Saturday, July 13, 2013
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Book review of “The ABC's of Building a Business Team That Wins” for Entrepreneurs' Connection
Essentially the code of honor is a set of rules that the team creates and lives by in order to maintain a high level of accountability and performance. The idea makes sense as teams and people and general need rules by which to live by. Author Blair Singer does a good job of organizing the information and presenting it in an easy to read fashion.
He goes on to say that the team's mission should
always come first, then the team members as a group, and then the individual.
He discusses a wide range of organizational processes in this context, such as
setting goals, selecting team members, developing people, overcoming obstacles,
and using pressure to achieve results.
I found this
book can be applied for more than just business; you can also use this for any
type of a group that can be considered as a team or even apply it in your
family’s daily life
Don’t
miss out Go buy this book and use it to become the leader you are meant to be. Click here and pick up a
copy.
Robert Biro
513-238-0744
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Book review of “5 Levels of Leadership” for Entrepreneurs' Connection
There are many leadership books out there. But
none of them can compare to this book.
As a matter of fact, John Maxwell’s The 5 Levels of Leadership made it onto the Wall Street Journal hardcover
business bestseller list. John Maxwell is an international recognized
leadership expert, speaker, and author. He has written more than sixty books.
Collectively, they have sold more than 20 million copies and been translated
into more than fifty languages. In addition, John routinely speaks to Fortune
500 companies, government leaders, and churches.
This book embodies the core of teaching that Maxwell has been speaking about since I found out about him. It lays out his entire leadership model. If you are new to his work, I would start with this book. In many ways, it is a roadmap to the others.
John starts with the idea that many people confuse having a leadership position with actually being a leader. He makes it clear that this only the entry point to leadership. It is level 1.
The five levels of leadership are:
1. Position—People follow because they have to.
2. Permission—People follow because they want to.
3. Production—People follow because of what you have done for the organization.
4. People Development—People follow because of what you have done for them personally.
5. Pinnacle—People follow because of who you are and what you represent.
John describes each of the five levels in detail and has an abundance of real-world examples. He articulates the behaviors that best characterize them. What I thought was great was the fact that he also goes over the downsides that can sometimes keep leaders from going to the next level. For you at the Entrepreneurs Connections group, you might like the part where he explains how to get from whatever level you are now to the next one.
The book is an extremely fast read. You will want to go over it many times because it’s particularly content-rich, the chapters are short and it makes ample use of subheads, bullets, and lists. This book would make a great study for any group wanting to take their leadership to the next level. I heartily recommend it.
Don’t miss out Go buy this book and use it to become the leader you are meant to be. Click here and pick up a copy.
Robert Biro
Buy this book new
for $16.49 or used
for $13.92 or Kindle E-book
for $12.99
 |
| Buy this book now at amazon! just click here. |
This book embodies the core of teaching that Maxwell has been speaking about since I found out about him. It lays out his entire leadership model. If you are new to his work, I would start with this book. In many ways, it is a roadmap to the others.
John starts with the idea that many people confuse having a leadership position with actually being a leader. He makes it clear that this only the entry point to leadership. It is level 1.
The five levels of leadership are:
1. Position—People follow because they have to.
2. Permission—People follow because they want to.
3. Production—People follow because of what you have done for the organization.
4. People Development—People follow because of what you have done for them personally.
5. Pinnacle—People follow because of who you are and what you represent.
John describes each of the five levels in detail and has an abundance of real-world examples. He articulates the behaviors that best characterize them. What I thought was great was the fact that he also goes over the downsides that can sometimes keep leaders from going to the next level. For you at the Entrepreneurs Connections group, you might like the part where he explains how to get from whatever level you are now to the next one.
The book is an extremely fast read. You will want to go over it many times because it’s particularly content-rich, the chapters are short and it makes ample use of subheads, bullets, and lists. This book would make a great study for any group wanting to take their leadership to the next level. I heartily recommend it.
Don’t miss out Go buy this book and use it to become the leader you are meant to be. Click here and pick up a copy.
Robert Biro
Buy this book new
for $16.49 or used
for $13.92 or Kindle E-book
for $12.99
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Book review of “All Marketers Are Lairs” for Entrepreneurs' Connection
All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of TellingAuthentic Stories in a Low Trust World
. With that provocative title and opening salvo,
well known author, marketing expert, and business blogger Seth Godin takes the
reader on another landmark journey into the marketing field.
After reading All Marketers Are Liars, your
approach to marketing, advertising,
In this book, Seth Godin discusses the practice of
telling compelling, attention grabbing stories about a product and gives
examples of products that use this approach and shows that this practice is a
compelling ways to market a product. The story that is told is the
"lie" that he references in his title most.
The author points out that great marketing stories
succeed because of the following attributes:
1.
A great story is
true.
A great story is not based on facts. Its truth lies in a consistent and
authentic message.
2.
Great stories make
a promise.
Great stories promise something to the consumer that is bold and worth
listening to. BMW calls their offering "The Ultimate Driving
Machine." As someone who loves to drive, when I hear this promise, it
makes me feel like going out and driving a BMW.
3.
Great stories are
trusted.
In the Amazon Kindle story, the story teller is Jeff Bezos, who founded
Amazon.com in the 1990's with the story of a better way to purchase books.
4.
Great stories are
subtle.
People like to draw their own conclusions. Consumers will come up with the
story themselves. When we see a television ad for the Apple Ipad, does Apple
come out and tell us what the story is? No. Instead they show people using the
Ipad in cool and different ways, with various applications, and let us draw our
own conclusion.
5.
Great stories
happen fast.
A good story engages people quickly. It gets to the point. One of Kawasaki's
commercials for quads and off-road motorcycles immediately shows users ripping
through the woods on a Kawasaki Quad, and then switches to a rider tearing
through the desert terrain on a Kawasaki dirt bike.
6.
Great stories don't
appeal to logic, but they often appeal to our senses. Does Axe body
spray really attract hundreds of woman to you all at once, as the commercial
portrays? Of course not! But does the prospect of attracting a lot of women by
using Axe body spray appeal to eligible men? Of course it does.
7.
Great stories are
rarely aimed at everyone. Watering down a story to appeal to everyone, will
appeal to no one. The Axe body spray story isn't intended to appeal to a
fifty-five year old woman with four children. Rather, the story is intended for
a younger, specific male demographic.
8.
Great stories agree
with our worldview.
The best stories are aimed at listeners with a specific worldview, who will
feel better and more secure after hearing the story because it already agrees
with what they believed in the first place.
Telling stories about a product is a fairly common
and accepted practice in most marketing department nowadays. If the idea that
telling stories is new to you, than you might find this book an interesting
read because throughout the book Godin gives examples of well-known brands and
their stories.
Don’t
miss out Go buy this book and use it to create your great story!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Canon Powershot SX10IS 10MP Digital Camera
i've had 4 video cameras in the last 10 years.. i like this one because it does well in any light, and the audio is impressive. it also has focus-while-zoom which a lot of lower end video cameras do not have. there is a newer hd model available. negative is no interchangeable lenses. here's a sample from earth day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PWTtvnh39A
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Book review of “Thinkertoys” for Entrepreneurs' Connection
The author, Michael Michalko, prefaces the book by stating that Thinktoys is for “monkeys,” not “kittens.” He defines “kittens” as people who ask for help, but are not willing to make the effort necessary to make changes. “Monkeys,” on the other hand, take the initiative and face challenges head-on. Michalko states that the activities contained within the book must be used, not merely read, for them to make a difference in the reader’s way of looking at problems.
I found this book enlightening. I was surprised over and over by the simple exercises that I couldn’t figure out until reading the explanation. I didn’t even make it into the first chapter before realizing my shortcomings. For example, in the introduction, there is a picture of the word “FLOP.” However, if you look closely, the center of the “O” contains an “I,” so the complete message is “FLIP FLOP.” I’m embarrassed to say that I would never have picked up on that on my own. It gave me an immediate desire to read more and work on my creative skills.
Thinkertoys is the best single collection of quick creative thinking exercises that I’ve found in a single book, ever. It’s not a be-all end-all compendium of these exercises, but many very good ones are in the book, including a few great ones that I knew before reading it and several more that I added to my repertoire after reading it.
Don’t miss out Go buy this book and use it to gain the creative edge. Click here and pick up a copy.
Robert Biro
513-238-0744
rbiro@wbhomebuyers.com
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Book review of “The E-Myth Revisited” for Entrepreneurs' Connection
Book review of “The E-Myth Revisited” for Entrepreneurs' Connection
The solution, Gerber suggests looking
at franchises as a model. In comparison to the dismal rate of ordinary
small-business start-ups, 75% of franchises succeed at 5 years. The reason they
succeed is that they are set up so that any unskilled person off the street
could walk in, buy a franchise, run all operations in the franchise, and have a
fairly good chance of success. The product of franchise companies is a business
model, not food, hotel rooms, etc. In order to meet this level of success,
franchise companies have clear operations manuals, procedures, consistent sales
approaches- -every detail of running the business is specified down to dress
codes and wall paper.
By asking us to consider the franchise
approach, Gerber is not saying to go out and buy a franchise license. Instead,
he says to imagine that you want to sell your business as a successful
franchise within a finite period of time. If so, what will you need to do
regarding your business plan and management in order to meet this goal? That
is, if you were going to make your business fool-proof so that any unskilled
person could take over as owner after a few years and succeed with it, what
will you need to do?
Overall, I found the ideas in this
book extremely insightful and incredibly useful. He can be a bit wordy and
choppy at times. If you're a small business owner whose business is out of
control, stagnant, or worse, this book can be a light in the dark.
Don’t
miss out Go buy this book and use it to build your business. Click
here and pick up a copy.
Robert Biro
513-238-0744
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