Bring Your Audience to Their Feet! Irene Brennick. 2010. ISBN 9781935254225.  A very short well written book that directly addresses many peoples fears about making a speech. (According to Seinfield more people prefer to be in the coffin than giving the eulogy) The author has a very moving personal story and shows how you can better connect with the audience by bringing your stories to the fore.  She addresses many situations a speaker can get into eg changed topic at the last minute, heckling, being vulnerable,  the list goes on. It is a tremendous confidence builder for any speaker.

Selling to Zebras. How to close 90% of the business you pursue faster, more easily and more profitably.  Jeff Koser & Chad Koser. 2009. ISBN 9781929774579.  This is a terrific book that David Feldhaus lent me.  The Zebra website , http://www.sellingtozebras.com/ , is a treasure trove of information once you register with Zebra U.  My readers remember that we talk about the buyers journey and talking about things the buyer finds important.  This book really helps sales people zero into the top level concerns of your buyers as well as you to find and show them the metrics of value you bring.  Its a short, easy to read book, but unless you are committed to being a top performer, this takes a commitment of energy and time to get it right.  Great book  and one that top guns will need to read, review and keep close at hand.

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Driven. Razi Imam. 2010 ISBN 9780470599334.  Razi explains Junoon, an obsessive state one gets into to achieve a goal. The book is an exploration of an almost unbelievable self help effort by Razi to rise from being a Kuwait dock yard worker to owning a  successful software company in the US. Along the way you learn much about Junoon and how to achieve it yourself.  Clearly written , it will grab you to finish the book.

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The Path. Find fulfillment through prosperity from Japan’s father of management. Konosuke Matsushita. 1968 ISBN 9780071739573.   The first entire printing in English. Founder of Panasonic, Matsushita is revered in Japan.

This tiny book is full of the simple but cosmic ideas.  A true compendium of wisdom and knowledge, you can rush through the book , but why would you. A serious leader will take this material to heart.  This is a treasure.

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The Shallows. What the internet is doing to our brain. Nicholas Carr. 2010. ISBN 9780393072228.  This is a provocative and very important book.  Its genesis was the author noticed his inability to focus and not be distracted as he used the Internet more and more.  As befits the author of Does It Matter?  and The Big Switch , he looked at the impact on many technologies on thinking/the brain  along with the commentators of the time. This included the advent of clocks, writing (clay to parchment) , printing press ,  telephone, phonograph and now the World Wide Web.  Along the way he talks about the evolution of the brain, using eBooks, how interruptions affect learning, how he unplugged to write this book, is Google good or evil,  and general comments about writers on these and many subjects,.  By the end the writing of the book seems to have allowed him to rationalize where the Web can and will fit and where we need to be careful.  He even notes that our attention deficits may be rooted in pre web learned behaviors and we will learn new ways of sorting information.  I read this almost in one sitting – it is very well done, thoroughly researched and annotated, with lots of further reading noted. Great four hour coast read.

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microMarketing. Get big results by thinking and acting small. Greg Verdino. 2010 ISBN 9780071664868.  This is more of a guidebook to making sure what you do in marketing is in sync with the way things work today. Mass no longer matters, it is better to to be everything right to the right someone rather than something for everyone.  E.g.  Why are Maxwell House and Folgers coffee in such a deadgrowth  zone compared to  specialty coffees?  Many great points here but just like the movie the Jone$es, Verdino reminds you to connect with  masses of communicators, not mass communications. (So if you sell to advertisers, you better be very smart)   Too much to detail here, but this is a good statement of the state of the art today. Its all about being heard.  Concise easy read.

• Personal Branding Interview: Greg Verdino (personalbrandingblog.com)
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Take the Cold out of Cold Calling. Web Search Secrets. Sam Richter. 2010 ISBN 9781592982097.  This is a got-to-buy book. Readers of my reviews may have realized that I am not a fan of  “Cold Calling ” as practiced by too many companies. In order to call effectively I encourage and show my clients how to find information about their markets and prospects/ businesses before calling/contacting.  Well Sam Richter puts   everything I have ever taught and on steroids.  Harvey Mackay says, ”  A must -have resource for anyone involved in sales and business development,” and I agree.  Every marketer and sales person needs this book on their desk  and the copy will soon be well thumbed and well used.  There is no book out there like this one for immediate and direct utility for more effective sales.  As marketing realizes that their job is to drive sales,  buyer information becomes key – and this book provides the tools, lessons and examples of how to do that research job.  What a find!  Check out www.warmcallcenter.com !

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eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale. Ardath Albee, 2010. ISBN 9780071628648.  At last, a thoughtful effective marketing book written on how to accelerate sales!  I have waited so many years for a book such as this. ( Recently I was getting resigned to having to write it myself!)   I am adding this book to the must read list for sales people new and old.  She thinks, talks and  writes about things from the buyers perspective. I took forever to read this book, each section was chock full of terrific content and strategies causing me to take copious notes. It just makes so much sense to what we see every day in our practise.   So it you take this book , with Jill  Konrath‘s new one and Sharon Drew Morgen’s work you will have the trifecta of today’s real world sales approaches.  Albee also references Brian Carroll’s great work on lead generation (and you see his sales ready leads comments come through) . Albee’s blogs and sites (more than one) are highly referenced in marketing today.  Anyone who has to sell products and services today must buy this book.

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The Family. The real story of the Bush dynasty. Kitty Kelley. 2005. ISBN 0385503245.  Continuing with my US history lessons I picked up this book. The author, who had serious legal issues with her story on Frank Sinatra, has been very thorough in her research and notes on this one.  So one can be fairly certain that what she says was said and was done is well backed up. Which makes this such a depressing book. George Senior (41)  comes across as a rich boy dilettante, more willing to be liked than anything with no vision, no curiosity of the world coupled to an intellectually lazy person.  George W. (43), compounding his fathers weaknesses  is easily called the worst president ever in the US history and his behaviour proves it. How can an educational and political  system based on the ideals of people like Washington, Lincoln, Adams  become so polarized  and focused on winning to ignore the impact of  the  opinionated, arrogant dullard who becomes the leader?  (Well we did have Mulroney,  and Chretien – but still  pretty smart boys after all ) On top of that add the pigs to the trough approach of the entire Bush family when their “boys” become top of the pile?  The fill your pockets approach was very typical in Lincolns time, but he labored to educate the country out of it.   I had to finish this book as it is a good read, well written with hard hitting points. But it greatly saddened me at the same time. Next Kitty has  a book on Oprah!

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Meet
up? Vinny Mirchandi – author of the New Polymath can be in Vancouver
Thursday August 19th for a breakfast – meetup – Who is around? This is a very important book for technology entrepreneurs. If you work in Tech and intend to do well , you must read this book . One reviewer called it a fire hose of information on what is here an…d what is coming. Plus it is just a delightful read. His interviews and examples are concise and relevant. this is an author who has really done his homework. check him out http://dealarchitect.typepad.com/