In a rare turn of events, Jack, Tom, and I all like the same book at the same time. There really is something different about Then We Set His Hair On Fire. Phil has seen alot and has found a great way of telling people about it. Here is my favorite bit:
In this book I have stressed the difference between ideas and insights. Ideas are a dime a dozen; anyone can have them. They can be good or bad ideas, saving your hide in some cases, wasting your time in others. The best thing about a good idea is that it forces you to act. Insight is rarer, and infinitely more precious. A strong insight can fuel a thousand ideas, a thousand reasons to act and make something happen. That, more than anything, should be your reason to fight and persevere for your own insight moment. When you are armed with a powerful insight, the ideas never stop flowing.
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Reading the WSJ during the past two days about the hurricane has really hit me. I fell in love with New Orleans and Louisiana by reading James Lee Burkes detective series featuring Dave Robicheaux. My wife and I went to the Big Easy for a great vacation a few years back. To read about the recent devastation is simply heartbreaking. Articles in the WSJ have brought home the size and scope of this nightmare. We need to respond. Here are links to The Salvation Army and The Red Cross. I encourage you to actively respond to this disaster and give.
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I’m also enjoying Then We Set His Hair On Fire immensely. My favorite passage:
“Insights come in all shapes and sizes.
“Management guru Peter Drucker is hailed and admired as the man who invented business’ largely because of seven decades worth of essays on management in more than thirty-five books. But if you pore through Druckers books hoping to find a treasure trove of specific ideas and practical advice on how to run a business, you will be sorely disappointed. Thats because Drucker doesnt traffic in ideas. Insights are his currency, and his books reveal him to be a man who is a virtual insight machine. Drucker wont tell you how to make a cold call, but he will get you thinking about the implications of cold calls, and whether your business is too dependent on them and what that says about how you treat your old customers. Drucker wont tell you how to fire an unruly employee, but he will get you thinking about the criteria for employees to keep and employees to jettison. His insights usually take the form of Socratic questions that make you look at the world through sharper lenses. When Drucker famously asked a CEO of a big multinational company to ask himself, If you didnt this business now and had a chance to buy it, would you? he was doing something far more valuable than listing reasons to keep or fold a division. He was teaching the CEO how to think, much like the ancient saying, Give the man a fish, and hell eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and hell eat for a lifetime. Drucker was helping the CEO see the world from a new perspectivewith a rigor and logic that is impossible to refute. The best insights do that.”
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Phil Dusenberry, former Chairman, BBDO North America has written a book called Then We Set His Hair on Fire. I am reading it and loving it. Here is an example of why I like the book:
America is a big nation, so big in fact that it is not just one enormous economic market. It is a collection of many different economies. In order to visualize and understand these various economies, we often resort to branding them, giving names that collect all the chaotic forces fighting for recognition into one intelligible grab bag.”
“As for me, an advertising professional, I have my own economy to worry about. Lets call it the Parity Economya world where all products and services are perceived as equal, with differences so miniscule that they do not dent the average consumers consciousness. I have spent every day of my waking life thinking about the parity economy and what I can do to help my clients escape its pernicious clutches. It even infects my dreams, I worry about parity not only when Im awake but in my sleep.
Isnt that what we all are trying to do? Trying to differentiate!!!
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I got this in an email:
Joe Heuer’s Daffynitions
Leadership: the ability to hide your panic from others.
To find out more about Joe, visit http://daffynitions.com
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There has been alot going on in publishing over the last week or so.
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Author Greg Stielstra contacted me to tell me that Pyromarketing will be published. If you remember, this is the word-of-mouth marketing book that Rick Warren, of Purpose Driven Life fame, objected to. Warren didn’t like his book being used as a case study. Stielstra says he got no reason for the change of heart at HarperCollins. Books will be in stores on September 27th.
I got a manuscript for this book back in February and I like it alot. Expect to hear more about it in the next few weeks.
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In the last 24 hours, I have ran across two references of QVC selling business books.
Business 2.0 has a five page article on the shopping channel and they list a series of high-profile events. These range from Shania Twain selling her greatest hits CD to Dan Marino bringing in NFL Memorabilia. On September 28, 2004, Donald Trump stopped by the studio and sold 62,000 copies of Think Like A Billionaire in about an hour. Not bad.
The New York Times also has a piece today, where they profile Jeanne Bice. Bice is a well-known fixture on QVC with her Quacker Factory clothing (“when one spies another wearing one of Ms. Bice’s distinctive designs, they quack at each other”). She sold $50 million dollars worth of merchanise last year. Her new book is called Pull Yourself Up By Your Bra Straps and was written to “to thank her fans”. In three sessions totaling less than 30 minutes, she sold 34,534 copies. Again, not bad.
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Few have forgotten the news ripples made when Carly Fiorina left her role as CEO at HP in February. According to CNNMoney, Fiorina “held the top spot on Fortune’s list of 50 Most Powerful Women.” The question in everyone’s minds is why did she leave? Moreover, how many CEOs are going to leave their posts when their board is not happy?
Whatever your view may be, you will soon have the chance to find out Carly Fiorina’s view. Today, it was announced that Fiorina will be working with Portfolio to create a memoir. It will include details on topics such as “what makes a leader [and] how women can thrive in business.”
When published, we will all be able to read Fiorina’s side of the story and, perhaps, gather a better understanding of why she left her post as CEO at such an elite company. In addition, we may pick up some Fiorina tips along the way.
*Book due out in Autumn 2006.
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Here are some books we are liking for the fall.
Competition Demystified by Bruce Greenwald and Judd Kahn (Aug.) – The author revisit and simplify Porter’s Five Forces. I was skeptical, but they sold me in the introduction.
First in Thirst by Darren Rovell (Sept.) – This is a interesting brand biography on Gatorade. You will see this book on the BBBT at the end of September.
Bag the Elephant by Steve Kaplan (Sept.) – Bard Press puts out one book a year and each one is without fail is a great title. GUTS!, Marketing Outrageously, and Little Red Book of Selling were all from Bard Press. This year’s book is about the idea of small business attracting and retaining big customers.
Radical Careering by Sally Hogshead (Sept.) – The book has great design and a powerful message. It reminds me of Fast Company in its heyday. Brand Autopsy has a nice preview.
Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard (Oct.) – The Republic of Tea and Raising The Bar showed us there was a different way to do business. Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard continues the tradition.
The Big Moo by Seth Godin and the Group 33 (Oct.) – The book is a perfect follow-up to Purple Cow.
The Number by Lee Eisenberg (Jan.) – This book takes a Gladwell-like look at retirement. The question is “What is your number?”
So, there is a little something for everyone to read this fall.
Enjoy!
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