Book Summaries - You Exec

How can you use marketing to spread your ideas and make the impact you

seek? The fact is that marketing has changed—it has more reach and more

speed than ever before. And, it is no longer synonymous with advertising,

something that was done to the customer, rather than for them. This is

Marketing shows how, in today’s world, effective marketing must rely on

empathy and service. You have to understand your customers’ worldview and

desires, build tensions, and create ideas that spread. Above all, you must

target the smallest viable audience for your message and craft a story that

resonates with the listener.

The story of Theranos is the Silicon Valley equivalent of the Enron scandal

replete with bold claims, high valuations, defrauding of investors and

terrible corporate governance. Theranos promised to revolutionize

healthcare by painlessly performing hundreds of tests on a single drop of

blood. In 2015, Theranos was a unicorn valued at $9 billion. By 2018, the

company shut down and Elizabeth faced a ten-year ban from serving as an

officer of a public company. Theranos serves as a cautionary tale of what

can go wrong with a ‘fake it till you make it’ approach to building a

company.

Everyone should have a side hustle; even if you love your current job, more

income means more options. Perhaps you want to make some extra cash on the

side while working on a project that you really enjoy and boosting your

self-confidence. Perhaps you need some additional financial security in

today’s uncertain world. More and more people are developing side hustles,

projects launched with minimal time and effort that turn into steady

money-earners. This book gives you a detailed roadmap to create your own

side hustle in just 27 days—how to brainstorm and select the best idea,

gather the tools you will need, launch and sell your offering, and evaluate

its progress.

Have you ever wondered what’s behind the success of some of the world’s

most iconic brands? How they manage to resonate so deeply with consumers,

maintain market dominance, and top the “best places to work” lists? Fusion

reveals some of the magic behind these organizations by detailing the

unique ways that they marry their brand and their corporate culture. This

is “fusion” – tying your external brand and internal culture together so

tightly that they cannot be unwound. This is crucial for anyone who desires

relevance in today’s competitive landscape. Data shows that companies that

have fused their brand and culture perform better than those that have not,

enjoying better financial results, higher customer approvals, and improved

employee satisfaction.

Do you want to increase the odds of becoming a CEO? Do you want to raise

your game by learning from successful CEOs? Are you a new CEO anxious to

avoid the pitfalls of the role? This book gives a clear road map on how to

get to the top, which skills and behaviors to develop, and how to position

yourself as a future CEO. The book describes the four behaviors that are

statistically associated with success— decisiveness, engaging for impact,

relentless reliability, and adapting boldly—and how to nurture these

behaviors throughout your career. The key is to get results in the right

roles and to get noticed for those results. Don’t look at your career as a

succession of jobs, but as a portfolio of experiences that show expertise,

leadership, and specific skills. The book includes tips on the best way to

interview for the position of CEO, what to do in your first six months in

the role, and how to manage the board of directors.

How can your company take advantage of the subscription-based model, the

most dynamic growth sector of the economy? This book describes how

companies from software-as-a-service to auto manufacturers, music providers

to construction equipment manufacturers, are turning customers into

subscribers by teasing out the service-level agreement that sits behind the

product. With consumers increasingly focused on access over ownership, the

key is to start with the wants and needs of your particular customer base,

then create a service that delivers ongoing value. This will require a new

organizational structure; a shift in the focus of the sales, marketing, and

finance teams; and, a new approach from IT. But, the initial drop in

revenue and rise in expenses will be more than worth it.

Originals—the non-conformists who change the world—are not just bold

risk-takers who leap into the unknown. In fact, everyone can make an impact

and challenge the status quo—in their workplace, their communities, or the

wider world. The key is learning how to recognize and develop new ideas;

how to persuade others; and how to manage the risks. You don’t have to be

born creative to be an original; in fact, you’re more likely to be someone

who produces a lot of projects and ideas and takes the time to spot the one

worth championing. Procrastination, caution, and balancing risks actually

help to unleash originality. And once you have a great idea, there are

steps you can follow to make sure that you pitch your idea to the right

people, at the right time. You can unleash and sustain originality at home

and at work, learn the best ways to encourage originality in your children

and discover how to create a culture of originality in your company.

Are you interested in adopting a “startup mindset” in your corporate role?

By understanding the approaches that Silicon Valley’s veterans have used to

build and grow their companies, you can apply them for yourself, whatever

your position. As you learn the ways that entrepreneurs successfully

navigate topics such as finding the right investors, managing the board of

directors, and pursuing liquidity, you too can glean valuable insights. Why

is having two business plans a smart idea? How can you gain the most value

from top talent without hiring full time? What does a healthy team dynamic

look like, and how can a manager achieve it? Straight Talk for Startups

details these tactics, and we show how they can be applied to your life and

your role, whatever that may be.

Are you interested in adopting a “startup mindset” in your corporate role?

By understanding the approaches that Silicon Valley’s veterans have used to

build and grow their companies, you can apply them for yourself, whatever

your position. As you learn the ways that entrepreneurs successfully

navigate topics such as finding the right investors, managing the board of

directors, and pursuing liquidity, you too can glean valuable insights. Why

is having two business plans a smart idea? How can you gain the most value

from top talent without hiring full time? What does a healthy team dynamic

look like, and how can a manager achieve it? Straight Talk for Startups

details these tactics, and we show how they can be applied to your life and

your role, whatever that may be.

Would you like to know how the company that created one of the world’s most

addictive products and pioneered a market spiraled into holding only 1% of

its market after losing its way? This book summary provides insight into

what propelled the rapid growth and precipitous downfall of Research in

Motion, the Canadian technology company that created the BlackBerry

smartphone. Losing the Signal provides unique access to many of the key

players inside RIM. It covers the backstories of founder Mike Lazaridis and

his co-CEO Jim Balsillie, and the impact of their unique “business

marriage” and dual leadership on the company. It charts the course of RIM’s

ascent and descent, highlighting key business choices, market dynamics, and

corporate scandals that led to RIM’s organizational unraveling, strategic

confusion, and ultimate defeat in the smartphone race.