The Great Influenza. The epic story of the deadliest plague in History. John M.Barry. 2004. ISBN 1101200979. This is one of the most frightening books i have ever read as well as one of the most fascinating. A history of the growth in us medical care in the early 1900’s in the leadup to the 1917 influenza outbreaks all through the states. The improvements in medical schools were not a government push but one through private benefactors (such as Rockefeller). Govt officials and many medical. / public health officials were ignorant, incompetent and/or corrupt at the time. As there was WWI on there a push to keep morale up – by downplaying the seriousness of the situation. Once the flu hit the overcrowded and often unsanitary huge army and navy yards through the country it ran rampant. killing thousands. Add to that incompetent city officials who ignored the advice of the medical minds, which led to thousands of unnecessary civilian deaths.

The stories of the tireless medical minds who attacked these and other infectious diseases is also fascinating. The author is very skilled in this. Would that more folks read this before the Covid outbreaks and we may have even been speedier in responding. A delight – but frightening as I said.

How the World Really Works. The science behind how we got here and where we are going. Vaclav Smil. 2022. ISBN 9780593297070.

This could be one of the top books of the year for me. Perhaps it’s my increasing age in conjunction with cynicism but I was ready for this book. The author is recognized as top 100 global Thinker. In some way a Rennaissance man, Vaclav brings a realistic view to the what is going on today. I always distrust politicians and public figures who preach a simplistic view of how we can “fix’ the world’s problems. (Perhaps that is due to the public regularly electing some of the truly stupid to public office. ) All countries, like Canada are deeply inter related internally and with other countries in politics, supply chains, resources and the lists go on. To improve the situation means that one must be realistic about ‘how the world works’. As an engineer I have been suspicious of politicians and think tanks pushing such things as a zero-carbon economy in 10-20 years. The author does a realistic analysis of this and shows that if we require cement, steel, ammonia (for fertilizer/food production) and electricity to build this future – that requires huge energy investments – well beyond what the alternatives to fossil fuels can and will provide for many years. A simple analysis of the energy required to “push” a jet passenger plane through the air shows that only fossil fuels provide the power to weight ration needed.

The author does not say do not address global warning, on the contrary he says we must. But he points out just how long this is going to take. (Decades and decades or more), if the World even really addresses it.

He asks are we willing to deny the African nations the chance to develop their economies like China has done? If so, they will need huge amounts of energy (fossil fuels) which will release emissions (CO2) into the atmosphere.

India and China still process and burn huge amounts of coal and will continue to do so as well as buying Russian oil regardless of world opinions.

Do the Western and EU nations wish to restrict their own “consumption” in order to reduce emissions? (They are already well ahead of the developing world in this).

He posits several changes to codes etc. that will assist us in reducing some energy consumption (Ie triple paned windows for all buildings, reducing food waste, more nuclear energy, producing and supporting local).

All in all, a very insightful book that brings rational thought to these arguments.

Selling the Price Increase. The ultimate field guide to raising prices without losing customers. Jeb Blount. 2022. Jeb is a volume sales writer, who puts out really good sales books each year. I am a fan of his work and the content he religiously posts on LinkedIn etc. This book is slightly different as it addresses one prickly (to some sales people) topic. Jeb does his usual thorough analysis of the issue and then presents a step-by-step guide of how and what to do. (IMHO this is also a decent method for dealing with any angry customer.) Along with this you get a good dose of Jeb’s general guide to selling. My takeaway is that if you are a valued sales person to the client, then price increases can be communicated openly and received well. Very useful book for any sales person especially the young ones. We all need to be reminded of the bottom-line contribution of a price increase

Improving Sales Momentum

Lee Salz in Sell Different tells sales people how to look at communications in a different way to distinguish and differentiate themselves. I have added a few things to this. I call it: Reflect, Reply, Remind. My clients have been doing this for over a month now and we are seeing really strong sales results and often a shortening of the sales cycle

Reflect
You are on a call/demo and its going well. The target is agreeing and telling you how your solution will meet their needs and what they like about it. During the call you must be making notes about all these points of agreement and next steps. You agree on follow up calendar date(s).
When you get off the call take a few beats to reflect on what went well, what didn’t go as planned, and what you can improve. (How else can  you get better at selling?)

Reply
Next, before taking the next call/activity,  send your follow up email to the target. In this email you reiterate the points of agreement and what the target said about your product and remind about the next steps (using your notes). This is done because when the target got off your call they dropped into a succession of other meetings, calls or a mass of emails. What you talked about is dropped into the everyday chaos and falls off the table. When they open your email, your conversation is brought forward.

Remind
On the next call you remind the client what they agreed on and what this call/demo is to achieve. You will find that they will remember more of the the last call and what needs to be done. You are not starting from zero, but are already halfway into a continuing discussion.

Rinse and repeat.

Why it works

Tony Robbins taught us how NLP ( Neuro Linguistic Programming) is able to affect communication.

A similar psychology is in play here , the warm feelings from the good previous call are brought into the next call. and the sales person is keeping the momentum.

Less desperation, more conversation.

Little Brother. Cory Doctorow. 2007.  Free to anyone.  .  Always a favorite Sci fi writer, this book can bring shivers.  What could happen t some tech savvy teenagers, if Homeland Security went apeshit in their city?  What if the teens were versed in personal freedoms and decided that the DHS was way out of line, as were most adults after a terror attack?  Thats the thesis and Doctorow does a masterful job of weaving tech, civil rights and sci fi into a compelling hard to put down story.  Read this and you will learn quite a lot.  As well as having a blast while reading