Become a better manager in 5 weeks (and it's free for now)

This week, I downloaded Rosa Say's free ebook "Become an Alaka‘i Manager in 5 Weeks" and transferred it to my Kindle (it's also available in a bunch of other formats - one will definitely be right for you).
Today, I spent all day at a volleyball tournament which gave me a lot of down time to read it between matches. The bottom line: I really liked the book.

So - what does the title mean, and who's the book for? The ebook defines that:

"Alaka‘i is the Hawaiian value of leadership, and thus we refer to those who learn and practice the Managing with Aloha philosophy as Alaka‘i Managers. You have the potential to be an Alaka‘i Manager if you feel you have the calling to be a manager or leader, and you are ready to answer that calling."

As I mentioned recently, I'm in a new role at work and one of the things I want to ensure is that I not only manage effectively, but I also become a better leader - that desire drew me into this book. I'm also very familiar with Rosa Say & her work (she's a friend of mine) and love the fact that her recommendations are rooted in values and principles, which means they can adapt to any situation.

I like the 5 things the book describes as the "Alaka'i Toolbox," as well:

• Don't Add. Replace.
• Be a Finisher; Finish Well.
• Finish Conversations with Mutual Agreements.
• Lessen Task Work. Focus on Partnerships.
• Choose Positive Expectancy.

I don't really understand the nuances of these (especially that last one), but some of the others are things I recognize I need (and want) to improve in my leadership style.

I read this book on the Kindle, but I will order the hard copy (when It's available) anyway. Some of the worksheets are pretty tough to replicate without a hard copy (and they are worth doing).

And I'm going to be a better manager in about 5 weeks. Get the book, and you can too!

Note: The reason I say "...free for now" in the title is that Rosa says SmashWords, the company distributing the ebook, may start charging - so I suggest you get your copy now.

Update: Rosa assures me the ebook will stay free, so don't worry. (But what are you waiting for?)

Books, leadership, management

The Backchannel – a video book review

I’ve been procrastinating long enough.  I’ve been deliberating about whether to start using video on this blog and decided to go ahead and give it a shot.  I’m starting off with a review of Cliff Atkinson’s latest book, “The Backchannel:  How Audiences Are Using Twitter and Social Media And Changing Presentations Forever,” so please let me know what you think.

Here are the links I mentioned in the video:

• Order “The Backchannel”
• Order “Beyond Bullet Points”
• Read my review of “Beyond Bullet Points”

Also, please leave a comment and let me know what you think of this format for book reviews and blog entries.

(By the way – thanks to Matt Hixson for the nudge in finally doing this)

Falling In Love With Your Life

I recently read a book by Alicia Castillo Holley, called “Falling In Love With Your Life.”  Actually, I intended to review this last month but I couldn’t find it.  It seems my teenage daughter saw it and took possession of it for a while without telling me.  That’s never happened before with any of my nonfiction books – and that, in itself, intrigued me.

When I initially read the title, I was interested but a little hesitant – is this a business book, or a relationship book? After digging in, I have to say it is really both of those things in one.

This book is an interactive book designed to help you analyze the assumptions and hypotheses that drive how you interact with the world.  As the author says, “You create your own life, the belief system, and the life you live.” 

Through this book, you’ll discover techniques to help you:

• Recognize and reframe your hypotheses
• Create new perspective
• Understand why you might beat yourself up about things in your life.

Thoughts on the exercises

The exercises in this book are challenging ones – make sure you approach them when you have plenty of time and energy, and the right mindset.  Many of them require deep reflection and candor (with yourself) to get the most out of them.

For example, the exercise where you name your existing hypothesis about life and write a new one was hard for me the first time I tried to do it – I was tired and crabby and I got fed up and quit. 

I came back to the same exercise another day when I was fresh and in a good mood and it was much easier.

I also found that it was helpful to write my responses to the exercises out on a yellow legal pad – I felt constrained by the amount of space in the book for some exercises, and I also found the yellow legal pad more forgiving when I wanted to have a “redo” on some of the exercises.

Be open to the process

Another aspect of the exercises was that some of them felt a bit “not meant for me” – but I did them anyway.  I found that even the ones that didn’t feel natural to me added value to some of the other exercises I did later.  It would have been easy to just jump over a couple of them (in fact I did, then went back and did them anyway).  I urge you to resist that temptation.

I now have a lot of things to think about and a new set of hypotheses to help me change how I see and interact with the world.  I don’t yet know the impact of this shift but I already feel less guilty about some of the things that have been bothering me.

If you are irritated or unhappy with things in your life, or you just want to feel more in control of your destiny I recommend you check out a copy of “Falling In Love With Your Life,” and spend some quality time working on the exercises.

Now, I’m giving my copy back to my daughter.  I think she’ll like it.

The Market Has Changed. Have You?

If you're involved in selling anything in today's economy, you know that priorities, business drivers, and competition are very different than they were a year or two ago.  So, what's a sales professional to do?

Author Paul D'Souza knows where you're coming from.  As an experienced sales guy he has done a lot of the analysis for you and his book, "The Market Has Changed - Have You?" is just what you might need to develop your own strategy to adapt to the new market dynamics.

Paul's book takes you through 25 steps exemplifying what he refers to as the "Wha-Do" sales philosophy (apparently, "Wha-Do" means "The Way of Harmony" in Japanese).  This philosophy is all about creating leverage through people (relationships) and applying repeatable principles and business practices.

(Paul has more on the Wha-Do philosophy on his site)

A solid foundation

A lot of the concepts Paul brings to bear are rooted in things you've heard before - setting goals, understanding your motivation, setting out a plan, developing discipline in how you execute, etc.  But a couple of aspects are different in this book.

First, Paul comes at this from the perspective of a sales person.  If you're involved in selling, you know that you hear "no" more often than you hear a "yes" so it's vital that you have clarity of purpose and a compelling reason to keep driving until you get another "yes."  The methods Paul exposes in this book will "snap in" to your selling workflow pretty easily without feeling unnatural or fluffy.

Second, this is as much a workbook as it is a reading book.  The book is filled with worksheets, cues, and examples to enable you to go from a cerebral understanding of the material well into the next step of documenting and personalizing the content.  In other words, if you really follow the process and use the worksheets provided in the book, you'll have your own plan - not just a bunch of new ideas.

It's about what you bring to the table

I think Paul's methods work because they tap into your inner strengths and motivations, but they are also anchored in creating clear and compelling value for your customers.  By design, this will drive you to better understand your customers and why they buy so you can increase the odds that your approach and message will resonate with them.

They also help bring you beyond your "one against the world" view and tap into your colleagues, your mentors, and even your customers themselves to increase your success.

This is a compelling read and well worth your time if you're a sales or marketing professional looking for an advantage. 

But this book is not just for hardcore sales people.  It will also help anyone who relies on relationships in their job, such as doctors, dentists, personal trainers, retailers, investment bankers, business development, alliances people, and more.

Check it out, and start adapting to the new reality of the market.

Kindle goes horizontal

I just finished installing Amazon's latest update on my Kindle 2.  This update adds a number of enhancements:

Support for landscape-mode reading.

• This capability was already included on the larger Kindle DX, and now works on Kindle 2 devices.  There is no sensor in the device, so you change the orientation of the screen manually from a new option in the text menu (at right).

Native support for PDF files. 

• You can get them on your device in 2 ways:
• Email them to a special address that sends them to the Kindle for 15 cents per megabyte.
• Connect the Kindle to your computer via the USB cable and drag your PDF files over to the Kindle - this is free.

Longer battery life on the global wireless version.

• This will allow you to read for up to a week - even with the wireless on.  Apparently, this doesn't improve wireless battery life on the US-only version since the US version uses a different wireless technology.

The option to convert your PDF's to the Kindle format

• Converting your documents to the native Kindle format can sometimes make them more readable as this will allow them to be reformatted based on your selected font size (this requires you to use the email-based conversion process, which costs 15 cents per megabyte).

How do you get the Kindle update?

You'll receive the update automatically over wireless in the next few weeks. If, like me, you are impatient, Amazon has provided instructions for updating your Kindle to the new firmware manually.  It's a piece of cake - I installed mine in less than 10 minutes and it worked flawlessly.

If you're thinking about a Kindle, let me just tell you this:  I have had mine since the Kindle 2 was released early this year and I haven't gotten tired of it yet.  In fact, I'm growing even fonder of my Kindle since I can carry so many books with me with so little effort (and yes, I've used the iPhone Kindle app - it doesn't hold a candle to the Kindle).

Whether you want to pick one up for yourself or as a gift, I recommend you become a Kindle owner and pick one up, especially since they lowered the price recently.  If you're still on the fence, you can read my initial review of the Kindle 2 for more data.