Sunday, April 29, 2012

UnMarketing: Revised and Updated by Scott Stratten



The integrity of Scott Stratten to update and revise his book simply astounds me.

Here's my previous post on why this book ALREADY ruled.

Frankly. The book was still one of the leading voices and still my number one most recommended to understand the what, the why and the tone of business + social media. 

The cycle wasn't over, the book wasn't overly stale. 
There was money left to squeeze Scott.

Scott does a lot of talk about authenticity in the book.
He walked that talk with his actions not his words.

I tip my hat to you sir. ( and tweet it too )
And I'll share your message every chance I get.

Enjoy a damn good updated talk by Scott below...

Paul


Monday, April 23, 2012

End Malaria: Good Cause Great Read



I don't often ask readers to buy books but for $20 you'll help this cause AND yourself. Talk about a win-win.

One of the last of Seth Godin's Domino Project publications this book is insanely packed with high-value ideas from 62 business authors you probably know and love.

A 1 minute video on the book:



I love that Michael Bungay Stanier even wrote a thoughtful reflection on "Working at the Speed of Seth" and even put a FREE podcast featuring all authors online.


Why did this book appeal to me? LOOK at this author list!!!


Now, I read it flying to a conference. For the business traveler I think this is the perfect thought-instigator to read in transit. Me personally, it hit at that moment when you're between the clouds - above operations, below pie-in-the-sky ideas: Where ideas about how to improve your real work world can happen


Some items I found invaluable:

  • Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired: What is the pinnacle of personal, professional skill? His insight from experience moved me. 
  • Roger Martin, of the Rotman School drops some operational wisdom on how his concept of "thin slicing" actually opens up time for leaders to do their best work. 
  • Mitch Joel, of Twist Image is the ultimate person to advise today's professional on how to be CEO of Me Inc. His thoughts stung with 2012 truth on what Google says about you. 
  • Three words from Ann Landers from another social media leader Scott Stratten are a great reminder of what matters and what's fluff. 
  • Premal Shah of Paypal now of Kiva who scaled from $1MM in 1 year to now $1MM each 5 days talks about how to plan for and handle rapid growth ( and not to fear it!! ) 
  • Michael Bungay Stainer a powerhouse in his own right talks about the power of scars and how we tell our own story. To ourselves as well as others. 
  • Gary Vaynerchuk on the best marketing strategy in the world is as always, viciously on point. 
  • Sally Hogshead of Fascinate never disappoints with her cheeky but powerful style: A note for the 'haters' and why having them is good for business. 
  • BizRockstar Tom Peters' 5 tips on achieving excellence found it's way to my fridge in 24 hours. 
  • Business book Titans; Nancy Duarte of Slideology, Patrick Lencioni, Keith Ferrazzi and of course the awesome Seth Godin himself the list goes on and on!!!

This book helps you think and rethink every aspect of business life but to me the value is in helping you:


1) Deal with problems you face now
2) Cultivating your own and team excellence
3) Creating a practical but better future

I also have a whole new list of great authors added to my twitter feed that are now rocking my daily world! 

If you're a @Strombo fan from CBC he featured the book on his program and Seth today too - enjoy!


So TODAY ( and on April 25th especially ) buy and enjoy this book. 

Congrats to the team on the latest award too!


Ending Malaria is what you'll do for the world.
Creating power in your world is what you'll do for you.


Paul




Sunday, April 22, 2012

Teams and Trust


What a delicious business book moment! My favourite business news column reviewed two of my all time favourite books on the concept of trust in teams!  

If you don't follow the Globe Careers team on Twitter or LinkedIn - I highly recommend them. 
Patrick Lencioni is one of my all time favourite business book authors because of how he uses the fable format. It makes for a more readable book, more memorable lessons because you are discussing theory AND case studies at the same time - powerful

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team is one of his global best sellers because it addresses the real challenges that teams face in the office and comes up with solutions I know work as I now know over 10 teams who have used it to solve issues and boost productivity. I'm a fan of the audio book.


The second book in the article is Stephen MR Covey's "The Speed of Trust

One of the shortest audio books around, and the most powerful in it's discussion points and office solutions for issues around Trust. Don't let the simplicity and the aw-shucks attitude fool you - this book solves real problems.


Lastly a quick plug for the thoughts from a peer I trust greatly, Promod Sharma. An Actuary turned blogger and media expert, Trust is the topic of his 2012. Enjoy!

Some of the greatest office problems I have ever faced were solved using techniques from these two books and advice from Promod- enjoy the read and as always please share your thoughts below!

Continued success in all you do,

Paul


Bonus. Two quick great video's on the books!