If you'd like to see waht it's all about, check out his recent article in Parade.
◊ Pirate's Dilemma author Matt Mason posted a video of Lawrence Lessig's latest presentation that's rather long, but really thought-provoking. In it, he discusses "Institutional Corruption," or "A certain kind of influence ... an influence within an economy of influence that has a certain kind of effect ... that weakens the effectiveness of an institution ... weakening public trust of that institution." You may know Lessig as the author of Free Culture or Remix. If so, you know he's brilliant and well worth 30 minutes of your time.
◊ Guy Kawasaki explains a new interview process that Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon—authors of I Hate People!—have developed. It consists of watching candidates cross the street.
◊ Don't Think Pink author and friend of the company Andrea Learned asks "Do Women Have 'Social' Advantage?"
◊ With it being Thanksgiving tomorrow, Roy reminds us to remember The Family.
◊ The Coauthor of Friends With Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook, Darren Barefoot, wrote about the Eleven Lessons He Learned About Writing a Book yesterday. Number nine is my favorite:
I forget where I heard this, but there’s so much truth in this quote: “Publishing isn’t an industry, it’s an organized hobby.”
◊ The New York Times book blog, Paper Cuts, posted the video below yesterday, writing:
This stop-motion advertisement from the New Zealand Book Council is a delight for ink-on-paper fetishists everywhere.
And it is.
Andrea Learned reviews "What Men Don't Tell Women About Business"
Posted April 29, 2008 7:39 a.m. by 800-ceo-read
In Book Reviews - 800 CEO Read Blog
Exposed: The Alpha Businessman's Non-Feminine Ways by Andrea Learned
I'm not sure I've ever come across a guy as "alpha" as Christopher V. Flett, the author of What Men Don't Tell Women About Business. He just doesn't seem like the type of guy who'd be capable of casually enjoying a happy hour beer. Still, his book definitely shed some light toward my better understanding of male-female interactions in the business world.
What caught my attention first was Flett's discussion of how men measure other men in business. It was like reading an anthropological case study--I really had no idea men might seriously be thinking this way. (And, I did unscientific research with some male friends who confirmed it.) His measurements list includes three things--visibility, credibility and profitability--all of which fit right into the research of sociolinguist Deborah Tannen, who found that men communicate asymmetrically around status or positioning as opposed to the more symmetrical, common ground-finding communication style of women (see her classic book, You Just Don't Understand, for more).
This drive for apparent comparative success derives from the fact that men still, as he puts it: "are judged by society by our ability to generate wealth." Depressing as that may sound, isn't it true? Wishing men were judged by their good citizen/husband/father attributes in our culture is akin to wishing women were judged by their brains and management (household and business) savvy, first and foremost.
I could see how such a founding point of view (subconscious as it may be) might affect male-female workplace inter-personal relationships. Picture this scenario: A man's female colleague wants to chat about her kid's soccer game. Meanwhile, his thought balloon reads like this: "No time for this! Must - make - money to stay visible, credible and profitable!"
Now, women are certainly plenty focused on making money in this day and age, but they have been socialized to go about it differently and often tend up settling for less. Something Flett would seem to think that a lot of men just wouldn't do. All told, he seems to believe that alpha male motivation and molding in the workplace is pretty diametrically opposed to a typically female (or even "beta" male) perspective. Given this, it is actually a bit of a wonder that so much business has been conducted successfully over the years.
Flett seems to get a teensy bit more personal (or maybe that's just my female opinion?) when he comments on how women don't support one another in down times, while men do tend to support other men when in their down times. I'm not so sure that's a fair generalization. However, when he discusses the way women tend to give up power, it seemed dead on to me. He shares the way his wife once called in sick to her boss and rather than just saying, "I'll be in at 11 am," she went into major detail about how she hadn't been feeling well all morning etc... As Flett points out--women are known to be better communicators than men, but sometimes their sharing is so process-focused that the goal gets lost. The Alpha male, on the other hand, never loses sight of that goal.
Another apparent self-sabotage mechanism for women is the way they tend to compare failures more than they compare successes (as men are so much more likely to do). Flett writes: "When one talks about how bad her life is, the rest of her support group jumps in to talk about how their experience is worse." Perhaps, just as positioning and status games can seem like obstacles to getting anything done, a woman's tendency to seek common ground in all situations may also get in the way.
At one point, Flett discusses men's discomfort with, or fear of, women in the workplace. A litigious society will do that. Men realize that bawdy humor or "I can beat that" stories make some women feel uncomfortable, but men are uncomfortable with what they think are more typically "female" topics too. What to do? As he writes about men, "When we are acting weird, it is because our default switch is now set to clam up when there is a situation that could be misconstrued." Thus the sudden end of many a conversation (about anything) when a woman comes within earshot of a gathering of men. Eggshells abound.
There's a chapter in What Men Don't Tell Women About Business that very thoroughly outlines what men consider to be currency and what the various levels are, including salary ranges (freshmen level - <$50,00/year, to graduate level- $100,000/month), watches and cars. I really just skimmed over those details, and then, a few weeks later happened to be in a roomful of men in a very male-dominated industry. I couldn't help but notice the "levels" of watches and smart phone gadgets displayed. Fascinating.
Later in the book, Flett offers up specific examples of questions women may have (from a database he's compiled from his years coaching them, I assume) and how he'd suggest the situations be handled. The questions vary in their seriousness (from whether or not to go drinking with the gang all the time to what to do if a male counterpart takes credit for your work) While I don't doubt that he's had women ask him about such things, I am still astounded to think that "in this day and age" they still need to be addressed. Sigh.
It is worth noting: In What Men Don't Tell Women About Business, Flett seems to be writing about an intensely and somewhat old-fashioned sounding (to me) corporate environment. Much of what he covers may not be relevant to the many of us who no longer work within such structures, or who mainly correspond with colleagues via email with only the occasional on-site meeting. There may also be cultural (Flett is Canadian) and generational differences to consider in the mix.
And, while what Flett covers may well be true in a number of corporations today, I have to believe that the younger men I've seen coming up in the business ranks will be better able to communicate with/work among female associates (and vice versa) than the Alpha male he represents. Call me Pollyanna.
There is something to be said for calling a spade a spade, and whether or not we love his approach or agree with everything he writes--Flett did that with this book. We have seen the enemy and it is actually ourselves. Men and women alike continue to perpetuate the workplace gender roles and stereotypes we've lazily gotten used to over the years.
The hope would be that What Men Don't Tell Women About Business will raise the awareness of female readers who will then decide for themselves how to use his insights and impressions, or not. If women would then also talk about this with their male colleagues, that would be the bonus--but then Flett wouldn't have needed to write it.
Andrea Learned is the co-author of Don't Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy-and How to Increase Your Share of the Market, and sole author of 9 Minds on Marketing, a free eBook in which she took on the task of reading nine marketing books, interviewing the authors, and writing an essay on each to elucidate the points that she found most provocative.
Learn from Nine Minds on Marketing
Posted Oct. 18, 2006 3:46 a.m. by lynn-altman
In Marketing - 800 CEO Read Blog
Theres a lot going on in your world, certainly. But being knowledgeable about marketing is important to every position in the company. Heres a chance to get your hands on what nine marketing thought leaders are writing about. Monday we featured it as a Bosss Day gift and today I want to suggest it as a personal learning tool.
We worked with Andrea Learned, co-author of Dont Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buyand How to Increase Your Share of the Market, to develop this e-book. For the project, Andrea read nine recent marketing books recommended by the brain trust here at 8CR, interviewed the author(s), and wrote nine essays. She did this so you can have an inside look into the latest marketing trends.
My sales pitch to you: Its only $8.95 (cheaper than the nine books, even used).Time: Itll take you an hour to read, tops. Print it off or save it on your laptop for your next plane trip. Heres a bit of what youll find.
The authors and books featured in the essays are:
- The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion through the Art of Storytelling
by Annette Simmons - Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the New Customer
by Michael J. Silverstein - Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things
by Donald A. Norman - The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business is a Stage
by B. Joseph Pine and James H. Gilmore - The Trendmasters Guide: Get a Jump on What Your Customer Wants Next
by Robyn Waters - The Marketing Playbook: Five Battle-Tested Plays for Capturing and Keeping the Lead in Any Market
by John Zagula - Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage
by Fred Senn - PyroMarketing: The Four-Step Strategy to Ignite Customer Evangelists and Keep Them for Life
by Greg Stielstra - Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Saavy to Sell Just Causes
by Katya Andresen
With each essay, Andrea distills the books main ideas and methods for application and shares how her interviews with the authors better informed their written work. Her essays are reflective, inspiring and just plain fun to read.
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Here is an excerpt from Andreas essay, Make Marketing Superfluous, inspired by reading The Experience Economy and talking with the authors, Pine and Gilmore, founders of Strategic Horizons, LLP.
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Heres another tidbit from Zen and Countertrends, written after Andrea read The Trendmasters Guide and spoke with Robyn Waters, former Vice President of Trend, Design and Development for Target.
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More Authors Blogging
Posted Sept. 2006 6:53 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Lists - 800 CEO Read Blog
Add Tim Sanders (Love is The Killer App) to the list of authors who have taken up blogging. I like his post yesterday on the ever present Barticle, articles that got turned into book and should not have. You'll see he mentions 800ceoread as a means to avoiding bad books. :)
In another great post, Tim also quotes a survey that shows there is a big reading gap between the average business person and Fortune 1000 executives (hint: you probably need to read more).
I thought I would compile a decent list of other authors who are also wisely getting their message out through blogging:
- Frans Johansson (The Medici Effect)
- Seth Godin (Small is the New Big, Purple Cow)
- Tom Peters (Re-Imagine)
- Ben McConnell and Jack Huba (Creating Customer Evangelists)
- Laura Ries (The Origin of Brands)
- Bob Sutton (Hard Facts, Weird Ideas That Work)
- Guy Kawasaki (The Art of The Start)
- Malcolm Galdwell (blink)
- Andrea Learned (Don't Think Pink)
- Jill Konrath (Selling To Big Companies)
- Steve Farber (The Radical Edge)
- Lisa Haneberg (Focus Like a Laser Beam)
- Brian Carroll (Lead Generation for The Complex Sale)
- John Hagel (The Only Sustainable Edge)
- Joe Jaffe (Life After The 30-Second Spot)
- Greg Stielstra (Pyromarketing)
- Dan Pink (A Whole New Mind)
- Chris Anderson (The Long Tail)
This list is in no way complete. Please leave others I have missed in the comments.
Advice for Budding Business Book Authors
Posted June 24, 2005 12:09 p.m. by todd-sattersten
In Publishing Industry - 800 CEO Read Blog
Ben and Jackie from Church of the Customer (Creating Customer Evangelists) have posted their latest podcast.
The first half is them visiting with Andrea from Learned on Women (Don't Think Pink).
The second half is devoted to the top ten things would-be authors of business books should know. These are great basics that everyone should know before starting.
You'll also find John from Brand Autopsy left a comment highly recommending Writing The Breakthrough Business Book by Tom Gorman.
