Top Shelf Reading Picks:

I’ll be honest. having just read Trust Agents and a couple of other books about social media, I was hesitant to dive into yet another one. However, Twitterville: How Businesses can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods by Shel Israel was different than expected. It’s less of a “how to tweet” and more about the evolution of the era of microblogging.

Why would anyone tweet?

From the forward by Charlene Li:

“Twitter is made for my mom. That’s because she’s always infinitely interested in what I am doing and thinking, no matter how mundane–or inane.” Then Li goes on to say that is probably the reason for skepticism about Twitter. However, in her mind, “Twitter is less about what you are doing and more about what you are paying attention to and willing to share.”

I fall under the latter camp. For me, Twitter has always been the nonstop cocktail party where you can pop into conversations and learn what people are thinking, reading, learning and laughing about. I want to know what the experts are focused on and share the highlights with my followers.

In general, I think everyone should have a Tweeting strategy–if you follow me at http://twitter.com/downtownwoman, you’ll read a lot about what the Downtown Women’s Club is up to, what’s going on with social media and women networking, what books I’m reading/reviewing and, of course, whatever article of clothing or numerous bizarre items my 90-lb Bernese Mountain Dog has eaten, buried and/or thrown up on.

Israel’s book doesn’t tell readers how to build their own strategy, but he covers some of the famous Twitter incidents that have caused people and companies to start paying attention. These include:

• The arrest tweeted around the world. James Buck’s tweet “Arrested” sent from Egypt rapidly made its way around Twitterville and played a large role in his ability to later tweet the word “Free.”

• The Motrin Moms getting an ad canceled. Despite not having an opinion one way or the other about baby slings, I had a personal attachment to this one, as one of our Downtown Women’s Club bloggers at the time was part of the vocal group.

• The Pepsi suicide ad. This was a story I hadn’t heard much about, and Israel points out that Pepsi acted quickly via Twitter, made its apologies sincere and even put a personal face on the apology–an employee whose sibling had committed suicide and who was disturbed by an ad Pepsi ran mocking suicide. (Note that as I wrote this Pepsi had another incidence of poor taste with its Pepsi Amp iPhone app encouraging men to keep score of the women they picked up . . . which then led to another Twitter apology.)

Some lessons beyond Twitter

However, the book wasn’t limited to stories unfolding on Twitter. Israel covers how Twitter came into being, including its origin as an internal tool used to locate a virtual work force. In these sections, I found some interesting business advice that went beyond Twitterville, including:

Ev Williams, one of the founders of Twitter, said that he learned two things from his tenure at Google, where he worked for a year and a half, 2003 to 2004:

1. Get the product right and make users happy before you worry about making money.
2. Focus is everything. Every company has to choose between what it can do and what it should do.

Twitter as a business strategy

Israel outlines a wide variety of strategic uses of Twitter.

• Dell Outlet–used Twitter to employ an old retail tactic: coupons.
• Dell Inc. had a different strategy–trolling for mentions of Dell and hoping to resolve problems by jumping into conversations.

Like Dell, Israel comes down on the side of corporations letting individuals tweet with their own pictures/name. Other tips from the Dell section of the book: Per Bob Pearson, who at the time was the highest-ranking member of Dell’s social media team: “Social media becomes even more important during tough financial times because it is not that expensive and it gets you closer to the customer.”

Recently there’s been a lot written about the push back from corporations against social media. Most of that is due to the fact that it’s harder to measure ROI. However, Israel gives some solid examples of ROI, such as JetBlue adding new flights to get to the SXSW conference after reading on Twitter about the lack of flights.

“The internet has been flattening corporate structures for some time now. Social media has accelerated the process, and the recession has speeded up the process still further.”

Back to corporate examples:

• Best Buy has a smart strategy. “It may be one of the companies that realizes it is not in control of its destiny. Their customers are in control. Their future depends on how close they can get to their customers, and how fast they can learn what their customers want from them in terms of both goods and services.”

• Ford Motor Co. found out that Twitter is crucial in solving PR crises. In the old days you might have a week to resolve a crisis; today you have mere hours.

• H&R Block is using Twitter to find new business. The company realized that its core client–folks who frequented strip malls–weren’t going to replenish themselves. H&R Block sent employees online to Twitterville to learn how they might implement an online strategy and cultivate a new client base.

• Zappos makes it part of the customer service culture.

Twitter and Customer Service

This last example is just as important as all the marketing examples because Twitter is a curious blend of marketing and customer service. People don’t call customer support to complain anymore; they get on Twitter and rail about it.

In fact, I recently blogged about a great customer service experience I had with a vendor on Twitter. And I have a few other examples of companies that have responded to tweets that led to me doing business (iRobot), keeping my business (Eventbrite, Comcast) and, in one case, stopping me from lambasting the company (Charter Communications. In this case, I had complained through Charter’s website, by e-mail, by phone, by instant chat, etc. Nothing resolved the issue until I tweeted about it and heard from the eRep., who seems to have resolved the issue.)

Israel is a big proponent of putting a personal face on corporate and disagrees with Whole Foods’ strategy of not putting faces to its tweeters. While the Whole Foods reps have a fairly successful strategy and put forth some good reasons for not having humanized tweeters, I’m still with Israel on the human bit–it makes a company more transparent and authentic.

Twitter and PR

Twitter has also changed the way PR functions. To quote a PR professional from the book:

“Today I send a press release out on Business Wire . . . I also send it to media and bloggers using e-mail. Then I post it on PitchEngine.com as a social media release; post it on our company website; tweet about it; cross-post to Facebook; and if it involves a commercial, post it on YouTube. Things have sure changed.”

Random notes of interest

Throughout the book, Israel includes random tweets. Some I found just plain odd, others made me wish I had more info. I bookmarked one because it stated something I’d been thinking about recently with regard to social media:

@TomTravel2: Think about it, none of us follow the exact same people so we all see a unique set of Tweets no one else sees. Twowflakes of a sort.

When it comes to reading newsfeeds, whether on Twitter or Facebook, everyone is seeing something different. And this is what defines a social media user’s experience. But it’s bigger than that. We all used to read the same newspaper and see the same ads. How do we market in a world where everyone customizes and personalizes the information that they see? Certainly not by trying to blast traditional marketing messages at them via social networks.

If there’s one takeaway from this book, it’s that what worked before in another medium is not likely to work here. Think back to radio and TV. What might work well on radio–a catchy jingle–does not transfer to television unless you add some visuals.

Top Shelf Must Read Pick for 2009. If you don’t get Twitter and are in any way connected to your company’s management, marketing or customer support, you need to read this book. If you are already tweeting but without much of a strategy, you also need to read this book. There are plenty examples of large and small B2C and B2B companies using Twitter throughout. If you finish the book and still see Twitter as something your company can live without, please write me, because I’d love to hear the other side.

When pal Alexandra Levit sent me an advance copy of her book, New Job, New You: A Guide to Reinventing Yourself in a Bright New Career, I thought it was quite timely. With the economy still stagnant and the unemployment rate bumping up against double digits, many individuals have to reinvent themselves to find employment. For some this may mean moving in a whole new direction, for others, it may mean it’s time to step back and reprioritize.

Levit centers the book on seven motivators for change (listed below). Then throughout the book, she uses individual stories as examples for why and how people made successful career changes. At the end of each chapter there are tests to see whether this could be a motivator for you and also tips on how to get started making the change.

Here are a few interesting tidbits I picked up in my reading:

1. Family: When true work/life balance becomes a necessity
Two of her examples in this section were men.

One vignette that stood out was when Erica came home from work to find her children happily playing with her husband in their pool and realizing she was going to work every day to afford a life of which she wasn’t even a part. This was somewhat similar to my first career change (from law to marketing). A friend summed it up nicely when she explained her reason for leaving: “I understand that if I prioritize my kids, even if I produce the same results as the next associate, I will be passed over and never make partner in a big law firm. While I could probably handle it for a while and continue to remind myself that I’m doing it for my kids, I would still be totally pissed off . . . and pissed off is not how I want to go through life.”

Levit includes some good advice about flextime, work-at-home careers and how to include your entire family in the decision.

2. Independence: When you’ve been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug
If you’re reading this review, it’s likely that this section will resonate the most. The common theme among the examples was how analytical these individuals were. While many were driven to become entrepreneurs by their right side of the brain (the creative/intuitive side), what made them successful was their more logical left side.

3. Learning: When your bookish, curious side takes over
When it comes to going back to school, one of Levit’s examples said, “Don’t worry about how old you are, and ask the right questions of the right people.”

As in other sections, Levit points out the financial risks you are taking, like how much debt the average person takes on to go back to school.

4. Money: When an increase in earning potential is on the horizon

5. Passion: When you yearn to do what you love with all of your heart
I liked this quote from one of her examples: “I realized that you can have all the talent in the world, but you still have to be willing to get your hands dirty and be disciplined and eager to grow. It’s dangerous to think you have it all figured out.”

6. Setback: When one door closes, another one opens

7. Talent: When you’re too good at something not to give it a shot
With all of these motivators, Levit provides both interesting and varied examples, as well as hard-core advice and a decent dose of reality. Career changes aren’t easy. In fact, Levit identifies the four key factors you need to be successful at the end: Persistence, courage, self-confidence and business savvy. This is why I would highly recommend this book. It will help you with all four of those aspects as well as in identifying your reasons for the change and how to garner the support of family and friends.

Top Shelf Bottom Line: If you are considering a career change, this is the guide to help you motivate, plan and decide whether you are really up for it.

Most of what I read about social media is geared to audiences that either need to be converted or need to convert others, and who potentially have budgets in the tens of thousands to spend on social media. However, Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith is the first social media book that I found helpful for newbies as well as active users, no matter what size the budget.

I’m going to gloss over all the “here are more reasons why you can no longer ignore social media,” and focus on items that are more tactical or a unique way of looking at social media.

One has to appreciate a social media book that opens with a totally non-techie intro. In this case, the authors use a story about an undercover FBI agent infiltrating the mob to paint a compelling picture about how it takes time and patience to build a reputation as a trust agent. I thought this was a great point because I could just see non-social-media-savvy managers mandating their marketing departments to start being “trust agents.” Much like a marketing department can’t make a viral video because it’s the public that decides what goes viral, it’s also the public that decides who is a “trust agent.”

So, what is a trust agent?
The definition of a trust agent: “digital natives using the web to be genuine and to humanize their business.” Need more than that? Here’s another definition from the book:

Trust agents build networks almost reflexively by being helpful, by promoting the good work that others do, by sharing even their best stuff without hesitation, and by finding ways to deliver even more value on top of all that without asking for anything in return. Instead of sucking up to the big guys . . . trust agents reach out to the up-and-comers.

The 6 Characteristics of Trust Agents:

1. Make your own game (i.e., stand out by being different).
2. One of us (you are not above your market; you are part of your market).
3. The Archimedes effect (it’s all about the leverage).
4. Agent Zero (start your networks before you do actual business).
5. Human artist (learning the soft skills).
6. Build an army (you can’t do it alone).

What’s so great about writing stuff on the internet?
“Writing everything online, where it’s eternally visible to everyone, forever, has value.” I totally agree with this for two reasons:

• Just the other day, someone stumbled (http://www.stumbleupon.com) upon an old blog post of mine and put it in the feminism category. It’s led to a steady stream of traffic to our DWC Women’s Dish blog.
• Brogan and Smith also point out that if someone asks a question, you could answer it by e-mail OR you could post your answer on the blog and help not just that one person but many others who may be Googling the same issue. I’ve found that you also help yourself when you do this because it saves you from responding to the same question over and over again–you can just direct people to your blog.

Jumping gates and playing games
I liked the section on gatejumpers, but if I were to totally gush over everything, then who would take me seriously? One minor flaw of the book, which isn’t necessarily a flaw–as it could possibly be an entirely separate book–is that sometimes the authors will drop names of gamechangers such as Perez Hilton, but not talk about the actual steps they took to become gamechangers.

There is a good example of how Timothy Ferriss used the term “lifestyle design” to jump his gate. He used this term instead of work/life balance and time management. Note to self: Come up with a new term for “women’s business group that helps do-it-yourselfers do it themselves.” I’m open to suggestions!

To be a gatejumper, “figure out who the gatekeepers are, then decide which rules you can break to make yourself a gatejumper.”

I also liked the section on viewing the world as a game because games have concrete goals and simple ways to measure what’s working and what’s not. The focus is on beating the system, not other people. “Once you have the system figured out, ask yourself which rules can be ignored, changed, modified.” I thought this is a great section for all women to read, because too often we are still playing the “good girl” role and not taking enough calculated risks. Social media is about putting yourself out there . . . and women are such great communicators, we should be all over this new medium.

Social Media and Trust
Social media is about selling the same thing as everyone else–only differently.

Social media can be about tinkering–it’s a great way to test new things without too much expense.

But make sure your connectors still work. This brief section resonated hugely with me. If you are going to be a gatejumper and start doing things differently, you have to still be able to plug back into a market where everyone may still be doing things the traditional way. This was a bit of my problem with the Downtown Women’s Club. We moved online a bit prematurely for our core audience. This meant we spent a year marketing something that our core audience (thirty- and fortysomething businesswomen) didn’t know or care about. We finally figured this out and have continued to market along a dual track. Ironically, more recently, our focus on our digital offerings and virtual teleclasses has brought us a whole new audience–boomer women. While there were many organizations geared to senior women who wanted to network in person, there weren’t many that focused on teaching them social media and other online networking skills.

I noted that this section was followed by one about the importance of moving first! LOL– it’s all about moving early but staying connected to the status quo.

“Despite all the changes on the web, the basis of trust is still the same; it’s the signals that have changed. Having credibility is a major factor, but credibility is established through what other people think.” One of the best tidbits was the one on pages 83 and 84, which talks about signals of trust on the web: from design to longevity to what you have on your “About” page (I had identical thoughts about “why the about page is the most important page of your website”).

The Business Value of Friends
Brogan and Smith hit on something that those of us who use social media get and non-users don’t. “These ‘friends’ we’re discussing aren’t the ‘move your couch’ friends. They’re people you know online, and you value their opinion and respect the relationship.”

• Becoming friends means that we’ve accepted your network connection. It means we’re at least curious about who you are.
• Consider “friends” to mean that you can pay attention to what we’re doing and try to find a conversational entry point.
• Marketing to a new friend will almost always result in unfriending–and possibly an angry blog post.
• It’s simple: This is like saying hi at a party to someone you don’t exactly know. It’s a good start, but what you stay next is probably more important.
• Reveal little things, naturally, without making them a focal point, and people will develop a more complete view of you as a person and respect you more for it.

I also thought the example of GM’s two social media marketing examples was noteworthy: asking people to make videos for them to use in their marketing backfired (environmentalists were all over it with negative videos); but asking people to share their passions about their GM cars was successful.

It’s Not Too Late to Start
Six games you could have made and still can:

1. Write a content marketing blog about a passion of yours.
2. Build a small, powerful network.
3. Become the name brand of a specialty.
4. Master leverage and use it for good.
5. Sell by generating human trust.
6. Make an army to power your change.

I actually thought the ending hid the most illuminating statement:

All this humanizing is normal; in fact, the only reason we think that it’s crazy is because most of us were born in the brief period where mass media was the only game in town. But, remember, that’s only been the case for a few decades; for the rest of the time, people have communicated mostly with other people in small groups.

I agree with this statement wholeheartedly, especially as I see a rise in network marketing (in a good way) and small businesses.

Top shelf bottom line: Trust Agents is a must read for both the social media novice AND the more experienced user, no matter what size the business or level of social media expertise. It’s also an easy and fun book because of the conversational voice and the pop culture references.

P.S. I’m headed to the Inbound Marketing Summit on Oct. 7 and 8 in Foxborough, Mass. (although only for Oct. 7). If you’re going, please try to find me and say hi! If you haven’t signed up yet, what are you waiting for? Visit: http://city.inboundmarketingsummit.com/boston/.

A couple of years ago, my co-author Lindsey Pollak and I were struggling with how to write an engaging “how to online network” book. Then we pondered:  What would Jane Austen do if she were a blogger?  The result:  The Savvy Gal’s Guide to Online Networking (or What Would Jane Austen Do?).

This is why when I heard about the book Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don’t Float: Classic Lit Signs on to Facebook by Sarah Schmelling, I just had to get my hands on it.  Classic Lit + Social Media = Witty Fun!

Schmelling takes classic literature characters and transports them into the modern world by imaging what they would do if handed a computer and access to Facebook.  She creates profiles, pages, news feeds, and has them interact with each other.

For the non-Facebook friendly, the title is a play off the fact that people who join Facebook usually join groups of like-minded folks. Poor Ophelia of Hamlet fame would have been relegated to joining the group of “Maidens who Don’t Float,” not to be confused with the group “Men Who Float But Are Still Not Impervious to Bullets” which can count Jay Gatsby among its members.

Some of the sections worked better than others (meaning LOL funny).  What I found the most clever were generally:

• Those sections involving literature that I knew really well (Pride & Prejudice, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina, Gatsby, Lolita, Little Women); and
• Those that lent themselves to the genre (i.e. Romeo and Juliet, due to the fact that they are teenagers; Lord of the Flies re: having a reunion; Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald unfriending each other; and Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde trading quips).

If you love literature and are familiar with Facebook, this is a great way to revisit the classics in a whole new light and have a few laughs along the way! Who can resist a chapter titled:  “Elizabeth threw a sheep at Mr. Darcy: The Love and Other Difficulties Network.”   I couldn’t.

Top Shelf Bottom Line: Recommended for the Facebook enthusiasts.  It’s a fun way to revisit familiar characters.

I was thrilled to learn that Top Shelf Reading Picks has been selected as one of the 50 Top blogs for business education by The Biz-learner.   Thanks for the honor!

When Keith Ferrazzi’s book Never Eat Alone came out in 2005, I read it and chose not to review it.  To me, it was nothing more than a lot of name-dropping by someone (a major extrovert) who wanted to run his life as a nonstop BNI meeting.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  But for 99 percent of the rest of the world, even if we wanted to, we couldn’t follow his recommendations due to introverted personalities, family obligations, and the fact that many of us startup entrepreneurs needed to focus on the day-to-day operations and sleep more than three or four hours per night.

However, I have a very different take on Ferrazzi’s new book, Who’s Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success –and Won’t Let You Fail.  This is the book I wish he had written back then.  The difference between the two?  In the first book, Ferrazzi taught people “how to mingle,” not “how to network.”  In his new book, amid many mea culpas for the first book (an honorable approach that completely changed my view of Mr. Ferrazzi), he focuses on building relationships rather than building a Rolodex.

Some of my favorite sections from the book include the following:

He notes that the secret to getting into the “club” (e.g., any group of top executives who all do business with one another) is “[caring] about other people’s success rather than just your own.  It was a skill that business schools and too many people overlooked.”

I liked the model he used for this book of Jean Nidetch, the founder of Weight Watchers, building support systems to accomplish goals. “Exceptional achievement in work and life is a peer-to-peer collaborative process.”

Much of the beginning is very personal and talks about how, to the outside world, Ferrazzi seemed to be living the high life always surrounded by adoring fans and colleagues, yet he felt isolated and alone, and his company wasn’t making the progress it should have been making.

At their essence, my problems weren’t just business problems. For so many of the daily and strategic issues that a company faces, I relied on the world-class network I had put together, using the insights and guidelines I described in Never Eat Alone.  I could turn to any number of clients, lawyers, bankers, vendors, or board members in my network for specific advice.  But the help they could give me was relegated to a call here or a coffee there – dribs and drabs.  I didn’t have anyone in my life whom I could turn to at any time for a completely candid, no-holds-barred discussion of what was really going on in my life and my business.

My favorite line in the whole book was shortly thereafter where Peter Guber tells him that he needs to be more “elegant,” and then explains that he wasn’t talking about Ferrazzi’s appearance but  rather “elegance of purpose and activity.”

“. . . elegance is the art of exerting the minimum amount of effort for the maximum effect, the maximum amount of power and achievement in our life.  . . . [Keith] you’re one of the smartest people I know, but you’re working so frenetically.”

Not only could I personally relate to that, this was reminiscent of one of my all-time favorite CoCo Chanel quotes:  “Elegance is refusal.”

Other good points:

The difference between mentors and lifelines. Mentors are based on master/apprentice situations, and lifelines are peer-to-peer.  This is why this is NOT a book about mentors.  On a side note:  I’m wondering if mentoring is going to be less of a buzz word as the command-and-control business structure collapses and Generation Y overtakes boomers in the workplace.

But in the meantime, Ferrazzi gives us the four mind-sets to building lifeline relationships:

1. Generosity
2. Vulnerability
3. Candor
4. Accountability

He then breaks them down throughout the rest of the book.  I particularly liked the section on creating intimate relationships.  Of course people will say, “but it’s business, I can’t get intimate.” But Ferrazzi is not talking about dipping your pen in the company ink, he’s talking about making yourself memorable to others.   Making yourself memorable is the key to turning mingling into networking, and Ferrazzi gives us tips on how to do it.

The eight steps to instant intimacy:

1. Create an authentic environment around you.
2. Suspend your prejudices.
3. Project the positive.
4. Share your passions.
5. Talk about your goals and dreams.
6. Revisit your past.
7. What’s keeping you up at night?
8. Future fears.

Another key to creating intimate relationships is being candid.  He also includes some great tips for doing this:

1. Find people you respect.
2. Create the opportunity.
3. Make it clear any feedback you get is a gift.
4. Acknowledge your faults.
5. Tell the other person what you plan to do with the advice.
6. Don’t tell them what you want to hear.
7. Ask specific questions.
8. Take it or leave it–but deliver on safety.
9. Pay them back.

The rest of the book is chock-full of advice on how to create your own lifeline relationships from accountability buddies to building a dream team.  I confess, I faded a bit in the second half, but that was because he was telling me stuff I already knew.  I built my own dream team five years ago in almost the exact manner he lays out.  But for those of you who haven’t, that may be the most useful part of the book.

Top Shelf Bottom Line: If you found that mass-market networking does not work for you, then this is a great book to learn how to build the relationships that matter in a manner that is probably much more comfortable.  Ferrazzi is his engaging self and the stories of his successes are much better-balanced in this book because they are offset by his honesty about his failures and shortcomings.

I’ve been focused on social media for a while, so I’m always surprised at people who are holdouts. Yet they’re out there.  If you happen to be one of those people who still need convincing, read this article about the coming Age-Wave.  Really, it’s not just us fanatics anymore; the demographics are singing the same tune.

The nice thing about social media and online marketing is that they are something everyone can learn.  So what’s a marketer to do to get up to speed?  I found that Scott Fox’s e-Riches 2.0: Next Generation Marketing Strategies for Making Millions Online was a very thorough overview.  Don’t let the name scare you into thinking it’s one of those internet scams.  I found it was useful for performing a complete marketing audit.  I was able to evaluate inefficiencies and plan for the next six months.

Some items of interest:

His Nine Commandments for E-Riches Marketing Success include:

1. Don’t worry about technology–focus on your marketing goals instead.
2. Heed the interactive imperative.
3. Build customer relationships. Don’t just chase sales.
4. Listen Up. The “participation nation” requires it.
5. Your profit potential depends on being more personal.
6. Grow beyond your website to a multi-channel online “product presence.”
7. Graduate from destination marketing to distributed engagement.
8. Nurture your brand’s reputation cloud.
9. Publish or perish.

Now if you didn’t understand all of those, or don’t have them incorporated into your 2009/2010 marketing plan, you might want to pick this book up.

Even if you do have a social media component to your marketing plan, I found that Fox had me reconsidering whether some of the services and tools I was using were the most efficient/cost-effective.

And my favorite line in the book is found under Fox’s “Magic Blog Formula.”

If you have something to say that will grow your business, then start a blog.  Otherwise shut up.

Top Shelf Bottom Line: e-Riches covers: e-mail, social marketing, blogs, online PR and promotion tools, podcasting and PPC advertising.  If you don’t have most of these incorporated into your plan, it’s worth picking up.

Word of caution, it may be a bit overwhelming for the non-techie newbie but still helpful to learn the terminology and to earmark the stuff you need to learn more about.

Another good book, which might be easier for total newbies, is: eBoot Camp by Corey Perlman.  Click here for my review.

I’ve found another must read Top Shelf Pick for 2009: Kevin Maney’s Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On and Others Don’t.  Any book that makes me rethink my biz plan is a must-read, and while this didn’t cause me to change direction, it did solidify that our new plan is taking us in the right direction.

Initially, I thought this was going to be a marketing book (sort of like Made to Stick), but it’s really more of a discussion around your company’s mission statement and core values.  The main premise is that every business has a trade-off.  You can either excel in providing a high-fidelity experience or in being extremely convenient.  If you’re in the middle for both, you end up in the “Fidelity Belly” (kind of like the doldrums . . . or to use a dating example . . .  it’s like dating someone who is vanilla–everything about them is fine, but nothing is outstanding. )

Any company or product that tries to capture both fidelity and convenience ends up in the Fidelity Belly and will more than likely fail.  Maney provides Starbucks and Coach bags as examples.  They both tried to mass market a luxury product, which when you think about it is a bit of an oxymoron:  mass-marketed luxury?  Not possible . . . the definition of luxury is something expensive or hard to obtain.

If you’re chasing convenience

A super-convenient product is one where people will forgo a nicer experience due to time, cost or easy accessibility, i.e. Wal-Mart.

But in addition to being affordable and easy, if you can add a social dimension, it acts as an adoption accelerant.  This is why teens will buy a cell-phone ring . . . Downloading it is convenient, but a ring tone also announces your taste in music to the world, giving it great social value.

However, manufacturing a social dimension doesn’t always work.  Maney points to USA Today’s 2006 attempt to create a social network around its newspaper.  They found out that you can’t force a social aspect onto something that is not inherently social.  I started to debate this example in my head because, in some sense, the comments on NYTimes.com sort of work like a social dimension (and I probably e-mail an article or two per week to friends).  But, then again, I feel an affinity with someone who reads the NYTimes, and not sure USA Today readers feel the same.

If you’re hoping for fidelity

You need the following formula:   Experience + Aura + Identity = Fidelity.

Experience means giving someone a feeling/situation that is high-quality, i.e., iPhone, high-fidelity experience; exceptionally inconvenient access(price/AT&T).

Identity:  Maney uses the Kindle for this example–stating that it’s missing the Identity component: that is, you are what you read, and when you read on a Kindle, no one knows what you are reading.  As I write this I realize that this is also a component of convenience . . . but it seems that Maney is saying there needs to be identity when it comes to fidelity; but if your goal is convenience, then it’s a nice bonus, but less necessary.

The Kindle is an interesting example that Maney brings up.  It’s very expensive, so not convenient, so it must be a high-fidelity play.  Yet, does it improve the experience of reading a book?  The jury is still out on that one.  Besides, when you think about it, the majority of book purchasers are “mass market,” and most people buy paperbacks, which are still quite convenient.  So the Kindle seems to be in the Fidelity Belly.

Aura:  Super-fidelity is sustainable, but it can’t be done on Aura alone. Maney uses Crocs as an example.  The more a company relies on Aura, or being cool and trendy, the more easily it can be toppled from its perch.

Should  you be convenient or high-fidelity?

Convenience is needed; fidelity is loved.  In other words, people tend to choose the most convenient product or service most of the time but treat themselves to fidelity.  This is why it might not be wise to launch a high-fidelity product during an economic recession, although the iPhone seemed to defy those odds.

High-fidelity products have a smaller audience and therefore need a higher profit margin.  Convenient products have lower margins and therefore need to reach larger audiences.

While Maney promotes an almost all-or-nothing approach, one or the other, he does note that adding the right touch of fidelity to a high-convenience product or service, or the right touch of convenience to fidelity, can make for a powerful, competitor-beating concoction.

Warning: Don’t forget the Tech effect.  Technology drives fidelity and convenience. Wherever your product or service lands today on the fidelity or convenience spectrum, it may well be in a different position tomorrow.

Throughout the book Maney focuses on a lot of different companies and products:   iRobot’s Roomba, Tiffany’s, newspapers and higher education. Being a Washington Capitals fan, I was really interested in his take on how the team turned into one of the most exciting in hockey.  But Maney also brought up something that’s been bugging me for a while–instead of trying to boost TV ratings for NHL hockey, i.e., only showing playoffs on obscure cable channels (I had to follow some games via Twitter), why not live stream them on the internet?  Go for the convenience.  Especially if the majority of the NHL’s demographics have access to a computer.  After all, the existing plan isn’t working.

Top Shelf Bottom Line. Like most trend books, it gets to a point where the author is saying the same thing over and over but with more and different illustrations.   Nevertheless, it kept me reading to the end and I could easily grasp the different examples.   This is a definite must-read if you don’t know where your company falls on the Fidelity/Convenience Trade-offs chart, or you want to fine tune your future growth.

DKD Sidebar: I tried applying this to my business, the Downtown Women’s Club.  Last year we launched our new tagline: Professional networking that’s affordable, effective and fun!  Clearly we’re going for convenience.

But this book made me realize that people still want a high-fidelity networking experience.  Some of our local clubs do provide this in abundance (which is our high-fidelity aspect).  However, after reading this book, I came away with the idea that we need to provide more networking “content” as opposed to “contacts.”

Let the other 99 percent of our competitors focus on making introductions for only a select group of people.  Instead, we’ll provide the skills and tools everyone needs to create her own networks, wherever they may be.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  I’ll keep you posted.

How can you apply this to your own company/service/product? Ask yourself the following:

1. Are you high-fidelity or convenient?
2. Do you have a high or low profit margin?
3. Can you add a social component to your product/service?
4. Do you rely too much on your aura?
5. Can you be displaced easily by new technologies?
6. Are you in the Fidelity Belly?

Need help answering those?  Buy the book!

For the past few weeks I’ve been listening to the audio book of Thomas L. Friedman’s Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America. Sometimes it’s hard to write a review after “listening” to a book because I can’t refer back to the brightly colored stickies I usually place on the parts that I liked. However, considering the topic of this book, I was starting to feel bad about the great numbers of stickies I normally use while doing book reviews.

Still, I realize that this is minimal waste (and I do reuse them when I can), as one of the main themes of the book is that the environmental crisis we are facing is so huge that reducing our own individual carbon footprint is but a drop in the bucket. Sure, we should do it, but that alone won’t correct the treacherous path we are headed down.

The book is jam-packed with information; while it’s preachy and clearly takes the liberal path (promoting government-backed solutions), there were some universal themes in there that we all need to know about.

Small disclaimer. I have to admit, while listening to this book, I couldn’t help but think of it as the back story to my two favorite books growing up as a child: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss; and The Wump World by Bill Peet; as well as the more recent children’s movie Wall-E. All are identical in theme, so you can probably tell where I fall on this spectrum, having been inducted into the “save the environment” cause from age 5. Yet, here are some of the concepts from Friedman that struck me as new and different.

Global weirding. As I sit through the wettest and coldest New England summer that I can remember, I agree that “global warming” is not the best term to describe the climate. It’s not necessarily warmer, but the weather is certainly weirder.

The rise of India’s and China’s middle class. Friedman talks about how the rise of two enormous middle classes (this is where the flat and crowded part comes in) is going to have an unprecedented effect on our climate, such that even if all Americans reduced their carbon footprint, it wouldn’t be enough to curtail any climate changes.

The role of TV weatherpeople. I recall hearing about the controversy in December 2006 when Weather Channel personality Dr. Heidi Cullen called for meteorologists to educate themselves and their TV audiences about global warming. The backlash from the global warming skeptics was huge, claiming that meteorologists shouldn’t be political. As Friedman makes clear . . . weather/climate should not be a political issue.

The second point that was made in this section was the disconnect between the hard-core scientific community and the TV personalities. If you are a TV personality, then you can’t be doing serious science. Yet these are the folks who can get America’s attention. Somehow these two groups have to find common ground.

Detroit. Friedman trots out the story of Detroit’s excuse for making the Hummer. They claimed that this is what Americans wanted, so they gave it to them. Just because a few people want something doesn’t mean it’s a good thing . . . not to mention that if people never knew they could have it, would they really want it?

This story always makes me cringe because the right to oversize SUVs seems to be ingrained in our society. For example, I recently had a conversation about Hummers with a very good friend who is a tutor. He made a comment about how one of his students needed a Hummer because she attended Colgate University in upstate NY and the snow is really bad. It only took him a few seconds to see the humor in the situation as I reminded him that once upon a time I, too, went to Colgate University, and my Honda Civic–the very same one that was nearly totaled by a deer while visiting him at Princeton 20 years ago–worked just fine (although I did have to toss a couple of sandbags in the back). That Honda Civic and I even managed to chauffeur Joe Biden around campus one dark and snowy night . . . another story worth telling someday.

So, what’s the takeaway from all these points?

1. We have a problem too big for individual efforts or possibly even the government to resolve.
2. We need entrepreneurs (i.e. people who think differently) to help come up with some sort of solution.
3. We need to sit the entrepreneurs down in a room with the scientists and some marketing folks.

This is a huge project. But it’s possible. For example, some very smart people in New Orleans realized that the government wasn’t coming to fix things, so they put out the call to entrepreneurs. Groups such as www.ideavillage.com are still there trying to attract and empower entrepreneurs in NOLA. We need something like that on a global scale that centers around our climate.

The Top Shelf Bottom Line: Friedman is very good at boiling down complex ideas so all of us can understand them. Like The World is Flat, it’s a concept book with a lot of examples and illustrations. I actually like that, as some of these stuck with me, and some of them didn’t. Worth wading through for entrepreneurs because this is a problem that needs an entrepreneurial solution.

But now, says the Once-ler,
Now that you’re here,
the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear.
UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It’s not.

– Dr. Suess, The Lorax, 1971.

The site “Learn-Gasm“, was kind enough to include us in their list of “100 Awesome Blogs for Your Business Education.”  We noted they included a few of our other favorites on there, too.

Thanks for the honor!

I’m breaking ranks in honor of summer, as reading business books all the time can be limiting even for devout entrepreneurs. This is why I’m reviewing a piece of fiction: Even 24/7/365 entrepreneurs need to step outside of their bubble once in a while in order to stay fresh, relevant and innovative. I’m also doing this because The Elegance of the Hedgehog was, hands down, the absolute best piece of fiction I have accidentally stumbled upon since The Time Traveler’s Wife. Admittedly, some of the appreciation might have been encouraged by the fact that I read half of the book while sitting on the Promenade des Anglaise in Nice, waiting to pick up someone at the airport.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery was one of France’s best sellers and the winner of at least four major French book awards. So, no, it has not been endorsed by Oprah and, as such, will likely remain on the “critics and employees” recommended picks section. Nor does it have the annoying “Book club questions” at the back of the book. However, if you are looking for something weightier than chick lit, Harry Potter or the Twilight series, and something more akin to what you would read in a college literature course, you might want to check this out.

The plot involves a French concierge of the lower class who hides her intelligence from the well-to-do residents at No. 7, rue de Grenelle, Paris. As such, it is like a French film where it’s more about settings and dialogue than action. What makes the novel soar is the sublime descriptions of human nature both from the concierge and a young intellectual girl who resides in the building as well as the new Japanese resident who brings them all together. Hmmm.  Now that I write that, I realize that there are some similarities to books by my favorite, Jane Austen.

I also urge you to hang on through the first 150 pages. They might be a bit rough going (especially on vacation), but it’s worth it. Here are a few of the weightier observations of the residents at No. 7 rue de Grenelle:

• Of a family on one of the floors: “The son is less dangerous because he is a real moron, but you never know: The capacity to do harm is often an item of family capital.”
• “We never look beyond our assumptions and, what’s worse, we have given up trying to meet others, we just meet ourselves. We don’t recognize each other because other people have become our permanent mirrors.”
• Of the aesthetics of sliding doors vs. swinging doors: “When a sliding door is open, two areas communicate without offending each other. When it is closed, each regains its integrity. Sharing and reunion can occur without intrusion.”
• “Many intelligent people have a sort of bug: They think intelligence is an end in itself. They have one idea in mind: to be intelligent, which is really stupid.”
• When the young girl meets the new Japanese resident: “This is the first time I have met someone who cares about me when he is talking: He’s not looking for approval or disagreement, he looks at me as if he were to say, ‘Who are you? Do you want to talk to me? How nice it is to be here with you!’ “
• On regret for calling out a phony: “I may know that the world is an ugly place; I still don’t want to see it.”

I have to admit that to enjoy this book, it helps if, like me, you are a nut for Russian novelists (Tolstoy figures prominently) and have a passing acquaintance with the major philosophers (Freud, Marx, Kafka, Descartes), and minimal knowledge of Dutch painting and Japanese cinema.  Nevertheless, the themes are universal, especially the main one–that even hedgehogs can be elegant.

Top Shelf Bottom Line: If you are looking for something a bit deeper and more thought-provoking this summer, this is the book for you. Of course, after this one, I’m going to go back and hit the biz books and a Nelson DeMille or two, as I don’t expect to find another gem like this one for a few years. And because I have to tie this into being an entrepreneur, I would say that besides stimulating your brain in a different direction, being able to step back and observe people and human behavior is a skill essential to all entrepreneurs.

I get a lot of books sent to me to review and rarely see one that practically leaps out of the stacks, begging me to review it. Then again, Mike Michalowicz managed to get it to me via a very trusted friend, but he really had me at “The Toilet Paper.” This is why I’m reviewing The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The tell-it-like-it-is guide to cleaning up in business, even if you are at the end of your roll.

Why this book is not like other entrepreneurial books.

1. It doesn’t profile what he calls “media darling entrepreneurs.” He’s focused on the everyday Janes and Joes who plug away as entrepreneurs outside of the media spotlight.
2. He’s in your face and often crude (most of the time, funny crude) but he’s not for everyone.

I really liked this book–the info and the attitude. The only critique I have is that although his TPE (Toilet Paper Entrepreneur) tips contained mostly great content, they didn’t generally flow with the context around them. That means it would be hard to go back and find one if you needed it and also was kind of jarring, like “Huh? Did I miss some discussion in the main text about this tip?” But that’s about it.

So what is a TPE? You have to read his hilarious introduction, which talks about how creative, innovative and resourceful we can all be when we’re on the toilet and suddenly notice that there are only three sheets of TP left on the roll . . . So, if you’ve ever had to be creative, innovative and resourceful because you’ve got nothing else going for you . . . then welcome to the world of TPEs!

Michalowicz tosses a lot of info at the reader (in between the potty humor). Here are a few that stood out for me:

• You don’t need a website to have a web presence. Make good use of social networks and other social sites.
• Envying others’ success is limiting your own potential for success because it’s admitting you can’t achieve what they have.
• Instead of forcing yourself to say “My business is great,” put “he or she thinks” in front of that, and it’s much easier to build your confidence.
• His section on livening up your company values is clearly there for the shock value, but thought-provoking in that it shows how useless a lot of the corporate drivel is that we often feel compelled to adopt.
• To be a market leader, your company must excel in one laser-beam-focused area.
• Select your key differentiator and focus all your innovation around it. For example, if quality is your key differentiator, innovate ways to keep increasing quality. If it’s price, innovate around lowering price. If it’s convenience, focus on that.
• Forget the business plan; instead have a prosperity plan, a quarterly plan and daily metrics.
• Most entrepreneurs don’t have a detailed plan, because if they knew what to expect, they would probably be too smart to be entrepreneurs. He includes a great analysis of the Founding Fathers flying by the seat of their pants. (Funny, must be the holiday as I wrote about the Founding Fathers being Innovators in another post earlier today ).
• You need to act internally (in your mind) as if you have already achieved what you want, and you must act outwardly in the way you want to be treated once you arrive at your destination.

And near the end, he gives us the only five things you need to do to succeed in anything:

1. Determine what you want.
2. Set an enabling belief.
3. Commit focus and attention to your goal.
4. Take the most obvious actions to achieve your goal.
5. Monitor your progress, adjusting your actions to realign with your goal.

Top Shelf Bottom Line: If, as an entrepreneur, you’ve ever felt like you were down to your last three pieces of toilet paper, then this is the book for you. It’s got a lot of really good, realistic advice mixed in with a bit of low-brow humor. Not a bad summer read.