52 TRUTHS FOR WINNING AT BUSINESS WITHOUT LOSING YOURSELF
I know. I know. This is a personal growth blog and this is a business book.
I never review business books but decided we cannot pursue personal growth if we are going broke.
Succeeding in business is something that has to be in the mix.
Those of you who have ADD like most of us will like this book because each chapter – which could be a book all by itself – is about six pages long. And rather than dictating, it is engaging storytelling at its best.
It is followed by a “So what?” explanation of how you can apply it to your life.
And it is written by a business person, not a “wanna-be.”
I had to have a giggle about his suggestions to write your ideas on a 3×5 card. This is a practice I have used for years while my friends have complicated technical gizmos to record or keep track of things to do.
I write my blog on 3×5 cards, have another one for daily priorities and even my grocery list. They don’t get lost like a piece of paper. You just tuck them into your pocket or purse and they stand up to abuse. They consolidate easily.
Another quote from a chapter I loved was –
Change is a math formula: a good question beats a good answer. Learn to take no as a question.
I use separate 3×5 cards for information on every potential client. What is going on in their lives, if their kid has just started kindergarten, if a mother is ill? It’s hard to say no to a person who follows up like a friend and remembers important things in your life. At least for long.
The book is set up for 52 weeks. One practical idea for each one. Some of the ideas you will find familiar. But it is important to be reminded of what you already know and are not doing.
Personally, I ripped right through it. I could not wait.
But I am starting again at Chapter One today.
You cannot afford to skip this book. It will enhance your personal growth.
Alan M. Webber is an award-winning, nationally-recognized editor, author, and columnist. In 1995, he launched Fast Company magazine, a fresh, dynamic entry in the business magazine category. Headquartered in Boston, MA, the magazine became the fastest growing, most successful business magazine in history. Fast Company won 2 national magazine awards—one for general excellence, one for design—and Webber was named Adweek’s Editor of the Year in 1999, along with co-founding editor William Taylor.
Click on the link below. Just do it
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Readers might also be interested in, ‘Rules of Thumb’ by Tom Parker subtitled, ’100 ways to guess – and get away with it’.
This book mercifully has nothing to do with business.
ISBN 1-85336-066-x
Thanks for the kind words, Corinne! I appreciate your take on Rules of Thumb, which, as you point out, is a business book, and isn’t a business book. It’s actually more of a book on work and on life, just as Fast Company magazine, when we started it, wasn’t a traditional business magazine, but more an attempt to write and talk about the intersection of the places where most of us spend most of our time–working and living. When I grew up, my dad had to keep those two realms separate. Today most of us try to find work that expresses who we are and what we care about, and try to live in a way that gives our whole lives more meaning and purpose. Getting the two to align is one of the great challenges of our time.
So thanks for your comments about Rules. I really appreciate your thoughts.
Alan
.-= Alan Webber´s last blog ..Chris Brogan Meets Red Auerbach =-.
Dear Alan -
As I mentioned in my article I don’t usually do reviews on books in the business field. Yours inspired me. And, by the way, you are the only author who ever bothered to answer a review.. To me , that says a lot about not only what you have written, but who you are.
And, to me, that says a lot about that your message is universal.
We cannot separate our personal growth from our universal purpose in life. It is entwined.
And to those of us who are lucky enough to have a platform – like you and as a lesser place like me – we have an obligation to realize that to those who have been given the oppportunity – also have the obligation.
I am honored to be in that space with you.