Book Summaries - You Exec

Innovation is more than creativity; it is a process that is structured,

with rules and best practices. This summary gives you some of the key

takeaways from experts who take the mystery out of creating new products

and services. Here are just a few of the key points you will learn:

* Innovative ideas are not just something new, they provide value and

solve problems.

* It takes "buy-in" from an organization to support innovation.

* Understanding customer's needs are critical to design new products.

* Change requires analysis and testing just like any other experimental

effort.

* Minimizing risks is possible with the right approach.

This book teaches face-to-face communication skills to quickly bond people

together. It explains how to make a good first impression, start a

conversation with almost anyone, establish instant rapport, and build

better business and personal connections.

All personal interactions and business relationships are based on rapport.

The key to establishing quick rapport is to synchronize conversational

behaviors. This is accomplished by mimicking a conversation partner's

facial expressions and other body languages, as well as voice tone. The

author teaches these steps for effective communication –

* Know the wants, needs, and goals

* Find out what is being delivered

* Change and improve practices to achieve the desired results

Take the mystery out of entrepreneurship and innovation with this book. The

author provides a series of case studies to demonstrate that the best

innovations are those that emanate from understanding the root cause of the

changes that naturally occur around us. With case studies from McDonald's

to Macy's, Peter Drucker drives home the point that adapting to our

environment is one of the best ways to innovate.

Do you ever feel that you have unfulfilled potential just waiting to be

unleashed? The mastery of your existing skills and abilities can propel you

towards success in your field if you’re able to harness your potential.

Everyone has the ability to reach proficiency in his or her field; the

difficulty is finding the motivation, time, and commitment to the cause. A

permanent commitment to personal growth is essential to sustainable

professional development. Such is exemplified through the behavior of

Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, and Leonardo Da Vinci.

In The Other Side of Innovation, you will learn how to execute an

innovation initiative within your organization. You will learn the

importance of building a dedicated team and how current operations can

limit progress. An understanding of how to test ideas and use the results

to improve will help you get the most out of your efforts. You will learn

detailed steps to take an idea and see it through the challenges of getting

it into the marketplace. Most articles and books on innovation focus on the

"creative" aspects of coming up with new ideas. Much of the focus over the

past few years has been on the supply side, with little attention paid to

the execution team. However, no innovative effort is complete until a

product goes to market. Turning a new idea into a new offering requires the

ability to execute.

“Pre-suasion” focuses on the best way to direct the attention of the

consumer towards a company. The author has created a model that can be

adopted by smart and savvy business executives, no matter what industry

they come from. Pre-suasion focuses on when to influence people, which, the

author believes, is before people notice they are being influenced. Capture

their attention in a casual manner, and then slowly direct their response

to the goal of the campaign. Cialdini's insight in Pre-suasion is that

simply asking a question in the right way can put customers in the right

frame of mind to buy your product, even before they have realized they need

the said product.

In this book, sales expert Grant Cardone starts from the premise that

everything in life is a sale. Understanding the principles of selling is

therefore vital for success in life, whether at work or in personal

relationships. Cardone asserts that the primary reason that businesses fail

is an inability to sell enough, whether that means selling ideas, products,

or services. Combining the theory of a motivational book with the practical

steps found in a how-to manual, the book lays out the steps needed to

master the art of selling. This includes recognizing that selling is a way

of life; that a successful sale is almost never about price; and that the

customer is always right. The overarching theme throughout the book is that

it is essential to take responsibility for the sale and for your own

success in life. Ultimately, it is the job of the salesperson to identify

the customer’s needs and to determine how best to fulfill that need.

This book was originally written in 1937 and is a classic work on how to

lead a successful life. It was written at the commission of Andrew Carnegie

and is based on interviews with men such as Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan, and

John D. Rockefeller, the business titans of the early 20th century. Some of

the ideas are out-of-date for modern readers, particularly the author’s

view on the role of women and the mystical language used in certain

concepts. Nevertheless, this is an all-time best-seller that lays out the

steps needed to unleash one’s potential, focusing on building individual

self-confidence and a clear set of goals. Each chapter addresses one of the

author’s principles to leading a meaningful and productive life: desire,

faith, autosuggestion, specialized knowledge, imagination, organized

planning, decision, persistence, the mastermind, sex transmutation, the

subconscious, the brain, and the six sense. The author states that by

focusing on a passionate desire, having faith in oneself, training the

subconscious to believe in success, and developing a detailed plan, anyone

can grow rich.

We never stop learning, and that is a good thing. Each day brings a new set

of learning experiences, some of which are good and others that are

downright bad. But learning is the process of watching, listening, seeing

and understanding so one can achieve greater successes and fewer failures.

In The Halo Effect: . . . and the Eight Other Business Delusions That

Deceive Managers, the author has written a book about business and

management, success and failure, science and storytelling. It’s written to

help managers think for themselves, rather than listen to the parade of

management experts and consultants and celebrity CEOs, each claiming to

have the next new thing. Think of it as a guide for the reflective manager,

a way to separate the nuggets from the nonsense. Of course, for those who

want a quick-guide that promises to reveal the secret of success, or the

formula to dominate their market, or the six steps to greatness… this book

is not it.

This book explains how people tend to think that the world revolves around

them. The "it's all about me" approach comes from the ego, and this

thinking distorts failures and successes because the ego is so subjective.

When efforts fail, the ego blames everyone else and stresses out. When

efforts are successful, the ego pats itself on the back, ignoring the

contributions of others and blowing the win out of proportion. The ego is

the enemy because it creates such a distorted view of results. By

understanding how the ego gets in the way and learning how to reign it in,

it's possible to create a more balanced view of efforts and results.