Check this page for quick reviews of the latest business, management and social media books. Look out also for links to podcasts and video blog interviews with cool authors.
LIVING THE WOW! THE ZAPPOS JOURNEY FROM WORMS TO SHOES!
Author: Bernie Ritchie, Management Sushi / Brand Manga | Rating:
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"I've been an entrepreneur for most of my life" Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos
"I wanted to write this book for a different reason : to contribute to a happiness movement to help make the world a better place" Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos
Not long after you discover the sorry tale of his worm selling ambitions, and well before you reach the heady and turbulent Zappos era, you begin to get a sense of just how strong Tony Hsieh's entrepreneurial drive is. You also get to realise the sheer level of ingenuity, verve and nerve he possesses [ ... check out how he skived off music practice to read ‘Boy's Life' for example at an early age or his successful crowdsourcing technique for getting through his Bible class exam at Harvard! ].
You also quickly begin to get a very strong sense indeed that you have come across a business book that is far from dry and fusty and far more like one of those fast-paced novels you can never put down. Perhaps this is because the tale is both gripping and entertaining, spoken in the ever-present authentic, passionate - and non-ghostwritten! - voice of Tony Hsieh.
"... I wanted the writing to reflect how I would normally talk, and partly just to annoy all my high school English teachers (who I appreciate dearly)"
 Very soon you find you have romped through Tony's entreprenuerial pizza empire days at Harvard and moved on to how he came to found his first empire LinkExchange. Fairly soon after that you get to understand how he then sold it two years later to Microsoft for the not insignificant sum of $265 billion and then set up VentureFrogs, an investment fund and incubator. Already, the story so far is incredibly impressive and yet you know you haven't even got on to the beginnings of Zappos and the service concept around ‘delivering happiness'.
With Zappos, it's clear that Tony Hsieh's path to his ultimate and current day CEO position was entirely driven by his restless, entrepreneurial spirit. He could easily have chosen to sit comfortably on the sidelines and dabble successfully in start-up investments for the rest of his working life. And he did start out doing just that after LinkExchange. His entrepreneurial spirit, as it turned out, had other ideas, further influenced by the lessons he learned after an intensive post-LinkExchange bout at the poker tables. "It was time for him to change tables" he realised. The alternative for Tony would have been to remain forever unfulfilled by dint of sheer inertia and the frustration of sitting on the sidelines.
"I wanted to prove to the world that I could do it again ....so I decided to take off my investor hat and put on my entrepreneur hat again"
The next few chapters of the book get down to the very real business challenges and hairy moments that Tony and the Zappos team had to handle as they faced operational challenges, cultural upsets, economic downturns, reluctant investors and strategic disagreements and misalignments at board level. It becomes clear that the Zappos success story has been no easy ride and the ultimate denouement of the Zappos tale - its ‘definitive agreement' sale to Amazon for $1.2 billion in late 2009 - is due entirely to Tony's force of character, and extraordinary passion for customer service and strong cultural values.
The Zappos chapters are well worth re-reading several times to glean the valuable business lessons that Tony has to impart. Check out the Culture Book concept [which looks to be well worth any company investing time in producing their own bespoke versions] and the Top 10 Core Values in particular. Here's the Top 3 Values. Each one gives some indication of how Zappos reached its current level of success! :
Core Value No 1 : Deliver WOW through Service
Core Value No 2: Embrace and drive Change
Core Value No 3 : Create Fun and a little Weirdness
Once you understand Tony Hsieh's sheer passion and innate understanding of the power of aligned cultural values and outstanding customer service - and how it can drive business success - you realise the importance of the last chapter aptly entitled ‘End Game'. In this chapter, Tony challenges you to open up to his challenge to do some thinking about ‘What is Your Goal in Life' - and open your mind to what he has to say about the ‘happiness factor' in customer service and why Zappos' ultimate vision and purpose is ‘about delivering happiness to the world'.
The best way I can sum up the book is to cheat and refer to Chip Conley's own summation of the book in his recent review of the book.
"Keep an eye out for Delivering Happiness because there's no better example of how an engaged company culture creates a brand reputation that can lead to a billion dollar business" Chip Conley
One thing is very clear. Tony's Zappos journey has taken him a long, long, way on way from his early failings with the worm farm! And, what's also clear, that while this is not the end of the Zappos story, it is definitely the beginning of Tony Hsieh's ‘Delivering Happiness' movement in the widest sense.
Check out more Delivering Happiness reviews here and check here for today's Delivering Happiness Launch Day [today - June 7th!] blog post with links the live launch-day UStream and all the latest book reviess from Wall Street Journal to USA Today!
Also check out Tony Hsieh explaining more about the concepts behind his book and the 'happiness' issue in this Fast Company video here!
For all the details of how to purchase Delivering Happiness on Amazon - and to see the latest reviews of the book on Amazon, click here .
Happy reading!!
[Image Source : www.spaceputty.com ]
Switch on to Switch!
Author: Bernie Ritchie | Rating:
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Switch [Full title - Switch : How to Change things when Change is Hard] is the follow-up book to the earlier book produced by the infamous Heath brothers, Made to Stick, which came out in 2007. In their earlier book Chip and Dan Heath talked about quality storytelling and how to get across storytelling that matters - and sticks. In Switch, their latest book, published in February 2010, they have produced a perfect prescriptive book which gives you a clear how-to guide in terms of how to handle tough change and visualise it in a bite-sized format and whole new light.
 Even before you get to the book content itself, you can feel thoroughly motivated by the book design itself. The hardback comes in a vivid blue showing a funky metal switch. But not just any metal switch, but one with the book title stuck across it in bright red dynotape. Fabulous idea!
Once inside the book, you quickly grasp that you are being hand-held on an amazing journey which guides you through how to handle the challenges of change.
The Heath brothers point out that when we stumble and fail at embracing change, it's not because we are lazy in any way, but because "the primary obstacle lies in how our brains are constructed". Our brain isn't of one mind they tell us. It is, in fact, much more like "a two-party system with your logical brain at constant war with your emotional animal brain".
So, how do we handle change, knowing that our brain is a two-party system. Well, it's a no-brainer! We simply follow the step-by-step guide provided by the Heath duo.
First - give clear direction to the logical brain so people understand what's expected of them.
Second - motivate the animal brain by engaging the emotions.
Third - clear the path for change by tweaking the environment to make the right behaviours easier and the wrong ones harder.
We also, you learn from Switch, need to focus on the ‘bright spots'- the things that are already working for us. The more we can understand these proven patterns, the better we can make changes in our lives and in the lives of others as well as our communities.
Thus, to change our behaviour, we need to do the following, the Heath boys tell us.
Direct the Rider : Find the bright spots. Script the critical movies. Point to the destination.
Motivate the Elephant : Find the feeling. Shrink the change. Grow your people.
Shape the Path : Tweak the environment. Build habits. Rally the herd.
The book manages to make you feel enthused and enlightened about handling tough change challenges and dismantling behaviour patterns that hinder rather than help significant change. Interestingly, the Heath brothers tell us that self-control is exhaustible, just like a muscle. So, when we are looking to change our behaviours, we shouldn't pile on too much change at once. One step at a time!
All in all, Switch is an excellent read, highly insightful and instructive and also ... fun! For those who like that sort of thing, the book is comprehensively referenced with expansive endnotes. Try it out - and switch on some change! Whether it's losing weight, changing work behaviours or setting yourself a major professional challenge, the book is all that you need to get there.
In fact, what you need, as the book says, is simply to set your goal with a Destination Postcard. If you're wondering what one of those is - it's simply a fantastic way to set a clear and vivid picture of the place [and goals] you're heading to. Not only that, they also perform a double duty by showing the Rider [your logical brain] where you're headed and the Elephant [your emotional brain] why the journey is worthwhile.
Clarity dissolves Resistance, the Heath brothers tell us. And Switch will definitely give you all the clarity you need to dissolve any resistances to change. A must-read and must-follow book!
If you want to see a quick excerpt of the book, click here to see an excerpt posted in Fast Company magazine by Chip and Dan Heath. If you would like to see a video book review by the excellent Chris Brogan [whom I saw speak only last week at the Like Minds conference in Exeter, UK] check out his book review here.
When will YOU switch?!
Painting the Invisible Man : Interview with author Rita Schiano
Author: Bernie Ritchie & Rita Schiano | Rating:
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Here's an interview with well-known American author Rita Schiano who wrote the extraordinary fictional book Painting the Invisible Man. The book was influenced by both sad and chance events in Rita's personal life. See below.
You can check out a light-hearted preview interview with Rita Schiano on Xtranormal here!
Q: Painting the Invisible Man - Your fictional new book influenced by the sad events in your own life with your father's murder, chance discovery of archive stories in 2001 and subsequent journey into your childhood - is clearly an emotional journey and involves courage to portray the story. Do you feel that launching the book in today's social media era allows you to engage more with your readership and potential readers, and with a wider, more global readership - and is this of benefit?
A: Yes and no...While there is immediate and direct global access with readers, there is still the issue of international distribution. The distribution issue is particularly tough for indie presses and self-published authors. Yet, the great benefit of social media is the ability to hold virtual book discussions.
 Q: When you launch your books using social media how do you approach the strategy? You look to use FB, YouTube, LinkedIn, BlogTalkRadio, your blog and Twitter. Tell me a little more about how you line up the launch of your book into the social media sphere and what kind of social engagement and reach this gives you and your book?
A: I began using the full spectrum of social media now available about 1½ years after the book was launched, so there was no pre-pub campaign strategy. I've had to play catch up a bit. Shelfari was the first social networking site I explored, followed my Goodreads and Author's Den. Facebook has been tremendous in building a recent audience. Thankfully, most readers don't care whether a book has a 2007 copyright or a 2009. The book industry's 3-6 month shelf life standard is nothing more than a marketing ploy.
Q: What are your thoughts on the benefits of design and visuals when launching your book? Your YouTube clip has drama, humour and style to it - and your book cover has great strength and powerful design . Do you feel that these are essential elements for a successful social media campaign and help it to go viral?
A: Book cover art is critical. People do judge a book by its cover. It's that initial visceral reaction, along with an intriguing title, that makes someone pull a book off the shelf and explore further. My video book trailer is brand new. It was completed on 7/31 and so I am still in the blast phase, but the initial reaction to it has been compelling and has led to immediate sales. The idea for this book trailer came from a video promo Laurie Zieber created to promote my appearance on her talk show, "She Speaks To Inspire" on Blog Talk Radio.
Q: If you had to cut back on particular social media channel - which ones would you keep as priorities in forthcoming book launch campaigns?
A: That will depend on the trending and on what new sites emerge. For example, Facebook achieved over 250 million users in less than 2 years time. I certainly spend less time on Authors Den now, although I do try to post there periodically because it is good for Google SEO.
Q: Beyond social media, how else do you promote your book?
A: I thorough enjoy book discussions and will book events within New England and New York.
Q: Commercially, can you see tangible benefits in using social media to build reach and profile if you were to compare this with the traditional book launches of a few years ago?
A: Absolutely. My first book came out in 1997 and with a traditional publishing house. I had little interaction with the public. However, since the book was with an established publishing house, the distribution network was in place and there were international sales.
Q: How do you combine your online book profile development for Painting the Invisible Man with your offline talks, presentations and discussions about the book? Are they entirely separate or integrated closely?
A: I promote my book talks through the various social media sites, and then I encourage those who attend events to follow me on FB, Twitter, etc. When photos are taken at events for public release, I, too, post them on Facebook.
Q: Do you enjoy the more direct reach you can have with your readers through social media - and do you actively look to engage continually with your fan base during pre/post book launch phases?
A: I do enjoy the direct reach and look forward to that aspect growing. I think when my next book comes out, and I can develop a thorough pre-pub strategy, the results will be outstanding.
Q: How did the title Painting the Invisible Man come about?
A: As you know, the book is a fictional account of true events in my life. Just as in the story when Anna is discussing the online discovery of the articles with her cousin Sophia, the scene was exact. My cousin Terri referred to my father as the Invisible Man...one moment you saw him, then poof! he disappeared. It was at that moment that the title came to mind and I knew I had to write this book, to paint this portrait of my father in order to see the truth of his life and understand what may have led to his murder.
Q: Would you say that Reese's Peanut Butter cups should be an essential part of any writer's toolset?! What else helps you get through the writing process?
A: Yes! Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Starbucks coffee, and a faithful canine friend at your feet.
Q: What professionals do you engage to help you launch the book - and do you plan your own social media campaigns?
A: I own The Reed Edwards Company and so the bulk of the work is done by me. I hire graphic designers, copyeditors (I do publish other writers in addition to myself). Working with Laurie Zieber was an accidental discovery---like the events that led to the writing of this book. We met through the Red River Writers group on Facebook. She lives in Texas; I live in Massachusetts. I recommend Laurie highly.
Q: What is your life and business philosophy?
A: I call it the four Ds--- Desire, Drive, Discipline, and Dedication. You have to be passionate about what you do; you must commit the energy to get the work done; be persistent and work at it each day, and be devoted to attaining your goals.
Q: As a courageous women with a courageous tale to tell .. as part of your social media activities, do you also actively look to engage with women/women's groups (not necessarily potential readers of your book) to show them how dramatic and emotional events in your personal life can be overcome?
A: Yes, I do. I see my role as a writer as two-fold: First, to tell a compelling story, and second, to inspire the reader to action. I think the latter is influenced by my education in philosophy. My stories always have a life lesson. In my first novel Sweet Bitter Love, the lesson was about understanding and learning to recognize that fine line between compassion and codependence, particularly when in a relationship with someone with a substance abuse issue, and then knowing when to step away in order to care for oneself. In Painting The Invisible Man, it's about forgiveness, atonement, and redemption.
When Laurie Zieber invited me to be on She Speaks To Inspire, it was not about book promotion at all. The focus was on the journey I undertook to paint, not only the portrait of my father, but a searing self-portrait as well. We talked about the resilient spirit and how resiliency (something which can be taught, by the way) can help one through the most difficult challenges in life.
Laurie introduced me to another online network called Fabulously 40 and Beyond - an international community of women. On this site we discuss everything and anything!
Check out Rita online to find out more about her and her extraordinary book Painting the Invisible Man.
You can find her on Facebook here and on Twitter at @ritaschiano .
You can also check out Rita at Blog Talk Radio. Why not tune in?!
INSIDE TRACK ON THE LEHMAN COLLAPSE
Author: Bernie Ritchie | Rating:
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As Fed Chief Ben Bernanke said this afternoon at the Kansas City Fed Bank Conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
"By the standards of recent decades, the economic environment at the time of this symposium one year ago was quite challenging".
He went on to say,
"In the weeks that followed, several systematically critical financial institutions would either fail or come close to failure, activity in some key financial markets would virtually cease, and the global economy would enter a deep recession".
One man who knows only too well about the inside track on critical but failing financial institutions and why such a legendary firm as Lehman Brothers experienced such an extraordinary, unexpected and unprecedented demise is Lawrence G McDonald. A former Vice President at Lehman Brothers, he was interviewed on BBC R4's Today programme only this morning to discuss his new book - ‘Colossal Failure of Common Sense : The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers'. Lehman's was "never, ever rotten at the core" he tells us, "the place was rotten at the head".
Lehman's filed for bankruptcy on September 15th 2008. Its collapse, in the words of McDonald, "obliterated the world economy with 6.5m jobs lost and, of those, 2m jobs lost as a direct result of the failure of Lehman Brothers".
In charge of distressed trading and convertible securities at Lehmans, McDonald remains passionate about the real talent that could be found at the heart of firm "on the trading floor where the cannon balls fly". Equally, he is quick to point out the major disconnect and communications breakdown between the Ivory Tower on the 31st floor ["one of the most mysterious places on earth" and, we are told, largely concerned with eclectic art collections and being part of the billionaire club] and the guys in the trading floor engine room.
Unexpectedly finding himself with a "front row seat" as the tragedy of the largest bankruptcy in modern history unfurled, McDonald has felt compelled to bring readers of his very recently published book "deep, deep, deep inside of Wall Street". Yes, the middle and senior ranks did sound off several warning shots and tried to stop the madness he declares, but, in the end McDonald admits "at Lehman you kept your head down and did your job, or you would lose both". "An oddball demigod who ruled everyone's lives" with a "strange wraithlike presence" who was leading Lehman off a cliff is how McDonald describes former Lehman Chairman and Chief Executive Richard S. Fuld Jr.
The book gets under the skin of this ‘colossal failure of common sense' all the more so as McDonald's approach to the central thrust of the story is as a former employee and corporate dissident rather than a journalist. McDonald, alongside co-writer Patrick Robinson, interviewed 155 of his former Lehman colleagues to get a clear, fully detailed and representative inside track on the events that led up to the Lehman collapse.
Renowned New York Times book reviewer, Michiko Kakutani [who also reviewed WSJ Chief Economist David Wessel's recently published book ‘In Fed we Trust' - reviewed earlier by Management Sushi Cool Books] summarises the book as follows:
"McDonald's book gives the reader a visceral sense of what it was like to work at Lehman Brothers and the fateful decisions and events that led to the company's death spiral - decisions that turned the once-proud firm into a grim illustration, in the words of one of the authors's colleagues, of the ‘colossal failure of common sense' ".
Published by Random House in July 2009, McDonald's book [click here for an excerpt] has received some good reviews. Other than BBC R4 and New York Times, McDonald's book reviews include Fortune, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, The Street, Bloomberg, NPR and shortly The Sunday Times. Well written, engaging, with a sharply honed and well-researched take on the inside track of the Lehman collapse, and even funny, it will most definitely be an instructive read! As McDonald says in a recent CNBC interview, the take-away from the book is the critical need for tighter corporate governance with separated CEO and Chairmanship roles, as well as greater accountability all round.
As an aside, to the book, a separate story revolves around the entrepreneurial Brooklyn artist Geoffrey Raymond. He set up shop outside Lehman Brothers during the last critical days of the collapse with his sketch of the hapless Lehman CEO entitled "The Annotated Fuld" (the image has been used to illustrate this review). Inviting both former and current Wall Street employees as well as the general public to ‘annotate' his sketch of former "demigod" Fuld, Raymond ultimately sold the painting for $10,000 dollars a few days later. Raymond is clear that he feels the heartfelt one-off annotations ["This Sucks. I am going Kiteboarding" and "You are a Coward" - being just two examples] sum up the sentiment of the moment just under one year ago.
In Jackson Hole this afternoon, Ben Bernanke put some context around the Lehman collapse. While "the failure of Lehman Brothers and the near-failure of AIG were dramatic" he said, they were "hardly isolated events" and indeed, at the time, "many prominent firms struggled to survive as confidence plummeted". Finally, this afternoon, Bernanke was also able to say that the worst was over although difficult times were not behind us.
Going Inside the Meltdown with "In Fed We Trust"
Author: Bernie Ritchie | Rating:
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As leading New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani said, in her recent book review of David Wessel’s ‘In Fed We Trust’, “it would have been hard to imagine a book about the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department making it onto people’s must-read summer reading lists”. Yet, David Wessel, The Wall Street Journal’s economics editor, has done just that.
This week saw the launch of David Wessel’s new book which went on sale on Tuesday 4th August and was published by Crown Publishing Group (you can check out an early excerpt of sample chapters here). By the sounds of it, and Michiko Kakutani is hugely influential, it should be in everyone’s summer beach bag. “Essential”, “lucid” and “riveting” is how Kakutani describes the book. These terms can also be used to describe the extraordinary financial calamities of last autumn which led to ongoing fiscal woes and put the global economy on the verge of Depression 2.0.
The focus of Wessel’s book – the full title is ‘In Fed We Trust – Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic’ is unsurprisingly the Fed Chairman, Bernanke himself (but also Henry M Paulson Jr, the then Treasury Secretary). Wessel examines, Michiko Kakutani tells us, the “efficacy of the Fed and Treasury moves” during these tumultuous times. Wessel appears to feel that Bernanke was initially timid and then became “creative and bold” once he understood the full risk implications of this unprecedented situation. At that point, he “pushed the Fed to places it had never gone before or at least to places it hadn’t visited since the Great Depression”. The portraits of both Bernanke and Paulson (described by Wessel as a “deal maker”) are deemed to add insight and context to the current financial situation and “seem particularly useful” according to Ezra Klein at the Washington Post.
We learn that Wessel’s overall assessment of the time of the “Great Panic” focuses around the extraordinary and constant struggle the Fed experienced while trying to get ahead of it. In effect, every time the Fed surmised the current situation, “it turned out to be insufficiently pessimistic” and “even when officals thought they were planning for the worst-case scenario, they weren’t”. He tells us in the book that the particular nature of the struggle emerged as a “distinguishing characteristic of this chapter in American economic history”.
On the troubled subject of the Lehman debacle, Wessel tells npr.org in a recent interview that it is his view that when the Fed let Lehman Brothers fail, it was a “colossal mistake”. This decision was, Wessel says, “if not the catalyst for this terrible economic shock, at least a contributing factor”.
In her New York Times review, Michiko Kakutani advises that Wessel “uses his narrative gifts and a plethora of sources to give readers a vivid, highly immediate sense of what transpired in last-minute, high-pressure, seat-of-their-pants meetings in Washington and New York while placing these events in a broader historical context”.
"In Fed We Trust" has all the hallmarks of being one of the most remarkable books about what has proved, and continues to be, a remarkable period in our global history. It certainly sounds like it is a Cool Book (if it can be described in such glib terms!) and, most definitely, needs to be top of our late summer/early Fall reading list!
Meanwhile, here's a poem from Huffington Post's Gershon Hepner, inspired by Michiko Kakutani's review of Wessel's latest book!
The Idea of Justice - Join the Conversation at the LSE!
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Tonight sees Professor Lord Stern [author of the recent, game-changing economics review on climate change] chair the launch at the LSE of important new book, The Idea of Justice. The book is the latest from the much lauded intellectual thinker and academic Professor Amartya Sen. Sen, an honorary fellow of the LSE, is currently the Lamont University Professor at the Harvard University Department of Economics. He won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998 and was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge between 1998 and 2004.
Sen, the son of a Professor in Chemistry and grand-son of a Professor of Sanskrit, was born on a campus and, he says, has indeed spent most of his life in campus surrounds. Intellectual and academic thinking are practically stamped on his DNA! Other books by Professor Sen include Development as Freedom (OUP), The Argumentative Indian (Allen Lane/Penguin) and Identity of Violence (Allen Lane/Penguin) and have all been translated into more than thirty languages.
The Idea of Justice is billed by its publishers, Harvard University Press, as the 75-year old Sen's most ambitious book to date. Harvard tells us that Sen offers in this book "a powerful critique of the theory of social justice" and that he "argues for a comparative perspective on justice" that can help guide its readers in the choice between inevitable alternatives. The LSE meanwhile advises us that in this ground-breaking book Amartya Sen explores the ways in which, and the degree to which, justice is a matter of reason, and of different kinds of reason.
For all those unable to get hold of the much-prized tickets to see the LSE launch of Professor Amartya Sen's latest book, there will also be a live webcast of the event on LSE live. So, no reason for any of us to miss out on a fascinating hour with one of the world's sharpest septuagenarian thinkers!
Getting a handle on Social Media
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McKinsey's recently issued one of its Conversation Starter papers advising its business readers how to line themselves up for "the day when Web 2.0 morphs into Web 3.0". For all those who are simply keen at this stage just to ‘join the conversation' and get a grip on the mysteries and vagaries of the Social Media phenomenon, several ground-breaking books have come out in the last year.
Forrester's Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff have produced the excellent and immensely popular "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies" while Internet Guru and NYU Professor Clay Shirky has produced the equally seminal "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organising without Organisations". To learn why the "I's have it" and get to understand exactly what a "competent jerk" may prove to be, it is also worth checking out the cutely titled "Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom: How Online Social Networking will Transform your Life, Work and World" from INSEAD's Matthew Fraser and Soumitra Dutta.
On the Silicon Valley front, it is definitely worth taking a good look at the latest books from two of its most entrepreneurial social media gurus: PR sage and avid speaker on all things social media, Brian Solis and Twitterholic serial entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki.
Kawasaki's most recent book "Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging and Outmarketing your Competition" is a brilliantly useful and practical bible for all start-up entrepreneurs. "I wanted to provide hardcore information to hardcore people who want to kick ass" is how Kawasaki robustly evangelises the thrust of the book!
All those - PR practitioners and businesses alike - with an appetite to understand PR 2.0 and social media's contribution to the ‘reinvention' of PR, will want to grab Brian Solis' pioneering book "Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR". We are at a crucial intersection in PR's evolution, Solis says. Old PR is dying and it is critical to know how to plug into today's social economy and its "powerful and democratised online platform". This book will show us how!
Two final books well worth reading are renowned marketing guru and prolific blogger Seth Godin's latest book "Tribes: We need you to Lead Us" and cartoonist and GapingVoid blogger Hugh MacLeod's just published first book "Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity". Tribes is for all those who don't want to "sheepwalk" their way through their lives and work and recognise that, today, everyone has the opportunity to "bring together a tribe of like-minded people and do amazing things". MacLeod's ‘Ignore Everybody' as Godin himself puts it is "art", "brilliant", "will push you" and - be warned!! - "uses language that looks good on Jack Nicholson".
Check out the Social Media playlist on Management Sushi's YouTube channel to find out more. Also, see Management Sushi's Flickr photostream or the Gaping Void blog if you want to take a closer look at Hugh MacLeod's pithy cartoons (or "social objects" as MacLeod terms them!).
Good reads for the Age of Turbulence
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Right now there is a brand new crop of business books out there which all have value when it comes to figuring out current business turbulence.
Kicking off with Wired Magazine's Editor-In-Chief Chris Anderson, we can see that he has just brought out his latest book ‘Free: The Future of a Radical Price' following on from his earlier best-seller, ‘The Long Tail'. Well researched, a sharp thinker and good writer, Chris's latest big idea focuses on his concept that digital products such as music, film and software will see their price trend to zero. $0.00 is the future of business, he says. Sounds a must-read!
Also fresh off the press this year is "How the Mighty Fall: And why some companies never give in" - the latest management offering from long-standing management guru Jim Collins. This is the sequel to his best-seller Good to Great and looks at how some of these earlier greats have since gone from Great to Oblivion in the recent economic turbulence. This promises to be an enjoyable and informative read, offering insightful perspectives on trending patterns for organisational success and failure. It's not a pragmatic reference book for steering the best course to organisational resilience through the current bumpy times, but nor does it set it out be. Perhaps, it should be read alongside global management guru Gary Hamel's most recent book, The Future of Management, which came out in 2007. Equally, it could be read alongside Fortune Editor-at-Large Geoff Colvin's latest book just out, "The Upside of the Downturn: Ten Management Strategies to Prevail and Survive in the Aftermath".
A further alternative in this vein could be the latest offering from INSEAD Professor in Entrepreneurship Morten Hansen whose book "Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity and Reap Big Results" came out this May. Hansen queries whether conventional company-wide collaboration is always the best strategy and looks at cost and results implications.
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