Greatest Hits

The End of Marketing As We Know It – Sergio Zyman

WHAT THE BOOK SAYS

• Marketing today is all about image, but it isn't working properly
• Marketing is a science, not an art
• Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department
• Marketers must be accountable to shareholders
• Focus on results, not activities
• Megabrands are a rotten idea

WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT

• It is full of ballsy assertions such as Traditional marketing is not dying, it's dead, and Why have marketing? To make money
• The section on How to sell the most stuff and make the most money has some helpful steps you can copy:
• How to make positioning a two-way street
• How branding creates identity
• How to stop brands becoming static
• How to compete against yourself
• How to define consumer expectations that your competitors can't meet
• All the quotes you want are in bold for easy picking:
• "When you start looking at exactly how much things cost and how much profit you are getting…you become a much better marketer"
• "Narrow how your competitor is defined to a single trait or quality whilst simultaneously broadening yours"
• "The old conventional thinking that said that if you grab people's hearts, their wallets will follow is dead, kaput, finished…people need reasons to buy"
• At the end there are the 28 principles of new marketing (see list)

WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH

• The author is the former Chief Marketing Officer of Coca-Cola, so there are a lot of Coke examples
• He has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about being disliked by creative ad agencies, which can make some of his points defensive ("Agencies can never make smart, fully informed decisions because they are never going to be fully informed")
• The 28 principles of new marketing aren't exactly new
• Implementing his approach might encourage machismo in the office

 

The Selfish Capitalist – Oliver James

WHAT THE BOOK SAYS

• This book provides more detailed substantiation for the claims made in his previous book Affluenza. It looks deeper into the origins of the virus and outlines the political, economic and social climate in which it has grown.
• Selfish capitalism started as Thatcherism and Reaganomics and eventually prevailed in most other English-speaking nations too. Interestingly, most mainland Western European nations remain unaffected.
• We have become more miserable and distressed since the seventies, thanks to successive governments pushing the cause of personal capitalism.
• Whilst there has been a massive increase in the wealth of the wealthy, there has been no rise in average wages.
• We need to recapture a sense of self-worth and personal wellbeing if we are to overcome it.
• Erich Fromm's theory of American consumerism, said the choice in the 50s was 'to have or to be', and that we have become Marketing Characters 'based on experiencing oneself as a commodity' – nothing much has changed.
• In 1993 Kasser & Ryan published 'A dark side of the American dream', which showed that those who put financial success ahead of emotional development and making the world a better place suffered more depression and anxiety.

WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT

• Humans have four basic needs:
  • To feel safe and secure
  • To feel competent
  • To feel connected to others
  • To feel autonomously and authentically engaged in work and play
• Self-doubt correlates with materialism, so selfish capitalism undermines these needs
• Everyone feels that 'enough' income is 10% more than they have, although the elite are 130 times richer than the poorest – the greatest gap ever.
• The range of goods regarded as 'essential' in a household has increased dramatically. Even when prices drop, 'better' models become imperative.
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy assumes that unpleasant emotions (stress) result from inaccurate thinking, and is now offered as a quick fix on the NHS.
• Terror Management Theory suggests that politicians can get elected by manipulating collective fear of attack, based on our innate need for security.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH

• Not much. It is a rolling narrative so you have to dig for nuggets.

 

Podcast 15, The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

This week's Greatest Hits podcast - The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.

Download The World is Flat

Sway – Brafman & Brafman

WHAT THE BOOK SAYS

• We usually think we are rational beings but the science of decision-making would suggest otherwise. Logical thought can be subverted or 'swayed' in many ways
• Irrational behaviour can be perpetrated by the most experienced and well-trained people, including pilots and doctors
• Common reasons are: overreacting to a potential loss, taking dangerous risks when a lot is at stake, refusing to withdraw even with a small loss, misjudging something because it is in the wrong context, and being prejudiced by prior information
• Our brains have two particularly different parts that are constantly struggling with each other: the 'pleasure centre' wild side that gets a kick out of taking risks, shopping, winning money etc., and the 'altruism centre' that does the best for others and always seeks reasonable compromise
• Sometimes it just doesn't seem worth the bother to dissent from the prevailing view, so many people stay quiet when the majority have got it wrong – particularly for an easier time at work

WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT

• There are scores of examples from anthropology, aviation, sports and politics to illustrate the points
• The narrative rolls along nicely – more story than text book
• The thesis is a useful complement to, and development of, many other social theory books of recent times: Freakonomics, Nudge, Herd, and The Tipping Point

WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH

• It is this very similarity to so many other books that makes it potentially derivative. Although in theory it is original material, sometimes it feels too similar. A shorthand for separating them is:
• Freakonomics: patterns of social behaviour can be rooted in linked causes
• Herd: huge numbers of people simply copy each other because they are social
• The Tipping Point: little things can make a big difference
• Nudge: providing different options or small incentives can change mass behaviour
• Sway: irrational behaviour can affect even the best-trained and the most experience people

 

 

Podcast 14, Purple Cow by Seth Godin

This week another one from Seth Godin - Purple Cow.

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Good To Great – Jim Collins

WHAT THE BOOK SAYS

• It is the sequel to the 1994 classic about the successful habits of companies.
• It uses a 5-year research study to work out how companies can migrate from being merely good to being great. By the time the author had finished, he wondered whether it should in fact have been the prequel.
• Level 5 leaders build enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.
• Of particular note are the 'dogs that didn't bark', factors that do not play a role in taking a company from good to great, including:

  ~ Larger than life celebrity leaders

  ~ High executive pay

  ~ Strategy (all companies claim to have one)

  ~ Technology (it can only accelerate change, not instigate it)

  ~ Mergers and acquisitions

  ~ Transformation programmes or themes

  ~ Sexy sectors or industries

WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT

• Although this book has taken on revered status, much of it remains helpful and relevant. You can try to apply the principles:

  ~ First who…then what. Get the right people on the bus, then decide where to drive it

  ~ Confront the brutal facts (yet never lose faith). Work out what you are good at, and do that. Work out what you are bad at, and don't do that.

  ~ The hedgehog concept. The hedgehog does one thing well (curling into a ball) whilst the fox rushes around, creating the impression of speed

  ~ Culture of discipline. When you have one, you don't need hierarchy

  ~ Technology accelerators. These are never the origin of greatness, merely enhancers of it

  ~ The flywheel and the doomloop. Moves to greatness all happen gradually – there is no miracle moment

WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH

• The evidence per company is highly detailed, so if you do not know the company (they are all American) or are not interested in it, then you have to wade through for the bits you want
• If you read The Halo Effect, you may think the whole study is rubbish

 

 

Podcast 13, Wikinomics by Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams

This week Wikinomics by Tapscott & Williams.

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Why Should Anyone Be Led By You? – Rob Goffee & Gareth Jones

WHAT THE BOOK SAYS

• Copying how other leaders behave will not necessarily make you a good leader
• Great leaders essentially act as "authentic chameleons", consistently displaying their true selves through different contexts that require them to play a variety of roles.
• Leadership is situational, non-hierarchical, and relational
• Leadership can come from within an organisation just as easily as the very top

WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT

• The question in the title is the strongest point, and you should ask it of yourself if you aspire to be a leader
• This orientation adds a dose of humility to the often macho area of leadership
• It is easy enough to follow the steps they recommend (assuming you have the desire);
  • Be yourself – more – with skill
  • Know and show yourself – enough
  • Take personal risks
  • Read – and rewrite – the context
  • Remain authentic – but conform enough
  • Manage social distance (tough love, and getting close but not too close)
  • Communicate - with care
• Followers are also discussed (you can't have leaders without them)
• Followers want authenticity, to feel significant, a sense of excitement, and to feel part of a community
• Leadership has a price as well as a prize – there are no easy answers, you can be easily undone, and when things go wrong it's your fault – so be careful what you pursue for the sake of it

WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH

• Not much. The book is well-written and based on 25 years of research

 

 

Podcast 12, Flat Earth News by Nick Davies

Podcasts are back.  This week it's Flat Earth News by Nick Davies.

Download Flat Earth News

 

 

The Tiger That Isn’t – Michael Blastland & Andrew Dilnot

WHAT THE BOOK SAYS

• Seeing a pattern of stripes in the leaves, we would run from what looks like a tiger. There are illusions in numbers too, often just as intimidating. The book reveals what the numbers really show, and exposes the tiger that isn't.
• Life comes in numbers: public spending, health risks, who is rich and poor, the best and worst schools. The trick to seeing through them is to apply the lessons of your own experience, and investigate them more thoroughly.

WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT

The book works through most of the manners in which numbers will be presented, and shows how to make sense of them, using lots of examples from everyday news stories. Specifically relevant to business are:

• Counting: counting things is very difficult, and the results often wrong
• Chance: frequently things are truly random, but we still look for patterns
• Up and down: numbers go one way or the other, regardless of what you do
• Averages: disguise huge variation and squeeze everything into a mass
• Targets: what they do not measure is as important as what they do
• Risk: all that matters is what it means to you
• Sampling: if the sample is flawed, so is the conclusion
• Data: they are often plain wrong, so be careful drawing conclusions
• Shock figures: are more likely wrong or misinterpreted than shocking
• Comparison: mind the gap – they might not be comparable
• Correlation: is not the same as causation – there may be no link

Everyone should read this book as a sanity check on the numbers we have thrown at us or bandy around ourselves – particularly politicians and journalists.

 

WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH

• Not much. We all have to deal with numbers, but if you don't understand them then don't misrepresent them.