Top Shelf Reading Picks:

After watching Project Runway’s “green” episode (Tim Gunn still rocks), I was motivated to review a couple of eco-friendly books I read last month. First, Stirring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World by Gary Hirshberg, CE-Yo of Stoneyfield Farm, the story of how Hirshberg built a successful $300 million dollar business by incorporating environmental principles and practices.

I found Stirring it Up to have a few really thought-provoking ideas, like these:

• “The root cause of all this seems to be that we humans consider our versions of efficiency superior to nature’s.” Well, seeing as how nature keeps kicking our butt with some wacky weather, we all need to think about this–because it’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature!
• Exxon’s company mission in 1989: “To provide our shareholders with a superior return on investment.” Nothing else mattered. And Exxon’s reaction was true to that mission when its oil tanker Exxon Valdez went aground, spilling 11 million gallons of fuel oil in Alaska’s Prince Edward Sound. True to form, it refused to accept responsibility. In the long run, though, the accident ended up costing Exxon more than $2.5 billion.

But it’s not just about being green or organic: Here are some of the tools Hirshberg discusses in the book that helped him build Stoneyfield to what it is today:

1. Have a powerful yet simplistic mission statement.
2. Attract free press for doing outrageous things that amuse people without insulting them.
3. Organic costs more than conventional methods and involves more government regulations, but yields higher profits because customers are willing to pay more for quality products.
4. Looking under the hood for ways to reduce waste by reviewing packaging materials, we ended up not only reducing waste, but our packaging costs.
5. Working with suppliers instead of squeezing them brought more stability to our overall pricing.

Here are a few of the companies Hirshberg highlights as environmentally conscious:

• Patagonia
• Whole Foods
• New Belgium
• Eileen Fisher
• Timberland
• Zipcar
• Clif-Bar

Funny, I get a good feeling when I hear the brands listed above. I guess I subconsciously knew they were green so it goes to show how working that in as part of a brand can yield good will and some actual “greenbacks.”

So that was my serious environmental book. At the same time on CD in my car, I listened to Doug Fine’s Farewell My Suburu: An Epic Adventure in Local Living, in which the author moved to a ranch in New Mexico in an attempt to live “off the grid.” His four goals were:

1. Use a lot less oil
2. Power my life by renewable energy
3. Eat as locally as possible
4. Don’t starve, electrocute myself, get eaten by the local mountain lions, get shot by my UN-fearing neighbors, or otherwise die in a way that would cause embarrassment if the obituary writer did his or her research.

I could really relate to Fine’s sometimes ill-fated attempts to be green (although my green intentions didn’t involve selling all my possessions and moving to a ranch). However, earlier this year I tried to adopt my own green practices and found out that Kermit the frog really wasn’t kidding, it’s not easy being green. As you can imagine, being completely green is nearly impossible.

Fine ran into some crazy adventures, interesting neighbors and unexpected challenges. Sure, you can get a car that runs on used vegetable oil, but sometimes you have to bring it home from the Chinese joint in town in a Styrofoam container. That one contraption you really need to rig up your energy-saving device? Well, it has to be purchased at Wal-Mart. And those goats . . . will destroy all your roses and keep you up all night, just like children.

The Top Shelf Bottom Line: Read Stirring it Up for your business and Farewell My Suburu for your life, and then take a shot at looking at the world through green-colored lenses.

Addendum: Just read a blip about a new book coming out called The Green Bible, with a cotton/linen cover, partly recycled paper and soy-based ink. Hmmmm. Interesting, but is it really the most green-conscious way of publishing? I had a friend suggest that print-on-demand publishing is much greener because you don’t print up more books than you sell. But that’s a subject for a whole different post.

I lifted my ban on leadership books when I received Robin Gerber’s Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way  as a thank you for giving a speech. I really knew nothing about ER and, since it was a paperback, I tossed it in my beach bag. I’m glad I did–ER had always intrigued me, and she doesn’t disappoint.

As one can imagine, ER can carry a book herself, leadership focused or not. Overall, I would have liked even more about ER and less of the “other businesswomen applying her rules” anecdotes. I found their insertion throughout the book jolting and disruptive. Oddly, I liked it whenever the author shared her own life stories, as that showed a personal connection with her heroine.

Here are some of the tidbits that stuck with me:

Gerber starts off with an excerpt from a book ER wrote in 1933 as advice for young women, which couldn’t be truer 75 years later:

“In a chapter called ‘The Problems of the Young Married,’ [ER] counseled couples to show ‘an immense amount of tolerance and of unselfishness’ toward each other. But being tolerant and unselfish didn’t mean women must forgo all personal goals and ambitions. Women should also feel free to marry and have careers, she argued in a later chapter. ‘Women’s lives must be adjusted and arranged for in just the same way that men’s lives are.’ ”

I couldn’t agree more.

ER had a rough childhood (alcoholic father, mother who didn’t like her because she wasn’t “pretty’). Gerber includes an interesting part about how she turned her childhood experiences into leadership learning moments. Then she asks readers to reflect on childhood experiences they had.

Lying on the beach, I closed my eyes and thought about whether some of my childhood memories had influenced my leadership style. One that stood out was that when it came to picking teams at recess for soccer or kickball, I was often picked before most of the boys. The team captains truly ranked me where I belonged when it came to certain sports and didn’t factor in my pigtails. Admittedly, sometimes they had to defend picking me before other boys (and they did, but only as long as I delivered). Seems a minor thing, but in my mind, I always thought I should be treated exactly like the boys treated each other, and I think that helped me a lot in business. Click here to read my thoughts on whether women should ask for special treatment in the office. Perhaps this explains my different point of view about Christopher Flett’s controversial book, What Men Don’t Tell Women, from my pal Yvonne DiVita over at Lip-sticking.com.

The part about mentors was also very good. Gerber suggests that if you are stuck and can’t find a mentor, ask yourself a few questions:

1. Who can help me with the decisions that will shape my life and leadership abilities today?
2. Who can help me learn what I need to move toward my goals?
3. Whom do I admire, and who’s doing what I’d like to be doing?

Another prescient piece of writing from ER that Gerber spotlights is her first piece for Redbook (yes, the magazine for happy housewives), which was called “Women Must Learn to Play the Game as Men Do.” In the article, she wrote “Our means is to elect, accept and back women political bosses. To organize as women, but within the parties, …Women are today ignored largely because they have no banded unity….”

I’m sure my readers are expecting me to write about how we should have all supported Hillary. But I didn’t and was actually dismayed at being called a traitor to my sex and an enemy to feminism for supporting another candidate. I would like to think that ER meant support our gender as a whole, not necessarily a single political candidate. I’m not sure what ER would say, but it seems that the behavior of the die-hard Hillary supporters actually alienated an entire generation of women. In my mind, that’s not “playing the game as men do.”

Another political thought: How far we have fallen from outspoken, action-oriented first ladies such as ER, who openly disagreed with her husband (when he was president), to the likes of Laura Bush. I can’t wait to read the new novel by Curtis Sittenfeld, American Wife, loosely based on our first lady.

There are a lot of good tidbits throughout about networking and sticking to your mission. One of my favorites was to always “compromise up.” ER had backed Adlai Stevenson as president for the Democratic ticket, and when Kennedy became the candidate, she would not lend her support until she had Kennedy’s assurance that Stevenson would have a role. Sure she compromised, but she compromised up.

Top Shelf Bottom Line: While I didn’t find any new revolutionary insights into leadership–other than the “compromise up” tip (the book simply took some basic leadership tips and interwove them into ER’s life), I enjoyed learning about ER. Of course, the caveat with that is that I’ve probably read more leadership books than most people do in their entire lifetime. Recommended for history buffs who want to be reminded of some good leadership principals, and for young women (and men) who want to learn about a real leadership role model for blazing a new and different path in the face of lots of opposition. I often find that entrepreneurs can learn a lot from both good and bad politicians–so go ahead, toss it in your beach bag and bring Eleanor along on vacation with you (she apparently loved to travel).

**ADDENDUM**

This week on Smash the Ladder, I hosted Robin Gerber author of Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way and the novel Eleanor v. Ike.  We spoke about the role of First “Spouses,”  and leadership lessons learned from one of America’s greatest First Ladies.

When I received the book How to get Rich: One of the World’s Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares his Secrets by Felix Dennis, I wasn’t sure I’d review it. But you can have all the marketing tricks down, possess the latest and greatest innovation, employ a crackerjack staff and still not “get rich.” So I figured I’d check this out, since my business isn’t altruistic. Sure I want to help women, but I need to pay me and my staff. I thought I might learn something. Besides, I enjoy English humor and figured that Dennis is such a character, it would be amusing.

Introduction: What is Rich?
My initial reaction upon receiving my review copy was that I liked the original title much better: The Getting of Money. Not sure why, but that sounds more fun than another “how to” book. Besides, I thought the book read more like a lifestyles of the rich and famous rather than a Making Money for Dummies book. Not that I minded the former approach. The line that kept me reading and had me laughing out loud was in a discussion of Dennis’ own wealth in the introduction . . . Five homes. Three estates. Fancy cars. Private jets. After which he notes that he always rented the jets because: “If it flies, floats or fornicates, always rent it–it’s cheaper in the long run.” (I’m sitting here writing this from the French Riviera, and you can bet that more people are renting the megayachts and the blonde bombshells that come with them than owning them these days.)

Dennis’ introduction is a somewhat lengthy and actually insightful discussion on what it means to be rich. I liked his statement that being rich means you have the ability to buy “time” and “the option of not having to be in any particular place on any particular day doing any particular thing in order to pay the rent or the mortgage.” Yep. That’s definitely the description of luxury: choosing what to do with your time.

Well, it’s unlikely I will ever have to decide whether to rent or buy a yacht, but at least the rest of the book recognizes that we all have to start somewhere, and Dennis is quite clear that he didn’t start with a million in the bank like Trump and a few other American gazillionaires.

Pole Positions
In the first chapter he categorizes everyone’s starting point (and their advantages/disadvantages):

1. Young, penniless and inexperienced. He says that these people have the best chance of getting rich, as they have nothing to lose. And not knowing that something can’t be done means you will try anything.
2. Slightly better off and on the way up. This group is probably the most talented but its members are held back by fear of losing what they have.
3. Senior manager or professional. Dennis notes that he’s surprised to find anyone in this category actually reading a book like his. But it’s a good sign, as it shows you’re still hungry.

The Search
In a search for wealth (extreme wealth), Dennis talks a bit about getting over your own fears of being wealthy, and also other people’s. I’m sure all entrepreneurs have felt this. Outwardly, close friends want you to succeed; but deep down, they actually might be far happier if you failed or only succeeded to a limited degree.

He then discusses different industries and how you should forget about the glamorous ones. He uses a friend who is in the sewage industry as a prime example. Personally, the richest people I know build tanks to store oil, provide food services to colleges/hotels or advise elderly folks on financial matters. Another is an investment banker who tells me that she invests only in dull products, such as doorknobs. Hmmmmm. After moving and painting an entire interior of a house in the past month, I would go into the tape business. I must have gone through eight rolls each of packing and painter’s tape.

The Fallacy of Great Ideas
If there is one theme that comes through the book, it’s that having a great idea is simply not enough. To quote Dennis, “Good ideas are like Nike sport shoes. They may facilitate an athlete who possesses them but, on their own, they are nothing but an overpriced pair of plimsolls . . . Sport shoes don’t win. Athletes do.”

Another nugget of wisdom I liked: “If you want to be rich, then watch your rivals closely and never be ashamed to emulate a winning strategy.” He then has an interesting discussion of Apple and how Apple folks get caught up in their own ideas, and how their philosophy of trying to mold the world to their idea is a hindrance as well as a plus for both us and them.

The Five Most Common Start-up Errors (listing these, not discussing due to space constraints)

1. Mistaking desire for compulsion.
2. Overoptimism concerning cash flow.
3. Reinforcing failure.
4. Thinking small and acting big.
5. Skimping on talent.

Other highlights in the book include his discussion on how “stubbornness is not persistence” and his tips on negotiation, especially the statement, “Most negotiations are unnecessary.” Finally, he ends with his Upside Down Pyramid for Getting Rich:

Commit or don’t commit. No half-measures.
Cut loose from all negative influences.
Choose the right mountain.
Fear nothing.
Start now.
Go.

Top Shelf Bottom Line: I found the book amusing, with a few good nuggets in there. It’s a good read for entrepreneursstruggling with a startup and not making money. Ironically, I read this while listening to Eckhart Tolles’ A New Earth*, which tells you to reject materialism. The funny part: One almost thinks that Dennis came to the same conclusion in that the end result, actually becoming fabulously wealthy, is not as important as the intellectual endeavor involved in the process of “the getting of money.”

*With regard to A New Earth, while I usually shun Oprah picks–except the ones I’d already read before she spotlighted them–I picked up the CD from my library. I was not impressed. But maybe this was because it was nothing new to me since I’d read so much about dealing with people with Narcissist Personality Disorder. I already had a an in-depth understanding of how the “ego” drives certain people.

After hearing people rave about Cathie Black’s book, Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life), I finally ordered it through the library. Turns out that I agree with her fans. This makes my Top Shelf must-read list. While this isn’t a book geared for entrepreneurs, it’s got some great advice for everyone (although admittedly it’s female-centric). For those who don’t know, Black is the president of Hearst Magazines, and the book interweaves her rise to that position with advice learned along the way.

Throughout the book, she includes “nuggets” of wisdom followed by explanations and examples. You know they are nuggets because they are highlighted in red. While I get the whole symbolic thing, I have to admit I found it a bit irritating (my only complaint about the book). But that’s probably just a personal thing for me; as stated in my review last week, I like my books straightforward and traditional.

Nevertheless, I got over my aversion to red print, kept reading and was delighted to find so many tidbits that I can’t possibly include them all. So here are just a few points that stood out for me:

• “Know the rules, so you know which ones to break.” I like a book that doesn’t waste valuable pages talking about whether you should be a “nice girl.” We’re in business, Ladies! Worry about being effective, not nice.
• “If you want to be an innovator, express yourself like an innovator. Dress in something with verve rather than a corporate uniform.” I’ve always advised people to dress for the position you want, not the position you have, because it helps people visualize you in the position you want. Good to see that Black agrees with me.
• I thought her insight into her own management weaknesses were really helpful. For example, she tells about how, in an early management position at Ms. Magazine, she made the mistake of dealing with everyone the way she wanted to be dealt with. She didn’t waste time with “a lot of aimless pleasantries, but got directly to the point.” As someone who came from the same school of bluntness, I learned the hard way that it doesn’t work with everyone, especially other women.
• Don’t personalize things that aren’t personal. I reiterate this point here because we can’t ever hear this enough. Our biggest client cancels her account, and it’s human nature (especially for women) to think that we did something wrong. However, it likely has nothing to do with you as long as you haven’t made a huge mistake or anything.
• Make your life a grudge-free zone. Again, this is something we forget, so I’m emphasizing it here. Black tells of a horrific meeting with a gentleman (I use that term loosely) who attempted to humiliate her during a business meeting. She was advised not to hold a grudge (as well-deserved as it may have been), because the only person grudges hurt (or impair) is you. But if you don’t take things personally, then you likely won’t have to worry about holding grudges!
• Whenever someone criticizes you, ask yourself two questions before reacting:
  • Could I trust that he/she was acting in good faith and not on some ulterior motive just to bring me down a notch?
  • Did he/she have some knowledge of this particular situation that I didn’t?
• In the Landing your Dream Job chapter, there are lots of helpful tips for everything from cover letters to follow-up.

I thought the best chapter in the whole book was the chapter on power. I loved this section, as it gave a different view of power. However, there’s just too much here for me to do other than list Black’s “red nuggets.”

• Power = keeping your eye on the big picture.
• Power = understanding what you can and cannot control.
• Power = choosing your battles wisely.
• Power = controlling the flow of information.
• Power = knowing your strengths and weaknesses.
• Power = not getting overly caught up in the idea of power.
• Power = knowing you don’t have to throw bombs.
• Power = knowing how to let things go.

I also enjoyed her list of tips for running meetings (I employed a few of these at my last condo board meeting, and they work!):

• Keep ‘em small, and keep ‘em few.
• Keep ‘em short, and keep ‘em on time.
• Focus on the goal, not on the process.
• Identify the next steps before the meeting ends.

Another good section has to do with work/balance. I was actually surprised to find this in the book, as one rather expects a”work hard, work harder” attitude. But I was pleased to read that she says, “Don’t be afraid to step out altogether, if that’s what you truly want.” (Even she notes that readers might be surprised to hear this from her.) Black then follows up this section with a discussion of the 360-degree life. I like the point she makes that “Have your all–not anyone else’s.”

Other tips in this section:

“A huge part of solving the kids-plus-work equation lies in managing expectations.” Not only your own, but your colleagues’ in the office. I also liked that she stuck up for the single colleagues who should not be expected to pick up your slack. (I’ve noticed a growing unrest by employees without kids, who don’t understand why the work/life issue is interpreted by offices to mean work/children; i.e., that if you don’t have kids, you don’t require a life outside the office. )

I thought she had a good, albeit brief, section on networking. What was most interesting to me was that she tells readers to Google the words “business, women and your town’s name” to find organizations to join. Of course I had to try this, and I found that the Downtown Women’s Club didn’t come up in all markets where we have a presence. So I went in and fixed my Google Adsense account. Now we at least show up in ads in most of our markets. Thanks, Cathie!

Topshelf Bottom Line: There is way too much info in Basic Black to even include all the highlights I wanted to in this review, which is why this book makes my Top Shelf Must Read list for 2008.