How to get to the Top / How to become a Great Boss Jeffrey J Fox

ISBNs: 978-0-09-193542-9

978-0-09-193543-6

Published by Vermillion

American as apple pie

Jeffrey J Fox is a Harvard graduate and founder of a very successful marketing consultancy. He is part of one of the world’s top business school case studies and a best-selling author. And he is an American. Not that you would doubt it when you read these books.

I know, I’m sounding negative and that may be unfair. But then again …

There is much to commend these books. Plenty of down-to-earth, sensible advice; stories that cut to the root; rules; pithy anecdotes and more. And yet I find him difficult to warm to.

Perhaps some of his chapter titles will show what bothers me:

From ‘get to the Top’:

Juggle like Mom / Don’t put General Patton in Charge of the Mess Hall / Buzzsaw the Buzzwords / Muddy Boots are Money Boots

From ‘Great Boss’:

Groom ‘Em or Broom ‘Em / Turn Termination into Determination / “Quit” is for Scrabble / Take a bullet for the team


See what I mean; it’s all just a bit too … American. Sincerity with added schmaltz.

And the pity is the content is generally genuinely useful. So, if you can stand the style, you will get plenty for your money – 55 tips from ‘get to the Top’ and 50 from ‘Great Boss’. At £7.99 (less on Amazon?) that has to be a bargain.

Sticky Wisdom

Published by Capstone

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

The revolution starts here

How would you like to switch on your ‘creativity’ any time you wanted? Or help everyone in your organisation (your life!) be more creative? According to the unnamed authors (all staff members of the organisation ?What If!) there is a step-by-step how-to-do-it guide – and Sticky Wisdom the book is it!

There are, the book tells us, six behaviours that can be seen in all creative people and teams;

Freshness
Greenhousing
Realness
Momentum
Signalling
Courage

Unsurprisingly, Sticky Wisdom is divided into six chapters (plus an introduction, a ‘call to arms’ and an index) that explore the behaviours and guide the reader towards their implementation.

Is this just another book of to do lists? Not entirely; though it contains lists a plenty. Let’s face it, we would all like a simple template that could be applied and provide instant positive results. Not only for creativity but for all the other challenges that face us in life and business. So the authors have tapped into a universal desire for quick fixes. However they are codifying what their organisation does, very successfully, for a number of impressive clients; Microsoft and ICI for example. While I don’t imagine either of these organisations is completely immune from snake-oil salesman their presence on the client list does make the arguments put forth at least worth spending a little time on.

Like the company the authors work for, Sticky Wisdom is a bit off-the-wall but a good read and with some interesting ideas that could make a big difference if you are prepared to put in the not inconsiderable effort that will be needed. Proving yet again that there is not really any short cut to success beyond winning a lottery, Sticky Wisdom has found a space on my bookshelf.

You Can Do It Too, Rachel Bridge

Published by Kogan Page

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

Success tips

Rachel Bridge is the Enterprise Editor for The Sunday Times and she has already written two best sellers on the topic of entrepreneurial success – How I Made It and My Big Idea.

In her previous books she documented 70 successful entrepreneurs and their ideas. Here she looks at ‘20 essential things every budding entrepreneur should know’.

Chapter by chapter she explores these essentials, illustrating them with examples from successful business peoples’ experiences. Each chapter culminates in a more detailed success story in which a self-made millionaire emphasises the ‘lesson’.

Many of the fabulously successful featured will be familiar names, for instance James Murray Wells of Glasses Direct and Hilary Devey of Pall-Ex who featured recently in The Secret Millionaire on Channel 4.

Sometimes of course she states the blindingly obvious - for example, you need to know what you are trying to achieve or you should be careful who you take on as partners – but other chapters reveal things that may not instantly come to mind in the flush of entrepreneurial enthusiasm.

There is also a heartening tailpiece that completely goes against much of the advice given. Edward Perry persevered with his ready-meals company Cook against all the signs that it was a loser – his family didn’t want to invest, the banks turned him down and his first attempts were, by his own admission, ‘terrible’. But he believed in his idea and soldiered on. He now has 21 shops and a projected £18 million turnover for 2008.

Once again Ms Bridge has written a highly interesting and, for the budding entrepreneur, valuable book.

Simply Success, Jack Miller

Published by Wiley

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

Sound advice for entrepreneurs

Jack Miller founded Quill Corporation in 1956 with the help of a $2,000 loan from his father-in-law and a phone line in his father’s poultry store. In 1998 he sold out to Staples for a little under $700,000,000.

Not bad for a man who rates himself as only averagely intelligent!

Mr Miller is an old-fashioned businessman who believes in hard work and putting the customer first. Not in the glib “our customers are paramount” lip service that is almost universal today, but simply by treating customers as he would family, neighbours and friends (my interpretation, not his).

In this delightful to read book he expounds his philosophy and tells the story of Quill. He talks about the importance of having a vision, of strategic planning, of budgeting and all the other things you would expect. But he talks with his own voice, not the platitudes of the business school and is twice as readable as a result.

He talks about what it takes to be an entrepreneur, to build a healthy corporate culture and to grow into leadership. Above all he is passionate about what made his business different – its unfailing concern to provide a better customer experience than any of its rivals.

He is frank about the mistakes he has made and about the things he wishes he had done differently; but this is at heart a success story; success founded on old-fashioned values that are as relevant this century as they were when Jack and his brothers were building what became the Quill Corporation.

Working for yourself

Working for yourself, Mike Pywell and Bill Hilton – Published by Which

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

Working for yourself, Jonathan Reuvid – Published by Kogan Page

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

Two books – one title!

Both have much to recommend them; comprehensive and well organised, they cover all the topics one would expect, from first considerations (why do it?) through getting the basics right to planning the long-term growth of your enterprise.

Jonathan Reuvid includes the more comprehensive set of contents – useful if you are scanning for topics. He also puts handy checklists at the end of each chapter. Pywell and Hilton scatter ‘jargon-buster’ explanations throughout and include a glossary of terms.

While both give a list of useful addresses I rather liked Reuvid’s inclusion of ‘sector information for low investment, part-time and freelance opportunities’ which is basically a list of trade associations from The British Acupuncture Council to the Wine and Spirit Educational Trust with the addition of Kogan Page book titles where relevant works are available.

I was also impressed by the Which volume’s ideas on press releases, a much abused form of publicity explained with refreshing simplicity.

All in all it is difficult to separate these two; each has minor goodies the other lacks but either will provide all the essential information you need to strike out on your own. I can only suggest you nip down to Blackwell’s and thumb through both before deciding which is the guide for you.

And if you are a budding entrpreneur who hasn't found your 'niche' yet - here are some ideas:

Niche finder Click Here!

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PLEASE NOTE: I am not recommending these products! The decision (and responsibility) is yours. But whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck!

My Big Idea, Rachel Bridge

Published by Kogan Page

Buy it now from Blackwell Books


Genius at work?

In this follow on to her wildly successful ‘How I Made It’ (Kogan Page again), Rachel Bridge treats us to tales of more entrepreneurs and their schemes.

Some you will recognise – Ian Wilson of WEXAS; Martyn Dawes of Coffee Nation; Don Lewin of Clinton Cards. Others are more obscure yet no less successful – Nick Austin of Vivid Imaginations; Paul Stanyer of HolidayTaxis.com; Richard Tang of Zen Internet.

These are the stories of 30 people who each had an idea and ran with it until it worked. Each is a very different individual but with one thing in common with all the others – self belief and belief in their idea. As Richard Branson says – every entrepreneur needs a big idea. And as Doug ‘Dragon’s Den’ Richard points out – the first step is to see every problem as an opportunity; solve the problem and you have a business. Each of Rachel’s entrepreneurs took a ‘problem’, came up with a solution and, in may cases, battled serious odds to achieve their dream. As a result they all became very rich.

Thought provoking, inspiring and often funny, this is an ideal gift for the budding entrepreneur in your family.