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Posts by month in 2001: Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Posted March 10, 2001 10:08 a.m. by katie
The authors previous book, Repacking Your Bags, was an extremely influential book in my life. It came out at a time that I needed what the authors were talking about. Then I had the honor of having Dick Leider speak at one of the bookstores and then we went to have ribs. Over ribs and beer Dick and I had one of those special evenings. When I heard about his new book, I was very excited.
As the subtitle suggests this is a book about heeding your calling. The authors spent quite a bit of time explaining what a calling is. They explain the four guiding principles of a calling. They are 1 The call comes from a caller The authors explain that the calling comes from a Source that is much larger and more powerful than we are. They explain that heeding the call requires effort on our part. We must listen. 2 The Call keeps calling They say that we move from jobs which pay bills, to careers which help us grow, to callings which give us meaning. 3 The Call is personal The authors illustrate that our calling is our embedded destiny, it is uniquely ours like a signature or fingerprint. 4 The Call is long-distance This is the principle that I have been growing to understand and really appreciate. I quote Its paradoxical but true: we are more likely to receive the satisfaction and fulfillment we seek when we enable others to achieve the satisfaction and fulfillment they seek. For all of you regular readers of JCS, you will remember a book I talked about called Achieving Success with Social Capital. The authors used some of these beliefs to build a social network.
Posted March 9, 2001 10:07 a.m. by katie
I dont know how many people have heard the commercial, but for the past month, I have narrated a spot for Its Not the Big That Eat the Small, Its the Fast That Eat the Slow that ran during the Rush Limbaugh show. The last time I was fortunate enough to merit 15 minutes of similar fame was when our parent company was featured on the cover of Inc. Magazine and my division was highlighted. Both times, the same thing happened: I was inundated with calls and emails by lots of strange people emails about lots of different kinds of books. Now, dont get me wrong, I love strange people. Tom Peters is a strange person, and advocates communing with other strange people. I consider myself a hugely strange person. The great thing about strange people is that they always have great ideas! Almost always, that is. So, after much stewing and distilling, I have skimmed the cream off the top, and, as a result, found a couple that are notable. This is one of those books. Now, this book isnt brand new, but the subject matter is timeless, and I really wanted to bring it to your attention.
As regular readers of JCS have seen, I enjoy business novels or fables. I believe a book is a tool to teach, but I often have a harder time learning from the more erudite business texts. A business fable illustrates the same information found in such texts, but adds a narrative with names and faces to help make theory real.
The best business fable ever written, in my humble opinion, is Eliyahu Goldratts The Goal: A Process for Ongoing Improvement. My only complaint about the book, besides the fact that it is now outdated, is that it presented a premise, but didnt suggest a strategy to implement the improvement process. The authors of Manage for the Long Term Present have written a book that covers many of the same issues Goldratt discussed about dealing with change processes and decision making. This book, however, does not make the same mistake. The book is about a new CEO that has to turn around a company in a short period of time (sound familiar?). Each of the twenty-six chapters deals with a different change scenario that faces the company and its leader. The authors then breakdown the changes into specific actions and give you the tool to accomplish that needed action. Cumulatively, the book offers the most extensive implementation tools I have ever seen that will help you execute the needed changes. In fact, Ive already dug in to some of the exercises suggested in the book, and am going to utilize them in next weeks future planning meeting. Manage for the Long Term Present is essential reading.
Posted March 7, 2001 10:05 a.m. by katie
I must start this JCS review of with a confession: I like this publisher. Yup, Im biased, but not afraid to admit it. Financial Times/Prentice Hall published a book last year that I really like called Funky Business. Sort of a European Tom Peters book. I thought it was neat. I also think that The Financial Times is the greatest business newspaper in the world. FT/PH seem to have developed a knack for putting out some interesting books and then spending the time to create really fun, or should I say, creative designs. Im not sure I get what creative designs are. Cover designs? Visuals in the book? Just creative ideas?
This book is a reprint of a book by the same name originally published in 1996.
Why do you think they decided to reprint it, or is a revision?
The authors have designed the book with some fun and informative parts. Along the outside of the pages the authors leave space for you to make notes and they also have nine different icons for things like a book reference or an exercise which are also in that space. Each of the twelve chapters have, what the authors call, a Tale Piece. They say Each chapter of this book ends with a short work of fiction. This tale in a tail piece is multifunctional. Its there for funwhy notand to aid your creativity. A short burst of fiction will help you to think in different ways. More than that, the content has been chosen to illustrate creativity in different ways
In the introduction, the authors say that to be a real pioneerread person looking for creative solutionsyou need to have a sense humor. A light, flexible touch is needed to progress. A sense of wackiness is essential. The authors have written a book that matches those requirements. Its fun to read, quick to read and you can instant help when your are stuck. Some of the best selling books of all time in business are books on creativity. A Whack on the Side of the Head, Six Thinking Hats, and my favorite Thinkertoys have sold tons. This book could join that rank.
Posted March 6, 2001 10:00 a.m. by katie
This is a strange and wonderful little book. I deeply respect the people who are running the new publishing company called Texere because of their outstanding track record, and I also have a huge respect for Henry Mintzberg, one of the greatest contemporary thinkers on strategy. When I heard about this book, I thought, all right, the great professor Mintzberg is going to show the airlines how flawed their strategy is and how they should fix it. Nope, that isnt what this book is about. Instead, it is the authors very funny rant about his personal airline and airport experiences. Surprised? I was, but the result is delightful.
Mintzberg makes it clear from the start that Why I Hate Flying will not be like any other management books, saying, No chapter begins: Five easy steps to. He then warns that if management advise is what you are looking for, then you should read the book carefully and do the opposite. Some of the shots he levels at the airlines are obvious and I have heard them before, but he presents them with almost Leno-style humor. Laugh out loud funny. His tale about cashing money in at Heathrowor as he calls it Haltrowis especially hilarious. But Mintzberg hasnt completely ignored the traditional business book approach, because the subtitle of each chapter has a business flair for those readers who need a little guidance. An example that speaks for itself?
Chapter 12: Why I Hate Airports Even MoreSubtitled
Consider this to be the chapter on Benchmarking. Not marking benches, imitating. Benchmarking means comparing your organization to others that are better than yours so that, at best, you can become second bestalongside everyone else. Becoming good is another matter. Here we ask: Can airports become, if not good, at least almost as good as airlines?
One of the things that you, the business book consumer, may have noticed in the past few years is that business books are getting shorter. Does that mean there is less to say on the subject? Of course not. Instead, I imagine that somebody somewhere hypothesized correctly that business people might want to be able to read and digest a business book during a long plane ride, and, ta da!, a new trend was set. (Who Moved My Cheese and FISH! are the perfect examples of how popular (and valuable) these quick reads can be). This little book, Why I Hate to Fly, is indeed the perfect airplane read, for obvious reasons. Pick up a copy and make your next flight an enlightening one.
Posted March 5, 2001 9:56 a.m. by katie
Patti Seybolds first book, Customers.Com has been one of our best-selling books for the past 5 year. It was our #1 bestseller for all of 1999, and, one must also note (as much as I hate to acknowledge it) we werent the only company selling her book. In fact, the publisher still has 250,000 books of her first book in print. In other words, it was a BIG book! Needless to say, I was looking forward to what she had to say in her next book. Could she continue to stay out in front of the crowd like she had with her first book? She has succeeded.
In The Customer Revolution, Seybold provides a fascinating look at the Internet and e-commerce, and explains why the real measure of success is customer relationships and customer loyalty. Music to my ears. Whenever I read books like this, books that talk about practical issues which I can apply to retail, I always compare the authors opinion with my own experience in the business. Typically, these types of books serve as a guidepost for my role as president of a company. Best case, they have me nodding along saying, Yeah thats my experienceIm doing the right thing. Then, again best case, suddenly they bring up a point that makes me stop and think: Geez, I havent thought of that. Those moments are the most valuable, of course. Its great to have a book reaffirm any actions you have taken in your business, but it is even more valuable for books to act as motivators, as idea farms, that may inspire you think outside your box. The Customer Revolution does this successfully.
In the beginning of the book, Seybold talks about the music industry and the devastating effects Napster and Mp3 and the portable Mp3 player have wrought on the industry. She uses them as the canary in the coal mine because she believes that the customer revolution will affect all industries. As a previous insider, and now an outsider looking in on the music industry, I find her points about why Napster and other peer-to-peer networks and the digitizing of music are changing the music industry right on. She explains very cogently the issues involved, like copyright protection for the artist, but she also shows that many consumers are using the new technology to change how they use music. People are digitizing their entire CD libraries so they can make private mixes and share the mixes with friends. She calls these folks renegade customers. It is very easy for me to take to heart these lessons of the music industry, because it is not unlike what the publishing industry is looking at in terms of the Internet and ebooks, etc.
Seybold ends each chapter with a section of takeaways which are extremely valuable.
The problem with books like this are that every page contains something I want to tell you about. I guess that means that I should stop here and let you buy the book and read its wisdom for yourselves. However, I want to share with you a little about the second part of the book. There, Seybold presents case studies that will show you what familiar companies (and some unfamiliar ones) have done and are doing to focus on delivering a great branded customer experience and how leaders are changing their companies to respond to their customers needs. I have a strong feeling that this book will have a prominent spot on my best of 2001 and is another book that I want you to know you heard about it first here.
