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SYNOPSIS The laws of business this book teaches are basic, common sense rules that most readers will have heard either from a boss or maybe even a parent! The laws apply not only to business managers but to anyone that cares about running an honest and fair organization. These laws are relevant from the bottom of an organization to the top. SUMMARY The First Law: “You get what you give” Hard work pays off. By rewarding employees in a way that is equivalent to what they put into their job, they will be happier and more productive. They will also feel like they are part of a team and an important part of a company's success. The Second Law: “It’s easy to stop one guy, but it’s pretty hard to stop 100” This law emphasizes the power of teamwork. Readers will learn how the power of a group cooperating towards a common goal is so much greater than individual contributions. This law also reflects the benefits of the first law by building a team atmosphere with happy empl...

SYNOPSIS The Balanced Scorecard believes that business leaders often times fail to connect the necessary strategy with the appropriate action.  The book covers a company’s vision and strategy can be translated into a coherent set of performance measures.  The authors believe that when a company has a “balanced scorecard” it is easier to complete goals and continue on the journey to success. SUMMARY The Balanced Scorecard translates a company's vision and strategy into a coherent set of performance measures.  Throughout the book, the authors illustrate the innovative measurement practices from many companies.  The bulk of the comprehensive use of the Balanced Scorecard technique is exemplified through case studies of companies that were followed closely for over three years.  The case studies include companies such as: Rockwater, Metro Bank, Pioneer Petroleum, National Insurance and Kenyon Stores. Companies must first learn how to build the scorecard...

SYNOPSIS By breaking the rules of traditional management, readers will be able to see things differently and find innovative ways to manage. Based on interviews with 80,000 managers in 400 companies, the lessons taught here show that the best managers are the ones who break from the conventional methods of management. Readers will learn how effective their current management style is by using the list of twelve questions in the book to assess where they stand. By learning, and using, the four keys to unlocking employee's potential, readers will begin to understand how misguided the old rules of business really are and learn how to get more from their employees. SUMMARY The four keys for breaking the rules teach readers that effective managers focus on talent, outcomes, developing strengths, and finding the right fit. “Talent is the multiplier. The more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield. The time you spend with your best is, quite simply, your ...

SYNOPSIS Let's go ahead and get this out of the way. Even if readers followed all the advice and techniques in this book, they will probably still be working more than 4 hours. The title is a bit over-dramatized but it emphasizes the big impact the ideas in this book can have for readers. The book is all about how to change the way readers look at how they live and work and why they should challenge old assumptions. “If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.” The author writes from a unique vantage point. He created a life and a career he chose out of consistently questioning the traditional assumptions about life and work. He writes in detail about his challenges, failures, and successes candidly and readers can see in detail his transformation using this new life view. His emphasis is on viewing time and mobility as the ultimate currency. It's not about ...

SYNOPSIS Taiichi Ohno, the inventor of the Toyota Production System and author of the book by the same name, offers readers lessons in thinking. Readers will learn more about the thought processes than the actual production steps, but that is the point. By learning how to think and analyze, readers will be able to design more efficient processes specific to their product or service. This “lean” thinking is all about eliminating waste and streamlining procedures from the manufacturing phase to the purchasing phase.  “All we are doing is looking at the timeline, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing the time line by reducing the non-value adding wastes.” SUMMARY The Toyota Production System (TPS) is a combination of themes, attitudes, and specific techniques. Readers will learn that the success of this type of system depends on how deeply engrained this combination is in a company's culture. TPS is not abo...

SYNOPSIS “So this is the goal: To make money by increasing net profit, while simultaneously increasing return on investment, and simultaneously increasing cash flow.” That's a goal anyone in business would love to achieve, and this book will teach readers how to get there. The Goal uses simple reasoning as a tool to teach the Theory of Constraints (TOC) by presenting the theories in the form of a novel. The TOC, a methodology created by the author, is the underlying foundation of the story. TOC can be described simply: finding constraints and managing them. Readers will learn how bottlenecks like slow deliveries, long cycle times, and loosely controlled operations can be systematically identified and corrected by using the right tools. SUMMARY Readers will learn that managing constraints, or bottlenecks, is crucial to an overall operation because these constraints affect every part of the business. The TOC method will teach readers how to find these bottlenecks and how ...

SYNOPSIS Zag delivers an interesting and unique approach about the authors’ view on branding and marketing. Marty Neumeier has created what should be considered required reading by anyone in business that is serious about wanting to succeed. This short, but powerful, book will teach the reader how to be “radically different” and stand out among the cluttered marketplace that exists today. SUMMARY Zag offers a brand marketing model that includes four unique elements: Focus, Difference, Trend and Communications. As a “whiteboard book,” the information is presented in easy to understand ideas. The author realizes the importance of using pictures and illustrations to drive home the points he is trying to convey in each of the short chapters. Neumeier has developed 17 Checkpoints that any business can use as a way to gauge just how well developed and differentiated their brand can be.  The 17 Checkpoints include: Origin — Do you know who your business is?  And can yo...

SYNOPSIS Economics can be intimidating to the person who is not well-versed in business and mathematics. This book caters to the “layman” by breaking down the meaning of the terminology used in the subject, along with the psychology of how the free market works. The author expresses why he believes capitalism is superior to communism and other government-controlled markets, as well. This book will help its readers better understand how the economy operates on an aggregate level. SUMMARY Naked Economics is broken down into many subjects that explain how each aspect of the economy affects the other. Wheelan is a firm believer in Keynes Economics—that the markets should work themselves out—and why he feels the government should not intervene. He informs the reader of why people such as Bill Gates are rich and how they continue to get richer. He clarifies how the Federal Reserve works and why it is needed. There are no supply and demand, mathematical, or other graphs inserted in...

SYNOPSIS “Hooked” is the result of the author's years of research and practical experience with consumer habits and psychology. The overall theme of the book is to teach readers how customers behave and how to influence their habits with a product. The principles taught here will benefit designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone else who wants to learn how to create a product that customers just can't stop using. “79 percent of smartphone owners check their device within 15 minutes of waking up every morning.” Readers will learn why some products capture customer's imaginations and attention, while others just never get off the ground. Using proven techniques, the Hook Model is all about learning how to engage customers by creating a product that creates a habit. Readers will find case studies of how the four-step process helps to create a product that “hooks” customers. The result is a product that doesn't rely on complicated and expensive marketing bu...

SYNOPSIS This book challenges readers to rethink traditional incremental innovation approaches. Typically, head-to-head competition is the norm for increasing market share, but this book teaches readers that there is a better way to compete and win. Based on a study of 150 strategies in 30 industries, the authors make their case for using innovation instead of fighting for position in a competitive market. Readers will learn that strategic success depends on creating a “blue ocean,” a market space that is uncrowded and primed for growth, by investing in innovation that brings more value to customers. “Blue ocean strategy challenges companies to break out of the red ocean of bloody competition by creating uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant.”  In creating this blue ocean, readers can avoid fighting for incremental competitive advantage and market share in what the authors call “the red ocean.” Red oceans are the overcrowded, bloody, cutthroat arenas w...

SYNOPSIS Knowing how to sell is like possessing one of the rarest commodities on Earth.  Most of us just don’t realize how persuasive we must be on a daily basis. Secrets of Closing the Sale explains that “everybody is a salesperson and everything is selling.” We sell our employer on hiring us.  We sell our kids on doing well in school and going to college. We even sell ourselves on who we are and what we want to become. How well we carry out the strategies Zig has set before us in his book will ultimately determine how successful we are in getting what we want in life. SUMMARY What is selling? What is closing? What is the difference? Selling is when goods or services are proposed in exchange for money. Closing, on the other hand, doesn’t happen until the end of this process when you actually “ask” the customer or client for their business. In turn, if you’re presenting a product or service to a customer that is not handing you money, you’re only selling—not closing. ...

SYNOPSIS Why We Buy is filled with decades of research into customer behaviors. By watching customers as they move through stores, Underhill has been able to come up with good advice backed by science.  Marketers and retailers will find information from merchandising to statistics and learn exactly how customers behave when they shop.  Readers will learn how long customers stay in stores and how to increase that amount of time, resulting in more sales.  Most of all, they will learn how to use this advice to turn browsers into buyers. SUMMARY Filled with research results like “21% of browsers will buy a computer on Saturday at 5 o'clock”, Why We Buy explains the psychology of shopping and how to use it to get more sales.  The book is laid out in three sections. The first section is about the mechanics of shopping and what customers expect in a store layout.  The second section focuses on demographics.  The shopping behaviors of men, women, childre...

SYNOPSIS The Tipping Point is described by the author as “That magic moment when an idea, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.” The book gives the reader some great examples of how trends take off using the analogy of how epidemics spread. “...ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.” The book explains how a product or service's popularity can spread just like an epidemic of a disease with three principles: Contagiousness Little causes have big effects Change can happen in a single moment SUMMARY While the book focuses a lot on this analogy and presents case studies of these social epidemics, the biggest lessons here are about human behavior. Knowing why and how a social epidemic happens gives readers an effective tool for competing in the marketplace. The three rules of epidemics break down the concept for a good understanding of how all this works. “...the success of any kind of social epide...

SYNOPSIS A rainmaker is anyone who creates revenue for a company, particularly in sales.  Jeffrey Fox's How to Become a Rainmaker teaches anyone how to make it rain. With short, to-the-point chapters filled with practical advice and humor, Fox teaches effective selling techniques that are easy to apply immediately.  While much of the advice may seem like common sense, the book offers proven techniques that will help new and experienced salespeople improve their sales.  From practical planning to professional attire, the focus of each technique is always on the customer and how to keep them happy. Common sense or not, the advice in this book works. SUMMARY Common sense isn't always so common and the advice here serves as a reminder of how important the basics really are. Readers appreciate the straightforward approach of the book and often find that they are “guilty” of not using some of the most basic techniques for sales. These reminders help seasoned salespeople ...

SYNOPSIS People will only do business with others once they know them, like them, and trust them. They will buy the salesperson first, way before they even consider what it is that they’re selling. The Little Red Book of Selling teaches salespeople—or anyone for that matter—how to win the sale by getting their prospects to value “them” before they value the product or service. SUMMARY The Little Red Book of Selling is like a pocket-reference guide for the salesperson who wants to learn how to sell their most important product of all—themselves. This book gives the reader 12.5 principles to improve selling themselves. There are at least three principles the author repeats, in one form or another, throughout the book. One principle is being prepared for the sale. Another is about creating value for the customer. The last is about engaging the customer in a way so they’ll feel fully convinced that the product or service is for them. Prepare to Win or Lose to Someone Else — This s...

SYNOPSIS Service companies often struggle with marketing efforts because their “product” is not a physical thing. Services are abstract and their effectiveness and value are hard to measure from a customer point of view.  Harry Beckwith explains that marketing and selling a service requires a completely different approach than marketing and selling a physical product. Though Selling the Invisible contains “how-to” sections, such as “Quick Fixes”, it is more of a “how-to-think-about book.”  Using entertaining and revealing stories from major corporations and artists to provide examples and drive home key points, Beckwith delivers effective tips and reminders that help service companies begin to think differently and grow their business. SUMMARY The approach of learning how to think, as opposed to learning simply what to do, is the foundation of the book and is what makes it so refreshing and effective.  Beckwith clearly outlines the foundation for this “how-to-thi...

SYNOPSIS Financial statements do not always tell the entire story about a company and how well they are doing.  Accounting methods and financial reporting requires an executive to decipher the red tape, look beyond what is on the printed page and make decisions that will affect the bottom line.  Financial Intelligence gives non-financial managers the financial knowledge and confidence for their everyday work. SUMMARY Accounting and finance, like many other business disciplines, really are as much art as they are science. You might call this the CFO’s or the controller’s hidden secret, except that it isn’t really a secret, it’s a widely acknowledged truth that everyone in finance knows.  And that is where the trouble begins for many executives and other business professionals who work in the finance sector.  In other words, most people forget that nugget of intelligence, and make the mistake of believing that if a number shows up on a financial statement or ...

SYNOPSIS The big lesson readers will take away from this book is to have a passion for what they do and be willing to look at their industry with a broader, more open mind. The book teaches readers that by customizing each part of a customer experience, a product or service increases in value. Using key points from theater and stage, the book teaches readers how to make each step in the customer experience a bit like a mini-performance. The Experience Economy is the new state of the business marketing and readers will learn how to turn their product or service into an experience instead of just another commodity. SUMMARY The authors describe their concept as “Companies stage meaningful events to engage customers in a memorable and personal way." The Experience Economy isn't just about adding value; it's about transformation. The example of how the Rawlings company transformed baseball is a good way for readers to understand this game-changing concept. For a co...

SYNOPSIS Most of the traditional management theories practiced today can somehow be tied to Peter Drucker. Many readers will be familiar with his work, and this book is filled with some of the very best of his theories on management. Readers will find that many of these practices are familiar, but by learning or relearning these proven theories and putting them into practice, readers will have a reliable foundation for effective business management. “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” The lessons in this book all revolve around the view that the manager is the foundation of every business and is essential to its success. The theories taught here will give readers an understanding of how to set clear objectives and measures that are proven to work. Readers will learn how to be the most effective in managing the business, managing other managers, and managing subordinates. SUMMARY Readers won't find any flash or fluff in this book. No...

SYNOPSIS So what is a purple cow? A purple cow is anything that stands out from the crowd. As the author, Seth Godin puts it, “...picture driving down a country road, with hundreds of cows, scattered across the fields. As you’re driving, you notice one cow. One cow standing out from all the rest, for one reason. It has purple spots. Wouldn’t that grab your attention?”  Once readers understand what a purple cow is, they will see that the complete title of the book, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable says it all. Using case studies and personal observations of successful and failed marketing efforts, the book makes a good argument that traditional marketing is dead. “In almost every market, the boring slot is filled.” The traditional 5 Ps of marketing, product, pricing, promotion, placement, and people, just aren't working anymore. The new “P,” Purple Cow, teaches readers that being remarkable is what gets them noticed. Traditional marketing is the Brown ...