To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others

http://www.amazon.com/Sell-Human-Surprising-Moving-Others-ebook/dp/B0087GJ8KM/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=&tag=dedasys-20

Everyone is in sales.  Well, maybe not 'sales' sales, but pretty much all of us are involved in trying to convince other people to do things, if not actually buy products.

The book starts with this thesis, which makes intuitive sense.  The author then spends quite a few pages trying to sell us on... err... convince us that it's a fair assessment of the world.   We need to be on board with the idea that selling is important for the rest of the book to be worthwhile, but I pretty much knew that I was getting a book about sales from the get go, so I didn't really need much convincing.

In any event, from there the book picks up, and I found it to be an enjoyable read.  I like the fact that he cites a lot of other books and explains their relevance.

One of the critical points of the book is that a lot of power has moved from sellers to buyers - in the past, there was often "information asymmetry", meaning that one party (almost always the seller) knew a lot more about what was being sold than the buyer.  This is a case where knowledge is power, and buyers came off the worse for it, but sellers also gained a reputation for being somewhat sleazy.

These days, thanks mostly to the internet, if you're buying something, you can almost always do a lot of research and know as much as the seller, putting the two parties on a more even footing.

Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity are the keywords of the second part of the book, and are contrasted with the "Always Be Closing" mentality associated with sales in the past.

• Attunement means the ability to be 'in tune' with the people you are trying to convince.   If you're receptive to their wants and needs, you'll be better placed to help them see your own point of view.  This isn't really a "touchy feely" skill, but the ability to think about what motivates the other person in a logical and rational way.  It also turns out that being very extroverted may not really be an advantage in terms of producing results, according to studies cited in the book.
• Buoyancy means the ability to bounce back from setbacks.  If you're out there trying, you'll inevitably hear a lot of "no"s.  One cited technique is to practice questioning self-talk.  Rather than, "I'm the best, I can do it!", ask yourself "can I do it?".  It seems to produce better results, perhaps by stimulating thought about how you are going to accomplish what you set out to do.

"The more you explain bad events as temporary, specific and external, the more likely you are to persist even in the face of adversity."

• Clarity is defined as "the capacity to help others see their situations in fresh and more revealing ways and to identify problems they didn't realize they had".  On other words, to clearly communicate how you can help them.

The third part of the book focuses on "what to do", and covers the pitch, improvisation, and how to really serve your customers (or those you're trying to influence): genuinely improving others lives.

The pitch section defines a few ideas for pitches, including one that struck me as less than convincing, the 'one word pitch'.  The idea being that you can simplify your pitch down to one word.  He conflates it with branding where some companies basically own a word in customers minds, like search (Google).  But that's going to be pretty much impossible for all but the largest of behemoth companies.

Improvisation is necessary in a world where scripted sales don't really work very well any more - you need to be able to listen to those you are trying to convince, rather than simply rattling off a list of points in your favor.

In any event, to draw things to a close, it's a pretty good book that also comes with some exercises to try out in order to help you think about what he's trying to impart.

Thanks to fellow MicroConf attendee Stephen Kellett for the recommendation.

Worthless, Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B6U63ZY/?tag=dedasys-20

"Contrarian" would be a good one-word summary of this book, and one of its strong points.

Rather than joining in the "everyone is an entrepreneur!" hype, the author rightly points out that no: it's difficult, and it's not for everyone, and to really be called an entrepreneur, you probably ought to be able to point to significant value creation.

As the author points out, it's not really about innovation per se: there are plenty of innovators who don't manage to create businesses from it, nor capture much value.  And there are plenty of good businesses that don't really innovate a great deal - one of those profiled in the book is a group that created an American style Cinema chain in Mexico.  They basically changed nothing about the format besides, of course, the location, and adding some spicy popocorn.

The central thesis of the book is that most people who really do create something new and big are often viewed a bit askance at some point along the way.  As per the title, the new business is seen as either worthless, impossible, or plain stupid.

And - many new businesses really are - but the trick is the ability to be an independent thinker, and to persevere in the face of difficulty.

The book doesn't have a lot of actual advice, but I liked it.  The tone is, in some cases even a tad "grumpy", which I found a refreshing change from some of the "rah rah!" material out there, and the author takes some shots at various ideas like "intrapreneurs" (as heavily promoted in The Lean Startup): those people are often not really going out on a limb, and neither are they really going to get the huge rewards a "real" startup will.  I appreciated the honesty, and also reading someone with a unique point of view: being a programmer, I fall into the orbit of Silicon Valley for some things, and that place can be a big echo chamber in many ways.

I also appreciate some of the policy recommendations: stop trying to pick winners, just make doing business easier for everyone, and what will be, will be.  Politicians hate to hear that, because they want to be the protagonists, or at least supporting actors.  But the reality is that the economy is too complex, and trying to determine which sector to favor is a losing bet.

Pathfinder: John Charles Frémont and the Course of American Empire

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UCUX5A/?tag=dedasys-20

The rise and fall of John Fremont is a fascinating, epic, and very American story.

Born out of wedlock in the early years of the United States (Madison was president), he achieved fame as an explorer of the west, grew wealthy thanks to the discovery of gold on his land in California, was the first Republican presidential candidate, and subsequently went on to lose most of the money he had acquired.  He was far from a perfect person, but what a life he lead, in very interesting times!


While his mother was part of "high society", the circumstances of his birth were considered "scandalous" and he does not seem to have grown up wealthy, although he did manage to go to college (without finishing it) and educate himself.

His explorations of the west were what really made his name, though, and make for fascinating reading

• On his first expedition, he went as far as the continental divide in Wyoming, and climbed a high peak - it's uncertain exactly which one - which is an achievement in and of itself, considering the rudimentary gear available at the time.  Interestingly enough, one of the things they hauled out west was an early version of a rubber raft, that they used to float down a river heading east.  Unfortunately, it turns out that the river was a rather wild one, and between one set of rapids and the next, they lost the boat and were lucky to get away with their lives.  To me, the mental image of "old west guys" doing river rafting is a funny one.
• Fremont's second expedition led him to Oregon, where, at The Dalles, in December, he headed south.  To anyone who knows anything about winter weather in Oregon, this doesn't sound like a pleasant idea even now.  Then, it must have been quite an ordeal.  A number of geographical features in eastern Oregon that he visited still bear the names he gave them.  Eventually, after gradually making his way south, his party decided to cross the Sierra Nevada in the heart of winter.  Apparently, despite their already very lengthly expedition, they had the men and means to do it.  They arrived in Sutter's Fort (near modern day Sacramento) bedraggled, but alive.  After all the cold, snow and mountains, spring time in California's central valley must have seemed like heaven.
• A third expedition found him once again in California, in the midst of a quickly shifting political situation in which American settlers sought to seize the territory with the idea of joining the United States.  There seems to be some confusion and controversy over his role in subsequent events, which the book covers extensively.  In any event, Fremont was in the thick of things during very interesting times, going on to be - briefly - one of the military governors of California, and later, very briefly, one of the first Senators from the new state.

Skipping ahead, he was the first Republican candidate for president, with the slogan "Free speech, free press, free soil, free men, Frémont and victory!" - meaning that the Republicans were against the spread of slavery into new states, and against the institution in general.  As an aside, it's interesting to note that over the years the Republican party has done... if not quite a 180 degree turn, because they're not in favor of bringing back slavery... a 180 degree turn in terms of their demographics: it is now very much a "southern-fried conservative" party, to quote The Economist, rather than a party with its base in the north as can be seen in the 1856 election results:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1856

He lost the election, which probably marked the high water mark of his career in some ways.  The election of Abraham Lincoln followed, then the civil war, in which Fremont had a brief and not particularly successful career as a general.

His later years were spent trying, and mostly failing, to accumulate wealth, and, if accounts are correct, carrying on various affairs.  Indeed, he died relatively poor and unknown.

All in all, a story that ranges from the early years of the republic to the death of Fremont's wife Jessie Benton in 1902, and provides a very personal viewpoint on the rapidly expanding country where Fremont lived and died.

Pronto

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC13FY/?tag=dedasys-20

Raylan Givens - who goes on to be the subject of the hit TV series Justified - is introduced in this book by Elmore Leonard.  I don't watch much TV, but I do enjoy that show, so I was curious to read Leonard's book featuring the character.  I've read several of his westerns and enjoyed them, so I figured it was likely to be a good read in any case, and the book doesn't disappoint.

Apparently, Leonard gave the show's writers free reign to pick over this, and other books for "spare parts" to use in the show, and for viewers, some of them jump out.  I won't give them away here, but if you've seen the show, you'll recognize some scenes from the book, although some of them are out of context.

As an added bonus, a lot of the action in the book takes place in Italy, and the author gets things more or less right from that point of view.

The plot is nothing to write home about - it's cops and bad guys - but the characters are entertaining, and there are some good bits of action.

The book is a little bit dated - it was published in the early 90ies and feels kind of "late 80ies" to me, but it's a fun read in any event.  Recommended as vacation reading material.

Sam Walton: Made In America

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008ZPG704/?tag=dedasys-20

I'm not a big Walmart fan, though nor am I one of their more strident detractors.  It's just not my kind of place.

Sam Walton, however, tells a good story about the birth and growth of his company.  Immersed as I am in the tech world, where the most famous founding myths revolve around Microsoft and Apple, it was interesting to read about a business that is very different in nature, as well as founded in another era, and a place that is very different from the Silicon Valley of today.

Like many people in his position, it seems pretty clear that the accumulation of wealth was not a key factor in his approach to business or life, but a side effect of being extremely competitive and driven.  In some ways like Warren Buffet, Sam Walton comes across as someone who didn't really do all that much with his money, although he does seem more attached to it than Buffet.  Perhaps Sam Walton would have done so had he lived longer.

People criticize Walmart for a couple of things: "killing" small towns, and not treating their employees very well.

The former is an argument that I'm less sympathetic to in that change is a constant in the US.  There are plenty of places that rose and fell due to changes such as mining, railroads, or freeways.  While I can certainly understand the nostalgia for what once was, people and their habits change.  As Walton points out, suburban America was headed for malls and shopping centers before Walmart, and it it hadn't been Walmart, it would have been someone else putting in big stores with huge parking lots.  He also points out that while small town retailers can't compete with Walmart on price (not much of anyone besides Amazon can), they can certainly offer better service, being local and very directly connected to their customers.  So, if they're good, they'll find a niche where they can compete.  That makes sense to me: my favorite bike shops (Pauls' in Eugene: http://bicycleway.com/ and Cicli Morello in Padova: http://www.cicli-morello.com/ ) are both small, local operations with knowledgeable people working at them.  I don't care if the stuff they carry costs a bit more than some chain, because the service and quality of their operations more than makes up for it.  Some business are probably purely cost driven, and there, Walmart is likely to win, but for many others, service, local knowledge, and higher quality are things that can be used to effectively compete.

In terms of how they treat their people, Sam Walton writes that he realized they needed to take better care of them in order to provide better service, but I'm not as convinced about this point - there seems to be an awful lot of noise about how they aren't treated or paid that well.  Naturally, they're a huge company, so there's bound to be some saying that whatever the facts are, but my impression is that Walmart's overarching mission to have the lowest prices possible, wins out when push comes to shove.

That mission shines through in the book as being the #1 goal of the store; what really drives them.  They walk the walk, too - they don't spend on offices, they don't spend any more than they have to on flights, or hotels, or much of anything else where they can save money by packing in more people, going second class, or whatever else does the trick.

In the end though, while I still remain ambivalent about Walmart - I support their right to do business, but wouldn't necessarily shop there - it's an interesting story, and given the size and weight of the company, interesting to know about its origins.

Poor Man's Fight

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B3WZ4VY/?tag=dedasys-20

Space pirates vs a recruit in the space navy: fun space opera - if that's not your thing, this book is not for you!

But I love that kind of thing for a light, relaxing read, and thought this one was pretty good.  It's less science fiction than "pirates in space" in some ways, as it does not rely much on technology or science as part of the plot in a way that some "harder" sci fi does: the whole thing could pretty easily be rewritten as an "age of sail" (Horatio Hornblower) book and not come across too much the worse for wear.  But that's not what we're here for and the book does deliver plasma guns and space suits and faster than light jumps and that kind of fun stuff, so I'm happy.

The grand finale is a bit on the unbelievable side... but it's a space opera, so it gets a pass from me.

The ending sets things up for another book, which I'll be sure to get when it's out.

Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007Q6XLF2/?tag=dedasys-20

Dread?  No.  But I've never studied statistics in a formal way, and thought "can't hurt" when I saw the book reviewed in The Economist.

Despite never having studied statistics formally, I found the book starting off a bit slowly.  For instance, the difference between mean and median - three guys in a bar have a mean income of 50,000 a year, Bill Gates walks in, and that number jumps way up, whereas the median doesn't - standard deviation, and so on.  Not complicated concepts.  The writing is clear, pleasant, and efficient though, so I breezed through it pretty quickly.

The rest of the book delves into progressively more complex bits of statistics, but always ensures that the examples are comprehensible with examples that are easy to work out in your head.

The book feels a bit weak in terms of either telling people to "not try this at home" or to "go for it!", as they seem to do neither.  I don't feel the book alone is really enough to let people attempt more complicated statistics on their own, but does a very good job giving you an idea what those terms mean, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.  If you don't have much of a background in stats or math, and are curious, I'd recommend the book.