New Post: The Heart Of Marketing by Judith Sherven & Jim Sniechowski - Book review

The Heart of Marketing

Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back

By: Judith Sherven, Jim Sniechowski

Published: May 1, 2009
Format: Paperback, 182 pages
ISBN-10: 1600375596
ISBN-13: 978-1600375590
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing

“In short, it’s about putting your heart into marketing”, write former therapists and the founders of the Soft Sell Marketing Association Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski about their groundbreaking and inspirational book The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back. The authors describe how marketing can serve the needs of the customer, both materially and spiritually, by creating a long term and mutually beneficial relationship for everyone.

Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski understand that many marketers feel uncomfortable with hard sell techniques. Those traditional selling methods fail to satisfy the deeper emotional needs of both the buyer and the seller. The authors describe how they felt empty when offered the typical sales and marketing programs, but chalked it up to their relative inexperience. Over time, they discovered that many other sales representatives and marketers felt the same level of discomfort that they experienced in their own business. Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski discovered the insight that marketing is more about the heart than most marketers even realize.

Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski (both shown in photo left) recognize the importance of heart to heart connections between the soft sell marketer and the buyer. Through genuine openness and authenticity, the soft seller creates a deeper relationship with the customer that is far beyond simply a commercial one. The authors know instinctively that there is no real competition between hard sell and soft sell marketers. Both styles have their customer bases, and both connect with customers in different ways. In an internet world, where the marketer is entirely unknown to the prospective customer, it’s essential that a relationship be developed and nurtured with the prospect long before a marketing message is even part of the conversation.

For me, the power of the book is its no nonsense question and answer format that demonstrates clearly the power of building deep lasting relationships between the marketer and the customer. Indeed, the authors point out that both parties have spiritual and emotional needs that must be met for a truly satisfying connection. The heart is the focus of the book, and that emphasis on human relationships on a personal level, is the key to soft sell marketing. The internet is a real test of soft sell relationship based marketing in action. The authors describe how building relationships on a personal level, before presenting any sales or marketing message, is crucial to internet marketing success. Soft sell heart based marketing is made for marketing on the internet.

I highly recommend the enlightening and gratifying book The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back by Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski, to any marketers who feel uncomfortable with hard sell marketing concepts that fail to put relationships and connection building at the forefront of their marketing program. In the place of these hard sell techniques, the authors offer the proven, and emotionally satisfying soft cell marketing idea.

Read the marketing paradigm changing book The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back by Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski, and develop open and transparent relationships with potential customers. People prefer to buy from those who they know, like and trust to have their best interests at heart. When a sale is a collaborative creation, the result is spiritually gratifying for all concerned.

Tags: The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back, Judith Sherven, Jim Sniechowski, soft sell marketing, business book reviews.

New Post: The She Spot by Lisa Whitter & Lisa Chen - Book review

The She Spot

Why Women Are the Market for Changing the World — and How to Reach Them

By: Lisa Witter, Lisa Chen

Published: June 1, 2008
ISBN: 9781576754726
Format: Hardcover, 187pp
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

“Women are not a niche audience. They are the audience.” write marketing experts and social activists Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen, in their important and groundbreaking book The She Spot: Why Women Are the Market for Changing the World — and How to Reach Them. The authors demonstrate the vital importance of empowering women as the key to political campaign and non-profit organizational success.

Lisa Witter (photo left) and Lisa Chen, as top executives with socially conscious Fenton Communications, understand the key role that women play in social change and in building cooperative efforts to achieve their goals. As a result of their experience in the political arena and in charitable organization, the authors bring their considerable experience to their must read book. They shatter long held ideas about why women, as well as men, work toward important societal change. Women, through their natural empathy and connecting skills, are the crucial driving force for improving the lives of others and themselves.

Lisa Chen (photo left) and Lisa Witter turn business marketing concepts aimed at women upside down, and recharge them with a social conscience and political activism. The empowerment of women for political and social causes, transforms women from simply seen as consumers, to being the focal point of societal change. The authors recognize that women volunteer time and money to achieving larger goals than men. By helping women connect with others who share their concern for social issues, non-profit organizations and political groups will gain a powerful force for change.

For me, the power of the book is the recognition of the primary importance of women for creating positive societal improvement. The authors zero in on women as connectors who share ideas, and on the ability of women to empathize with others. As a result, women form the cornerstone for change, whether on a local, national, or global scale. The book is formatted into three sections that focus on understanding the she spot, hitting the she spot, and finding the she spot. Each part of the book deepens the reader’s understanding of the topic through case studies, combined with the authors’ extensive experience in the public sector.

I highly recommend The She Spot:Why Women Are the Market for Changing the World — and How to Reach Them by Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen, to anyone in the political or non-profit sectors seeking to add the dynamism of women to their organization. Women are the strength behind societal change, and this book teaches how to recognize and cultivate the female force for any good cause.

Read The She Spot: Why Women Are the Market for Changing the World — and How to Reach Them by Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen, and discover how the she spot is the sweet spot for empowerment, not only of women, but for all of society. Women are powerful forces of change, whose loyalty and commitment can change the world, making it a better place for everyone, regardless of gender or age.

* Publishing Note:

This book review first appeared at Our Love Affair With Books at Rosa Say’s wonderful blog Joyful Jubilant Learning.

Tags: The She Spot: Why Women Are the Market for Changing the World and How to Reach Them, Lisa Witter, Lisa Chen, empowering women for social change, book reviews.

New Post: Leaders Make The Future by Bob Johansen - Book review

Leaders Make the Future

Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World

By: Bob Johansen

Published: May 2009
Format: Hardcover, 194 pages
ISBN-13: 9781605090023
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

“My goal is to help leaders make the future a better place in which to live”, writes futurist and Fellow with the Institute for the Future, Bob Johansen in his visionary book Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World. The author describes the vital new skills, that leaders must learn, to meet the challenge that their organizations, our society, and the world will face in the future.

Bob Johansen understands that the change is happening very quickly in the world around us. Whether at the level of the business or non-profit organization, a community, or on a global scale, new leadership skills are essential to avoid being swept aside in the many transformations taking place around us. The old leadership techniques will no longer be effective to move organizations forward in the rapidly changing business, societal, and political landscapes. The author points out that leaders can only make sense of the present if they examine and listen for the challenges presented by a very different future.

Bob Johansen (photo left) recognizes that change will also present new, and seemingly unsolvable problems. Indeed, those problems are beyond the ability of many traditional leadership skill sets. Future leaders will not only need their can do attitude, but must also have can make skills to rebuild and remodel their organizations and communities to meed changing needs and circumstances. The author suggests that many current leaders are not listening to the changes as the future draws closer, and are even in denial that the current order is in transition to a new, and different world. The author forecasts that what was regarded as stability, and a familiar set of rules, are about to be changed forever. Failure to address the future will lead to failure of the organization and of the community as a whole.

For me, the power of the book is the author’s understanding that the world around us is changing very rapidly in all areas. Bob Johansen recognizes that no one can predict the future, but through careful examination of current trends, that reasonable forecasts of future events is possible. Because the future will be so different from today, and with an entirely new set of problems facing leaders at all levels, a new set of leadership skills must be learned now. The author describes those new leadership skills in detail, and shares ideas about how a leader won’t have to simply react to change, but can be a positive change agent for the betterment of the organization, the community, and the world as a whole.

I highly recommend the groundbreaking and insightful book Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World by Bob Johansen, to any leaders who seek to be positive change agents within their ever evolving organizations and communities. The leadership skills outlined in the book can be the difference between meeting the future head on in a positive way, or falling by the wayside, as the world passes the outdated leadership behind.

Read the essential guide Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World by Bob Johansen, and learn the ten new leadership skills that help a leader meet the future successfully. Discover how studying the future can build better leaders for the present. The future is coming, and smart leaders must be prepared for its myriad of problems and challenges.

Tags: Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World, Bob Johansen, future leadership skills, business book reviews.

New Post: The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor by Colin Tudge

The Link

Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor

By: Colin Tudge, Josh Young

Published: May 20, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 272 pages
ISBN: 9780316070089
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Ida looks innocent enough at first glance. A closer look reveals a 47 million year old fossil of a female, that may represent the so-called “missing link” in the primate family. The almost perfectly preserved fossil of Ida, discovered in Messel, Germany, may be the earliest known ancestor of humans. The story of Ida, and the scientific team led by Jorn Hurum of Norway who examined her fossilized remains, is described in wonderful detail by science writer Colin Tudge in his important book The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor.

Ida (photo left) lived 47 million years ago in the much warmer climate of the Eocene Epoch. Her home was near a crater lake, where she may have drowned due to poisonous gas escaping from the water. Her entire body was preserved in the mud bottom of the lake, as she became fossilized. The fossil was discovered by a private collector in the 1980s, and later sold to a museum in Oslo, Norway. Author Colin Trudge describes how a team of world renowned scientists confirmed her importance to the study of primate evolution. The author also provides a detailed portrait of the Eocene world, that was very different in climate and global geography from our own, of which Ida was a resident.

Colin Tudge (photo left) also provides a strong outline of the various controversies surrounding the importance of Ida’s discovery. Not all scientists agree that Ida is a “missing link” and there is even doubt about her primate origins. The author, through discussions with the scientific team, presents a solid and convincing case that Ida is is indeed one of the most important fossil discoveries of all time. At the same time, Colin Tudge shares the vital information that the study of Ida is nowhere near completion. The little fossil has many more secrets to reveal, and may change even more long held scientific paradigms. The crucial point is that science adds onto what is already known, questioning claims made for every new discovery, resulting in deeper research and even more often startling answers.

For me, the power of the book is the even handed, objective story of the important fossil called Ida. her discovery, her scientific study by a team led by Jorn Hurum (who named Ida after his five year old daughter), the world in which she lived, and her value to science are described well and with an open mind. Colin Tudge does share the enthusiasm for Ida, with the famous scientists on the research team, but maintains an even handed approach to her fascinating discovery. Indeed, the telling of the story of Ida is gripping, and places the reader in Ida’s Eocene world, and into modern scientific study, with equal interest.

I highly recommend the must read book The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor by Colin Tudge, to anyone fascinated by human origins, and the discovery of what may prove to be one of humanities very earliest ancestors. The chance discovery of Ida represents a true turning point in primate and human evolutionary history. As a result, Ida will find herself, as Jorn Hurum predicts, in the pages of every scientific textbook in the future.

Read the fascinating and intriguing The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor by Colin Tudge, and be swept away bu the wondrous story of Ida and her place in the human family album. The story preserved in the little fossil Ida is really the story of ourselves.

Tags: The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor, Colin Tudge, primate fossil Ida, science book reviews.

New Post: Judith Shervin & Jim Sniechowski: The Heart Of Marketing - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Psychologists, founders of the Soft Sell Marketing Association, and best selling authors of the groundbreaking and inspirational book The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back, Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski share ideas for a new way of marketing with love and empathy. They recommend marketing from the heart that provides inspiration, motivation and practical how to techniques for achieving greater marketing success than ever before. They teach how to strengthen your business while enriching your soul.

Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski are my internet radio show guests on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.

The show airs live on Thursday, July 2, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Judith Sherven PhD. and Jim Sniechowski PhD. (both shown in photo left) are a best selling husband and wife psychology team and the leading voice for soft sell, heart-based marketing. They produce the only Internet marketing conference for the soft sell community "Bridging Heart and Marketing. Their Soft Sell Marketers Association is an international hub for Soft Sell training and support. Their latest book is The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back (Morgan James Publishing, May 2009) As guest experts they’ve been on over 1500 television and radio shows including Oprah, The View, 48 Hours, CNN, Canada AM, and The Daily Buzz.

My book review of The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back by Judith Sherven PhD. and Jim Sniechowski PhD.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let’s talk with Psychologists, founders of the Soft Sell Marketing Association, and best selling authors of the groundbreaking and inspirational book The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back, Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski as they share ideas for a new way of marketing with love and empathy. They recommend marketing from the heart that provides inspiration, motivation and practical how to techniques for achieving greater marketing success than ever before. They teach how to strengthen your business while enriching your soul on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back, Judith Sherven, Jim Sniechowski, soft sell marketing, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

New Post: Last Light Over Carolina by Mary Alice Monroe - Book review

Last Light over Carolina

By: Mary Alice Monroe

Published: July 14, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-4970-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-4970-3
Publisher: Pocket Books

In lyrical prose, as warm as the breeze off the South Carolina coast, best selling author Mary Alice Monroe tells a tale of rocky marriage, and the tragic day when the pain of the past didn’t matter any more. The wonderful novel Last Light over Carolina is filled with beautifully drawn characters, filled with every human emotion, bringing them to life. The story revolves around a troubled marriage, that hides the deep but seldom expressed love, between shrimp boat Captain Bud Morrison and his wife Carolina. Their love of each other, of their family, and of the sea, are the anchor of this beautiful novel.

Mary Alice Monroe weaves together a lifetime, within the confines of a single day. When Bud is trapped alone on the sea, on his shrimp boat named the Miss Carolina, in honor of his wife, he realizes the true depth of his love. On shore, Carolina finds her mind remembering things past and how powerful her love is for her husband. Through memories of both good times and bad, Bud and Carolina find redemption and forgiveness for past transgressions that no longer matter. They also learn the value of family and how a tragedy can make a group of broken people whole again.

Mary Alice Monroe (photo left) creates a world where the town, the ocean, and the people who depend on the sea’s bounty, are all characters in the story. Captain Bud Morrison is torn between his wife Carolina, and her alter ego boat that bears her name. Bud loves the freedom of the sea and his shrimp boat, but that separation of wife Carolina from the sea, creates a deep rift in their marriage. With his boat as his mistress, Bud turns away from his wife. Only later, does he come to realize that the ship and the sea can’t replace the real Carolina. Together, he and his wife are whole, but when apart, their lives become empty and full of despair.

With parallels to Hemingway’s classic The Old Man and the Sea, Mary Alice Monroe turns Bud’s tragic accident and a storm at sea into a life changing event. Forced by his own mortality to face honestly the decisions made in his life, Bud Morrison recognizes that what he thought were his life’s priorities were mere illusion. What truly matters is love and family, and acceptance of one another through the storms of life. Carolina remembers storms of the past, as well as the stormy days of her marriage to Bud. After a storm, there is a second chance to rebuild. Both Bud and Carolina realize that their own love, and of those around them, deserve a second chance too.

I highly recommend Last Light over Carolina by Mary Alice Monroe, to anyone seeking a powerful love story between two people adrift on the sea, and in danger of striking a rock and sinking their marriage. The book contains the timeless themes of love, betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness. It’s a story about being granted a precious second chance at happiness, and grabbing on and never letting it go again.

Read Last Light over Carolina by Mary Alice Monroe, and be swept away by the rich detail of life in a close knit coastal South Carolina shrimp fishing town, where life depends on nature and the bounty of the sea. Discover the power of love and forgiveness, the importance of family, and how sometimes the unexpected events of life can work true miracles.

Tags: Last Light over Carolina, Mary Alice Monroe, shrimp fishing, fiction book reviews.

New Post: Gracious Living On Social Security by Valerie Kent - Book review

Gracious Living on Social Security

How an Older Woman and a Younger Man Made Style Affordable

By: Valerie Kent

Published: February 23, 2009
Format: Paperback, 152 pages
ISBN-10: 0615211569
ISBN 13: 978-0-615-21156-5
Publisher: Tree Farm Books

“Having to live within our Social Security income forced us to address our concerns and establish new priorities. The challenge was to turn limited assets to the best advantage while living gracefully in the process”, writes eighty-eight year old enthusiast for living life to the fullest Valerie Kent, in her practical yet personable book Gracious Living on Social Security: How an Older Woman and a Younger Man Made Style Affordable. The author describes in detail how to live a respectable and fulfilling life in retirement, while earning only a modest pension income.

Valerie Kent understands that people arrive at retirement with vastly different levels of wealth and income. She shares personal details of her finances, and those of her husband, in a manner that gives their retirement life in St. Petersburg, Florida a personal touch. Along with sound financial advice for budgeting a fixed income, Valerie Kent describes how to eat well and stay fit, so that life can be enjoyed for many decades after retirement. Her goal is to help retirees live an enriching and satisfying life, while ensuring that personal finances don’t become a problem. She succeeds well in that department, and even adds useful advice for taking a part time job, should money be required for an unexpected purpose or a desired lucury.

Valerie Kent entered retirement in relatively difficult financial circumstances following her divorce, that left her very low on funds. Her subsequent marriage, and its financial ramifications, provides a useful budgetary framework for weddings at any age. Her discussion of travel and independence is great advice for any senior citizens who wish to fulfill lifelong dreams of seeing distant lands, both safely and without breaking their bank accounts. Her advice on fitness and proper diet is well backed with sound money management tips to ensure that these crucial health issues are not forgotten or ignored due to cost. Overall, her goal of helping retirees live their golden years with grace is achieved very well indeed.

Foe me, the power of the book is how Valerie Kent describes how to turn a modest income into a very fulfilling retirement, complete with travel and a wide circle of friends, without scrimping and pinching pennies like a miser. Indeed, the advice on purchasing clothing at a fraction of its cost, to ensure that one always looks their best, is valuable knowledge for people of any age. The advice on purchasing healthy food and maintaining physical fitness is essential for everyone at every stage of life. The book succeeds well at its primary purpose of helping retirees ro live well on the fixed income of Social Security.

I highly recommend the retirement enhancing book Gracious Living on Social Security: How an Older Woman and a Younger Man Made Style Affordable by Valerie Kent, to anyone at or near retirement age who desires a rich and rewarding life beyond their employment years. The advice is especially important during a recessionary economy, whether the reader is a senior citizen, or a much younger person seeking to live a graceful life on a reduced income.

Read the personal and helpful book Gracious Living on Social Security: How an Older Woman and a Younger Man Made Style Affordable by Valerie Kent, and live life in retirement with grace and dignity. The author demonstrates clearly that a wonderful retirement on a fixed income is not only possible, but not that difficult to achieve with a little planning and care.

Tags: Gracious Living on Social Security: How an Older Woman and a Younger Man Made Style Affordable, Valerie Kent, personal finance, business nook reviews.

New Post: How Perfect Is That by Sarah Bird - Book review

How Perfect Is That

By: Sarah Bird

Published: July 7, 2009
Format: Trade Paperback, 336 pages
ISBN-10: 143912308X
ISBN-13: 9781439123089
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Blythe Young, recently divorced from a scion of one of the wealthiest society families in Austin Texas, is broke and has only her wits, and her amoral character to make her way in the world. In her wildly satirical romp through Austin, Texas, best selling author Sarah Bird takes the reader from the highest levels of wealth to the life of the homeless, in her hilarious novel How Perfect Is That. As Blythe Young reels from humiliation to disaster and back again, her determination to succeed echoes the conniving, yet sympathetic social climbing Becky Sharp in Thackeray’s classic Vanity Fair.

Sarah Bird provides a novel that can be read on several levels. One obvious reading is the delicious and wickedly funny satire of the upper classes of Austin, Texas and their lives and politics. The author skewers the men as philandering and obsessed with money, status, and the right political connections. The women, much more visible in the novel, understand the obsessions of the society men, and as result, the women are consumed by issues of designer clothing and houses, being seen at the right parties, and their weight. Indeed, weight as in body fat and weight as in the burden of conscience are important themes in the book.

Sarah Bird (photo left) takes the reader into a deeper meaning as well. Blythe Young, in her short marriage, rose almost to the pinnacle of Austin society. When her marriage ended, she was cast out of her heaven, in a Lone Star version of Milton’s Paradise Lost. Her sole mission was to regain what she believed her rightful place in society. Her attempts to hang on to that version of heaven were unsuccessful as she moved from one self made disaster to the next. Her past closes in on her, and Blythe runs out of scams, temporarily. One step ahead of the IRS and the law, she turns to her one true but ignored friend Millie.

Through more of Blythe’s using of others, she narrowly escapes being cast out again. Instead, she seeks redemption through the Christ like Millie, and seeks to find a new, and more lasting heaven. The parallel to Paradise Lost becomes more firmly established as Blythe attempts to connive her way back to ruling in her society heaven. In its place, Millie offers an alternative to ruling in hell. She offers creating heaven on Earth, and helping others instead of using people for personal gain. Blythe faces her personal demons, and continues her pilgrimage to self discovery.

I highly recommend the rollicking How Perfect Is That by Sarah Bird, to anyone seeking a hilarious satire that bites to the core of Austin’s society. The author’s turn of phrase and scathing wit provide an insightful and subversive view of society at all levels, and politics both public and personal. The Becky Sharp type character of Blythe Young is well drawn, lack of a moral compass and all. Her misadventures propel the story forward.

Read the satirical and laugh filled How Perfect Is That by Sarah Bird, and you will want to add Blythe Young to your personal list of most fascinating literary characters.

Tags: How Perfect Is Tha, Sarah Bird, satirical movels, fiction book reviews.

New Post: Bob Johansen: Leaders Make The Future - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Futurist, Distinguished Fellow with the Institute for the Future, and author of the visionary book Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World, Bob Johansen , describes how leaders must adapt from the chaotic world of today to the uncertain, but challenging world of tomorrow. He discusses the importance of understanding the technological, economic, societal and environmental trends and how recognizing them is not only the key to success but survival. He shares how leaders must develop new skills to meet the challenges of the future.

Bob Johansen is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, July 7, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Futurist, Fellow with the Institute for the Future, and author of the visionary book Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World, Bob Johansen , describes how leaders must adapt from the chaotic world of today to the uncertain, but challenging world of tomorrow. You will learn:

* Why leaders must study the future to become better leaders today

* Why the old reliable leadership skills won’t work in the future

* How to turn unsolvable dilemmas into opportunities

* How to meet the challenges of the future and be a positive change maker

Bob Johansen (photo left) has worked for more than 30 years as a forecaster, exploring the human side of new technologies. He has a deep interest in the future of religion and its impact on business, society, and individuals. Bob works mainly with senior corporate executives across a wide range of industries. He has rich experience in presenting the Institute for the Future foresight and then drawing out insights-inputs to strategy-and-action steps. Bob is the author of eight books.

My book review of Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World by Bob Johansen.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let’s talk with futurist, Distinguished Fellow with the Institute for the Future, and author of the visionary book Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World, Bob Johansen , as he describes how leaders must adapt from the chaotic world of today to the uncertain, but challenging world of tomorrow. He discusses the importance of understanding the technological, economic, societal and environmental trends and how recognizing them is not only the key to success but survival. He shares how leaders must develop new skills to meet the challenges of the future on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World, Bob Johansen, future leadership skills, Blog Business Success, BlogTalkRadio.

New Post: The Pursuit Of Something Better by Dave Esler & Myra Kruger - Book review

The Pursuit of Something Better

How an Underdog Company Defied the Odds, Won Customers’ Hearts, and Grew It’s Employees into Better People

By: Dave Esler, Myra Kruger

Published: 2nd edition, August 1, 2009
Format: Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 0982443706
ISBN-13: 978-0982443705
Publisher: New Ridge Books

“Most business leaders understand the importance of aligning corporate culture with business strategy”, write Esler Kruger Associates partners Dave Esler and Myra Kruger in their insightful and visionary book The Pursuit of Something Better: How an Underdog Company Defied the Odds, Won Customers’ Hearts, and Grew It’s Employees into Better People. While most businesses understand the importance, write the authors, very often the reality of the company and its culture are very different.

Dave Esler and Myra Kruger understand the value of values in the company culture. Whether those values are leadership that inspires and motivates the employees, maintaining strong ethical principles, or always doing the right thing for the employees and customers, doing something better is also good business. The authors share the powerful case study of mid-sized telecommunications company U.S. Cellular, and its visionary CEO Jack Rooney, as a real world example of the alignment of company culture with solid business strategy. The result was a growing company, of happy and motivated employees, and loyal and satisfied customers.

Myra Kruger and Dave Esler describe what they call the Dynamic Organization that considers ethical corporate culture to be part of the business strategy. In essence, the culture is the business. The two are inseparable. In many failed companies, ethics and empowered employee culture that does the right thing, is entirely separate from the business strategy. As a result, the business strategy never achieves its desired goals, employees become unmotivated, and customers defect to other vendors. In the Dynamic Organization, as demonstrated by the authors and the U.S. Cellular case study, the unity of culture and strategy into an indivisible whole, is the key to success in every aspect of the company.

For me, the power of the book was the clear demonstration that ethical business practices, and doing the right thing for employees and customers, results in a more profitable company. The authors provide a powerful case for an organization doing the right thing, as part of a holistic business strategy, backed up by strong case studies of their concepts in action. The key example of U.S. Cellular, and its dynamic CEO Jack Rooney, form a convincing real world backdrop, for the ethical and empowering business principles outlined by authors Dave Esler and Myra Kruger. The recommendations for business building should be required reading for any business executive in companies of every size and in any industry.

I highly recommend the inspirational and must read book The Pursuit of Something Better: How an Underdog Company Defied the Odds, Won Customers’ Hearts, and Grew It’s Employees into Better People by Dave Esler and Myra Kruger, to any business person seeking to create a profitable company that is based on doing the right thing. The authors prove that ethical business practices, with employees empowered to do the right thing for customers, suppliers, and one another are not only developers of strong company morale, but are also keys to building a growing and profitable company.

Read the uplifting and corporate culture transforming book The Pursuit of Something Better: How an Underdog Company Defied the Odds, Won Customers’ Hearts, and Grew It’s Employees into Better People by Dave Esler and Myra Kruger, and start building a company based on doing the right thing. Not only is an ethical and empowering organization more profitable, but it’s a more dynamic and exciting place to work. The authors show convincingly, how doing the right thing is the best business practice.

Tags: The Pursuit of Something Better: How an Underdog Company Defied the Odds, Won Customers’ Hearts, and Grew It’s Employees into Better People, Dave Esler, Myra Kruger, ethical business culture, business book reviews.