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Freakonomics: The Business Book Club Review

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Business Book Reviews – for the Busy Business Owner

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Harper Perennial, 2009, 315 pp. (including bonus matter, notes, and index), $15.00 (Paperback)*

Capsule review:

Rating:

Pluses: A fascinating and enormously entertaining examination of how seemingly unrelated events, phenomena, and trends may in fact be interrelated, and the ways in which economics – which Levitt believes is the study of incentives – is at the heart of most of these events. Invites the reader to look at the world in new ways.

Minuses: In some places the authors may be overstating their case, claiming links and relationships where perhaps none exist. At times they seem to confuse correlation and causation, even though they criticize others for committing that very error. The book probably doesn’t have any direct applicability to small business owners or entrepreneurs.

Details: In the unlikely event that the title of this book doesn’t get your attention, the subtitle almost surely will. Whoever heard of a “rogue” economist? In the hierarchy of public perception, economists generally rank just below accountants on the boringness scale. It’s true that in decades past, economist authors such as John Kenneth Galbraith and Eliot Janeway have attempted to make economics not only understandable but also engaging to the average person. Overall, however, economists have usually not been on the A-List for most talk shows, and the idea of a rogue economist would seem, on the surface, somewhat ludicrous. Then a few years ago, Steven D. Levitt, a controversial and award-winning American economist, changed some of that public perception, with the aid of journalist Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics burst onto the scene in 2005, and suddenly economics was almost cool.

You could say that the Freakonomics phenomenon really began in 2003, when Dubner wrote a piece about Levitt that was published in the New York Times. What made Levitt unique among economists, Dubner noted, wasn’t that this celebrated young academic had answers to economic puzzles, but that he had an astounding gift for asking some really interesting questions. According to Dubner, Levitt believed that the science of economics provided excellent tools for finding answers, but something was missing in the discipline: those interesting questions. No wonder economics put so many generations of students to sleep.

Some of the questions that intrigued Levitt were truly off the wall: What’s more dangerous – a gun or a swimming pool? And then there were more serious questions: Why hate crime rates plunged in the past decade or so? How much of a problem is created by schoolteachers who cheat to meet high-stakes testing standards? How much does parental influence really matter in a child’s development? It was Levitt’s abiding interest in these and other questions that fueled Freakonomics, a product of his own gift for research and Dubner’s journalistic skills. The result of their collaboration became an international bestseller; over four million copies have been sold to date, and Freakonomics has been translated into 35 languages. And much like Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, this book has, in many respects, changed the way a lot of folks look at the world.

For the general reader and the perpetually curious, there are many things to delight in about Freakonomics. (Economists and statisticians are another story; they’re an understandably tougher audience for books of this nature.) Freakonomics is certainly an entertaining book, not just for the questions it raises and the possible answers it offers, but for the experience of seeing a creative mind at work asking the weird questions or questioning the obvious. It’s a pleasure to accompany Levitt as he explores how seemingly unrelated events, phenomena, and trends might in fact be interrelated, and it’s interesting to see him demonstrate the ways in which economics influences these events.

Levitt believes that at its heart economics is not the study of dry numbers and boring statistics; rather, it is the study of incentives. As Dubner noted in his New York Times article about Levitt, many people, including some of Levitt’s peers, have questioned whether his work really has anything to do with economics at all. In Dubner’s view, however, Levitt has merely “distilled the so-called dismal science down to its most primal aim: explaining how people get what they want, or need.” Levitt’s gift is to sort through mounds of data to find stories no one else has found, and to figure out ways to measure effects that veteran economists have deemed immeasurable.

Levitt is particularly interested in crime and corruption, and these interests are reflected in his popular works as well as his academic ones. As might be expected, some of his conclusions are controversial, such as his declaration that legalized abortion was a big factor in the aforementioned drop in the crime rate. But controversy has always sold books, and Freakonomics is no exception to this rule.

If nothing else, Levitt and his collaborator invite and inspire readers to look at life in new ways, to question long-held assumptions, and to never assume that something is true just because it seems so or, worse, because it is “common wisdom.” And that may be its greatest value to the reader.

Freakonomics is not a flawless work, however. Apart from the complaints some have made that this isn’t economics at all, but merely sociology dressed up to make it seem more impressive, there are other problems. Regarding the complaints that Levitt’s work is not economics, this is one of those times when it pays to consider the source(s). Any popular book by an academician will inevitably fuel turf wars and even a bit of jealousy, so these issues may not be of much import to most readers.

However, a more substantial problem with Freakonomics is that in some places in the book, the authors teeter on the brink of overstatement, claiming links and relationships where perhaps none exist. Furthermore, at times they seem to confuse correlation and causation, even though they criticize others for committing that very error. Sometimes it almost seems as if they’re doing this just to be provocative.

Looking at things from a strictly utilitarian point of view, Freakonomics doesn’t have any particular applicability to running a small business or being an entrepreneur. This probably isn’t one of those books without which your business or marketing bookshelf will not be complete. Unless, of course, you see the path to your business’ success as somewhat “outside the box,” and want something to help kickstart the unconventional thought processes that can get you there.

In any case, it is an immensely entertaining and informative read. Even if you don’t agree with the author’s conclusions, or if you agree with them but argue with his methodology, you may find this book quite enjoyable. It may, in some roundabout way, get your own creative juices flowing, and who knows, it could even help you discover new ways to answer questions or solve problems that are related to your business. At least you can tell yourself that while you’re stealing time from your busy schedule to read a few more chapters.

For those who simply can’t get enough of Freakonomics, there is the “freakquel,” SuperFreakonomics, which explores some even more off-the-wall questions, such as whether a pimp or a Realtor offers more value, and whether or not eating kangaroo meat can save the planet. If anything, this book is even more controversial than its predecessor. If you want some eye candy to go with that Super serving, there’s the oversized, glossy, and lavishly enhanced SuperFreakonomics: The Illustrated Edition. And then there’s the DVD of Freakonomics… and who knows what the authors will be cooking up next.

Economists and academicians can argue among themselves, but as far as this reviewer is concerned, long may America’s favorite rogue economist and his collaborator live – and write.

* Freakonomics is currently available in a variety of hardcover, paperback, audio, and digital formats.

The author of this review was provided the book by Capital Access Network, Inc.  The views expressed represent those of the author and do not reflect those of Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. Any opinions and/or advice expressed by the author do not imply endorsement by Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries.

Who Moved My Cheese?:The Business Book Club Review

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Business Book Reviews – for the Busy Business Owner

Who Moved My Cheese?  An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson, M.D. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1998

Rating:

The first time I saw a copy of the international bestseller, Who Moved My Cheese?  An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, it was sitting in a box with other similar business titles destined for a charity thrift shop, or a yard sale. The guy who’d been commanded to read the book wasn’t sure if he could sell it, now that he’d lost his job and would be spending more of his time experiencing change than reading about it.

Since 1998, Spencer Johnson’s 94-page text has sold more than 24 million copies, and while there’s no way of knowing how many people have read the book, passed it on; re-sold it on Amazon or in garage sales; re-gifted or donated it, we can assume the parable’s popularity exists for a reason. Frankly, I was always convinced most copies were purchased in bulk by inspired CEOs and other decision makers and then assigned to the troops.   And then I read it.

Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable of four characters who live in a maze and live off what appears to be an endless supply of cheese. Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry, and two are tiny people named Hem and Haw.

The story is, of course, an allegory, which, if you remember your last English Lit class, is an extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions are symbolic of easily recognizable aspects of the culture.  In general, the underlying meaning of each symbol has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas, such as charity, greed, or envy. The purpose of a parable is to teach a lesson, and in this respect is quite different from a short story, poem or drama.

In Johnson’s parable (or allegory,) “cheese” is a metaphor for our desires: job, relationship, comfort, money, or security, whatever makes us happy.  The “maze” is our environment, where we look for and find cheese: the organization we work in, or the family or community where we live.

In this story, all four characters are faced with sudden change; the cheese they’ve been living on for many comfortable years has disappeared. They’ve actually been eating it, but have felt so secure in its existence that they haven’t noticed and so haven’t anticipated or planned for its disappearance.

The mice, Sniff and Scurry, live up to their names and are the first to leave their little zone in search of new cheese. Hem and Haw, equally well named, take their time. Hem is nervous and hesitant but eventually scares up the courage, via the discovery of his sense of humor, to get out and find some new cheese. In doing so, he learns quite a bit about himself, his courage, his sense of adventure and his mistakes. He’s a compassionate person, eager to share his finding with Haw, who remains back in the old room (the past) waiting for the old cheese to return.

Of all the lessons Hem learns, probably the most important is the realization that we must each learn to handle change on our own. He tries to convince Haw of the cheeses to be found in other parts of the maze but to no avail. Haw’s not moving. He’s rigid with fear and a sense of injustice. His mantra, “It’s not fair!” is familiar.

By this point, anyone reading the tale is likely to be asking, “Who am I?” Am I the frightened one who will not move on? Am I the one who discovers a renewed sense of adventure and gets on with it? Am I a combination of both? Am I one of the mice, able to sense which way the wind is blowing and/or ready to bolt into action? This moment is, of course, the heart of a parable.

On the plot level, one of the humans does deal with change successfully. Because he also learns that his buddy must learn how to change on his own, he writes what he has learned from his experience on the maze walls. In time, Haw will be forced to leave his empty room (office, work station, dead relationship) and walk the maze. He will find “the writing on the wall” left by Hem. Remember, parables and allegories are not supposed to be subtle.  If it was, we’d all get lost in the details.

I discovered that we learn when are ready for the lesson. This explains the enthusiasm of executives and managers to push the book onto others. Their excitement in recognizing themselves as one of the characters, or in simplifying their desires as a piece of cheese they cannot control would naturally lead them to share, if not their own insights, then the source of them.

It also explains its omnipresence at yard sales and second-hand bookstores. Ironic because I have learned from the parable. People do learn from parables but not until they are ready. Like the sermon that seems meant for your ears, a parable is the story you “get” when you’re ready for it.

As of this writing, Who Moved My Cheese? is also available on Amazon in Kindle edition with audio/video, and Audible Audio.

For more information about Who Moved My Cheese? and Spencer Johnson see, http://www.whomovedmycheese.com/SpencerJohnson.html

Based on this review, would you read this book?

The author of this review was provided the book by Capital Access Network, Inc.  The views expressed represent those of the author and do not reflect those of Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. Any opinions and/or advice expressed by the author do not imply endorsement by Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries.

 

Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business

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Business Book Reviews – for the Busy Business Owner

Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business By Jay Conrad Levinson, with Jeannie Levinson and Amy Levinson, Houghton Mifflin, Updated and expanded (4th) edition, 2007, 384 pp. (including bibliography and index), $14.95 (Paperback)*

Capsule review:

Rating: 

Pluses: A modern marketing classic, without which no marketing library is really complete. Has lots of good general advice about marketing, advertising, and branding for business owners, as well as a generous helping of creative ideas. Levinson shines the most when he is discussing what marketing is (or should be), and when he elaborates on the creative process.

Minuses: In an age where virtually everyone is doing, or claims to be doing, “guerrilla marketing,” the material isn’t so cutting edge as it was when Levinson first introduced the concept in the early 1980s. Despite the book’s subtitle, much of the advice about strategy isn’t really applicable to small businesses or entrepreneurs with small or nonexistent marketing budgets. Covers relatively little about online marketing, even though this edition was published in 2007, and virtually nothing about social media (which hadn’t yet exploded in 2007). The text-heavy and white-space-deficient layout may try the patience (and eyes) of busy and distracted readers.

Details: When Jay Conrad Levinson first introduced the concept of “guerrilla marketing” in the early 1980s, and published his book by the same name in 1984, he started a revolution, if you will, that continues to this day. The notion was, of course, loosely borrowed from warfare, which is arguably an even richer mine than the sports world for pop-marketing and business advice. In actual guerrilla warfare, small, independent, and often underfunded bands of fighters harass and demoralize the enemy through surprise raids, attacks on the infrastructure, and so forth, with the goal of eventually securing permanent footholds. In the case of guerrilla marketing, the “enemy” is the marketer’s competition, with the goal being to capture the largest market share possible. Guerilla marketing involves unconventional promotional strategies that target customers in unexpected places, and these are strategies that, at least in theory, can be accomplished even with severely limited marketing budgets. The idea behind guerrilla marketing is that dedication, energy, and creativity are all more important than monetary resources.

It’s hardly surprising that a marketing book centered on such a bold, in-your-face concept as this would be a hit, particularly in the Reagan-era business world into which the original book emerged. But guerrilla-style marketing wasn’t just for the 1980s; it turned out to have very long and powerful legs. Today Levinson’s brainchild is arguably the best-known marketing brand in history, and his classic book has been named one of the best 100 business books ever written. Over 21 million copies have been sold to date; the book has been translated into more than 60 languages, and it is required reading in MBA programs worldwide. In the years since its initial publication, Guerrilla Marketing has undergone several revisions to reflect the changing times. Levinson has also produced dozens more books in the “Guerrilla Marketing” series (some of which he has co-authored with other marketers such as Seth Godin and Jay Aaron), as well as several other business titles.

It’s an understatement to call Guerrilla Marketing a modern marketing classic, without which no marketing library is really complete. This book is packed with good general advice about marketing, advertising, and branding for business owners and entrepreneurs, as well as a generous helping of creative ideas and illustrative anecdotes.

Levinson shines the most when he is discussing what marketing is (or what it should be).

To Levinson, one definition of effective marketing is “the truth made fascinating.” On a broader scale he notes that marketing encompasses every bit of contact a company has with the outside world. This includes but is not limited to the name of your business, the type of products and/or services you offer, your packaging, your company’s physical location(s) if applicable, all of your advertising, PR, and branding activities, your business plan, the people who work for you or represent you, and even your own personal attitude and passion. In short, Levinson reminds us, any business is a rich mine for endless marketing opportunities.

A guerrilla marketer, says Levinson, understands that marketing is the art of getting people to either change their minds or to maintain their mindsets if they are already prone to doing business with you. “Every little thing you do and show and say — not only your advertising or your Web site — is going to affect people’s perceptions of you,” writes Levinson. And he stresses that marketing must be directed not only to prospects but also to current customers. “More than half your marketing time should be devoted to your existing customers,” he writes. “A cornerstone of guerrilla marketing is customer follow- up. Without it, all that you’ve invested into getting those customers is like dust in the wind.”

In the pages of Guerrilla Marketing, Levinson spends a great deal of time and effort elaborating upon his philosophy of marketing and offering motivational tidbits as well as offering a wealth of helpful hints. Most business owners and entrepreneurs will probably find something they can use in these pages, even if it’s just a bit of encouragement and moral support. Levinson also has some interesting things to say about the creative process, and shares numerous examples of marketing creativity in action.

That said, this not a flawless book, and even though as noted above your marketing library wouldn’t be complete without it, it is probably not the only marketing book you’ll ever need. This book does have its limitations, one of them being that in a sense, the “guerrilla marketing” concept is a victim of its own success. In an age in which so many people claim to be employing “guerrilla” tactics for marketing and other clearly non-combat activities, the material just isn’t as cutting edge as it was when Levinson first introduced the concept in the early 1980s. Guerrilla marketing (or guerrilla anything) is no longer revolutionary and has become a cliché, though admittedly one of which ambitious entrepreneurs never seem to tire. Through books and ancillary products, Internet events, and workshops, Levinson has flogged his brand to within an inch of its life – and his Guerrilla Marketing machine just keeps churning out new stuff.

One obvious problem with wide-scale adoption of the guerrilla marketing mindset is that as more companies hop on to the “creative/unconventional” bandwagon, it can become ever more challenging to carve out new frontiers and make oneself stand out from the crowd. In other words, the formerly “unexpected” becomes yawningly commonplace, and the public grows quickly weary of what was once an intriguing variety of come-on. (Marketers and ad agencies do love to copycat each other, and this can sometimes get annoying.) On the other hand, human creativity knows no bounds, and it seems there’s always some game changer – a technological breakthrough, a new Internet avenue, or something completely different – that no one could have predicted. So perhaps the cliché aspect of the whole guerrilla-marketing shtick is a moot point in the end.

In any case Guerrilla Marketing has other limitations, perhaps the most important one being that despite its subtitle that promises easy and inexpensive strategies for small businesses, quite a lot of the advice about strategy isn’t really applicable to small business owners or individual entrepreneurs with small (or nonexistent) marketing budgets. There’s no denying that, due in large part to the Internet – and particularly to social media – cleverness, creativity, and high energy can take an individual entrepreneur or small business owner much further today than was possible in past years. But in the end, the large companies with the enormous budgets will end up grabbing the lion’s share of public attention, as well as the largest market share and, of course, the premium retail shelf space. And as long as there are brick-and-mortar stores, that latter point matters.

Still, the Internet does give the smaller players a fighting chance, which is why it is somewhat distressing that Guerrilla Marketing covers relatively little about online marketing, even though this edition was published in 2007. And it has virtually nothing about social media, which, admittedly, hadn’t yet exploded in 2007. Not to worry, though; there’s always Guerrilla Social Media Marketing: 100+ Weapons to Grow Your Online Influence, Attract Customers, and Drive Profits, the cover of which cleverly sports a pair of camo-patterned Twitter-ish looking birds. And to the author’s credit, he does have a rather extensive chapter in Guerrilla Marketing on e-marketing, and he acknowledges elsewhere in the book that the Internet is becoming an increasingly vital part of any marketing campaign. As any savvy business owner knows, marketing sans the Internet has become a thing of the past.

In all fairness to Levinson, his collaborators, and the publisher, the rapidly changing world we live in today has made it much more difficult for a print book about the “latest and greatest” marketing ideas to stay up to date. That’s why there are numerous little snippets of advice throughout this book that aren’t quite relevant anymore, and some that even seem a little quaint, such as Levinson’s discussion of gift certificates, or his inclusion of faxing as a viable “Minimedia” marketing strategy. Apropos of the latter, there are also a few broader concepts with which one could easily take issue. For instance, the book’s division of marketing media categories into “Minimedia,” (e.g., writing letters and canvassing local neighborhoods), “Maximedia” (traditional broadcast and print media) and “New media” (including the Internet) seems a little outdated by now. More and more, the Internet is king, particularly as broadcast and many print media expand their online presence.

There seems to be an underlying contradiction in this book too. Levinson repeatedly insists that guerrilla marketing is as simple as can be, and at the same time cautions that you can’t just jump into it, the strong implication being that you need to read every word in this long book before you can truly be a guerrilla marketer.

And then there are a few minor quibbles. Some readers might be a little put off by the author’s excessive self-promotion, and some might take issue with his endorsement of some colleagues whose business practices (particularly their online marketing strategies) have come under fire in recent years. Another negligible problem is that the text-heavy and white-space-deficient layout may try the patience (and eyes) of busy and distracted readers. As noted, though, those are minor and have more to do with individual reader preferences than with the merit of the advice in the book. Perhaps these are points that the author and publisher can keep in mind for subsequent editions of Guerrilla Marketing, which are almost certainly in the offing.

Despite the book’s flaws, it would be a mistake to dismiss it, as much of the information in it remains useful – if for no reason other than its value as a study of the evolution of marketing over the past twenty-plus years. Levinson has been around a long time, since the days of old-school marketing and advertising, and he has a pretty good grasp of these industries’ history and methods. For this and many other reasons, Guerrilla Marketing is a worthwhile addition to your business bookshelf.

* Guerrilla Marketing is currently available in paperback and on Kindle.

Amazon link for paperback print edition reviewed here: http://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Marketing-4th-Inexpensive-Strategies/dp/0618785914

Visit the author’s official Guerrilla Marketing Web site at http://www.gmarketing.com.

 Based on this review, would you read this book?

The author of this review was provided the book by Capital Access Network, Inc.  The views expressed represent those of the author and do not reflect those of Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. Any opinions and/or advice expressed by the author do not imply endorsement by Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: The Business Book Club Review

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Business Book Reviews – for the Busy Business Owner

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change – By Stephen R. Covey, Free Press (Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.), Revised edition 2004, 384 pp. (including appendices and index), with a new Foreword and Afterword by the author, $15.95 (Paperback) *

Capsule review:

Rating:

Pluses: Contains much common-sense advice about how to deal with problems in one’s personal and professional life. Written in a friendly and often engaging style, with plenty of interesting anecdotes and examples to illuminate the author’s points.

Minuses: Longer than it needs to be, and laden with jargon and buzzwords, as well as diagrams that are sometimes confusing and are probably unnecessary for anything except the author’s own branding efforts. This could lead some readers to become obsessed with the minutiae of the “7 habits” process rather than focusing on real-world results. Some might also take issue with the book’s emphasis on principles at the expense of considering variables such as personality and the economic or social environment.

Details: A generation ago, Stephen R. Covey introduced his “7 Habits” approach to a reading public that was apparently ripe for the next big thing following Tom Peters’ “Excellence” oeuvre. Covey proposed a “holistic, integrated, principle-centered” approach to dealing with personal as well as professional problems, and his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, was immediately a smashing success. Though words – and concepts – such as “holistic” would probably never have passed muster in the business realm during the cutthroat early to mid-1980s, 7 Habits emerged at the cusp of a new decade, and the button-down types were open to trying new things. They were ready to go on wild-man wilderness retreats, sit in sweat lodges, trust-walk their way through weekend workshops, and get in touch with their innermost feelings before marching back to the corner office to kick butt and take names (though in a more sensitive and mindful way, of course). And by golly, they were ready to bring a little bit of “principle” to the boardroom as well as to their family lives. Most of all, they were ready to experience a “paradigm shift,” a concept that had originated with a leading-edge historian and science writer named Thomas Kuhn in the early 1960s, was co-opted by New-Age philosophers some time in the late 1980s, and gleefully adopted by Stephen Covey as a foundation of his 7 Habits empire.

Today Covey, who in some pictures bears a somewhat unsettling resemblance to the Addams Family’s Uncle Fester, but by all accounts is a very nice man with a self-deprecating sense of humor, is still going strong. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, now considered one of the classics in the genre, has sold more than 20 million copies to date, and has given rise to a spate of other 7 Habits books (including one for teens from one of Covey’s sons, Sean), as well as numerous ancillary products and, of course, workshops. Covey is still an in-demand speaker, holder of the Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Chair in Leadership at the Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, and co-founder and long-time vice chairman of the board of the management training and consulting firm Franklin Covey. A devout Mormon who is father to nine and grandfather to more than fifty (and counting), Covey has also garnered a list of honors a mile long. Among these are The National Entrepreneur of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award for Entrepreneurial Leadership; the 2003 Fatherhood Award from the National Fatherhood Initiative; the International Entrepreneur of the Year Award; and, of all things, the Maharishi Award from Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was first published in 1989 and has been through numerous printings (currently, copies of the mass-market first edition of the original work is going for a mere $112.00 and change on Amazon Marketplace). In the afterword to the 2004 edition, Covey acknowledged that the world had changed radically since the initial publication of 7 Habits, but he added that if he were writing the book again, he wouldn’t change much at all. “I might go deeper and apply wider,” he wrote, “but I have had the opportunity to do that in some of the books released since then.”

If you’ve been in the business world in any way, shape, or form over the past couple of decades, it’s very possible you have read 7 Habits. You may even have been compelled to attend a Covey training of one sort or another, or have sent your employees to same. But those who are unfamiliar with Covey’s signature work, even those who don’t normally read self-help or business books, should at least give this one a quick run-through, if for no other reason than to see what all the fuss has been about for these past twenty-plus years.

Covey divides his seven principles into three main categories: “Private Victory”; “Public Victory”; and “Renewal.” Under the banner of “Private Victory” he takes the reader through Habit 1 (Be Proactive [rather than Reactive]); Habit 2 (Begin With the End in Mind [plan ahead, in other words]); and Habit 3 (Put First Things First). “Public Victory” takes us to Habit 4 (Think Win/Win); Habit 5 (Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood), and Habit 6 (Synergize [practice creative cooperation]). And then under “Renewal,” there’s Habit 7 (Sharpen the Saw), which stands alone. No, Covey is not preparing you to do a woodshop project with that latter one. Habit 7 is all about engaging in “balanced self-renewal,” which entails physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual renewal. Each Habit is amply illustrated with diagrams and charts.

There’s a whole lot of common sense in these pages, and as is the case with most common-sense advice, most of it is stuff we’ve been taught since elementary school, but who couldn’t use a reminder now and then? The very good thing about this book, besides the author’s apparent affability (and really, even a cynic can’t help but love the guy), is that there is a sound ethical base to Covey’s seven habits. In fact, although the subtitle displayed on the cover and spine of the 2004 edition reviewed here is Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, the one appearing on the title page is Restoring the Character Ethic. While that inconsistency can probably be chalked up to the shrinking budgets and resulting dearth of quality control plaguing the major publishing companies of late, it could be argued that the blurb on the title page actually gets more to the heart of the book than the one that appears on its cover.

Apart from the common-sense advice, 7 Habits is appealing thanks in part to the author’s friendly and often engaging writing style. Covey offers plenty of interesting anecdotes and examples to illuminate his points.

As much as there is to like about this book, there’s also a fair amount to grouse about. Particularly for today’s time-strapped business owner or manager, 7 Habits seems far longer than it needs to be. Not only does Covey often belabor some points, he also throws in a lot of extraneous ones. Moreover, the book is laden with diagrams that are sometimes perplexing and often seem unnecessary for anything except the author’s own branding efforts. Some of the diagrams are apt to leave you a little cross-eyed. (Actually, there’s a more understandable and elegant diagram in the teen version of 7 Habits, which uses a graphic of a tree to illustrate the 7 Habits instead of the “adult” version’s conglomeration of circles, triangles, and bands.) The book also seems a bit heavy on the jargon and buzzwords. Not all of the special terms and concepts introduced in the book are Covey’s original creations, and he gives due credit to those other sources, but he has a way of making the terms his own as he builds his case. The net result is that some readers may become so obsessed with the minutiae of the “7 habits” process that they neglect to pay attention to the real-world results.

Furthermore, the book’s emphasis on principles – and Covey does talk a lot about paradigms and principles and such – seems to overlook variables such as individual personalities and one’s social, political, and economic environment. True, the 7 Habits at their core are supposed to be unwavering and permanent; just as many believe about the Ten Commandments, the principles Covey teaches are supposed to be applicable in all situations. In the end, though, many readers may be left with the feeling that the 7 Habits are a little simplistic and lacking in profundity.

Despite its flaws, you can’t really consider your business-book education or cultural literacy immersion complete until you have read this classic. It’s a rather enjoyable read if you don’t get too bogged down in the details. And just in case you haven’t heard, it turns out that there is an eighth habit, but this one is for people who are ready to transcend Effectiveness and go for Greatness. That habit was worthy of a book of its own – titled, appropriately enough, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness – which was released in 2004. Not wanting to be a spoiler, we’ll leave it to you to find out for yourself what Number 8 is.

* The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is currently available in hardcover, paperback, and various audio and digital formats.

Amazon link for paperback print edition reviewed here: http://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-Effective-People/dp/0743269519

Visit the author’s Web site at https://www.stephencovey.com.

Read more about Stephen Covey and his family in this 2004 USA Today article: http://www.usatoday.com/money/2004-11-08-covey-usat_x.htm

Based on this review, would you read this book?

The author of this review was provided the book by Capital Access Network, Inc.  The views expressed represent those of the author and do not reflect those of Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. Any opinions and/or advice expressed by the author do not imply endorsement by Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries.

The 24-Hour Customer: The Business Book Club Review

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Business Book Reviews – for the Busy Business Owner

The 24-Hour Customer: New Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy – By Adrian C. Ott, Harper Business, 2012, 240 pp (including notes and index), $26.99 (Hardcover) *

Capsule review
Rating:

Pluses: A timely (in more ways than one) treatise on how companies – whether large corporations or small startups – can remain competitive in a global, constantly “connected” economy where the wheels of commerce never stop turning, and time is an increasingly precious commodity for everyone. Well-researched and thoughtful information on leveraging this finite resource to gain a clear advantage not only over one’s competitors, but also over other elements that compete for customers’ time and attention.

Minuses: The writing is somewhat dry and sometimes technical. Of necessity it is replete with jargon (mostly referring to the concepts from the author’s proprietary research), which may be slightly annoying to the jargon-sensitive.

Details: Benjamin Franklin is widely credited with the adage that “time is money.” With no disrespect intended to old Ben, it’s past time to acknowledge that this concept is outdated. Time is far more valuable than money. For emperors and executives, presidents and paupers, house-spouses and hoteliers, there are only 24 hours in a day – and each block of 24 hours is a non-renewable resource. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. At least until we master the art of time travel (which would probably necessitate revised editions of countless business books), time is much like real estate in that “they ain’t making any more.” The idea that time is more precious than money has been explored in recent years by more than one best-selling business book author, but leave it to Silicon Valley strategist Adrian C. Ott, CEO and founder of Exponential Edge ®, Inc., to both qualify and quantify this revolutionary notion. And qualify and quantify she does, with great precision, in the pages of her book, The 24-Hour Customer: New Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy. 

Ms. Ott, who holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, apparently knows what she’s talking about. Consulting Magazine has called her “one of Silicon Valley’s most respected (if not the most respected) strategists.” No smart aleck, overnight-sensation “social media marketing expert,” she has years of serious business experience. For fifteen years she was a Hewlett-Packard executive who was recognized in an annual report for infusing HP with “new revenue streams, new technologies, and new business models.” In her present role as CEO and founder of the consulting firm Exponential Edge® Inc., she advises senior executives on applying cutting-edge technology and business approaches to help them adapt to today’s rapidly changing markets. Among the numerous companies she has advised are HP, Microsoft, Cisco, Seagate, Symantec, Clorox, and numerous venture-funded startups. She’s also a top expert blogger on the Fast Company site, and is Chair of the Harvard Business School Association of Northern California Strategy and Growth Roundtable.

So what does Ms. Ott mean when she refers to the 24-hour customer? In part this is a reference to the fact that with the advent of the Internet and online “stores” that never close, as well as more and more types of electronic devices that keep consumers constantly connected in various ways, commerce is an ongoing, 24/7 process. And that’s really the crux of the problem: even though consumers are in theory more accessible because of all of this marvelous technology, there’s also much more competition for each person’s valuable time – those 24 hours, those 1,440 minutes. Hence the necessity for companies to learn about, and to strategically channel, the cycles of customer time and attention. Today’s constant distractions call for new rules in marketing and advertising, and Ms. Ott summarizes the “old rules” versus the “new rules” in Chapter 1.

Determining the ebb and flow of customer time and attention isn’t all that easy, mainly because humans are not inherently rational creatures. All too often, the same consumer who complains about not having enough time in the day to read a book, complete a household chore, or experiment with a new recipe nonetheless somehow finds several hours each day to update his or her status and converse with “friends” on Facebook. Go figure. (Well, the late Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, did write about how people love to talk about themselves, so there’s that.) The point is that companies need to factor in time – their customers’ time, that is – when planning their marketing strategies and ad campaigns, and for that matter, when creating their products and services. They need to learn how to understand and work with the forces of time, rather than against them, to find new ways to capture their customers’ valuable attention. Ms. Ott’s book offers numerous tools to do help them do just that.

One important concept explained in The 24-Hour Customer is what Ms. Ott calls the Time-Value Tradeoff. This, she explains, is the time-and-attention calculation that each of us tallies in our heads before buying a product or signing up for a service. It’s our way of deciding whether or not the purchase will be worth our time, and this determination goes beyond the product’s price and features. The author even offers a formula to illustrate the concept: Value > Price + Customer Time Investment. In other words, the perceived value of the good or service must be more than the price plus the customer’s time investment to use it. Ms. Ott has also devised a clever tool called the Time-ographics Framework ®, which illustrates how customers allocate their time and attention among different products and services. This framework is divided into four quadrants: Convenience, Motivation, Habit, and Value, which are illustrated graphically and summarized in Chapter 1, followed by individual chapters that explain them in far more detail, along with real-world examples.

Another key point covered in The 24-Hour Customer is that companies need to be cognizant of more than just the competition they face in their particular industry. They must also view the larger picture of “alternative time” usage – the other ways consumers spend their time and attention when they might be availing themselves of a company’s product or service. This means, for example, that a restaurant owner isn’t merely competing with other restaurants in his or her neighborhood, or with other local restaurants that serve the same kind of food. The restaurateur is also conceivably competing with customers’ motivation to cook at home.

Throughout The 24-Hour Customer, Ms. Ott very convincingly states her case that companies adopting the Customer Time-Value mindset will thrive in today’s connected, distracted world. Those that don’t will lose out. That said, Ms. Ott is careful never to overstate her case or to claim that she has a magical formula that will easily propel any business to the top. To her credit, she also discusses the potential ethical problems and privacy issues surrounding the new technologies for gathering customer information. Perhaps she is a little idealistic in her belief that most businesses will do the right thing, but at least she raises the salient points. We can all hope that the businesses who treat customer trust as a commodity even more precious than time are the ones that will prevail in the marketplace.

The 24-Hour Customer is very well researched, with sources listed in the extensive endnotes, and Ms. Ott includes plenty of interesting case studies – both failures and successes – to elucidate her points. Her book is also filled with fascinating tidbits of research on everything from the latest in brain studies to time perception to branding research. She concludes the book with an overview of the future of the 24-hour customer concept, with a checklist of steps companies can take to adopt a Customer Time-Value approach of their own.

If there are any downsides to The 24-Hour Customer, they’re relatively minor. The writing is somewhat dry and no doubt sometimes borders on being a bit too technical for those who are more accustomed to easy, breezy prose styles. Moreover, the text is liberally sprinkled with jargon – most of which refers to concepts from the author’s proprietary research – as well as the expected pie charts and tables. The former may be somewhat annoying to those who have built up a sensitivity to jargon or who groan at the prospect of yet more stuff to memorize. And while the tables and pie charts are of course helpful because they illustrate the author’s points, the type on some of the illustrations could have been a bit larger to accommodate readers of a certain age. The small type is probably not the author’s doing; more than likely it is a result of the publisher’s attempt to save printing costs. It’s still worth a mention in a comprehensive review.

As for the jargon and the technicality, that’s a small price to pay for the wealth of useful information one receives in return. This book is definitely worth any extra attention required to assimilate the information. For those who have hopelessly short attention spans or find their eyes glazing over at the dry spots in the text (or those who simply don’t have the mental space to absorb too many new concepts), there are handy “two-minute takeaways” at the end of each chapter. This is a clear demonstration of the author’s respect for her readers’ time.

Adrian Ott speaks with authority in this book, and the message she conveys goes far beyond social media marketing, although social media certainly play a part. Perhaps her most important point is that any business owner or manager who wants to remain competitive in today’s head-spinning, distraction-filled milieu had better learn the new rules of the marketplace, and learn how to use those rules to their advantage. The 24-Hour Customer will help them get started.

* The 24-Hour Customer is currently available in hardcover and digital formats.

Amazon link for hardcover print edition: http://www.amazon.com/24-Hour-Customer-Winning-Time-Starved-Always-Connected/dp/0061798614

For more information about “The 24-Hour Customer” and Adrian C. Ott, visit www.24HourCustomer.com.

Based on this review, would you read this book?

The views expressed represent those of the author and do not reflect those of Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. Any opinions and/or advice expressed by the author do not imply endorsement by Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries.

How to Win Friends and Influence People – The Business Book Club Review

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Business Book Reviews – for the Busy Business Owner

How to Win Friends and Influence People – By Dale Carnegie, Simon & Schulster, rev. edition 1981, 320 pp. (including index), $26.00 (Hardcover)*

Capsule review:
Rating: 

Pluses: Timeless, common-sense observations about human nature and advice about how to deal with one’s fellow humans, presented in a folksy, homespun style. A good primer on communication and civility, and the author’s humility and sense of humor seem genuine. This book’s status as a classic self-help volume is well earned and it is worth reading for the historical value alone, as it emerged at a time when America was in crisis, influencing countless prominent and ordinary people alike, and was one of the books that set the modern self-help movement in motion.
Minuses: Some of the text seems a little dated despite modernization attempts in later editions. Though often touted as a book about handling all relationships, it is geared more towards business relationships than personal ones. Some readers might have ethical qualms about the fact that in essence the book is about manipulating people to do one’s bidding. Missing from the book is the chapter Carnegie intended to include about cases in which the fine principles he teaches simply don’t work.

Details: The year 2011 marks the 75th anniversary of the debut of Dale Carnegie’s classic work, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Though the book didn’t really hit the public consciousness (and the best-seller list) until the following year, its official publication date was October 1936. It couldn’t have come at a better time; America was still in the throes of the Great Depression, and Carnegie’s cheerful, motivational message struck a chord that still echoes today. It’s no exaggeration to say that How to Win Friends, along with the Dale Carnegie courses that inspired the book, helped set the modern-day self-help industry in motion.  Indeed, the mid to late 1930s was a ripe time for motivational messages; as it happens, yet another self-help/motivational classic was published five months after How to Win Friends came out: Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. Due to negligence on the part of Hill’s foundation, the copyright for his seminal work was not renewed on a timely basis, and the book was released to the public domain. The result, easily evident from a quick Google session, is that today there are hundreds of versions of Think and Grow Rich offered for free or otherwise by every motivational guru and wannabe imaginable. Carnegie’s people were more attentive to his intellectual property rights, no doubt because of the association of the book with the hugely successful Dale Carnegie courses. At the time How to Win Friends was published, Carnegie had been teaching his public speaking courses in one form or another for 24 years, and they had made him a very rich man.

It could be said, and in fact Carnegie himself said as much, that he wrote How to Win Friends – and taught his courses – for himself as much as for anyone else. In their 1989 biography of Carnegie, Giles Kemp and Edward Claflin quote a letter he wrote to the editor of his hometown paper. Said Carnegie, “I realize now that healthy people don’t write books about health. And, in the same way, people who have a natural gift for diplomacy don’t write books on How to Win Friends and Influence People. The reason I wrote the book was because I have blundered so often myself, that I began to study the subject for the good of my own soul.”

In his earlier years, few would have voted Dale Carnegie as Most Likely to Succeed. Born Dale Breckenridge Carnagey, he was dirt-poor growing up, and was self-conscious about everything from his family’s poverty to, of all things, his prominent ears, about which he was mercilessly teased by some of his crueler schoolmates. By the time he was in high school he was quite sure that he didn’t want to be an impoverished Missouri farmer like his father. Early on, he was inspired by something called the Chautauqua movement, named for the town in New York State where it began in 1873. The Chautauqua movement was sort of a traveling spiritual infotainment show: adult education classes with a generous helping of religion and uplifting moral messages thrown in. One particular Chautauqua presenter who was a world traveler and a mesmerizing speaker inspired the adolescent Carnegie, offering a vision of how the latter could escape his fate as “a poor farm boy who saw nothing ahead of him but years of dull toil.”

That poor farm boy was not to become a mesmerizing speaker right away. After attending State Teachers College in Warrensburg, Missouri (now the University of Central Missouri), he spent several years in sales, and was fairly successful at times. But sales were not where his heart was, and in 1911 he quit to pursue other dreams. He never did become a Chautauqua lecturer as he’d often fantasized, but instead attended a drama school. Apparently he wasn’t cut out for acting either, and he ended up in New York, unemployed, broke, and living in a room at the YMCA on 125th Street. It was at the Y that he first got the idea of teaching classes about public speaking and self-confidence, and with the blessings of the Y’s manager he began teaching at that venue. The classes took off, and within a couple of years Carnegie was a wealthy man. A few years later he changed the spelling of his name to Carnegie, in honor of steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who was widely viewed as the paragon of American success. It was a shrewd marketing move; to this day many people wrongly assume that Dale was one of “the” Carnegies.

How to Win Friends is a compilation of the wisdom Carnegie gained in his many years of developing, teaching, and refining his course. He often described the course itself as a laboratory of human relationships; it was always a work in progress, and he was continually tweaking it. The book that grew from this course first hit the bestseller lists in 1937, and Carnegie’s first royalty check was $90,000, which is the equivalent of more than $1.4 million dollars today. How to Win Friends quickly made an indelible mark on American culture, being both widely acclaimed and widely criticized – and, inevitably, satirized. It made its mark on the world as well, and has been translated into just about every known language. But what is it about this 1930s classic that still resonates today? More to the point, is it worth reading – or re-reading – for today’s business owner? From this reviewer’s perspective, the answer is a resounding yes.

How to Win Friends is refreshing in its simple wisdom and common sense advice about the things most of us were taught from grade school on, but often forget in our day-to-day dealings with our fellow humans. We know, for example, that most people don’t like to be criticized, or that we can often dispel conflicts by making a genuine effort to see things from our adversary’s perspective. In our everyday dealings, though, we often act as if these concepts were foreign to us. How to Win Friends is a no-nonsense reminder of these principles. In many places in the book Carnegie states – and re-states – the obvious, much to the annoyance of numerous readers over the years. To Carnegie’s credit he was always honest about this point, noting that the “obvious” is the truth that is hiding in plain sight and easily overlooked. He said that even though dealing with other people is a skill that should come naturally to all of us, it doesn’t – hence the necessity for a book like How to Win Friends.

Some critics derided Carnegie for lack of originality or over-simplification of complex principles. But he never professed to be the originator of the wisdom he shared, and never claimed to possess any special wisdom or knowledge; it was the public that chose to make a celebrity of him, and that was a role with which he was never very comfortable. (In that respect Carnegie and his work offer a welcome reprieve from the self-aggrandizing, brand-conscious egotists who seem to dominate the self-help and motivational industries today.) Once, when speaking to a gathering that included some of his severest critics, Carnegie said, “People say I’m not profound… This is true. Gentlemen, I’ve never claimed to have a new idea… The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates, I swiped them from Chesterfield, I stole them from Jesus, and I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use? I’ll be glad to listen.” Reportedly he got a standing ovation for that speech.

How to Win Friends is an easy read – perhaps deceptively easy, and Carnegie himself said that it would become more effective with repeated readings. Following a 1981 preface by Carnegie’s widow Dorothy, a note from Carnegie about how and why the book was written, and brief instructions on how to get more out of the book, the revised edition is divided into four parts: “Fundamental Techniques in Handling People,” “Six Ways to Make People Like You,” “How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking,” and “Be A Leader: How To Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment.” Each part has several chapters, and each chapter ends with a one- or two-sentence summary of the principle covered in that chapter. Carnegie illustrates his points with countless anecdotes about prominent and ordinary people alike, and shares many of his own experiences as well. His sense of humor and humility seem genuine, and he never comes across as preachy or self-righteous.

That said, How to Win Friends does have its limitations. Although the publisher promotes it as “the only book you need on the road to success,” that’s really not accurate; it’s a far from comprehensive book about either business or human nature, and to restrict one’s reading to the homespun wisdom of Dale Carnegie would be limiting indeed. Moreover, although How to Win Friends has often been touted as a book about handling all of one’s relationships, it is really geared more towards business relationships than personal ones. And there is a difference, despite the prevailing wisdom that business is at its essence all about relationships. However, this limitation isn’t necessarily a minus if one approaches How to Win Friends as mainly a business book, keeping in mind that it was, after all, a by-product of Carnegie’s sales and public speaking courses.

Even so, something is missing from the book – literally. According to the above-cited Carnegie biography, Dale Carnegie actually intended to write a final chapter about situations in which his time-tested principles simply were not effective. From his long years of experience in all types of business situations, Carnegie was well aware that there were some people for whom none of the rules he taught applied. It was simply not possible to get along with these people under any circumstances, and according to Carnegie they were best handled with a lawsuit or jail. So why didn’t he write this chapter? He said it was because he had an opportunity to take a European vacation before he had a chance to complete it, and thus sent the manuscript off to the publisher without that chapter. The authors of the Carnegie biography wrote, “Given the difficulty of reconciling such a chapter with the rest of the book, the vacation was probably the better course of action.” At least it’s somewhat reassuring to know that Carnegie was not a pie-in-the-sky idealist who touted a one-size-fits-all philosophy and had no concept of unworkable situations.

Some purists have complained because How to Win Friends has been revised so much as to be unrecognizable from the original edition. But surely this is one of those damned-if-one-does-and-damned-if-one-doesn’t situations, since if the book had not been revised, some people would be complaining because it was hopelessly quaint and out of date. It is a bit dated at that, even with the 1981 revisions. Arguably the book is weakened somewhat by the fact that it hasn’t been further modernized since the advent of the Internet and, particularly, the social media revolution. Hence some of the tactics suggested, such as taking the time to compose personalized sales letters, seem a bit passé. After all, today’s technology makes faux personalization all too easy, and too easily seen through, to be as effective as real personalization might have been in, say, 1944. That aside, there’s probably enough timeless wisdom in these pages to make the out-of-date advice negligible for most readers.

Another type of purist reading the book might also have ethical qualms about How to Win Friends, since at its essence it is about manipulating people to do one’s bidding. However, Carnegie’s basic intent seems benign enough, especially when compared to some of the content produced in more recent years, particularly the seduction/pick-up artist courses that can easily be found on the Internet.

Whatever beefs one may have with today’s motivational industry and gurus, it would be wrong to place blame for their content or their behavior on Dale Carnegie. He was a true pioneer, a humble man to boot, a man who seemed more comfortable in his role as a lifelong student than as a teacher – and How to Win Friends and Influence People deserves its status as a classic. Read it, enjoy it, take what you need from it and leave the rest, and always keep that unwritten chapter in mind. And then go watch a Frank Capra movie or two, and comfort yourself with the knowledge that even though many things have changed in the past 75 years, human nature has not.

* How to Win Friends and Influence People is available in several print, audio, and digital formats.

Amazon link for hardcover print edition: http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/1439167346

For more information about Dale Carnegie training, see http://www.dalecarnegie.com/.

For insight into what made Dale Carnegie the person he was, read Dale Carnegie: The Man Who Influenced Millions, by Giles Kemp and Edward Claflin (St. Martin’s Press, 1989). Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Dale-Carnegie-Man-Influenced-Millions/dp/0312028962

Based on this review, would you read this book?

The author of this review was provided the book by Capital Access Network, Inc.  The views expressed represent those of the author and do not reflect those of Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. Any opinions and/or advice expressed by the author do not imply endorsement by Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. 

UnMarketing: The Business Book Club Review

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Business Book Reviews – for the Busy Business Owner

UnMarketing – Stop Marketing. Start Engaging – By Scott Stratten, John Wiley/Sons, 2010

Capsule review
Rating:

Pluses: A quick, easy, and frequently entertaining read about the importance of engaging your customers and standing out from the competition by becoming not merely a provider of products or services, but a valued resource as well. Offers numerous interesting examples of marketers and companies who do the engagement thing well or not so well.
Minuses: Somewhat superficial, and may overstate the importance of social networking, as well as possibly exaggerating the whole meme of “new” marketing. The author’s irreverence is often amusing but sometimes wears a little thin; at times it seems that he’s just popping in a little bit of content between punch lines. 

Details: In the late 1960s, the makers of the soft drink 7 Up came out with a catchy ad campaign to position their lemon-lime flavored soda as “The Uncola.” This was a play on the youthful rebellion and anti-establishment mindset that was sweeping the country at the time. The message in the ads was that colas were old-school and boring, whereas the Uncola was the bright and bubbly choice of the bright and bubbly young people who wanted to be different, just like all of their friends. The ad campaign was quite successful, and ever since those heady days of Uncola euphoria, many a marketer who has wanted to introduce something new(ish) or different or cleverly contrarian has used the “Un” gimmick (or, in some cases, “anti”). Take an ordinary noun, pop an “Un” (or “anti”) in front of it, and voila! Instant branding.

This is not to imply that Scott Stratten, the author of UnMarketing, didn’t put any thought into his own branding, or any work into this book. Clearly Stratten, described as an expert in the types of viral, social, and authentic marketing that comprise this phenomenon he calls UnMarketing, has put a great deal of work into branding himself, presumably by practicing what he preaches in his book. Take Twitter, for instance. Originally, writes Stratten, he couldn’t see what all the fuss was about with Twitter. He only had a couple of thousand followers and wondered what the big deal was with this microblogging site. What sort of return could there be for him, he wondered, if he actually put some effort into his Twitter interactions? Accordingly he decided to perform an experiment in giving Twitter his all for thirty days – virtually eating, drinking, and sleeping the tweet life. He made it a point to engage in conversations, to respond to everyone, and to tweet and re-tweet his heart out. At the end of those thirty days, he writes, he had 10,000 followers, and at the time of the writing of this book, he had over 55,000. As of the writing of this review, Stratten (aka @unmarketing) has over 105,000 followers on Twitter. That’s still not nearly as many as Ashton Kutcher (more than 8.1 million Twitter followers as of this writing), but then again, not everyone can be Ashton Kutcher.

Today Stratten says he is ranked as one of the top influencers in the world on Twitter, and that his clients’ viral videos have attracted over 60 million views collectively. The point is that even though he worked hard to position himself as a certain type of expert by using the tactics he teaches, the whole UnMarketing shtick, viewed from one direction, seems a little bit like coasting. It’s derivative, to be sure. And it goes without saying that, technically, UnMarketing is still marketing, with the endgame being to win new customers and persuade them to give you their money in exchange for the value you are providing.

However, notes Stratten, it is an utterly different kind of marketing than much of the old-school stuff. And it is that that old-school selling that really annoys Stratten; in fact he claims that he first came up with the UnMarketing concept because he was angry about the many ways that marketers continued to find ways to interrupt his life, particularly with cold-calling. In the UnMarketing book trailer produced by Wiley and viewable on Amazon, Stratten notes that more folks have signed up for the national Do Not Call list than have voted in the last three presidential elections. Those stats may or may not be accurate, but the point is well taken: there’s no denying that telemarketers have interrupted many a family dinner, and most people today do everything they can to block or ignore these pesky calls. The irony, notes Stratten, is that marketers have been and continue to be taught the same tactics that they themselves would probably hate having used on them. So much for engaging your customers!

The new marketing, Stratten explains, is all about abandoning the traditional “push and pay” tactics for a “pull and stay” strategy. Instead of aggressively and impersonally pushing your message out to everyone in the world (and paying out the nose for media advertising), it’s more effective to pull people into your world, and show up in theirs as appropriate – and really listen to what they’re saying. If you do it right, then not only will you influence people to give you their money, but you’ll also inspire them to spread the word about how wonderful you are. So not only are you not “pushing,” but you’re also getting exposure without “paying” – at least not as much as you might pay for traditional media advertising.

The point Stratten wants to drive home is that marketing happens every time you engage or fail to engage with your past, present, and potential customers. He writes, “UnMarketing also takes [marketing] a step further – it is any time someone talks about your company. Word of mouth is not a project or a viral marketing ploy. The mouths are already moving. You need to decide if you want to be a part of the conversation.” He might have added that you also need to decide how you want to participate.

And there’s the rub for business owners and managers who are inexperienced or uncomfortable with this type of engaging. You have to get used to the idea that UnMarketing involves actually showing up and listening to what people are talking about, and joining in the conversation in a natural and relaxed way. This means not overtly pushing your wares or services, but letting your true personality (and by extension the uniqueness of your brand) shine through via your contributions to the public discussion.

This means, says Stratten, that you really do have to show up. Using auto-followers and other types of ’bots just to increase your own Twitter following is not going to do the trick. When people ask you a question or make a comment to you on Twitter or any other social networking site, they want a response from you (or at least from a real human being you’ve entrusted to handle your social networking), which they are unlikely to get from a ’bot. Showing up is part of that new-marketing construct of being authentic – and while authentic is surely one of the more over-used and much-abused words in marketing circles these days, Stratten explains that it’s just another way of saying, “Be yourself.” Too much use of ’bots in your social networking, or for that matter auto-mailers and responders for your email list, will quickly brand you as a distinctly unauthentic type of marketer.

Stratten lists a hypothetical example, no doubt based real-life events, of a popular Internet marketing expert who’s delivering a keynote at a convention, at the very same moment that tweets allegedly made by the speaker appear on that person’s Twitter timeline. That’s pretty off-putting. It’s always better to use live humans for your social media engagements, and if you don’t have time to do it all yourself, then use people you trust to help out. Just don’t pretend to be the sole contributor to your social networking sites if you have other folks helping you. Transparency is another part of authenticity.

UnMarketing is composed of 56 very brief chapters, crafted for the short attention spans that are perhaps the result of too much time online. That’s not meant as in insult, since Stratten himself proudly says he has spent way too much time online; that’s kind of his stock-in-trade. After the Introduction, which gives a better idea than the jacket blurbs of what the book is about, it’s not even necessary to read the chapters in order, for Stratten hop-scotches from topic to topic. He covers do’s and don’ts for users of Twitter and other social networking sites, and discusses topics ranging from viral marketing to e-books to actual in-person customer interactions, injecting numerous brief but illustrative examples of the hits and misses of entrepreneurs (including himself), as well as those of businesses such as the online shoe retailer Zappos.com and Wal-Mart.

Much of the advice about using social media is available online and in other books on the topic, and the same could be said of the real-life case histories. Who doesn’t write about Zappos these days? But UnMarketing brings a lot of that information together in one easily digestible block, adding some original thoughts here and there and filtering it all through the lens of the author’s own personality and wit, which is surely a selling point for his fans. For the average business owner who doesn’t know much about social media and viral marketing, this is probably not the best introductory book about these topics, but there still may be some useful information. A big plus for the time-strapped entrepreneur is that the writing is fast-paced and the author’s sense of humor, including the self-deprecating kind, is apparent throughout.

So what’s not to love about this book? There are just a few things, beginning with the fact that it is of necessity somewhat superficial. In addition, it may overstate the importance of social networking. For that matter, the author is possibly playing too heavily on the whole meme of “new” marketing, when in fact some of the “old” marketing concepts and strategies are still valid and effectively used. Moreover, while Stratten’s irreverence is often amusing, it’s the sort of thing that sometimes wears a little thin. No doubt he’s an amusing speaker who has them rolling in the aisles at his live presentations, but in print, a little snark in a book such as this goes a long way. At times it almost seems as if he’s just popping in a bit of content between one-liners, or that he’s trying too hard to set up some of those one-liners. Even though many of the cleverness is in footnotes, they’re still somewhat distracting.

Then there is the obvious point, as with other online and social-media experts, that Stratten forged his own path to success by being – that’s right – a social media and viral marketing expert. In doing so he has earned almost a cult following, and it seems obvious that his advice works for him and for his type of business. Granted, he writes about other types of businesses in his book as well, but depending upon the kind of company you own or run, some of his social media strategies and other pointers might have limited applicability. Perhaps you don’t really need a worldwide Twitter following if you have a small local business that isn’t scalable. Furthermore, like most books about online marketing, the information in UnMarketing is volatile, and subject to change tomorrow or next week.

Stratten also tends to gloss over potential ethical issues that pop up with Internet marketing – for example, affiliate relationships. He notes that the Federal Trade Commission recently “caused a huge stir about” transparency matters with affiliates, the issue being that the affiliate link in a blog or online article is often masked. Writes Stratten, “The FTC says that you have to disclose on a blog if a link you display is an affiliate link. So it opens up the question – do you need to reveal this?” Umm…yes, Scott, it would appear that you do. On the other hand, Stratten is very clear about the inadvisability and shoddy ethics of popular tactics such as fake testimonials, or gaming the Amazon.com system just to be able to claim that your book is a bestseller.

Finally, UnMarketing could have benefited from more careful proofreading, as there are a few typos throughout, as well as grammatical glitches that presumably were not intentional.

Notwithstanding these limitations and mild annoyances, UnMarketing covers some crucial points that, while discussed repeatedly elsewhere on the Net, arguably carry more weight in book form. As indicated earlier, this book is not a social media primer, and it certainly is not a step-by-step how-to on social networking and Internet marketing. But it does have some useful information, not just about social media but also about the importance of being a resource and creating valuable and marketable content. As many marketers like to say these days, “Content is everything.” Stratten also shares tips on how to most effectively deliver this content via e-books, teleseminars, YouTube videos, and the like.

More than ten years ago, the witty and prescient authors of a book called The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual (Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger) declared: “Markets are conversations.” Although Cluetrain came out a few years before social media turned the marketing world on its head, the idea that markets are conversations – and that the Internet is the place where the important conversations are taking place – caught on like wildfire in some circles (and, of course, was repeated all over the Internet). Today, more than ever, markets are conversations, and vice versa. If Stratten’s book does nothing else, perhaps it will finally drive home the importance of these conversations to a few more business owners who might have been on the fence about the importance of engaging customers as more than organic ATMs. To Stratten, the bottom line – and the most important message in his book – is this: “If you believe business is built on relationships, make building them your business.” And that, in a nutshell, is what the whole process of UnMarketing is really about.

* UnMarketing is available in several print, audio, and digital formats.

Amazon link for hardcover print edition: http://www.amazon.com/UnMarketing-Stop-Marketing-Start-Engaging

For more information about Scott Stratten, see http://www.unmarketing.com/.

The author of this review was provided the book by Capital Access Network, Inc.  The views expressed represent those of the author and do not reflect those of Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. Any opinions and/or advice expressed by the author do not imply endorsement by Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries.

The Tipping Point: Business Book Club Review

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Business Book Reviews – for the Busy Business Owner

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference – By Malcolm Gladwell, Back Bay Books, 2002

Capsule review
Rating: 
Pluses: Engaging writing, with interesting stories to illustrate key points about how social epidemics begin and are spread. Contains enlightening lessons about how little – and seemingly minor – things can make a big difference.
Minuses: Somewhat repetitive; in part it seems like an essay that was artificially elongated into a book. Limited applicability to most businesses today, particularly since it was written before the great Social Media Revolution.

Details: More than ten years ago, Canadian journalist Malcolm Gladwell burst onto the bestsellers scene with The Tipping Point, a now classic work of contemporary pop sociology. At the time the book was first published he had been a staff writer at The New Yorker for a few years (a position he still holds), and prior to that had been a Washington Post reporter whose beats were business and science. Suddenly this wild-haired creative thinker, obsessive researcher and consummate storyteller was everyone’s darling, and the term “tipping point” quickly became part of the lexicon. It was co-opted by everyone from pundits to politicians and marketers to ministers. In 2005 Gladwell was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential thinkers. Not content to rest on his laurels, he has produced several subsequent works, Blink, Outliers, and What The Dog Saw. But The Tipping Point is arguably his most influential work to date, and if you are one of the handful of people who haven’t read it yet, you owe it to yourself to do so, at least to see what all the fuss has been about for the past twelve years.

The Tipping Point is compelling because of the author’s style, his penchant for meticulous research that includes interviews with subjects of his story, and, above all, his widely praised ability to connect dots in ways that most of us would never have dreamed of doing. You may not agree with the way he connects those dots, but the results are interesting nevertheless. And he is always looking not just for the story behind the story, but the unlikely story behind that, and the oddball ways that multiple stories are interconnected. Or as Gladwell himself put it in a 2006 interview for the APS (Association for Psychological Science) Observer, “I have two parallel things I’m interested in. One is, I’m interested in collecting interesting stories, and the other is I’m interested in collecting interesting research. What I’m looking for is cases where they overlap.” 

And overlap they do in The Tipping Point, which is all about the development and spread of epidemics – not necessarily disease epidemics (though Gladwell does discuss HIV/AIDS and syphilis), but social “epidemics” such as ideas, behavior, or trends. Fashion trends, crime waves, and behavioral patterns such as smoking can all be viewed as epidemics, explains Gladwell. The “tipping point” is the moment at which an idea or trend or behavior “tips” and begins spreading like wildfire. 

Gladwell posits that we can make sense of epidemics by understanding what he calls the three rules of the tipping point: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. The Law of the Few refers to the fact that it only takes a few early adopters to start an epidemic, but they have to be special types of people. The three types Gladwell discusses are Connectors (those who have an uncanny knack for connecting the right people at the right time), Mavens (highly credible experts), and Salesmen (masters of persuasion). But even these special people aren’t enough to really make something into an epidemic. The Stickiness Factor, which is just what it sounds like – something that makes the idea or behavior or fashion “stick” – has to come into play as well. And then there’s that third crucial factor: Context, which includes factors such as the physical environment as well as the social, political, and economic climate. 

The author uses several chapters to explain these three laws, sharing numerous examples along the way, and then he elaborates with case studies in subsequent chapters. He discusses everything from crime waves in New York City to teen suicide in Micronesia to school shootings, as well as the marketing sagas of numerous well-known brands. It all adds up to a quick and entertaining read. 

There are a few shortcomings, as there usually are in pop-sociology bestsellers. We’ll leave it to the sociologists, psychologists, statisticians, and precocious undergrads to counter the finer points of Gladwell’s arguments, and quite a few have done so. But this review is from the standpoint of the average lay reader/business owner. Gladwell has a tendency to belabor some points and to be a little repetitive. At times The Tipping Point seems like an essay that was artificially elongated. Indeed, Gladwell is an essay writer, and that is the literary form at which he excels. Moreover, at the time The Tipping Point came out, the Internet was pretty firmly entrenched in the cultural landscape and had already begun transforming the way business is done. However, the great Social Media Revolution had not yet hit, so of necessity there are some significant gaps in The Tipping Point. From the standpoint of reading enjoyment, this will probably not be a deal-killer for most people, because many basic points are still relevant, and some can perhaps be applied to a social media marketing campaign. But the net result is that parts of the book may not be quite as pertinent to businesses today as they were even a few years ago. 

In any case, it’s best to read The Tipping Point for its infotainment value, and take what lessons you will. It’s not a how-to guide on creating buzz for your business, or how to change the world if your aspirations go in that direction, but it isn’t intended to be. Perhaps some readers who panned the book on these points fell prey to some of the hype about how The Tipping Point would not only change the way we look at world, but would also revolutionize business and society. It’s certainly not the first work to suffer from The Next Great Thing Syndrome, or to fail to deliver on promises that were made about it but not actually issued by the author. On its own merits, and despite any shortcomings, The Tipping Point is still an enjoyable read by a likeable author, and it just might provide some little glimmers of inspiration here and there to help you shape your own marketing and promotional strategies. 

* The Tipping Point was first published in 2000; the edition reviewed here is the trade paperback edition, which was published in 2002 and includes an Afterword by the author called, “Tipping Point Lessons from the Real World.” The work is available in several print, audio, and digital formats. 

Amazon link for trade paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624

For more information about Malcolm Gladwell, see http://www.malcomgladwell.com/. 

The author of this review was provided the book by Capital Access Network, Inc.  The views expressed represent those of the author and do not reflect those of Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. Any opinions and/or advice expressed by the author do not imply endorsement by Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries.

Psychopaths in Power

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Recently, I read and reviewed The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson. It left me pondering the question – what about psychopaths in positions of power, the senior management psychopaths? What are the traits of those who make it to the top? Research shows that most corporate mergers don’t prove to be lucrative for the company, as costs typically outweigh benefits. So why do CEOs persist with merger-mania? A study conducted at Columbia University found that the greater the media profile of a CEO, the higher the premium he/she is willing to pay to be the biggest, to become their rivals boss only to watch them squirm and then summarily give them the boot.

As more and more CEOs fall from grace and lose their power, it seems that more of their impropriety comes to light. One reporter related the tale of WorldCom’s CEO Bernie Ebbers – who poured a drink over an employee while taking him to task over being fat and sedentary. This while in a meeting regarding the company’s health insurance plan.

“They use superficial charm, manipulation, intimidation, and violence to control others and satisfy their own selfish needs… They lack conscience and feelings for others, take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest guilt or regret.”

So says Professor Robert Hare, who developed the PCL-R used to diagnose cases of psychopathy, and basis for the book “The Psychopath Test”. He wasn’t describing a typical CEO in the above passage, but a so-called “typical” psychopath. Professor Hare is considered one of the world’s foremost experts in the study of psychopathy – and perhaps an inadvertent expert on modern, corporate psychopaths. Once when questioned, he said that if he could not have secured access to prisons for his research, he would have tried a stock exchange.

Dr. Paul Babiak, an organizational psychologist based in New York, NY believes psychopaths are thriving in the modern business climate. The controlled chaos that is typical of today’s rapidly growing, downsizing, and merging companies is the ideal environment for the psychopath to thrive and attain success.

What’s astonishing and disturbing to consider, is the fact that we may be grooming these individuals. Science holds that psychopaths in the broadest sense are to some degree born with a certain series of traits, and cannot be cured or even improved through any means. A study conducted by the Aspen Institute looked at the attitudes of MBA students to business and society, at three separate stages: before beginning their course of study, at the halfway point, and then at graduation.

The results provided that students’ sense of social responsibility decreases as they progress through their studies. For example, when they begin their degree, more than 40% say that one of the primary responsibilities of a company is to produce useful, high-quality goods and services. But, by the end of their program only around 30% maintain this belief – and this could be a problem for the future of business.

A psychopath can be loosely defined as a sort of social predator. Someone who will at times slyly manipulate and/or plow their way roughshod through life, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. They are given to the most despicable levels of selfishness, and they take what they want, and do as they please, without remorse.

Psychopaths are found at every level and strata of society, and there is in fact, a reasonable chance that you or I will at some point, cross paths with a person who fits the definition, and mold. The overwhelming majority of them move among us every day, woven deeply into the fabric of society. An astonishing body of research conducted over the last 15 or so years has emerged, and it concludes that full or partial psychopathy is probably more prevalent than almost anyone realizes – one in 25 in the United States, with a drastic upswing among those in positions of leadership.

A list of traits that actually expounds a bit upon the list found in The Psychopath Test is as follows:

  • Glib and superficial charm
  • Grandiose sense of self-worth; narcissism; seeing oneself as the center of the universe
  • Obsessive focus on self-advancement with no concern for others other than as stepping stones
  • No self-censure or inhibitions regarding methods of advancement
  • Need for constant action and stimulation
  • Lying as an art form, a fine-tuned source of pride
  • Targeting and manipulating those who are weak and/or gullible
  • Working to have people they do not love, fall in love with them
  • Highly skilled at faking emotions such as love, sincerity and regret
  • Performing acts of charity or good deeds solely as a means of advancement
  • Absolute ruthlessness
  • Relishing the power to coldly and abruptly end relationships
  • Acts of revenge are savored, and sought out once spurned
  • Taking delight in firing (sacking) or ruining people – e.g. the professional “terminators” who are contracted into highly profitable companies during periods of downsizing
  • Pleasure in the abuse and literal torture of living creatures
  • Regularly humiliating others physically, verbally, emotionally, psychologically or sexually
  • Denigrating one’s own child or mate/partner
  • Callousness: lack of empathy or compassion
  • Inability to experience feelings of guilt or remorse
  • Feelings of regret only at being caught, embarrassed, or punished
  • Underestimation of their own anger
  • No sense of responsibility for their own actions
  • Parasitic lifestyle
  • Seemingly inhuman levels of courage and criminal talent

Despite drastic differences from culture to culture, in societies around the world, many citizens describe their political leaders in less than flattering terms, and regard them with feelings of anger, resentment, and oftentimes contempt.

One well-known example of a very real and charismatic psychopath in a position of power is Idi Amin, who bestowed upon himself the title: “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji, Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular”.  Amnesty International estimates that the former Ugandan president killed 500,000 fellow citizens – often dispatching them through hideous means, such as feeding them to crocodiles.

How many bosses, politicians, CEOs and other powerful figures such a military and police possess psychopathic traits and tendencies in large enough measure that they might be considered an outright psychopath? The answer is – it’s impossible to know.

The views expressed represent those of the author and do not reflect those of Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. Any opinions and/or advice expressed by the author do not imply endorsement by Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries.

The Googlization of Everything – Business Book Club Review

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The Googlization of Everything (and Why We Should Worry) by Siva Vaidhyanathan, University of California Press, 2011

The Googlization of Everything (and Why We Should Worry) is the second book I’ve recently read and reviewed on the subject of Google. The first was In the Plex by Steven Levy.

The Googlization of EverythingThis book, in my opinion, stands to polarize its readers and perhaps cause some to close ranks and take sides. For even though at first blush, it seems a reasonable, scholarly volume, in actuality, it is a rather brilliantly-fashioned wakeup call.

Siva Vaidhyanathan, the author, is Professor of Media Studies and Law at the University of Virginia. He is also unfailingly articulate, and the author of two other cautionary tales – Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity; and The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash Between Freedom and Control Is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System. Clever, yes? The titles should provide insight into his point of view from inside the storm of information that swirls around us constantly.

Now I’ll ask you to take a moment and reflect on the pervasive role of Google in your life – as this is what the author prompts us to do at a comfortable distance into the book. The web is “there” – it comprises a huge portion of our modern reality, and has been growing exponentially, and in defiance of quantification, since around 1994 for most people. Factor in blogs, YouTube, Facebook, and your fill-in-the-blank choices for social media, and it has become a massive, multifaceted mirror. Further factor in The Cloud – and you may end up with your mind just a little bit blown.

Regardless of what your individual ideas are upon the above reflection, there can surely be no doubt that every territory – even the fourth dimensional sort – requires a point of entry, and a map. Vaidhyanathan asserts and establishes that Google has become that map – the ultimate meta-map juiced up on speed, if you will.

Furthermore, Google is a dauntingly efficient, self-expanding map – improving efficacy each time someone uses it; a map that retains and employs specific knowledge about each individual, and possesses awareness of search patterns in the minds of the untold numbers who use it as their entrée to the web.

Furthermore still, Google owns its own version of the worldwide web, copied and cached onto its servers, to provide answers to your queries in ever more refined, and expeditious degrees. Google’s web is focused on building a self-fulfilling, uniquely understanding relationship with you, and each time you use it, it’s doing exactly that.

Our lives are hectic, and anything that can streamline and simplify our daily work and private routines is to be embraced and appreciated, right? Professor Vaidhyanathan thinks not. He offers that by “taking a mess and putting it into order”, and insisting it does no evil, Google obtains power predicated on our habits and complacency, the way we turn to it by default. The book poses rhetorically “Who are you to Google?” are you the sum total of your shopping preferences, and web surfing habits? Each time you search for hand car washes within your zip code, or purchase new Louboutin heels, you’re relinquishing a fraction of your privacy, and Google gains another “data point” to fuel its functionality.

The author provides an adroit analysis of the rather disturbing fashion in which Google has altered our version of the “public sphere” – the concept of a realm of daily life, which has its classic roots in real-time, face-to-face interactions, the art of conversation and discussion of the issues of the day. He reminds us that there was a time when culture was enriched through an intermingling of persons, and importantly, through their literature.

With which idea the author brings us to the recent legal halt of Google’s digitization blitz. Should we entrust our heritage and collective knowledge to a company that’s been around for less than thirteen years? Vaidhyanathan says no, and adds his voice to that of other academics who are calling for a Digital Public Library – an organization for the new information age, beholden to no single corporation.

It’s doubtless unwise to accede to the final dissolution of the public sphere on Google’s terms.

*As of this writing “The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry”) is also available on Amazon in Kindle edition with audio/video, and Audible Audio.

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Googlization-Everything-Why-Should-Worry/dp/0520258827

For more information about “The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry”) and Siva Vaidhyanathan visit http://www.googlizationofeverything.com/

Based on this review, would you read this book?

The views expressed represent those of the author and do not reflect those of Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. Any opinions and/or advice expressed by the author do not imply endorsement by Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries.