HYPE YOURSELF

4.5 stars out of 5

My interest in a book like this was honed over many years from every side of the desk. As a university administrator trying to promote public and private training programs, I needed to utilize public relations to connect with my customers - business leaders and the general public - on a very limited budget. As a public relations director at an advertising agency, it was my job to convince editors that my clients had wonderful stories to tell. And as a newspaper editor, I was the one being "pitched" by anyone who had stories they wanted me to tell - wonderful or not (usually not). So when the publisher approved my request for a review copy, I was delighted. Still, armed with all that practical experience, I said to myself, "Self, if there's much of anything truly valuable in here, I'll eat my favorite pair of flip-flops."

Now I've finished reading. And let's just say those flip-flops didn't taste very good (and worse, with spring fast approaching, I'm gonna miss 'em like crazy).

Subtitled "A no-nonsense PR toolkit for small businesses," this book really is all that and more; the author has hit a home run when it comes to practical and thorough advice (put another way, I couldn't have written it better myself). Well, actually I could have in one sense; I'd like to have found more resources geared to U.S. businesses (the author and her company are based across the Pond). The points are well taken and it's easy for me to transfer the concepts to this country, but the average small business owner here likely wouldn't without some professional help.

Chapters are heavy on the how-to, from developing a public relations plan to nuts-and-bolts templates, a glossary and plenty of other resources - all geared toward teaching small business people how to "transform your business for free" (other than, of course, the cost of your time). Even for those who have no time - or don't want to spend it this way - the book is an excellent primer that provides a heads-up on what you should expect if you hire a PR professional. 

The tips are spot-on when it comes to the real world; one of my bugaboos, for instance, is that while putting a positive spin on clients' news is part of any PR professional's job description, telling lies certainly is not. I've seen my share of company owners who expected the latter - and to be sure, they didn't get it from me (nor would I accept them when submitted to "my" newspaper).

The writing is interesting and interspersed with humor - I've lost count of the times I've exorcised the words, "We're excited to announce..." from news releases, for instance. The last chapter, titled "Brain Farts," refers to creative ideas that pop into your head (tying into the overall concept that defines public relations as "anything you do in the public eye"). It read like a laundry list of suggestions I've made to clients in the past - plus a few I never thought of, like podcasting (well, okay, that possibility wasn't even around back then, so I'll cut myself a little slack here).

My bottom line? Reading this book and learning how to get positive exposure for your business could help your bottom line. At under 200 pages, it won't take long to finish, but the return-on-investment possibilities if you follow even some of the advice are well worth your time.

Hype Yourself by Lucy Werner (Practical Inspiration Publishing, January 2020); 170 pp.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BUILDING

5 stars out of 5

I have a love-hate relationship with books like this. Love: They make me think. Hate: They make me think. But no matter which way it goes, nobody does "think" books better than this author, whom I have admired ever since I read A Tale of"O: On Being Different in an Organization" way back in 1980 (and about five years later, Change Masters).


Most of us in the business world (or mostly retired from it, like me) have long since taken the "think outside the box" mantra to heart; but now, the author maintains, the world has outgrown that box and it's time to expand our thinking once again. People have come to view institutions, such as health care or religion, as buildings; when we think of health care, we see hospitals; think religion,  see churches or synagogues. The people inside these buildings - in particular, those who run them - for the most part have become accustomed to, and comfortable with, the way things are and resist meaningful change (i.e., that which can make a real difference in and to the world).

Illustrated by a ton of examples, mostly from participants in Harvard University's Advanced Leadership Initiative (which the author co-founded and directs), this book "reflects a search for new possibilities for positive change." This means going beyond conventional wisdom, and certainly making an end run (or perhaps a bottom-up) around institutional top-down toxicity. Especially amid the I'm okay but you're not, circle the wagons times in which we live, that seems to me to be a sound approach. Many of us are unhappy with the world as it is, yet still believe it can be made better; the trick, if you will, is in knowing how to make that happen.

To be sure, it's not easy; it's not enough to have a well-thought-out idea. Just getting started requires three "Cs" - capabilities, connections and cash - either well in hand or knowing how and where to obtain them. Detailed here are the processes, from concept to fruition, of several such ventures: what worked, what didn't, and what the rest of us can learn from these experiences.

Overall, this is an important book that isn't just for successful business men and women and those with plenty of money to spare. Rather, it's for anyone who sees a problem that needs addressed and envisions possible solutions that could make the world (or their little part of it) better. Highly recommended, and many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-publication copy.

Oh yes, I'm still thinking.

Think Outside the Building by Rosabeth Moss Kanter (PublicAffairs, January 2020); 352 pp.

THE CEO NEXT DOOR

5 stars out of 5

Back in the Dark Ages when I conducted employee development seminars on variety of topics, I made it a point to provide participants with a take-home list of resources - mostly books. If I made such a list today, for sure this one would be on it. It's jam-packed with practical, put-to-workable information on what it really takes to land a spot at the top of the corporate leaderboard.

Subtitled "The 4 Behaviors That Transform Ordinary People into World-Class Leaders," the book is based on extensive research that was featured in a 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review. But not to worry; it's far from a lofty dissertation that only a Ph.D. can understand. The authors lay out, using real-life examples, four key "CEO genome" behaviors they've found to be present in all successful CEOs and provide in-depth but simply stated steps for putting the behaviors to work in real life (yours).

The book begins by poo-pooing conventional wisdom; it's not necessary, for instance, to be an Ivy League grad or an egomaniac. And surprise (at least to me, who grew up with the notion that if I worked hard I'd get noticed and get ahead), work ethic plays no role in the likelihood of becoming a CEO. Still another? Future CEOs typically have held from eight to 11 positions in four to six companies. So much for the late 1950s CW that job-hopping is a sure-fire career ender (if I recall correctly, anything less than five years at one place was a no-no).

Interspersed throughout are nuggets I found especially noteworthy, such as that it's better to make a decision that's potentially bad than to make no decision at all. Or this one, which struck a chord with me, no doubt in light of the current political climate: "When you are a leader, most things that go wrong are not directly your fault - but they are always your responsibility."

Chapters end with "key takeaways," and at the finish line are a ton of endnotes, arranged by chapter for easy reference. Here's my own takeaway: If you've got your eye on becoming a CEO of any size company - or just want to emulate the behaviors of those who have been there, done that - this book is a must. Many thanks to the publisher (via NetGalley) for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The CEO Next Door by Elena L. Botelho, Kim R. Powell and Tahl Raz (Currency, March 2018); 288 pp.

THE SIGNALS ARE TALKING

5 stars out of 5

Consider me mind-boggled!


But it's not for the first time. That happened somewhere around 1970, when I tried to wrap my head around Alvin Toffler's Future Shock (followed by The Third Wave and Power Shift. Then came books by John Naisbitt, such as Megatrends 2000, and Faith Popcorn's Clicking: 17 Trends That Drive Your Business And Your Life. Yes, folks, I eat this stuff up. And now, thanks to an advance copy in exchange for an honest review, comes this one - and it's made no less of an impression. 

The author has developed a six-part process for forecasting - a way of evaluating new ideas being developed on the "fringe" (a.k.a. around the edges of society) that stand to affect us. Futurists, she says, listen to and interpret the signals that are "talking," looking for early patterns, or pre-trends. "Trends help us to understand change, which is an essential part of every organization's mandate," she writes. "Too often, leaders ignore the signals, wait too long to take action, or plan for only one scenario."

Descriptors like "probable," "plausible" and "possible" are used to generate concrete ideas about what's over the horizon. "We must think of trends as signposts that can illuminate the conditions we will likely encounter at some point in the future, even if that future is a century away," the author explains. "Organizations must track them if they are to create their preferred futures...seeing trends is a matter of looking for emerging changes at the fringe, within organizations, and in our societies."

In a nutshell, if it's possible to put it there, the book is about the importance of not being surprised by the future, offering a method for creating a path that leads to sustained success. Unlike some of the books mentioned above, it's not a list of what we can expect to happen in the next 10, 20 or 50 years; rather, it's a way to help ensure that organizations will be going strong throughout all those years to come.

Along the way, the author explains finer points such as the difference between something that's "trendy" and a "trend." No doubt it's a silly analogy, but if I interpret it anywhere near correctly, an Erector set is (or was) trendy, but the fact that children love to tear things down and build them up again is a trend that's likely to continue indefinitely. Harness your company's future to the first, and you may be out of business the minute a newer kid hits the building block; on the second, and you're likely to stay ahead of the curve.

Roadblocks to identifying the signals are discussed as well, such as the "duality dilemma" between left- and right-brain thinking (put another way, creativity vs. logic) and the need to look at things from both sides now. This I understand; I identify far more closely with the logic side, which most likely explains why I've enjoyed relative success as a journalist (just the facts, ma'am) but couldn't write a novel if my life depended on it. It's also, I'm thinking, one of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much; everything is laid out in an orderly, easy-to-understand manner.

That includes, for the record, a glossary of concepts and terms and a chapter-by-chapter list of footnoted references at the end. Highly recommended for anyone interested in expanding leadership skills (or like me, simply interested in the topic).

The Signals Are Talking: Why Today's Fringe Is Tomorrow's Mainstream by Amy Webb (Public Affairs, December 2016); 335 pp.