Wellington City Libraries’ Business Blog

The challenger sale : taking control of the customer conversation / Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson.“This book comes very highly touted, especially by Neil Rackham himself, who calls it “the most important advance in selling for many years.”I personally don’t think it reaches quite that level, but overall it is an excellent book, with provocative insights and useful information for salespeople looking for ways to break out of the pack….The key to a really good book is that it makes you say, “I never thought of that before,” and to use that insight to improve your life in some way. Interestingly, that’s also the key to a really good salesperson, as well….The book is based on extensive research by the Sales Executive Council into the attributes of successful sales professionals. They found that salespeople tend to cluster into five different types, based on their behaviors: Hard Workers, Challengers, Relationship Builders, Lone Wolves, and Reactive Problem Solvers. Research is great when it generates new and unexpected insights, and three are central to the book.” (Amazon reviewer)

Entrepreneur : how to start an online business / Lucy Tobin.
“An invaluable opportunity for those serious about starting an online business …With 3 books to her name Lucy Tobin is a successful entrepreneur in her own right, evident in the well informed narrative and conclusions in Entrepreneur. This book is an invaluable opportunity for those serious about starting an online business to read a well written account of others’ successes and learn from Lucy’s thoughts and ideas.” (Amazon UK)

Webs of influence : the psychology of online persuasion : the secret strategies that make us click / Nathalie Nahai.“A fascinating book which applies findings from the new `behavioural sciences’ to understanding the new frontier of the web. There is an absolute wealth of thought-providing ideas here, across a range of areas, including cultural differences, sensory marketing, the psychology of communication and influence, what the new behaviour sciences tell us about decision-making, and the psychology of colour and aesthetics (including some examples from eye-tracking studies of how people view websites). The book also contains loads of case studies, which bring to life the ideas discussed. It’s extremely well designed, with great use of colour, images and info-graphics throughout. All those who have been waiting for a comprehensive book on the psychology of web-design will leap on `webs of influence’!” (Amazon UK)

Etsy-preneurship : everything you need to know to turn your handmade hobby into a thriving business / Jason Malinak.
This book will help you make the jump from enjoying your handmade/craft/art hobby to running a profitable business.”Etsy-preneurship” offers step-by-step advice on what it takes to bring in extra income or even one day run a full-time business on EtsyOutlines the basic business skills and knowledge you need to run a business on Etsy Explains how Etsy makes entrepreneurship attainable for everyone.

Online reputation management for dummies / by Lori Randall Stradtman.“Not Just For Dummies,…Don’t let the title fool for you. Even someone like myself, who knows the subject learned lots of great new stuff from this book. Comprehensive and informative it is loaded with countless tips from how to find out what people are saying about you to researching SEO words. The author writes in user friendly language making it easy to follow her step by step guides…I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to better control their online reputation.” (Amazon Reviewer)

Management stripped bare : what they don’t teach you at business school / Jo Owen.“At last: a management book with genuine wit….Management Stripped Bare succeeds where so many management books fail. Jo Owen avoids the preaching and pseudo-science common to his genre, providing instead a wonderfully engaging and humorous account of the business world. With the use of case studies, he separates the true from the merely seemingly true, providing useful tips gleaned from his own considerable experience. Management Stripped Bare contains all that I wished that I had known before presenting to CEOs!” (Amazon UK)

From Deloitte’s comes this pithy concise article about the importance for organisations of innovation. A Great read

Although this article by Jeremy Grantham in the GMO Quarterly Newsletter of November 2012 is based on the U.S. economy, it is very relevant globally. It discusses demographics, productivity in the service and manufacturing sectors. Well worth a read.

From Ernst & Young comes this recently published 2012 report Paradigm shift: Building a new talent management model to boost growth. The report comes out of a survey of a global talent management survey and shows very clearly that there is a gap between expectations and reality. “Our survey findings suggest that overall, organizations have not progressed enough in talent development to be competitive in the near future.”
The highlights from the survey are listed first then followed by separate chapters addressing the issues of:
Challenge 1: Corporate workforces are becoming more global,
but talent management is not keeping pace……………………………
Challenge 2: Companies struggle to invest strategically
in talent management………………………………………………………..
Challenge 3: Measuring the effectiveness of talent management
remains a challenge
Challenge 4: The skills and competencies required by future
business leaders are changing
Challenge 5: Companies lack robust succession plans to identify
the next generation of leaders……………………………………………
Business implications and responses…

What matters now : how to win in a world of relentless change, ferocious competition, and unstoppable innovation / Gary Hamel.
“Critical insight from the man Fortune called “the world’s leading expert on business strategy”About the only thing a leader can be sure of is that what worked yesterday is unlikely to work today, let alone tomorrow. Never before have businesses faced a more fractured, contentious and dynamic environment. If ever there was a need for fundamentally new thinking about values, competition, leadership, organization talent, and how these things are directly tied to management, it is now. Gary Hamel lays out an essential agenda in a world where old nostrums aren’t merely useless, but downright toxic. Contains more than 25 standalone chapters in six sections that are brutally honest and tackle critical management and leadership challenges head-on Explains how to move from defense to offense, reverse the tide of commoditization, and outrun change Tackles how to effectively hack management, capture the moral high ground, and foster extraordinary contribution Written by one of the world’s most prescient management experts and the acclaimed author of The Future of Management Concise and to the point, What Matters Now will inspire leaders to rethink their business, their management, and how they lead”– Provided by publisher.

Ethics of big data / Kord Davis with Doug Patterson.
“An important, timely and useful book”…What do ethics and big data have in common? The truth is they ought to get together more often. As companies continue to blunder their way through one data crisis after another, they need an approach to working through the hard questions about how they buy and sell, aggregate, use and handle customer data. There is no blanket answer or policy that will be right for all organizations; this book does not say what is good and evil- but it describes a practical approach to creating clarity through ethical inquiry…. It’s a smart read for anyone who deals in customer data, but will be valuable for anyone who wants to understand how to fully use a technology in a way that’s true to individual, organizational, and community values.” (Syndetics summary)

Cope with change at work / Sue Stockdale and Clive Steeper.“I found this book a useful companion and refresher to `all things’ change. It provided many useful models and examples highlighting key learning points. I was especially interested in how so many of the techniques could be used equally successfully in private life outside work, especially for encouraging small children more positively.
The book sets itself an ambitious target of equipping the reader to deal with any change the world hurls at us, and delivers 100%. Essential reading material for anyone in a modern office working environment..
With `change’ being the new `normal’, we all have to accept and cope with change. The book challenges the reader to take control, sets out the tools and techniques on which to build our change strategies that will accelerate our successful journey through change.
HR Managers should improve the chances of successful change by handing out copies of this book in advance of organisational change rather than dealing with a more costly unprepared aftermath”. (Amazon UK reviewer)

Leading the way : seven skills to engage, inspire and motivate / Andrew Leigh and Michael Maynard.“Practical ideas for today’s leadership issues…This is a useful new handbook full of practical advice for 21st Century leaders. Its central leadership model of 7 I’s (Individuality, Insight, Initiate, Innovate, Inspire, Improvise, Implement) is memorable and is sure to strike a chord in many workplaces.
The style of the book is clear and direct. Each chapter has lots of common sense checklists and ‘Ideas for Action’ and each ends with a ‘Twitter summary’ in 140 characters or less for those without the time to read more. Highly recommended” (Amazon UK reviewer)

Greenwash : big brands and carbon scams / Guy Pearse.
“Going green is the new black for big business. But how real is the climate-friendly revolution that’s being advertised? Toyota reckons Mother Nature drives a Prius, Ford wants us to ‘Join the Green Revolution’, and McDonald’s has painted its famous golden arches green. Facebook has even ‘friended’ Greenpeace. But are big brands and the celebrities endorsing them really as green as they claim? In Greenwash, in the tradition of Fast Food Nation and No Logo, Guy Pearse looks behind the corporate façade – and what he finds will startle you. Nothing is sacred and no one is safe from scrutiny in this exposé of carbon scams: not the Prius or the Nissan LEAF, not the World Wildlife Fund or Earth Hour, not Oprah or Leonardo DiCaprio. For consumers trying to shop the planet green, Greenwash is a wake-up call. It’s also an entertaining and practical book that helps consumers to pick the truly green businesses from the greenwashers and to demand a higher environmental standard from all. Praise: ‘Guy Pearse’s welcome book reveals the difficulty of judging the benefits and real environmental costs of the way we live.’-David Suzuki” (Amazon UK Book description)

Vested : how P&G, McDonald’s, and Microsoft are redefining winning in business relationships / Kate Vitasek and Karl Manrodt with Jeanne Kling.“Excellent Examples of Collaborative Relationships….Vested gives real examples of how companies can work as “we’ to achieve success. My takeaway, Vested thinking and methodology unlocks the power of innovation to drive value and transform relationships. So many of us give lip service to “win-win” relationships yet we act in our own self-interest, it is refreshing to see companies in Vested relationships who truly live “win-win” where winning is mutual-success…”(Amazon reviewer)

This indepth Australian white paper provides very interesting reading. Since Australia is our nearest neighbour and our biggest trading partner, it will provide much food for thought. The paper can be downloaded as separate chapters, if wished. Chapters 2 and 7 may provide most interest. Chapter 2 looks at the future of Asia to 2025 and Chapter 7 at “Operating in and connecting to growing Asian markets”.

From the Rockefeller Foundation a new article which discusses how companies innovate. It is only a short item, but it outlines the three organizational elements necessary for a company to innovate and then follows it up with an outline of three activities which innovative companies carry out.
Short and to the point!

This September 2012 report published by Awareness, a social marketing software company was based on “The Social Economy: Unlocking Value and Productivity through Social Technologies”, the July 2012 by the McKinsey Global Institute. The September report “surveyed 469 marketers from wide varieties of industries, company sizes and levels of social marketing expertise.” The report came up with 7 Key points:

There was a “Misalignment Between Business Objectives, Measurement Methodologies and Social Marketing Investment
50% of respondents were looking for tighter integration of all their marketing methods
Social Marketers Are Starting to Measure What Matters
Marketers Are Yet to Tap into the True Potential of Social
Social Marketing Budgets and Resources Quite Insufficient to Drive Value.
The Top Social Platforms were still Facebook, Twitter and Linked in
22% of respondents were looking to outsource social media measurement”

These key points were elaborated on in much more detail, so this is a really useful report for NZ businesses/organisations to read.

The launch pad : inside Y Combinator, Silicon Valley’s most exclusive school for startups / Randall Stross.“The author…spent the summer of 2011 with the 64 start-ups funded by Y combinator and recorded what happens. It is three month uber intensive (selective 3% of applicants get in) program ending in a marathon Demo Day in front of several hundred qualified investors. The book has similarities to Tracey Kidders 1981 classic , The Soul of New Machine, in that all the covers are off and you get to look right into how it is done – warts and all. This makes this a new classic. Y Combinator is really Paul Graham the founder, and his core of follow on investors who put up $150 00 for every company that demos. ” (Amazon reviewer)

All business is local : why place matters more than ever in a global, virtual world / John A. Quelch and Katherine E. Jocz.
“In this timely new book, Quelch, dean of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), and Jocz, a research associate at Harvard Business School, examine the importance of place to the practice of marketing, particularly at the local level. According to the authors, when marketers try to expand brands to achieve a leading global share, they run the risk of being upstaged by local competitors and upstart entrepreneurs. The solution, they suggest, is to strategically use the concept of place, which determines how consumers interact with a product and influences their choice of brands. They examine the primary types of place from the psychological and physical to the virtual and global, showing how place is critical to nearly every marketing planning decision and why it must never be an afterthought. Using examples from Real Madrid to L’eggs, they advocate putting forth a new focus on local that treats market areas as places defined by social interrelationships and sets of common tastes and values. Full of wise counsel on how to approach brand extension from the perspective of place, the advice will be invaluable for marketers devising future strategies. Agent: Jacqueline Murphy, Inkwell Management. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved” (Publisher Weekly)

“Three simple steps : a map to success in business and life / [Trevor Blake].
“First-time author Blake boasts an impressive set of accomplishments: overcoming a dirt poor, hardscrabble existence in Wales to be selected for the Royal Navy, and jettisoning a corporate career to bootstrap a business which he eventually sold for more than $100 million-during a recession, no less. Unlike many entrepreneurs or masters of the universe, Blake maintains that his success was not merely the result of intelligence, hard work, or even being in the right place at the right time; rather, he attributes his successes to three basic ideas which he identified and incorporated into his life after studying the biographies of self-made millionaires and other inspiring people. Blake expounds on these three characteristics: changing or reclaiming your mentality, creating moments of insight, and turning ideas into new experiences through intention. Jumping freely from anecdotes about the author, his family, and various entrepreneurs to various unscientific theories of mind control, the book is unlikely to appeal to readers who prefer logical formulas. However, for those who buy the concepts of positive thinking, meditation, and intentionality, this is an inspirational and thought-provoking read about how control over your mind and thoughts can yield a more fulfilling life. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved” (Publisher Weekly)

Life’s a pitch : what the world’s best sales people can teach us all / Philip Delves Broughton.“Sales and selling has a mixed reputation – we admire entrepreneurs who build businesses from nothing but we distain ’salesmen’ seeing them as pushy, ‘don’t take no for an answer’ cold callers and doorsteppers trying to get you to buy something you don’t want and don’t need.What this book reveals is the best salespeople are interested in other people’s motivations, wants and needs before than their own. Revealing the psychology of why we buy and how we buy and showing how salespeople build relationships over time (from the two minute infomercial to the five year conversion), the world’s best sales people tell their stories – and Philip Delves Broughton keeps the pace lively and the reader’s interest piqued. An excellent book that I romped through and will no doubt read again. It’s a rallying cry in support of stella sales people.” (Amazon UK reviewer)

Build a business from your kitchen table / Sophie Cornish and Holly Tucker with Jessica Fellowes.
” Even if you’ve been running a business for years, this book is a useful guide with current day tips, references and information. It was interesting to know a bit of background about the authors – people like me with families to raise and bills to pay. I loved their “you’ll be sorry” box – a great motivator if you’re competitively inclined (which you have to be to build a business!). Even if you don’t reach the heights that the Not on The High Street crew have/will hit, it’s still an excellent guidebook on what is important to keep an eye on as a business owner. And if you’re just starting up, it’s an invaluable companion. As I keep giving them to friends who are thinking of starting up, I am on my third copy and hoping to hold onto this one!” (Amazon UK reviewer)

The art of the sale : learning from the masters about the business of life / Philip Delves Broughton.
“Unlike books that teach marketing principles and how to sell, this one focuses on the art rather than the science of selling. It’s a loosely structured compilation of stories of how a variety of people in diverse industries, of various cultures, and with different educational backgrounds get customers to buy. Readers can learn proven sales techniques employed by some of the world’s best salespeople, like the successful, self-taught Moroccan merchant Magid, who listens well and uses patience and psychology to assess customers and their motivations in order to close a sale. The message is this: there is no one right way to sell. From famous international infomercial pitchman Tony Sullivan, to Mrs. Shibata (top insurance salesperson at Japan’s Dai-ichi Life), to the popular Dale Carnegie, to the unconventional sales trainer Jeffrey Gitomer, their unique personal styles and techniques are effective. Given that sales are such a vital function of business, Broughton highlights the absence of sales curricula at business schools and makes the case that sales education should be included in academia.–Kryszak, Cindy Copyright 2010 BooklistFrom Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.” (Booklist)

Running lean : iterate from plan A to a plan that works / Ash Maurya.“Perfect balance of theory and practice…This book has a great balance of theory and practice. It’s a very useful starting point for would-be entrepreneurs (or intra-preneurs trying to innovate at an established company). As others mention, this book inherits the principles outlined by Eric Ries, Steve Blank, and the Business Model Canvas. Great synthesis and expansion of the source materials and a solid contribution on top of that. ” (Amazon reviewer)

Visual teams : graphic tools for commitment, innovation, & high performance / David Sibbet.““Making Teams MORE than the Sum of their Parts….
I’ve spent more than 30 years working with teams and facilitating meetings. Graphic tools from David Sibbet and his colleagues are my GO TO resources and I’m thrilled to have so many available between two covers in this book. Using these strategies helps you get teams on the same page – literally – by making critical processes explicit and visible to the members. These days everyone is talking about engagement. VISUAL TEAMS is packed with frameworks, illustrations and HOW TOs that you can use to take engagement out of the conceptual realm and into action. Better yet, it’s accessible so that people at all levels of organizations can pick it up and use it to make a difference in their team’s performance. Lisa Kimball, President, Plexus Institute” (Amazon reviewer)

The power of presence : unlock your potential to influence and engage others / Kristi Hedges
“According to executive coach Hedges, having a stronger presence, or charisma, can transform an average person into a leader who can create and communicate a vision for others. Hedges sets forth the I-Presence model (Intentional, Individual, and Inspirational) to help readers create a persuasive and powerful self. Through exercises, readers are taught to battle negativity by developing a pregame ritual, establish trust through being reliable and credible, and inspire others by focusing on solutions instead of problems. Hedges also shares suggestions for making presentations and leading meetings, for instance, to think from the listener’s point view and to share only visions that are active and alive. Above all, she advises readers to pay attention, maintain a sense of humor, go easy on themselves, and look people in the eye.