Tag Archives: Reality Check
Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki, and the Hidden Power of Story – Coming for the May First Friday Book Synopsis
We had a wonderful session for the April First Friday Book Synopsis, with presentations of Practically Radical and Change the Culture, Change the Game. Those synopses, with audio + handout, will soon be available on our companion web site, 15minutebusinessbooks.com.
For May, we have chosen two terrific business best-sellers.
I will present my synopsis of Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki. This will be the third book I’ve presented by Guy Kawasaki, so you can tell I am a big fan. The earlier two books were The Art of the Start (which is an ideal read for anyone starting – starting a new job, a new major project… starting anything important). And later, I presented Reality Check. Enchantment is the first book that I have read “early” in quite a while. I’ve blogged about it a time or two already. You can read the review by Bob Morris of this fine book on our blog here. He ends his review this way:
If asked to recommend one book that should be read by anyone now preparing for a business career or who has only recently embarked on one, I would suggest two: Reality Check and Enchantment.
Karl will present the best-seller Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story by Peter Guber. This book is getting a lot of buzz, and reminds us that story is at the heart of all good communication.
If you are near the DFW area on May 6, I hope you can join us for the May First Friday Book Synopsis – 7:00 am, at the wonderful and beautiful Park City Club.
(Click for full size view). Here's the flier with all of the details.
You Can Purchase Our Book Synopsis Presentations – Subscription Plan Now Available
Let me take a moment for a “commercial.” This blog is a place to learn information, a place to be challenged, a place to think about ideas for effective business ideas and strategies. But occasionally, I would like to share a little about what we do.
Karl Krayer and I have spoken monthly at the First Friday Book Synopsis for over 12 years. We are book readers, thinkers, consultants. We also offer training in a number of areas: writing skills, presentation skills, leadership, time and energy management, among others. (Read our bios here).
In addition, we provide book synopsis/book briefing presentations to companies and organizations. You can choose from any of the books we have presented, or we can custom prepare any book for your organization.
To contact us for any of these programs, visit our web site here, or send me an e-mail: . Contact us, and Karl Krayer or I will get back to you.
We have recently upgraded our companion website, 15minutebusinessbooks.com. We have been “behind,” but we are catching up with the synopses of many of the books we have presented at the First Friday Book Synopsis. For example, we have just uploaded our presentations of these books:
Drive
Free
Panic
Reality Check
The New Experts
Linchpin
The Post American World
10-10-10
Maestro
Others are on the way soon. And from this point forward, we should have the two books from the most recent First Friday Book Synopsis within a couple of weeks after each event.
Note: it is important to read the faq’s before you make your first purchase. These address many of your questions (read the faq’s here). Each presentation comes with the handout plus the audio of our presentation. The handout is intended to be used with the audio. The vast majority of the recordings are from our presentations at the First Friday Book Synopsis, but not all.
Some people purchase these, and listen on their own (in their car; in their iPod/MP3 while they exercise). Others listen, following along with the handout. (This is probably the way to get the most out of each presentations).
And we have some who play the audio for a group, then lead a discussion of the implications and applications. Great idea!
You can purchase at two price points: $9.99 per synopsis, or a yearly subscription, with full access to all of the archives plus the 24 new presentations a year. A bargain!
Browse titles with the catalog, and make individual synopsis purchases, here.
Sign up for the annual subscription, get instant and full access to all the presentations already up on the web site, and access all new presentations for the next 12 months, here.
I hope you will give our services a try. Either bring us into your company or organization, or purchase our book synopsis presentations through our web site. These will provide valuable content and useful help as you build your future.
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Note: Karl Krayer and I work together in Creative Communication Network. In addition, we have blogging team members who work independently..
Our blogging team partner, Bob Morris, is available as a consultant. He is an invaluable resource for an array of business issues and problems. He is also a master interviewer (just browse through his interviews!), and can provide custom interviews to fit the needs of your company or organization. You can contact Bob directly at .
And our other blogging team partners, Cheryl Jensen and Sara Smith of C&S Knowledge Company provide valuable services. Visit their web site here, where you can also find their contact information.
Coming Soon from Guy Kawasaki: The Art of Enchantment: How to Woo, Influence, and Persuade.
OK – Now we have an outline/complete table of contents (in process) of a new book, on-line, from a terrific author, before it is fully finished, before it is available for sale, asking for input from the entire universe.
It is from Guy Kawasaki, and I have presented two of his previous books, The Art of the Start and Reality Check {Bob Morris’ choice for the best business book of 2008) at the First Friday Book Synopsis. (My synopsis for The Art of the Start is available for purchase on our companion website, 15minutebusinessbooks.com). The book title:
The Art of Enchantment: How to Woo, Influence, and Persuade.
Read the current version of the table of contents here.
This is impressive!
My personal “Bests” — from business books I presented in 2009
In 2009, I presented twelve book synopses at the First Friday Book Synopsis (as I do every year). At the bottom of this post, I list the books by month. (Remember, my colleague Karl Krayer presented a different book each month).
Here are a few “bests” — my selections — re. the books from the year:
• Best theme for the year:
• It takes passion, deliberate practice, and 10,000 hours of effort, to get really, really world-class good at something. The three books with the details and the motivation are:
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell.
• Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin.
• The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything
by Ken Robinson.
• Most enjoyable/engaging books to read
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell.
• The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson.
• Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition by Guy Kawasaki.
• Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity by Michael Lewis (Editor). (The chapter by Dave Barry on buying a house is absolutely laugh-out-loud funny!)
• SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. It is worth reading just for the parable of the horse manure.
• Most practical business read…
• Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition by Guy Kawasaki. This one is worth keeping and re-reading for its practical advice.
Were there any books that I could have just skipped? I think I gained value from all twelve, although I do think the Suzy Welch book, 10 10 10, though worth reading, could have been nearly as effective as an essay.
Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers
• The best book I presented this year…
And now – if you made me choose only one, and that was the only one I could read for the year – the year’s “best” – I think I go with Outliers. But I would be unhappy at having to choose only one.
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Here are Randy’s presentations from the First Friday Book Synopsis in 2009.
January, 2009:
Outliers: The Story of Success
by Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown and Company (November 18, 2008).
February, 2009
Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition
by Guy Kawasaki
Portfolio Hardcover (October 30, 2008).
March, 2009:
Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
by Geoff Colvin (Author)
Portfolio Hardcover; 1 edition (October 16, 2008)
April, 2009:
Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity
by Michael Lewis (Editor). W.W. Norton & Co. (November 17, 2008).
May, 2009:
The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything
by Ph.D., Ken Robinson. Viking Adult. (January 8, 2009)
June, 2009:
10-10-10: A Life-Transforming Idea by Suzy Welch. Scribner (April 14, 2009).
July, 2009:
The Genius Machine: The Eleven Steps That Turn Raw Ideas into Brilliance by Gerald Sindell. by Gerald Sindell. New World Library (2009).
August, 2009:
The Future Arrived Yesterday: The Rise of the Protean Corporation and What It Means for You by Michael Malone. Crown Business (2009).
September, 2009:
Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay. HarperBusiness/HarperCollins. (2009).
October, 2009:
Free: The Future of a Radical Price
by Chris Anderson. Hyperion. 2009.
November, 2009:
What Americans Really Want…Really: The Truth About Our Hopes, Dreams, and Fears
by Frank I. Luntz. Hyperion (September 15, 2009).
December, 2009:
SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
by Steven D. Levitt (Author), Stephen J. Dubner (Author)
William Morrow. (2009).
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Many of these presentations, with audio + hadnout, are available for purchase at our companion web site, 15minutebusinessbooks.com.
Build Your Own Strategic Reading Plan — or, How Should You Pick Which Business Book(s) to Read?
So, I’m sitting in front of my television set. “Nothing” is on, and I simply spend some time “surfing” in hopes of finding something that will grab my interest. I don’t do this often, but to unwind, I do it occasionally. I much prefer my “appointment” television — you know, when I want to watch television with a plan in mind, like — when I want to watch House, or a football game.
I wonder if my purposeless surfing has a parallel in our reading habits. How do you pick business books to read? Do you just grab the latest title you’ve heard of: if there is buzz about a specific book, do you say to yourself, “I want to be in on the know about that book?” I can understand that. If everyone seems to be talking about Outliers, or The Black Swan, or Good to Great, we all want to be in on the conversation. But I have a hunch that even then, the books we choose may not always be dealing with the issues we are dealing with at the moment. Or the skills we need to develop. Or the information gaps we need to fill.
Yes, it is true that reading almost any book will help us in our never-ending pursuit of excellence and success. “The more you know, the more you know.” But if our hours are precious, and already full of things to do, not only do we need to read to learn and grow — we need to read the best books, the right books for us, for us to learn and grow.
So, I have a suggestion — why not develop your own “strategic” business book reading plan. You can still read those popular books, but maybe you could always keep one book going that fits your needs, fills your gaps, deals with issues that you are actually dealing with. Just a few minutes a day, or one focused block of time during the week, will help you knock off that book that can genuinely help you with what you need the most.
So – how do you find which books will meet your needs? One way (forgive the self-serving comment here) is to read this blog. Bob Morris, and our entire blogging team, will help you filter out books that don’t fit the bill, and help identify the books that would be most useful. I warn you – reading Bob’s posts will make you wish you had time to read all of the books he refers us to. Few of us would have the time to do so. But use his posts as a filter, to help identify the books that would be most useful. Another way would be to attend the First Friday Book Synopsis (if you live near DFW). We present two synopses every month of best-selling business books. Our synopses can give you enough content to know the key themes and ideas of a book, help you filter out what does not fit your needs, and whet your appetite for a deeper dive into those books that you would find most valuable.
But to help you get started with your own strategic business book reading plan, I have started a chart. This is my first draft, and it includes, primarily, books that I have presented at the First Friday Book Synopsis. My colleague Karl Krayer would include different titles, and maybe all of us could help identify additional and different titles and business issues. So — here it is. I can say, with certainly, that each of these books was worth my time. Maybe this could help you start a strategic business reading regimen of your own.
A Strategic Business Book Reading Plan
|
If you need to: |
Then you might want to read: |
| Aim higher – personally | The Other 90% |
| Think/work like an athlete in training | Outliers
Talent is Overrated |
| Think like an innovator | The Creative Habit
The Art of Innovation |
| Get better at time management | Getting Things Done
The Power of Full Engagement |
| Become a better servant leader | Servant Leadership |
| Nurture and build your people | Encouraging the Heart |
| Market more effectively | Waiting For Your Cat to Bark
The Tipping Point The Long Tail |
| Get better connected | Wikinomics
Groundswell |
| Network more effectively | Never Eat Alone |
| Communicate more effectively | Words that Work
Made to Stick |
| Be a (very good) generalist | Reality Check |
| Negotiate more effectively | Women Don’t Ask
Ask for It |
| Play well with others | The Five Dysfunctions of a Team |
| Learn to learn | The Opposable Mind |
| Learn to tell the truth | Crucial Conversations
Winning |
You can try this list, or develop your own. You can start slow – with one book a month. In a year, you will have made great progress working through your strategic reading plan, and, more importantly, you will have learned more, you will know more, and I suspect you will be able to do more.
{To purchase my synopses of many of these titles, with handout + audio, go to our 15 Minute Business Book site}.
Guy Kawasaki — Fast and Furious, as always
I am enjoying reading the new Guy Kawasaki book, Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition.
I read his blog regulary, and his earlier book (which I presented in 2005), The Art of the Start, is one of the few books that I periodically go back to to jump start a new project that I tackle. He is a practical, and valuable writer. But when you read him, put on your seat belt…
This new book is Kawasaki at his best. Hundreds of pages, fast and furioius, cajoling us to get to work and beat the competition. The pace is borderline frenetic, from the opening words: “Imagine the American Dream on steroids and Red Bull and you have some idea of what life is like in Silicon Valley. Sure, Frank Sinatra called New York “the city that never sleeps,” but that’s only because Frank never visited the Valley…”
In his book, he speaks to these business realities: the reality of starting, raising money, planning and executing, innovating, marketing, selling and evangelizing, communicating, beguiling (what a great word), competing, hiring and firing, working, and doing good. I’ve got a hunch that we will all learn much from this book.
If you are in the area, I hope you will join us for the Frist Friday Book Synospis in February. You will be glad you did.
(Karl Krayer will present the synopsis of A Leader’s Legacy by James Kouzes and Barry Posner, two fine repeat authors for our event also).
