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Midwest Book Review
Aug 1, 2023, 11:56:37 PM8/1/23
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The Business Shelf
The Case for Good Jobs
Zeynep Ton
Harvard Business Review Press
60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163
http://hbr.org/books
9781647824174, $32.00, HC, 272pp
https://www.amazon.com/Case-Good-Jobs-Companies-Everyones/dp/1647824176
Synopsis: From healthcare facilities to call centers, fulfillment centers to factories, and restaurants to retail stores, companies are struggling to find and/or keep workers, because the jobs they offer are low-paying, stressful, and provide little chance for growth and success.
Workers want good jobs, and many business leaders want to provide them. But they don't think they can offer higher pay and more motivating work without hurting the bottom line. Most business leaders want to win with customers, but their companies are hobbled by a host of service and operational problems largely driven by high employee turnover -- turnover that's partly driven by low pay.
It is indeed a vicious cycle, with the publication of "The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone's Work", Professor Zeynep Ton is here to show you the way out: why good jobs combined with strong operations lead to higher productivity and increased competitiveness for the business. And why, more than ever, in a world with tight labor markets, failing to provide good jobs will catch up with you and threaten your business.
As the leading scholar on good jobs and president of the Good Jobs Institute, Professor Ton has helped executives at many companies implement a good jobs system. With expertise drawn from spending time on the front lines with workers and their managers, she knows what's keeping most companies mired in mediocrity and how implementing a good jobs system makes them more competitive, more resilient, and more likely to attract and retain loyal customers and dedicated employees.
Critique: Informative, insightful, prescriptive, provocative, and 'real world practical', "The Case for Good Jobs" must be considered essential reading for company leaders, managers, and business owners who need to attract and retain profitable employees in today's increasingly volatile and competitive labor market. While a timely and significant addition to professional, corporate, and academic library Business & Personnel Management collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of readers with a responsibility or an interest in business leadership and motivation that "The Case for Good Jobs" is also available in a a digital book format (Kindle, $16.99).
Editorial Note: Zeynep Ton (www.Zeynepton.com) is a Professor of the Practice in the Operations Management group at MIT Sloan School of Management. She is also president of the nonprofit Good Jobs Institute, where she works with companies to improve their operations in a way that satisfies employees, customers, and investors alike. Before joining MIT Sloan, Ton spent seven years on the faculty at Harvard Business School. She is also the author of "The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits". She can be followed on Twitter @zeynepton
Built for People
Jessica Zwaan
Kogan Page Inc.
8 W 38th Street, Ste 902, New York, NY 10018
www.koganpage.com
9781398608047, $127.99, HC, 256pp
https://www.amazon.com/Built-People-Experience-Management-Principles/dp/1398608041
Synopsis: Specifically written and intended for corporate Human Resource professionals and business leaders, With the publication of "Built for People: Transform Your Employee Experience Using Product Management Principles" the Chief Operating Officer for Whereby Inc. Jessica Zwaan explains how to improve workforce and business performance by developing people-centred ways of working, evidence-based decision making and a culture of continuous feedback and iteration.
Zwaan explains everything from what this approach means for business professionals, what the benefits of it are and how to do it effectively. It covers how to proactively develop an employee experience which attracts, engages and retains the talent the business needs and supports them to operate at their full potential. There is also practical guidance on the importance of user research, sprint planning, vision development and how to encourage a continuous feedback loop in your team.
"Built for People" also includes the importance of testing and iteration and how to define metrics for success, as well as showing you how to handle organizational change, company culture clashes and how to build and improve overall business performance and employee experience at scale.
Critique: A thoroughly 'user friendly' compendium of tools, case studies, exercises and advice from those who are already seeing the benefits of a product-management approach, "Built for People: Transform Your Employee Experience Using Product Management Principles" is essential reading and an invaluable reference for all entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and business leaders needing to develop an agile, innovative and evidence-based approach to their people operations. "Build for People" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, corporate, and academic library Personnel Management, Business Administration, and Workplace Culture collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies list. It should be noted that "Build for People" is also available in a paperback edition (9781398608023, $39.99, PB) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $36.22).
Editorial Note: Jessica Zwaan (https://www.jessicamayzwaan.com) is the Chief Operating Officer at Whereby, a video meetings company. Prior to this she was the Chief People Operations at Being People, Group Head of Talent at McCann Worldgroup and VP People and Talent at Wonderbly.
The Experience Mindset
Tiffani Bova
Portfolio
c/o Penguin Group USA
www.penguin.com
9780593542699, $30.00, HC, 288pp
https://www.amazon.com/Experience-Mindset-Changing-Think-Growth/dp/059354269X
Synopsis: In fierce competition for customer acquisition, businesses have invest millions of dollars to improve customer experience. They deliver packages faster, churn out new products, and endlessly revamp their UI, often putting greater strain on employees for diminishing returns. This siloed focus on customer experience (without considering the impact on company staff members) can actually hinder growth in the long run. The most successful companies adopt an Experience Mindset that strengthens both employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX) at the same time.
Based on exclusive research from two Salesforce-sponsored studies of thousands of employees and c-suite executives, "The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth" by Tiffani Bova details exactly how your company can adopt an Experience Mindset, at scale. It's not enough to know that happy employees equals happy customers. You must have an intentional, balanced approach to company strategy that involves all stakeholders - IT, Marketing, Sales, Operations, and HR - with KPIs and ownership over outcomes.
"The Experience Mindset is ground-breaking and instructive guide that is filled with case studies of leading companies and never-before-seen research covering: How people, processes, technology, and culture contribute to the "virtuous cycle" of EX and CX; Why the best companies have programs that minimize the customer's effort as well as the employee's effort (and how companies like Southwest and Best Buy get this right); How to effectively roll out technology solutions that boost both EX and CX (hard truth: only 20% of customer-facing employees believe technology makes their job easier. Employees want a seamless technology experience, just like your customers.); What metrics you can use to measure EX, CX, and ultimately, the effect of the two together.
You can't improve what you can't measure. Employees are the heart of your business. If you want to remain competitive in today's marketplace, investing in people is no longer a nice-to-have, but rather a must have for success and profitability.
Critique: Informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of an Appendix (Research Methodology), twenty-four pages of Notes, and a thirteen page Index, "The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth" is essential reading and highly recommended for personal, professional, community, corporate, college, and university library Business Management/Organizational Change collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for MBA students, academia, corporate personnel managers, entrepreneurs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Experience Mindset" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.99).
Editorial Note: Tiffani Bova (https://www.tiffanibova.com) is the global customer growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce, and the author of "Growth IQ". Over the past two decades, she was an executive that led large revenue-producing divisions at businesses ranging from start-ups to the Fortune 500. As a Research Fellow at Gartner, her cutting-edge insights helped Microsoft, Cisco, Salesforce, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle, SAP, AT&T, Dell, Amazon-AWS, and other prominent companies expand their market share and grow their revenues. She has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50 twice.
Seeing the How
Allen P. Adamson
Matt Holt Books
c/o BenBella Books
www.benbellabooks.com
9781637742952, $30.00, HC, 320pp
https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-How-Transforming-People-Advantage/dp/1637742959
Synopsis: With the publication of "Seeing the How: Transforming What People Do, Not Buy, To Gain Market Advantage", Allen P. Adamson invites you to reimagine your brand, company, or idea through the lens of consumer experience. It gives today's disruptors a path to offering consumers a new and better way to do what they do, clearly demonstrating how to see opportunities, and how to seize them to great advantage.
Two years ago, Zoom was unknown to most, six years ago, Netflix was a DVD delivery service. We ride in Ubers and stay with our families in Airbnb homes. We share Spotify playlists, refresh our closets with Bonobos, and pamper our pets with Chewy. We set up meetings with Calendly and pay bills with Venmo. The speed with which these disruptions to how we do things, and the enormous profits that come with changing daily routines, is breakneck and only point the way for other industries to carve out market dominance.
"Seeing the How" brings together data-driven research on consumer behavior, behavioral psychology, marketing analysis, and storytelling to provide a framework to help identify the methods by which business leaders can make these experience disruptions possible. It's author, Allen P. Adamson, is an expert in branding, experience creation, and innovation strategy and offers businesses a step-by-step guide to breaking into the market based on the tactics of the biggest experience disruptors out there, including Netflix, Apple, Warby Parker, and Stitch Fix.
These businesses speak to market segments and consumers that are diverse and far-flung. What they share is the extent to which they are experience disruptors. Their successes derive from their ability to make the stuff of daily life different, better, and easier.
Successful experience disruption is the de facto new competitive advantage across all categories. With "Seeing the How" you will have the strategy necessary to bring your disruption to life, command market segments, and cultivate consumer loyalty.
Critique: Impressively informative, well written, and thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Seeing the How: Transforming What People Do, Not Buy, To Gain Market Advantage" offers extraordinary insights and a DIY motivation that will be of particular interest to entrepreneurs and business personnel managers. While especially and unreservedly recommended as a core addition to professional, community, corporate, and academic library collections and MBA curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Seeing the How: Transforming What People Do, Not Buy, To Gain Market Advantage" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.99).
Editorial Note: Allen P. Adamson (https://allenadamson.com) is a noted industry expert in all disciplines of branding. He's worked with a broad spectrum of clients in industries ranging from packaged goods and technology, to health care and financial services, to hospitality and entertainment, as well as brands in the non-profit sector. Allen is Co-founder of Metaforce, a team of "special forces" that help organizations identify and activate the right growth strategies. Prior to Metaforce, Allen was Chairman, North America of Landor Associates, a global branding firm. Under his leadership, the company partnered with a wide array of iconic brands, including Accenture, GE, Johnson & Johnson, FedEx, HBO, Marriott, MetLife, P&G, Sony, and Verizon. Before Landor, Allen was an executive at Unilever, responsible for leading marketing for a number of major packaged goods brands. Previously, he held senior management positions at Ogilvy & Mather and DMB&B.
Hit It Off
Joe Brocato
Imagine and Wonder
https://imagineandwonder.com
9781637610251, $24.99, HC, 234pp
https://www.amazon.com/Hit-Off-Mastering-Relationships-Business/dp/1637610254
Synopsis: Have you ever wondered why some people seem to naturally hit it off with others? Are you impressed with how they're able to transform that positive first impression into a relationship that helps them achieve their goals in life or business? Would you like to deepen your relationships with the people who are important to you in your life?
If so, then "Hit It Off: 21 Rules for Mastering the Art and Science of Relationships In Life and Business" by Joe Brocato will be a refreshing and rewarding resource for you.
Use the 21 Rules to hit it off with people from the moment you meet them. Walk into a new situation with anyone and fit right in, establish rapport, and be perceived as nice and fun, and a person of integrity - someone who can be trusted with business and friendship.
As you continue to get to know people, use the 21 Rules to cultivate unique relationships for a lifetime.
Readers will learn about what science says about the 21 Rules and obtain a deeper perspective on their practical usefulness and importance in building relationships. The importance of each rule is further illustrated through real-life "train-wreck" stories about what happens when the rules "derail." The good news is that no matter what has happened in the past, you can improve. Stories about the "Zen" of each rule in these pages will inspire you to envision the many unique relationships that await you in your future.
Use the 21 Rules every day to create win-win relationships and become a master of the art and science of relationships in life and business!,
Critique: Not just another business motivation or workplace self help/self-improvement books, "Hit It Off: 21 Rules for Mastering the Art and Science of Relationships In Life and Business" offers genuine and 'real world' insights, techniques, strategies, for building a skill set that can be used in everyday business and in ordinary day-to-day life to achieve social and occupational success. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Hit It Off" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community, corporate, and academic library Business Management/Leadership collections, It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Hit It Off" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note: Joe Brocato (https://joebrocato.com) is a senior partner with Gozdecki, Del Giudice, Americus, Farkas & Brocato LLP, a prominent Chicago law firm. A serial entrepreneur and investor, he is also the Founder of Intense Coaching and Consulting Worldwide, an elite, international life coaching and business development consulting firm, Founder of Intense Artist Management, a dynamic and strategic music management company, and Co-Founder of Devotion City, Inc., which is building the creative industry's largest accelerator.
P3 Selling: The Essentials of B2B Sales Success
Greg Nutter
Lioncrest Publishing
https://lioncrest.com
9781544529981, $24.99, HC, 174pp
https://www.amazon.com/P3-Selling-Essentials-Sales-Success/dp/1544529988
Synopsis: With the publication of "P3 Selling: The Essentials of B2B Sales Success", Greg Nutter provides an easy-to-follow framework that explains what you need to do and why you need to do it to achieve consistent B2B (business-to-business) sales success. Navigate today's complex B2B environment with confidence as you win more deals, receive more referrals, make more money, and advance your way up the corporate ladder.
Stop hoping for lucky breaks, and take control of your sales results. With "P3 Selling" you can now develop a deep understanding of the three most critical predictors of B2B sales success without all the unnecessary jargon and complexity of other sales training programs. Then, you will learn how to apply them through non-manipulative techniques that work, closing more deals without sacrificing your integrity.
With specific activities at the end of each chapter to help you tailor these strategies and techniques to your own unique situation, P3 Selling both effective and practical, a resource that again and again will help you overcome every B2B sales challenge.
Critique: Simply stated, "P3 Selling: The Essentials of B2B Sales Success" is critically essential reading for anyone charged with the responsibility of business-to-business commerce and sales. Thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "P3 Selling: The Essentials of B2B Sales Success" is a solid pick for personal, professional, community, corporate, and community library Business Advertising & Sales/Selling collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for MBA students, academia, corporate sales directors, entrepreneurs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "P3 Selling: The Essentials of B2B Sales Success" is also available in a paperback edition (9781544529974, $13.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99).
Editorial Note: Greg Nutter (www.P3Selling.com) is the founder of Soloquent, Inc., helping business owners and senior sales executives solve revenue growth problems through direct, indirect, and multi-channel sales models. With over thirty-five years of experience, Greg has worked with a wide range of companies to develop strategies, programs, processes, and tools to grow revenues, enter new markets, increase sales consistency, maximize selling investments, and develop skilled sales, channel, and management personnel.
Prove It: Exactly How Modern Marketers Earn Trust
Melanie Deziel, author
Phil M. Jones, author
Page Two Books
https://pagetwo.com
9781774582015, $17.95, PB, 152pp
https://www.amazon.com/Prove-Exactly-Modern-Marketers-Trust/dp/1774582015
Synopsis: You know your company is amazing. You say your company is amazing. But why should your customers believe you? In a crowded consumer courtroom full of shady advertisers all claiming to be the best, the fastest, the most caring, your brand is literally on trial -- and that means you better deliver the proof.
With the publication of "Prove It: Exactly How Modern Marketers Earn Trust", co-authors StoryFuel founder Melanie Deziel and master of influence Phil M. Jones show you how to leverage every content marketing tool in the box to blast through doubt and win the case with your customers.
Using real-world examples from trusted brands across dozens of industries, "Prove It" walks you, step-by-step, through the process of identifying and categorizing your business promises (even the ones you don't realize you're making) gathering the right evidence, and backing up each style of claim.
You will learn how to apply strategies like corroboration, demonstration, and education to a marketing context to show (not just tell!) the convenience of your offerings, your comparability with the competition, your connection to your community, your competence in your industry, and your commitment to your values. And you'll discover the right format and platform to deliver each type of evidence to make sure your "jury of consumers" connects with your case.
Critique: Exceptionally informative and impressively 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Prove It: Exactly How Modern Marketers Earn Trust" will enable entrepreneurs and business managers have their companies and their products/services stand out from all the competing brands -- especially when dealing with a skeptical audience of customers. An ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to community, corporate, college, and university library Business Management, Communications, and Marketing collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for personal and professional reading lists that "Prove It" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note #1: Melanie Deziel (https://www.storyfuel.co) is a recognized as one of the world's leading experts in content marketing, and is also the author of the best-selling marketing and business communications book The Content Fuel Framework: How to Generate Unlimited Story Ideas.
Editorial Note #2: Phil M. Jones (https://www.philmjones.com) is a master of influence and persuasion. He is also the author of the best-selling "Exactly" book series and producer of the "Most Listened To" non-fiction audiobook of all time. Phil has been an entrepreneur since the age of 14, and is now a trusted advisor for some of the world's biggest brands.
Blaze Your Own Trail
Pamela J. Goodwin
https://pamgoodwin.com
Independently Published
9798390403426, $12.97, PB, 174pp
https://www.amazon.com/Blaze-Your-Own-Trail-Commercial/dp/B0C2RRQFHJ
Synopsis: With the publication of "Blaze Your Own Trail: Twenty Leaders In Commercial Real Estate Share Their Unique Paths To Success", author and real estate expert Pamela J. Goodwin offers the ultimate guide for those who are interested in pursuing a career in commercial real estate. Whether this is your chosen career path, a detour from residential to commercial, or a change in course from a dead-end job, "Blaze Your Own Trail" is essential reading in order to become successful and maximize your earning potential -- plus so much more!
"Blaze Your Own Trail" covers: Ways to get started; Successes and Failures; Personal Life Lessons; Greatest Challenges in the Industry; Time Management Techniques; Negotiation Tips; Most Asked Question; Skills to Succeed; Networking Organizations to Join; Best Advice Received.
An impressive collection of questions and answers from the top female leaders in the industry, the contributors to "Blaze Your Own Trail" total of some 597 years of knowledge and experience being in the commercial real estate industry.
Critique: Fascinating, informative, exceptionally well organized and presented, "Blaze Your Own Trail: Twenty Leaders In Commercial Real Estate Share Their Unique Paths To Success" is an absolutely essential, compelling imperative, fundamentally invaluable addition to personal, professional, and community library Business Management for Women collections in general, and Real Estate Investment/Selling reading lists in particular. "Blaze Your Own Trail" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99).
Editorial Note: Pamela J. Goodwin (www.pamgoodwin.com) is the founder of Goodwin Commercial based in Dallas, TX, a boutique commercial real estate and consulting firm specializing in developing retail and restaurant pad sites. With more than two decades of experience in project management, leasing, property development, due diligence, entitlement and tenant representation. She can be followed on Facebook: Pamela Z. Goodwin and LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/pamgoodwincre
Crossing the Swamp
John Shen
Precocity Press
www.precocitypress.com
9798987776612, $19.95 Print, $9.95 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Swamp-Innovating-Parallel-Entrepreneur-ebook/dp/B0C4RTBCRC
"Why miracles happen to some but not others, I cannot explain. I was one of the fortunate. I had been mired in the proverbial swamp of failure when a lifeline was thrown my way."
Crossing the Swamp: My Path to Innovating as a Parallel Entrepreneur is a business memoir about success and failure, and relates John Shen's rapid personal and business transformation back to success after the 2008 financial crisis when his profitable real estate business collapsed. What sets Crossing the Swamp apart from other books on entrepreneurship are its clear strategies for adapting to challenges and change, based on Shen's real-life business experience.
Shen's story shows that drive and resilience and six other talents are critical to entrepreneurial success, as he shares his lessons with business owners and innovators facing their own pivot points in launching a new company. As a first-generation immigrant to the U.S. Shen has come to start and operate four companies successfully, two of them ranking among the "fastest growing companies in America."
Inspired by a last-minute reading of an email that contained a parable called "The Glass of Water," Shen stepped away from an attempted suicide after his real estate business failure and dove back into innovating new startup ventures.
His memoir provides readers with clear advice about how they, too, can confront negativity, depression, and challenging circumstances as they seek to achieve the American Dream in a startup business. Shen explains the specific steps he took to create, realize, and grow new opportunities in a variety of business ventures.
Throughout the book, readers receive inspiring and practical insights into the process of successful entrepreneurship. The specificity Shen provides in each chapter makes his book practical and useful to understanding the nuts and bolts of business operations. He provides detailed information on such topics as how to find new ideas, why revenues matter more than profits, how long-term risk-taking is better than short-term risk-taking, and what are the most effective strategies for hiring, dealing with employee mistakes, and firing.
A key theme of the book is Shen's recommendation that today's smart entrepreneurs consider running several businesses simultaneously, which he refers to as "parallel entrepreneuring." He notes: "I believe parallel entrepreneurship will become the most popular trend among young entrepreneurs. In my view, once you start one company and bring it to a certain level of success, you are ideally positioned to leverage your knowledge, your staff, your customers, or your market dominance to start yet another company.
Frankly, if you have the intelligence and stamina to be a solo entrepreneur, you might as well aim to be a parallel one. The benefits of "going parallel" are enormous..." Crossing the Swamp is not just positive and supportive, but it imparts many keys to creating a successful entrepreneurial vision. Shen's ultimate message? The sky's the limit for a hard-working, ambitious entrepreneur.
Businesses, libraries and entrepreneurs seeking concrete advice on common obstacles to entrepreneuring and how to overcome them must have Crossing the Swamp in their collections, as should business book clubs and entrepreneurial discussion groups. Its candid, revealing assessment of the risks and opportunities in the business world is that important.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers. Full permission is given to post any of these reviews on thematically appropriate websites, newsgroups, listserves, internet discussion groups, organizational newsletters, or to interested individuals. Please give the Midwest Book Review a credit line when doing so.
The Midwest Book Review publishes the monthly book review magazines "California Bookwatch", "Internet Bookwatch", "Children's Bookwatch", "MBR Bookwatch", "Reviewer's Bookwatch", and "Small Press Bookwatch". All are available for free on the Midwest Book Review website at www (dot) midwestbookreview (dot) com
Anyone wanting to submit books for review consideration can send them to:
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugalmuse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number, and list price).
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
The Case for Good Jobs
Zeynep Ton
Harvard Business Review Press
60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163
http://hbr.org/books
9781647824174, $32.00, HC, 272pp
https://www.amazon.com/Case-Good-Jobs-Companies-Everyones/dp/1647824176
Synopsis: From healthcare facilities to call centers, fulfillment centers to factories, and restaurants to retail stores, companies are struggling to find and/or keep workers, because the jobs they offer are low-paying, stressful, and provide little chance for growth and success.
Workers want good jobs, and many business leaders want to provide them. But they don't think they can offer higher pay and more motivating work without hurting the bottom line. Most business leaders want to win with customers, but their companies are hobbled by a host of service and operational problems largely driven by high employee turnover -- turnover that's partly driven by low pay.
It is indeed a vicious cycle, with the publication of "The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone's Work", Professor Zeynep Ton is here to show you the way out: why good jobs combined with strong operations lead to higher productivity and increased competitiveness for the business. And why, more than ever, in a world with tight labor markets, failing to provide good jobs will catch up with you and threaten your business.
As the leading scholar on good jobs and president of the Good Jobs Institute, Professor Ton has helped executives at many companies implement a good jobs system. With expertise drawn from spending time on the front lines with workers and their managers, she knows what's keeping most companies mired in mediocrity and how implementing a good jobs system makes them more competitive, more resilient, and more likely to attract and retain loyal customers and dedicated employees.
Critique: Informative, insightful, prescriptive, provocative, and 'real world practical', "The Case for Good Jobs" must be considered essential reading for company leaders, managers, and business owners who need to attract and retain profitable employees in today's increasingly volatile and competitive labor market. While a timely and significant addition to professional, corporate, and academic library Business & Personnel Management collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of readers with a responsibility or an interest in business leadership and motivation that "The Case for Good Jobs" is also available in a a digital book format (Kindle, $16.99).
Editorial Note: Zeynep Ton (www.Zeynepton.com) is a Professor of the Practice in the Operations Management group at MIT Sloan School of Management. She is also president of the nonprofit Good Jobs Institute, where she works with companies to improve their operations in a way that satisfies employees, customers, and investors alike. Before joining MIT Sloan, Ton spent seven years on the faculty at Harvard Business School. She is also the author of "The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits". She can be followed on Twitter @zeynepton
Built for People
Jessica Zwaan
Kogan Page Inc.
8 W 38th Street, Ste 902, New York, NY 10018
www.koganpage.com
9781398608047, $127.99, HC, 256pp
https://www.amazon.com/Built-People-Experience-Management-Principles/dp/1398608041
Synopsis: Specifically written and intended for corporate Human Resource professionals and business leaders, With the publication of "Built for People: Transform Your Employee Experience Using Product Management Principles" the Chief Operating Officer for Whereby Inc. Jessica Zwaan explains how to improve workforce and business performance by developing people-centred ways of working, evidence-based decision making and a culture of continuous feedback and iteration.
Zwaan explains everything from what this approach means for business professionals, what the benefits of it are and how to do it effectively. It covers how to proactively develop an employee experience which attracts, engages and retains the talent the business needs and supports them to operate at their full potential. There is also practical guidance on the importance of user research, sprint planning, vision development and how to encourage a continuous feedback loop in your team.
"Built for People" also includes the importance of testing and iteration and how to define metrics for success, as well as showing you how to handle organizational change, company culture clashes and how to build and improve overall business performance and employee experience at scale.
Critique: A thoroughly 'user friendly' compendium of tools, case studies, exercises and advice from those who are already seeing the benefits of a product-management approach, "Built for People: Transform Your Employee Experience Using Product Management Principles" is essential reading and an invaluable reference for all entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and business leaders needing to develop an agile, innovative and evidence-based approach to their people operations. "Build for People" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, corporate, and academic library Personnel Management, Business Administration, and Workplace Culture collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies list. It should be noted that "Build for People" is also available in a paperback edition (9781398608023, $39.99, PB) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $36.22).
Editorial Note: Jessica Zwaan (https://www.jessicamayzwaan.com) is the Chief Operating Officer at Whereby, a video meetings company. Prior to this she was the Chief People Operations at Being People, Group Head of Talent at McCann Worldgroup and VP People and Talent at Wonderbly.
The Experience Mindset
Tiffani Bova
Portfolio
c/o Penguin Group USA
www.penguin.com
9780593542699, $30.00, HC, 288pp
https://www.amazon.com/Experience-Mindset-Changing-Think-Growth/dp/059354269X
Synopsis: In fierce competition for customer acquisition, businesses have invest millions of dollars to improve customer experience. They deliver packages faster, churn out new products, and endlessly revamp their UI, often putting greater strain on employees for diminishing returns. This siloed focus on customer experience (without considering the impact on company staff members) can actually hinder growth in the long run. The most successful companies adopt an Experience Mindset that strengthens both employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX) at the same time.
Based on exclusive research from two Salesforce-sponsored studies of thousands of employees and c-suite executives, "The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth" by Tiffani Bova details exactly how your company can adopt an Experience Mindset, at scale. It's not enough to know that happy employees equals happy customers. You must have an intentional, balanced approach to company strategy that involves all stakeholders - IT, Marketing, Sales, Operations, and HR - with KPIs and ownership over outcomes.
"The Experience Mindset is ground-breaking and instructive guide that is filled with case studies of leading companies and never-before-seen research covering: How people, processes, technology, and culture contribute to the "virtuous cycle" of EX and CX; Why the best companies have programs that minimize the customer's effort as well as the employee's effort (and how companies like Southwest and Best Buy get this right); How to effectively roll out technology solutions that boost both EX and CX (hard truth: only 20% of customer-facing employees believe technology makes their job easier. Employees want a seamless technology experience, just like your customers.); What metrics you can use to measure EX, CX, and ultimately, the effect of the two together.
You can't improve what you can't measure. Employees are the heart of your business. If you want to remain competitive in today's marketplace, investing in people is no longer a nice-to-have, but rather a must have for success and profitability.
Critique: Informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of an Appendix (Research Methodology), twenty-four pages of Notes, and a thirteen page Index, "The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth" is essential reading and highly recommended for personal, professional, community, corporate, college, and university library Business Management/Organizational Change collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for MBA students, academia, corporate personnel managers, entrepreneurs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Experience Mindset" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.99).
Editorial Note: Tiffani Bova (https://www.tiffanibova.com) is the global customer growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce, and the author of "Growth IQ". Over the past two decades, she was an executive that led large revenue-producing divisions at businesses ranging from start-ups to the Fortune 500. As a Research Fellow at Gartner, her cutting-edge insights helped Microsoft, Cisco, Salesforce, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle, SAP, AT&T, Dell, Amazon-AWS, and other prominent companies expand their market share and grow their revenues. She has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50 twice.
Seeing the How
Allen P. Adamson
Matt Holt Books
c/o BenBella Books
www.benbellabooks.com
9781637742952, $30.00, HC, 320pp
https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-How-Transforming-People-Advantage/dp/1637742959
Synopsis: With the publication of "Seeing the How: Transforming What People Do, Not Buy, To Gain Market Advantage", Allen P. Adamson invites you to reimagine your brand, company, or idea through the lens of consumer experience. It gives today's disruptors a path to offering consumers a new and better way to do what they do, clearly demonstrating how to see opportunities, and how to seize them to great advantage.
Two years ago, Zoom was unknown to most, six years ago, Netflix was a DVD delivery service. We ride in Ubers and stay with our families in Airbnb homes. We share Spotify playlists, refresh our closets with Bonobos, and pamper our pets with Chewy. We set up meetings with Calendly and pay bills with Venmo. The speed with which these disruptions to how we do things, and the enormous profits that come with changing daily routines, is breakneck and only point the way for other industries to carve out market dominance.
"Seeing the How" brings together data-driven research on consumer behavior, behavioral psychology, marketing analysis, and storytelling to provide a framework to help identify the methods by which business leaders can make these experience disruptions possible. It's author, Allen P. Adamson, is an expert in branding, experience creation, and innovation strategy and offers businesses a step-by-step guide to breaking into the market based on the tactics of the biggest experience disruptors out there, including Netflix, Apple, Warby Parker, and Stitch Fix.
These businesses speak to market segments and consumers that are diverse and far-flung. What they share is the extent to which they are experience disruptors. Their successes derive from their ability to make the stuff of daily life different, better, and easier.
Successful experience disruption is the de facto new competitive advantage across all categories. With "Seeing the How" you will have the strategy necessary to bring your disruption to life, command market segments, and cultivate consumer loyalty.
Critique: Impressively informative, well written, and thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Seeing the How: Transforming What People Do, Not Buy, To Gain Market Advantage" offers extraordinary insights and a DIY motivation that will be of particular interest to entrepreneurs and business personnel managers. While especially and unreservedly recommended as a core addition to professional, community, corporate, and academic library collections and MBA curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Seeing the How: Transforming What People Do, Not Buy, To Gain Market Advantage" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.99).
Editorial Note: Allen P. Adamson (https://allenadamson.com) is a noted industry expert in all disciplines of branding. He's worked with a broad spectrum of clients in industries ranging from packaged goods and technology, to health care and financial services, to hospitality and entertainment, as well as brands in the non-profit sector. Allen is Co-founder of Metaforce, a team of "special forces" that help organizations identify and activate the right growth strategies. Prior to Metaforce, Allen was Chairman, North America of Landor Associates, a global branding firm. Under his leadership, the company partnered with a wide array of iconic brands, including Accenture, GE, Johnson & Johnson, FedEx, HBO, Marriott, MetLife, P&G, Sony, and Verizon. Before Landor, Allen was an executive at Unilever, responsible for leading marketing for a number of major packaged goods brands. Previously, he held senior management positions at Ogilvy & Mather and DMB&B.
Hit It Off
Joe Brocato
Imagine and Wonder
https://imagineandwonder.com
9781637610251, $24.99, HC, 234pp
https://www.amazon.com/Hit-Off-Mastering-Relationships-Business/dp/1637610254
Synopsis: Have you ever wondered why some people seem to naturally hit it off with others? Are you impressed with how they're able to transform that positive first impression into a relationship that helps them achieve their goals in life or business? Would you like to deepen your relationships with the people who are important to you in your life?
If so, then "Hit It Off: 21 Rules for Mastering the Art and Science of Relationships In Life and Business" by Joe Brocato will be a refreshing and rewarding resource for you.
Use the 21 Rules to hit it off with people from the moment you meet them. Walk into a new situation with anyone and fit right in, establish rapport, and be perceived as nice and fun, and a person of integrity - someone who can be trusted with business and friendship.
As you continue to get to know people, use the 21 Rules to cultivate unique relationships for a lifetime.
Readers will learn about what science says about the 21 Rules and obtain a deeper perspective on their practical usefulness and importance in building relationships. The importance of each rule is further illustrated through real-life "train-wreck" stories about what happens when the rules "derail." The good news is that no matter what has happened in the past, you can improve. Stories about the "Zen" of each rule in these pages will inspire you to envision the many unique relationships that await you in your future.
Use the 21 Rules every day to create win-win relationships and become a master of the art and science of relationships in life and business!,
Critique: Not just another business motivation or workplace self help/self-improvement books, "Hit It Off: 21 Rules for Mastering the Art and Science of Relationships In Life and Business" offers genuine and 'real world' insights, techniques, strategies, for building a skill set that can be used in everyday business and in ordinary day-to-day life to achieve social and occupational success. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Hit It Off" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community, corporate, and academic library Business Management/Leadership collections, It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Hit It Off" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note: Joe Brocato (https://joebrocato.com) is a senior partner with Gozdecki, Del Giudice, Americus, Farkas & Brocato LLP, a prominent Chicago law firm. A serial entrepreneur and investor, he is also the Founder of Intense Coaching and Consulting Worldwide, an elite, international life coaching and business development consulting firm, Founder of Intense Artist Management, a dynamic and strategic music management company, and Co-Founder of Devotion City, Inc., which is building the creative industry's largest accelerator.
P3 Selling: The Essentials of B2B Sales Success
Greg Nutter
Lioncrest Publishing
https://lioncrest.com
9781544529981, $24.99, HC, 174pp
https://www.amazon.com/P3-Selling-Essentials-Sales-Success/dp/1544529988
Synopsis: With the publication of "P3 Selling: The Essentials of B2B Sales Success", Greg Nutter provides an easy-to-follow framework that explains what you need to do and why you need to do it to achieve consistent B2B (business-to-business) sales success. Navigate today's complex B2B environment with confidence as you win more deals, receive more referrals, make more money, and advance your way up the corporate ladder.
Stop hoping for lucky breaks, and take control of your sales results. With "P3 Selling" you can now develop a deep understanding of the three most critical predictors of B2B sales success without all the unnecessary jargon and complexity of other sales training programs. Then, you will learn how to apply them through non-manipulative techniques that work, closing more deals without sacrificing your integrity.
With specific activities at the end of each chapter to help you tailor these strategies and techniques to your own unique situation, P3 Selling both effective and practical, a resource that again and again will help you overcome every B2B sales challenge.
Critique: Simply stated, "P3 Selling: The Essentials of B2B Sales Success" is critically essential reading for anyone charged with the responsibility of business-to-business commerce and sales. Thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "P3 Selling: The Essentials of B2B Sales Success" is a solid pick for personal, professional, community, corporate, and community library Business Advertising & Sales/Selling collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for MBA students, academia, corporate sales directors, entrepreneurs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "P3 Selling: The Essentials of B2B Sales Success" is also available in a paperback edition (9781544529974, $13.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99).
Editorial Note: Greg Nutter (www.P3Selling.com) is the founder of Soloquent, Inc., helping business owners and senior sales executives solve revenue growth problems through direct, indirect, and multi-channel sales models. With over thirty-five years of experience, Greg has worked with a wide range of companies to develop strategies, programs, processes, and tools to grow revenues, enter new markets, increase sales consistency, maximize selling investments, and develop skilled sales, channel, and management personnel.
Prove It: Exactly How Modern Marketers Earn Trust
Melanie Deziel, author
Phil M. Jones, author
Page Two Books
https://pagetwo.com
9781774582015, $17.95, PB, 152pp
https://www.amazon.com/Prove-Exactly-Modern-Marketers-Trust/dp/1774582015
Synopsis: You know your company is amazing. You say your company is amazing. But why should your customers believe you? In a crowded consumer courtroom full of shady advertisers all claiming to be the best, the fastest, the most caring, your brand is literally on trial -- and that means you better deliver the proof.
With the publication of "Prove It: Exactly How Modern Marketers Earn Trust", co-authors StoryFuel founder Melanie Deziel and master of influence Phil M. Jones show you how to leverage every content marketing tool in the box to blast through doubt and win the case with your customers.
Using real-world examples from trusted brands across dozens of industries, "Prove It" walks you, step-by-step, through the process of identifying and categorizing your business promises (even the ones you don't realize you're making) gathering the right evidence, and backing up each style of claim.
You will learn how to apply strategies like corroboration, demonstration, and education to a marketing context to show (not just tell!) the convenience of your offerings, your comparability with the competition, your connection to your community, your competence in your industry, and your commitment to your values. And you'll discover the right format and platform to deliver each type of evidence to make sure your "jury of consumers" connects with your case.
Critique: Exceptionally informative and impressively 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Prove It: Exactly How Modern Marketers Earn Trust" will enable entrepreneurs and business managers have their companies and their products/services stand out from all the competing brands -- especially when dealing with a skeptical audience of customers. An ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to community, corporate, college, and university library Business Management, Communications, and Marketing collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for personal and professional reading lists that "Prove It" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note #1: Melanie Deziel (https://www.storyfuel.co) is a recognized as one of the world's leading experts in content marketing, and is also the author of the best-selling marketing and business communications book The Content Fuel Framework: How to Generate Unlimited Story Ideas.
Editorial Note #2: Phil M. Jones (https://www.philmjones.com) is a master of influence and persuasion. He is also the author of the best-selling "Exactly" book series and producer of the "Most Listened To" non-fiction audiobook of all time. Phil has been an entrepreneur since the age of 14, and is now a trusted advisor for some of the world's biggest brands.
Blaze Your Own Trail
Pamela J. Goodwin
https://pamgoodwin.com
Independently Published
9798390403426, $12.97, PB, 174pp
https://www.amazon.com/Blaze-Your-Own-Trail-Commercial/dp/B0C2RRQFHJ
Synopsis: With the publication of "Blaze Your Own Trail: Twenty Leaders In Commercial Real Estate Share Their Unique Paths To Success", author and real estate expert Pamela J. Goodwin offers the ultimate guide for those who are interested in pursuing a career in commercial real estate. Whether this is your chosen career path, a detour from residential to commercial, or a change in course from a dead-end job, "Blaze Your Own Trail" is essential reading in order to become successful and maximize your earning potential -- plus so much more!
"Blaze Your Own Trail" covers: Ways to get started; Successes and Failures; Personal Life Lessons; Greatest Challenges in the Industry; Time Management Techniques; Negotiation Tips; Most Asked Question; Skills to Succeed; Networking Organizations to Join; Best Advice Received.
An impressive collection of questions and answers from the top female leaders in the industry, the contributors to "Blaze Your Own Trail" total of some 597 years of knowledge and experience being in the commercial real estate industry.
Critique: Fascinating, informative, exceptionally well organized and presented, "Blaze Your Own Trail: Twenty Leaders In Commercial Real Estate Share Their Unique Paths To Success" is an absolutely essential, compelling imperative, fundamentally invaluable addition to personal, professional, and community library Business Management for Women collections in general, and Real Estate Investment/Selling reading lists in particular. "Blaze Your Own Trail" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99).
Editorial Note: Pamela J. Goodwin (www.pamgoodwin.com) is the founder of Goodwin Commercial based in Dallas, TX, a boutique commercial real estate and consulting firm specializing in developing retail and restaurant pad sites. With more than two decades of experience in project management, leasing, property development, due diligence, entitlement and tenant representation. She can be followed on Facebook: Pamela Z. Goodwin and LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/pamgoodwincre
Crossing the Swamp
John Shen
Precocity Press
www.precocitypress.com
9798987776612, $19.95 Print, $9.95 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Swamp-Innovating-Parallel-Entrepreneur-ebook/dp/B0C4RTBCRC
"Why miracles happen to some but not others, I cannot explain. I was one of the fortunate. I had been mired in the proverbial swamp of failure when a lifeline was thrown my way."
Crossing the Swamp: My Path to Innovating as a Parallel Entrepreneur is a business memoir about success and failure, and relates John Shen's rapid personal and business transformation back to success after the 2008 financial crisis when his profitable real estate business collapsed. What sets Crossing the Swamp apart from other books on entrepreneurship are its clear strategies for adapting to challenges and change, based on Shen's real-life business experience.
Shen's story shows that drive and resilience and six other talents are critical to entrepreneurial success, as he shares his lessons with business owners and innovators facing their own pivot points in launching a new company. As a first-generation immigrant to the U.S. Shen has come to start and operate four companies successfully, two of them ranking among the "fastest growing companies in America."
Inspired by a last-minute reading of an email that contained a parable called "The Glass of Water," Shen stepped away from an attempted suicide after his real estate business failure and dove back into innovating new startup ventures.
His memoir provides readers with clear advice about how they, too, can confront negativity, depression, and challenging circumstances as they seek to achieve the American Dream in a startup business. Shen explains the specific steps he took to create, realize, and grow new opportunities in a variety of business ventures.
Throughout the book, readers receive inspiring and practical insights into the process of successful entrepreneurship. The specificity Shen provides in each chapter makes his book practical and useful to understanding the nuts and bolts of business operations. He provides detailed information on such topics as how to find new ideas, why revenues matter more than profits, how long-term risk-taking is better than short-term risk-taking, and what are the most effective strategies for hiring, dealing with employee mistakes, and firing.
A key theme of the book is Shen's recommendation that today's smart entrepreneurs consider running several businesses simultaneously, which he refers to as "parallel entrepreneuring." He notes: "I believe parallel entrepreneurship will become the most popular trend among young entrepreneurs. In my view, once you start one company and bring it to a certain level of success, you are ideally positioned to leverage your knowledge, your staff, your customers, or your market dominance to start yet another company.
Frankly, if you have the intelligence and stamina to be a solo entrepreneur, you might as well aim to be a parallel one. The benefits of "going parallel" are enormous..." Crossing the Swamp is not just positive and supportive, but it imparts many keys to creating a successful entrepreneurial vision. Shen's ultimate message? The sky's the limit for a hard-working, ambitious entrepreneur.
Businesses, libraries and entrepreneurs seeking concrete advice on common obstacles to entrepreneuring and how to overcome them must have Crossing the Swamp in their collections, as should business book clubs and entrepreneurial discussion groups. Its candid, revealing assessment of the risks and opportunities in the business world is that important.
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