Posted by SEJohnsen on April 22, 2009 under Management and Leadership Books, Sales Books | 
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Harvey Mackay. Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.
Swim with the Sharks was one of the first business books that I ever read when I was a new manager fresh out of college, and it is the book that got me hooked on the genre. Although highly instructive, this book is the antithesis of a textbook—it is fun to read and is full of stories and real life examples to illustrate each point. The author, Harvey Mackay, is a highly successful businessman who grew a $200,000 envelope company into a $35 million empire, and who has made tremendous accomplishments in his community as well (such as hiring Lou Holtz to coach the Minnesota Gophers or organizing a ticket buyout to keep the Twins in Minneapolis.)
The book itself contains approximately 100 very short (1-3 page) “lessons,” covering four major topics: salesmanship, negotiation, management, and general success tips. Each point is extremely practical, and I find that every time I reread the book, I find something else that I can immediately apply to my career. Here are some gems from Mr. Mackay’s book:
Sales
- Business has a human element—it isn’t always just about the money
- “Good salespeople set up situations where the customer sells himself” (and Mackay goes on to provide practical tools for doing so)
- How to handle the tough prospect
Negotiation
- “Smile and say no until your tongue bleeds”
- “The longer they keep you waiting, the more they want to deal”
- “Make your decisions with your heart, and what you’ll end up with is heart disease”
Management
- “You’ll always get the good news; it’s how quickly you get the bad news that counts”
- “Treat your suppliers the way you treat your customers”
- “How to spot a winner”
- “Your best people may spend their most productive time staring at the wall”
- How to profile your competition
Success Tips
- “How to get to know a celebrity”
- “It’s not only who you know, but how you get to know them”
- “Take a millionaire to lunch”
- “How to beat the law of supply and demand”
- “Determination + goal-setting + concentration = Success”
Posted by admin on February 25, 2009 under Marketing Books |
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Heath, Chip & Dan. Made to Stick.
An excellent book on how to craft a message so that people will remember it.
In the introduction, the Heath brothers cite several studies to describe “the curse of knowledge”–the mistaken assumption that listeners (or readers) of your message understand what you are saying. To communicate effectively, you must first identify your core message. Then, the rest of the book goes on to give a step by step checklist, with lots of practical pointers, for how to craft an effective message. The Heaths’ checklist follows the acronym “SUCCESs,” which stands for Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories.
Simple
A simple message is core and compact; it presents the core essence boiled down into one compact statement. Simple messages are like a proverb, a concise statement packed with profound meaning that is on target with your message. A proverb is a short sentence (compact) drawn from long experience (core). The core message is the one most important thing you want to communicate. “If you say three things, you don’t say anything.” Or, as they say in journalism, “Don’t bury the lead.” Simple messages also use analogies to communicate meaning.
Unexpected
Surprise gets people’s attention. Biologically, it jolts them to attention. Then, interest keeps people’s attention. To be effective, surprise must be followed by insight, rather than being “gimmicky.” Events that surprise should not be predictable, but they should be post-dictable—-in other words, it must make sense after the fact. Another effective technique is to use mystery stories to communicate your point. This follows the “Gap Theory” of curiosity—-first open a knowledge gap, then people will have a need to close it (like news teasers for the evening news). Sometimes background knowledge and context is required first in order to make people care about what is happening next. (This is why TV coverage of the Olympics is full of human interest stories.) Finally, information should be sequenced rather than dumped on people all at once; good communication resembles flirting more than lecturing.
Concrete
“What the world needs is a lot more fables.” The key here is to build abstract concepts on a foundation of concreteness. Effective math teachers use this approach by giving students concrete examples from which to learn abstract concepts. Concrete ideas are memorable; abstract ones are not. Concrete language is universally understandable; abstract language is not. Props, models, and demonstrations help get people’s creative buy-in.
Credible
To stick in people’s minds, the message must also be credible. Authorities and anti-authorities can both help establish credibility (the power of celebrity endorsement). Also, internal credibility can be established using vivid details. One area where many messages lose effectiveness is in presenting statistic. When presenting statistics, it is more important for people to understand the relationship than the number itself. Another technique to make statistics understandable is to create a scenario or metaphor that people can relate to. (There were many good examples of how to do this.) “When you use statistics, the less you rely on actual numbers the better.” Statistics should be used to illustrate the relationship rather than to inform. One example is often adequate to establish credibility. Finally, testable credentials can be the most powerful of all (like Ronald Reagan’s campaign slogan, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”).
Emotional
To have an impact, the message must touch people’s emotions. (Of course, it is important to find the right emotion to harness.) To make people care about the message, you can use associations, appeal to self interest, appeal to identity (group interest), or use introspection to identify why people should care about the message. Mother Teresa said, “If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” People respond better to the plight of an individual than to statistics. If fact, statistics actually cause people to be less responsive to a message. When a message is credible, people can believe it, but for them to take action, they have to care. How do you make people care about your ideas? You get them to take off their analytical hats and react to the message emotionally.
Stories
A credible idea makes people believe. An emotional idea makes people care. The right stories make people act. Stories are like “flight simulators for the brain.” And, the more that training simulates the actions we must take in the real world, the more effective it will be. A story is what makes an idea “sticky.” Hence, marketers must fight the temptation to get directly to the “tips” and leave out the story! (like we do in this summary)
An effective message must first be simple. Then it should be:
- Unexpected, so people pay attention
- Concrete, so people understand and remember it
- Credible, so people agree with and believe it
- Emotional, so people care about it
- Storied, so people can act on it
Posted by admin on February 24, 2009 under Management and Leadership Books |
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Lencioni, Patrick. The Five Temptations of a CEO.
In fable/story format, describes the five temptations that cause a CEO to fail. Lencioni’s theory is that running a company is very simple (not complicated), but hard to execute. He also states that the company’s success depends largely on the CEO. The five temptations are:
- Caring more about protecting career status than about company results. “Make results the most important measure of personal success, or step down from the job.”
- Wanting to be popular with direct reports instead of holding them accountable (and holding them accountable does not mean firing them). It is lonely at the top. But you need to be respected rather than liked. View your reports as key employees who must deliver on their commitments for the company to succeed. Don’t vent your frustrations to your direct reports. You do need a sounding board, but look for it elsewhere.
- The temptation to ensure that your decisions are correct. If you are not decisive and do not set clear goals, it is hard to hold people accountable, because you feel it is not fair to them. Don’t hold out for perfect information. Any decision is better than no decision. Be willing to make mistakes. Being a leader is about taking responsibility for decision making. Be willing to admit you were wrong. There is no shame in doing so. If you are wrong, your pride is injured. If you take no risks, the company is paralyzed. Your success as an executive has less to do with intellectual skills than it does with personal and behavioral discipline. Don’t waste your time debating small points when you should be focusing on larger issues.
- The desire for harmony. Part of the reason for not being able to be decisive is that you do not have all available input, and you do not have all available input because you preserve an artificial harmony. The fastest way to get all the facts on the table is to frequently engage in “productive ideological conflict” (not personal attack). Tolerate discord. Encourage direct reports to air their differences with you and with one another. If you are bored with meetings or wish you could be elsewhere, that is a bad sign. If you are uncomfortable with disagreements in your meetings, that will squelch any productive debate.
- Unwillingness to be vulnerable with your team. If the CEO feels he has to be right, he inhibits others from expressing their views. Actively encourage your people to challenge your ideas. Trust them with your reputation and your ego. Results are the ultimate measure of success, not whether you were right or wrong.
Hence, the CEO should:
- Choose trust over invulnerability
- Choose conflict over harmony
- Choose clarity over certainty
- Choose accountability over popularity
- Choose results over status