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December 23, 2009

What I want for Christmas: Inspiration

I don’t need socks or a flannel nightgown. I don’t want a self-improvement book or a kitchen appliance.

What I need is inspiration, especially in the dark days of January, when I'll be desperate for ideas, seeking help thinking outside the box.

So if you’re standing in the mall right now, fighting panic and claustrophobia, wondering what to get me, I’m happy to provide you with a few suggestions. (Of course, these would be good gifts for anyone who needs inspiration when the going gets tough.)

What’s more compelling than a personal ad? That’s why I want Man with Farm Seeks Woman with Tractor: The Best and Worst Personal Ads of All Time.

Any kind of advertising is meant to stop you in your tracks. So how about a book about the best ads: Twenty Ads That Shook the World: The Century's Most Groundbreaking Advertising and How It Changed Us All.

And when it comes to advertising, one very effective form is the billboard. So how about: Great American Billboards.

Billboards make me think of postcards, which are all about compelling visuals. So if I need visual inspiration, perhaps this would be a good choice: The Postcard Century.

And one of the most interesting use of postcards is Frank Warren’s web site and series of books called PostSecret, where people mail in theirsecrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. Mr. Warren has a new book Confessions on Life and Death and God.

Wow, that’s a lot of books. I need to take a break and watch a video. I just got a new Val Kilmer DVD (that's a different kind of inspiration). Or how about a collection of television commercials from the 50s and 60s: Retro TV Commercials.

Thanks, Santa! Merry Christmas, everybody!

Posted by Alison Davis at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2009

Last-minute book (and non-book) gift ideas

‘Tis the season to wrap gifts, drink eggnog and munch on cookies—not read business books. So I’m suspending my 50-books-in-50-days book reviews for the holidays; you’re all too busy ho-ho-ho-ing and fa-la-la-la-la-ing to pay attention, anyway.

But, you might ask, what about last-minute shopping? Should you buy your boss or colleague or friend a business book as a holiday gift?

In a word: Don’t. Step away from the shopping cart and remember two things: 1. People want gifts that make them smile, not those they have to add to their to-do list. And 2. Your gift should broaden your recipient’s horizons, not reinforce accepted wisdom. (Yes, there are a few books that rock your world, but most are deeply conventional.)

So, let’s try Plan B: Out-of-the-box gift ideas that will delight the recipient and provide inspiration to help him or her do great work in 2010. Here are two:

1. A pop-up book. November marked the passing of the “king of the pop-up book,” Waldo H. Hunt, at age 88. As the New York Times wrote in his obituary, “An advertising man turned novelty-book packager, Mr. Hunt was almost single-handedly responsible for the postwar revival of the pop-up book in the United States. For decades the country’s leading producer of the books, he is widely credited with having taken a long dormant, long marginalized and long unprofitable publishing genre and making it a thriving, ubiquitous industry.”

What’s special about pop-up books? They’re visual, three-dimensional, interactive and kinetic. So they turn the notion of “reading” books on its ear, and offer a completely absorbing experience (which you can’t say about many books or, indeed, about most communication). You can find pop-up books on nearly every topic; for example, here’s one on modern architecture.

2. A year’s subscription to a service magazine. What medium is the best at offering readers useful and usable information? The answer is easy: service magazines like Good Housekeeping, Men’s Health, Popular Mechanics and Cooking Light? These magazines are not just informative—they help readers accomplish something.

As a result, they are not only terrific examples of best-practice communication; they also make great gifts. My colleague Kristin asked her Secret Santa to get her a subscription to Real Simple, and was delighted when he did so. Kristin will receive 12 issues of helpful hints. What could be better than that?

For more ideas, see tomorrow’s blog.

Posted by Alison Davis at 04:49 PM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2009

50 in 50. Kindle lust

The other night I boarded a flight from Toronto to Newark. And in the aisle seat across from me was a man cradling a Kindle, Amazon’s wireless reading device.

“Ooh,” I said, like a teenage girl eyeing a hot new handbag or a Jonas brother.

The man could clearly sense my interest. “Want to see it?” he offered.

I did. It wasn’t the first Kindle I had ever fondled, but I was in a heightened state of awareness. Lately in my book-crazed family, there had been many discussions about the relative merits of electronic reading devices vs. traditional books. The idea that you could have access to many titles at a time was of great interest to family members who were horrified by the prospect that they would ever be caught without something to read.

I stopped pressing the buttons and spoke to the Kindle’s owner. “Do you like it?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “I’ve had it for a year, and I love it. The Kindle makes reading so easy that I’ve read more books than ever. Why, I’ve probably read 100 books this year.”

100 books! Obviously, this man had been living my dream. I’ve been losing steam on my quest to read 50 books in 50 days, but maybe my problem is technological. If I had a Kindle, all my problems would be solved. I’d become a reading demon. I could read a book a day. 365 a year. 3,650 a decade! I’d be the best-read person on the planet.

But then I looked at the old-fashioned paper book I’d been reading and reality set in. I had folded down pages that were particularly interesting to me. The book was filled with my multi-colored Post-It notes. I had a tactile relationship with books that went way beyond words on a page. I didn’t just read a book; I devoured it.

I gave the Kindle back to its owner. The device was obviously too polished, too cool for me. I was a messy-paper, not a perfect-device kind of person.

Marshall McLuhan, the philosopher and media scholar, once said, “We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us.”

But, when it comes to the Kindle, McLuhan is wrong. The Kindle is perfect. I’m not. And owning one wouldn't change that.

Back to the books.

Posted by Alison Davis at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)

December 15, 2009

50 in 50. #22: Clever

Here’s a promising premise for a book: “Leading Your Smartest, Most Creative People”.

The authors of Clever, Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones, define “clever” the British way—especially smart and talented—not the American way—smart and a bit difficult (as in “too clever by half”).

And the authors further define how “clever” works within an organization: “Clever people are highly talented individuals with the potential to create disproportionate amounts of value from the resources that the organization makes available to them.”

So far, so good, right? Unfortunately, while the book is strong on defining clever people, it’s weak on giving advice on how to manage them. Actually, it’s almost the same advice you’d find in any book on how to manage any employee. And the book feels thin: a slim premise, under-researched.

Still, Clever did contain a handy guide, helpful for remembering how to manage (any) people. Here’s an excerpt:

Dos and don’ts for leading clevers

Do Don't
Explain and persuade Tell people what to do
Use expertise Use hierarchy
Tell them what Tell them how
Provide boundaries Create bureaucracy
Talk straight Use bull or deceive

Despite this, overall Clever isn’t especially . . . clever.

Posted by Alison Davis at 06:24 AM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2009

50 in 50. #21: Leadership Lessons from THE BOOK

A confession: I am not religious. Or, to be specific, I’m more of an appreciator of religion than I am a practitioner. I admire religion’s ability to celebrate love, make a difference and help people find peace and truth. In that philosophy, I am ecumenical.

With my arm’s-length distance from religion, why, then, would I include Leadership Lessons from THE BOOK (subtitle: “Applying Biblical Lessons For Today’s Leaders”) in my 50-in-50 book review series?

First, because I know the book’s author, William G. Bliss, and am a fan of his leadership coaching and training. And, second, because the premise intrigued me. Could Mr. Bliss successfully tie together scripture and leadership advice? Could he write a book that’s both spiritual and practical?

The answer to both questions is yes. If you’re not Christian, Leadership Lessons from THE BOOK still offers great advice on how you can become an effective leader who remains true to your values. And if you are Christian, I would guess this book is one you’d want to keep in the top drawer of your desk to draw upon whenever you need to connect your faith to your job.

One of the things I like about Leadership Lessons from THE BOOK is the fact that Mr. Bliss provides a Biblical foundation for such principles as creating a vision, communicating effectively and setting expectations, then gives you a quiz to see how well you are doing now, and finally provides practical tips on how you can improve.

In other words, this is not just a book that makes you think; it also helps you take immediate action.

Posted by Alison Davis at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2009

50 in 50. #20: The Next Evolution of Marketing

I read a lot of marketing books. Why? Because smart marketers are always thinking about how to reach customers, engage them in a product or service, and, most importantly, encourage those customers to buy. So I try to learn marketers’ secrets and see how those techniques can be applied to reaching and engaging employees.

In The Next Evolution of Marketing, Bob Gilbreath offers an intriguing promise: to give his readers how to “connect with your customers by marketing with meaning.” The problem is that increasingly consumers are tuning out: DVRing past commercials, avoiding the hype and doing everything in our power to avoid the 3,000 advertisements we’re exposed to each day.

What’s needed, according to Mr. Gilbreath, is “marketing with meaning,” marketing that “invites customer participation.” What does he mean? “I believe that in a world in which consumers can actively choose to avoid marketing, the only way to win to create marketing that they actively choose to engage with.”

To create meaningful marketing, “you must first determine what makes people tick—what’s genuinely important to them and what they aspire to. Specifically, you need to uncover which of their needs remain unmet—not just in the laundry room or the grocery store, but in their larger lives.”

Mr. Gilbreath offers a comprehensive model called The Hierarchy of Meaningful Model, which helps you identify the three categories of customers’ needs and think about how your marketing can fulfill these needs:

These may not be completely new concepts, but Mr. Gilbreath explains in detail how you use this knowledge to create marketing that engages customers. The Next Evolution of Marketing is not for the casual reader; you have to be very interested in marketing (or believe, as I do, that learning about marketing can help you communicate more effectively in any context) to invest the time and energy. Bottom line? If you are serious about marketing, the book is worth the investment.

Posted by Alison Davis at 05:18 PM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2009

Taking a break and thinking about the “paradox of time”

Yes, it’s true: Over the past few days my 50 books in 50 days project has come to a screeching halt. I could claim that the dog ate my homework, but the truth is, I’m in a vortex of business travel and work deadlines and Christmas shopping/decorating and trying to take a couple days off and . . . well, you get it.

I will have a new review for you tomorrow, but in the meantime, I wanted to share highlights of a brilliant MarketingDaily commentary called The Paradox of Time in Consumer Behavior by Bob Deutsch, a cognitive anthropologist consultant. This idea really hits home for me, especially since I’m feeling so time-pressed right now.

The paradox Mr. Deutsch describes comes about as a result of two opposing impulses that we Americans experience: We want everything newer, better, faster, but at the same time we feel like everything is happening too fast—spinning out of control—and we’d like to stop it or, at least, slow it down.

“People experience life as a series of staccato ‘nows’ and must-do's that are metastasizing,” writes Mr. Deutsch. “A typical sentiment, ‘I used to have a list of chores to do that I could check off one at a time. At some point, my list was completed. Now, as soon as I get to the next chore, another has miraculously appeared at the bottom of my list. It's non-stop.’
And he adds: “Perhaps the best description of the present paradoxical context of the world was stated by a 44-year old woman in a focus group in Kansas City, ‘Things are always advancing, getting better, sometimes for the worse.’”

What’s a marketer (or a communicator) to do, to reach people who are suffering from this paradox? Mr. Deutsch offers a few ideas, including:

Connect the dots. “Help re-structure peoples' experience of the extremely puzzle-pieced environment so they don't feel completely overloaded and splintered.”

Provide reassurance. Give people “a sense that your products and services can help them make better sense of the world and their world. Convert the pressure of time to a feeling of time well-spent.”

Make it easy. “Don't be a provider. Be a partner. Care for your consumer.”

Thought-provoking, right? This is great advice right now, especially for communicators who are seeking to ways to counteract information overload.

Time to stop the madness and change the game. Cool. Cosmic.

Posted by Alison Davis at 03:49 PM | Comments (0)

December 05, 2009

50 in 50. #19: Where’s My Fifteen Minutes?

If you aspire to be the next George Clooney or Angelina Jolie—to use media attention to become famous—then Where’s My Fifteen Minutes? by Howard Bragman is the book for you.

If, however, your aspirations are a bit more modest, and you simply would like to leverage publicity to, as the subtitle says, “Get Your Company, Your Cause, or Yourself the Recognition You Deserve,” then you might want to save your $18.94.

Mr. Bragman is the consummate Hollywood press agent who has “represented some of the most famous celebrities, companies, and events in the world.” And his advice is most relevant to the entertainment industry; occasionally, he relates how average people might use his techniques, it’s clear he’s most comfortable in the world of outsized egos and bold-faced names.

Still, I picked up a few tidbits, including:

“Even if you’re a nuclear physicist, you’ve got to talk to people at a level they can understand and not make your message too complicated.” To make this point, Mr. Bragman tells a story about Albert Einstein. When reporters asked Einstein to define the theory of relativity, he replied, “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and its seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and its seems like a minute. That’s relativity.” As Mr. Bragman writes, “We don’t have to be Albert Einstein to understand that great messages are simple, easily absorbed and appropriate for their audiences.”

Many people who want to get publicity for themselves or their companies think only of the big national media: The New York Times or CNN, for example. But Mr. Bragman makes a strong case for thinking local. “Let’s say you’re an attorney running for state representative,” he writes. “What influences which outlets go on your media list? The city where you grew up. The cit where you live. Where you went to law school. Causes in which you’re involved. Where your wife grew up. Where your kids go to school . . . The real question is ‘What are all the different places that would be interested in doing a story about me, helping me get my messages out?’”

Overall, Where’s My Fifteen Minutes? is an interesting book—especially if you want to a behind-the-scenes look at how PR pros like Mr. Bragman get publicity for movies and celebrities—but not an essential one.

Posted by Alison Davis at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)

December 03, 2009

50 in 50. #18: Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint

A colleague of mine just suffered for two solid weeks (including weekends) developing a PowerPoint presentation for a senior leader. The process was painful and slow: Members of the team working on the presentation kept going around and around, adding slides, taking them out, revising them, and then doing it all over again. I didn’t see the end product, but I can imagine what it was like: too many slides, too much information, a muddled message.

Christopher Witt describes the problem in his book, Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint. People “often assemble as much information as possible and import it willy-nilly into PowerPoint. They don’t organize it into a cohesive, meaningful whole. Why bother? . . . You can create any number of slides—hundreds, if you like—without ever tying anything together into a coherent or compelling idea.”

Mr. Witt’s advice is to approach a presentation completely differently: He counsels “sifting through the pertinent information, picking out what’s valuable, and discarding the rest. Then tie it all together in a way that makes sense of it. Write out your one organizing principle or thought—your Big Idea. Then structure the information you’ve assemble to support your idea. Use only as much information as you need to prove or illustrate your main idea.”

This is just one of the great pieces of speaking advice in Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint. Here are others:

In short, Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint is a valuable book. My only criticism is that Mr. Witt doesn’t deliver on the great title. He doesn’t provide a comprehensive approach to avoiding PowerPoint and only briefly gives advice on how to use Microsoft’s ubiquitous presentation tool.

However, if you’re a leader who gives speeches and presentations, or a communicator who supports leaders, Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint is a must read.

Posted by Alison Davis at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

December 02, 2009

50 in 50. #17: The Cost of Bad Behavior

If you’re looking for a fun, upbeat read, I would not recommend The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It by Christine Pearson and Christine Porath.

However, if you’re looking for a thoughtful, well-researched examination of bad behavior in the workplace, as well as practical advice about how to address the problem of incivility, this book does the job. (My only caveat: The Cost of Bad Behavior devotes twice as many pages in documenting the problem as it does in offering solutions.)

The book begins with sobering statistics: 96 percent of American employees have experienced incivility at work. 80 percent believe they get no respect while on the job. Three out of four employees were dissatisfied with the way their companies handle incivility. And 12 percent left their jobs became they were treated uncivilly.

What is workplace incivility? The authors provide many examples, including: Taking credit for others’ efforts. Talking down to others. Belittling others’ efforts. Leaving a mess for others to clean up. And throwing temper tantrums.

The Cost of Bad Behavior thoroughly explores root causes. According to Ms. Pearson and Ms. Porath, today’s incivility “derives from certain social and economic developments that have fundamentally changed the nature of work. In a lean, mean global business environments, office life for most of us is more stressful. With productivity pressures mounting, our office relationships may grow weaker and less meaningful.”

So what can be done about workplace bad behavior? The book describes examples of companies that have addressed the problem head-on and also provides 10 steps organizations should take. For example, although many companies conduct exit interviews when an employee leaves the company, the authors advise supplementing these with post-departure interviews, conducted six months afterwards. Because some time has passed, the ex-employee is more likely to give candid feedback about his reasons for leaving, which may include bad behavior by a boss or co-worker. The key is to use this feedback to take action.

This is a sobering book, but well worth reading.

Posted by Alison Davis at 06:53 AM | Comments (0)

December 01, 2009

Are your e-mails relevant to employees?

I interrupt my 50 in 50 book reports for an important message. If you're wondering why people aren't reading your e-mails, a new poll provides the answer: Because your messages aren't relevant to their audience.

According to the Chief Marketing Officer Council, 64% of consumers say promotional offers dominate both the e-mail and traditional mail they receive; only 41% view these as must-read communications. When people opt out or unsubscribe to e-mails, 46% do so because the messages are simply not relevant.

What does this have to do with you, someone who is sending messages to employees? In my firm's qualitative research with employees, we hear the same criticism of internal e-mail that the Marketing Officer poll learned from consumers.

In addition to the "not relevant" reason, the poll found that 23% opted out because there were too many messages to manage, 16% cited clutter in their in box, and 16% said the messages weren't from a trusted source.

If your e-mails aren't getting through, check your relevance.

(My book reports return tomorrow.)

Posted by Alison Davis at 08:28 AM | Comments (0)