Feb21

Display of Power by Daymond John

Posted In: Biographies

Display of Power by Daymond JohnThe Book

Display of Power by Daymond John

John, the founder and CEO of fashion label FUBU, presents the inspiring story of his life, from his upbringing as a poor black youth to his rise as a fashion juggernaut, recently ranked #15 in men’s magazine Details’ “50 Most Influential Men,” and presented a Crain’s Business “Top Forty Under Forty Award.”

Opinion on the book

I loved this book because it was short. Now don’t get me wrong : it’s a good book. But Daymond goes direct to the point, without letting his reader waste any time. Basically it’s about how he rose himself from the “ghetto” to the FUBU empire we know today, with the lessons that came with this rising. But first of all, it’s an inspirational book about YOUR potential rising.

The Book in One Sentence

Find a way or make one. If you want it bad enough, you should let nothing stop you.

Quotes

“‘I’d never heard the phrase before – display of power – and that’s when it hit me : two different people, all outward appearances they might look the same, but inside they just have no idea what they’re capable of. Inside, they’ve got the same ability to turn it on and fire it up, but it’s how we turn it on and fire it up that makes all the difference.”

“These are the type of people, you’re not about to keep them from being successful. You can help them or not, but you can’t stand in their way.”

Notes

There would be no point in giving a summary of this book. If Daymond’s life interests you, read it. If it doesn’t, don’t read it. Instead, here are some of the lessons from the book :

  • Think Big (cliche alert :) ). There is nothing that forces you to work on someone else’s dream
  • care for the little details. For example you can increase sales in a retail store by 20% just by putting chairs so men can sit
  • sell through is important, but if you don’t make enough products to meet demand, it can be a real buzz-kill
  • my favorite : “I think I was probably drunk at the time, but I’ve since realized that being clear-headed has nothing to do with clarity of vision. Truth be told, I had some of my best ideas when I was out partying with my friends” -> it’s the first time I see it put that way, but I can totally relate. Am I the only one? Tell me :)
  • you need to be able to relate and connect with all kind of people, from all backgrounds, not just “your” people
  • check out the competition, if only for “inspiration”
  • use other people’s money
  • talent is good, but the drive to actually act and make an impact is better
  • on employees : it takes his employees two weeks to mimic the way he/she is being treated. Also he pays them (the top ones) as much as possible instead of as little as he can get away with
  • to young entrepreneurs : learn your business from the ground up. Don’t be one of those CEO who has no power because he has no idea what’s going on in his company
  • never be so arrogant or full of yourself to think you know it all, even when you’re riding high (especially when you’re riding high !)

Why you should (or should not) buy that book

As I said before, this book is very inspirational so if you’re not uninterested  by the subject, go for it. You can get it for free here thanks to Jay Abraham.

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Feb10

Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

Posted In: Self Development

Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm GladwellThe Book

Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

Blink is about the first two seconds of looking–the decisive glance that knows in an instant. The key is to rely on our “adaptive unconscious”–a 24/7 mental valet–that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea.

Opinion on the book

The book was a rather quick (222 pages on Kindle) and interesting read. It’s about that first automatic subconscious judgement we make every second when interacting with the world. The book is well written, and every chapter is illustrated by a story of how this first two seconds influenced situations.

The Book in One Sentence

Your brain is a piece of art, and those “blink” you get are one of the tools you have to take into account. It influences the way you act with world, or the way the world interacts with you, or your company and your products.

Quotes

“Our first impressions are generated by our experiences and our environment, which means that we can change our first impressions – we can alter the way we thin-slice – by changing the experiences that comprise those impressions. [...] Taking rapid cognition seriously – acknowledging the incredible power, for good and ill, that first impressions play in our lives – requires that we take active steps to manage and control those impressions.”

Notes

# What is the blink effect and how does it work ?

 The blink effect is the two first seconds – sometimes milliseconds – that happen when you encounter anything, and make a snap judgment without even being conscious of it. For example if you arrive in a room and someone looks behind you with an air of terror, you don’t need to actually think to realize something is going on. Or if you’re a pro at art, you can identify a fake without seconds, just by the “something is wrong” feeling you get when you see it.

What you must know about the blink effect :

- it is a very powerful force, totally unconscious, and very quick

- it is fallible, and can be thrown off / controled. For example if you “prime” someone with pictures / words of generosity and niceness, they will be more incline to act as such. Also someone concentrating on “famous scientists” before an exam had much better results than people concentrating on “football hooligans” before that exam

- it takes place behind a “locked door”, meaning we more or less know what the results of that blink is, what we feel about the new situation, but we are VERY bad at explaining it. Our explanation of it can’t really be trusted

- it works by association. If you see someone well dressed and tall you will associate it with leadership. But those association are not a conscious choice, which means you can be wrong

- the subconscious is the principal tool of people dealing in high stress situations were there is no time to think and expertise is required : firemen, military generals, surgeons…

- under high stress, our focus narrows, we become blind to some parts of our environment. Too little focused and you’re not using the power of your subconscious enough. Too much and you become close to the reality of the situation and can’t control yourself properly (think : soldier when they get into battle the first time). You need to find that sweet “state” of arousal. Between 115 and 145 heartbeats per minute. The more aroused the less we rely on our senses, and instead rely on the rigid associations of our subconscious. That’s why training is so important.

# Business applications

- panels of consumers very often rely on the blink effect. “does pepsi taste better than coke”. “will they like this show”. But the results are to be read with care, since they may blink negatively, but out of the ‘newness’ of the product, the weirdness of it. It doesn’t mean it’s bad or they won’t like it after some time

- you can trick people’s associations. For example : take the same yogurt made half with lemon and half with strawberries. Put one in a yellow package, and the other in a red one. Then ask  people to tell what it’s made of. The yellow package will make people think there’s a lot of lemon. Another trick : people unconsciously think round ice cream boxes contain more than the square one (even if not true).

- if you are in sales be very wary not to make snap judgements : you never know who is who, but we have a (bad) tendency to judge on appearances, grooming, etc…

Why you should (or should not) buy that book

The book is packed with stories that apply the blink effect to different – and fascinating – worlds : the military, the medical system, politics, the art and music world, etc… Also it will show you that you’re probably unconsciously racist (the author is half black and was unconsciously associating black people with negative emotions !).

I focused my notes on the marketing applications of the blink effect, but if you want a broader view on it then you might want to take a look at the full book.

Note that I read this book, but it’s mostly stories, linked together by the core problematic of that tipping point. I wish I had listened to the audiobook version.

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Jan09

The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuck

Posted In: Personal Finance

The Thank You Economy by Gary VaynerchuckThe Book

The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuck

The Thank You Economy is much more than saying “thank you.” The Thank You Economy represents a much bigger movement. This book could easily have been called The Humanization of Business or Manners Marketing.

Opinion on the book

I need to be honest : I was sold before reading the book. I love Gary Vaynerchuk, and I watch his public appearances for fun. But the book was great, it’s probably a good gift for an old friend who runs a company and hasn’t made it to the internet yet. Great read all in all, and still entertaining. You can check out one of his talk here.

The Book in One Sentence

If your company decides to step up, now is the the time when you can outcare and outwork any of your competitor in a way that was not possible before for the “small players”.

Quotes

“Social Media gives you the opportunity to take your business to its fullest potential. Grab it.”

“Competitors are bigger? Outcare them. They’re cheaper? Outcare them. They’ve got celebrity status and you don’t? Outcare them.”

Notes

# What is the thank you economy ?

In 1930 your butcher knew your name, the name of your children and gave you a call to wish you a happy birthday, even offering you some of his newly arrived bacon as a gift. This is why you would not go to another butcher. Because he cared. Because you were thankful to how much he cared.

Then big corporations came in and stopped caring. Because they didn’t have to. Because one unhappy customer was just that : an unhappy customer. Worst case scenario he would tell his mom and his wife, and that would be it.

Then the internet came in, and an unhappy customer has the power to tell thousands of people on facebook, twitter, or his blog, that he is an unhappy customer. Now is time to go back to Joe the butcher who knew and cared about his customers. You can do that because the internet allow you to. Go to https://twitter.com/search right now, type the name of your company/brand, and start communicating.

# 11 Excuses

According to Gary there are eleven excuses people use when justifying why they don’t believe in using Social Media. Eleven excuses that the author proceeds to dismantle. Most of them resolve around one fact : Social Media is in the world of the unknown. We don’t know the ROI, we don’t know if it will last, etc…

But this is exactly what people who advertised on the radio said when the television was invented. And what people said about the internet when it was invented. The thing with the new game : you have to start first, because it’s easier to take the hearth of a person that is not in love that to still that person from the one he/she loves.

And that’s exactly what you ought to do in the Thank You Economy : make people fall in love with your company !

Other excuses are : this is only for B2C and / or tech companies. There are great counter examples in the book about B2B and non-tech companies doing it right, but just keep this in mind : people do business with people. And it doesn’t matter if you sell tea to eco-friendly families or if you sell concrete to big businesses (if that’s your case you probably need to read the full book to grasp what to do ).

# How to do it right

If you start openly communicating about your company and with your customers, every flaw will be revealed. You have to be truthful and honest, and you have to be outstanding at what you deliver, and at caring for your customers. No bullshit here, people can smell it.

And it needs to come from the top. The most important thing a company should monitor is not the competition or the customers : it is the employees. The top need to care for the employees so the employees can care for the customers. An employee happy is an employee that is treated as an adult and whose needs are being met. This requires one-on-one knowledge of your employees, or at least one-on-one knowledge of them with someone from the top. The goal is to have caring culture at the top, and to apply it both internally and externally.

So here are the steps necessary to become a company that truly care :

- start with yourself if you’re at the top (see above)

- know and be yourself. You don’t have to become a “flip flop at work” company to enter the Thank You Economy. If you’re a suit and tie, that’s fine, just be honest about it and don’t try to look like what you’re not. Remember : people smell the bullshit from far away.

- commit 100%. You can’t just open a twitter account and advertise on it once in a while. You need to answer to people. You need to create a relationship. And then, once in a while, you can advertise. This will take time and ressources.

- invest in your employees, and trust them. If you make them have every tweet approved by a lawyer before being published, don’t even try… Also you need a strong company culture, where all your employees care about caring. If some of them just don’t fit maybe it’s time to reconsider your relationship with that employee.

# Final tricks

Some final ideas from the book :

- empower your employees. For example give the a discretionary budget to take care of customers and give away gifts

- right now the best strategy is to mix classic media with social media, to “bridge the gap”

- “The same intent that fuels any successful social media campaign also has to be behind the day-to-day engagement a brand pursues via social networking sites. Your intent should be twofold: water as many plants as possible, and put out every fire. When you’re tending to online relationships, every engagement should be answered with emotion, from the heart.”

- the little things matter. A lot. It’s : the car washer who provides Wifi. The cafe that offers regular customers a cake. The car repairer who cleans the car perfectly after the work is done.

- invest in your customers, not platforms. Instead of spending 40.000€ on a TV ad, make 1.000 customers happy with a 40€ gift. They will talk about it. Maybe one of them will have  a huge audience. Maybe not. But it doesn’t matter. Because you’ve outcared your competitors.

Why you should (or should not) buy that book

If you’re already sold on the ‘caring’ and social media thing, then you probably don’t need to read this book. But you should because it’s a quick and very entertaining read, and the case study are interesting.

If all this sounds new for you…then you probably need to read that book.

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Jul25

On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis

Posted In: Self Development

on becoming a leaderThe Book

On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis

Bennis here deplores what he considers a dearth of leadership in the world. Although he provides solid, practical guidance in how to fill this vacuum, his philosophically and psychologically rich volume seeks primarily to define leadership–which, in his view, requires self-knowledge and clear personal goals.

Opinion on the book

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, it’s an easy read but the ideas of the author were very interesting and on point – although you may sometimes agree or disagree upon some subjects.

The Book in One Sentence

Leaders are made, not born. The only question is : will you step up ?

Quotes

“”it is not enough for a leader to do things right, he must do the right thing”

“Leaders learn from others, but are not made by others.”

Notes

# What is a leader ?

In the author’s opinion’s, leaders are characters who are not interested in proving themselves but want above all to be able to express themselves fully. For him becoming a leader is the act of becoming more and more your true self. Often people say “I can’t lead” but they misunderstand leading for managing.

It ‘s not, there’s as many type of leader as there are people in the world. Leading is expression.

# How to become one

The author then gives us an exhaustive list of what he considers to be the common traits of leaders, among which :

- life-long learning and curiosity : leaders read, a lot

- a dream, a vision that goes beyond them and inspire others

- a personal integrity to his values and vision, which often makes the leader somehow ‘original’ because he doesn’t care about fitting in

- ” Using the context of your life, rather than surrendering to it”

Why you should (or should not) buy that book

If you like what you’ve read so far then it might be worth reading the entire book – especially for the part about becoming a leader.

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Jul18

Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini

Posted In: Self Development

Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

Note : this post was written by Tihomir Bajic who was the original creator of this blog. He works at Rypple and you can follow him on twitter here.

The Book

Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini

Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini meld social psychology, pop culture and field research to demonstrate how the subtle addition, subtraction or substitution of a word, phrase, symbol or gesture can significantly influence consumer behavior. Interspersing references to Britney Spears, the Smurfs and Sex and the City with more academic concepts such as loss aversion and the scarcity principle, the authors illustrate the simple and surprising approaches that can hone a company’s marketing strategies.

Opinion on the book

I picked up this book as a fun light read for my flight to a friend’s wedding. It helps to be armed with the latest findings from the science of persuasion should someone get cold feet. Cialdini et al definitely delivered. They packed their conclusions into 50 short punchy chapters. Each one talks about one specific tactic that increases persuasiveness. Their suggestions are fresh and applicable to various life aspects. The right amount of humor shows that they don’t take themselves too definitively and helps turn what is really a summary of the latest research into an informative and memorable read.

The Book in One Sentence

Scientifically proven tricks to be more persuasive.

Notes

The book isn’t a Jedi manual on mind-control but was definitely helpful in pointing out things that usually make people more persuasive or more persuadable. It made me aware of mental processes that occur subconsciously in certain settings that may lead to non-standard decisions. It turns out that scientific evidence shows that emotionally charged people make bad purchasing decisions; sad people are willing to pay more than indifferent people for the same product. Is that why funerals cost so much? Or are they justifiably so expensive?

Some of the other points that blew me away:

  • People tend to think of themselves as average. That is why telling someone their positive behavior is not average/expected may get them to change it even if that’s not to their advantage.
  • You can get someone to like you more by getting them to help you. Once the person helps you, he subconsciously needs to reconcile the fact the he helped you (meaning he cares about you) with older negative feelings.
  • Too much choice is confusing and can hurt business. After some point, an extra option on your menu or service offering that you hope will bring more interest can only cause less commitment to any particular choice. Less is more.
  • Expression through writing is powerful. People are more likely to stick to their goals if they write them down first. Even writing about something emotionally charged can affect mood and subsequent decisions.
  • Seek dissent during decision making process to avoid group think and to leverage each group member’s insight.
  • People’s names (and even the first letter of their name) influence their career choices and preferences. A disproportionate number of guys named Dennis are dentists.

Why you should (or should not) buy that book

If you haven’t read “Influence” by Robert Cialdini then I would strongly recommend skipping this one for now and starting with that one. This one is more like a sequel and like most sequels, it is not as good.

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What about you? Have you read that book? What did you think of it?