Churchill on Leadership
Winston Churchill gave this world the "V" sign for victory. Prime Minister of United Kingdom during the World War II, Churchill was a self made man who made the history the way we read and repeat today. This book tries to point out leadership traits from this great political leader, as applicable to the business world. Although fighting a world war and competing in the business world are very different, both require brilliant leadership for success."
Churchill's leadership style was essentially about taking responsibility, facing bad news squarely, staying open to changing your mind in presence of new information and keeping fully informed. “Responsibility must be combined with authority” and “decisiveness depends on the person at the top” are two of his philosophies.
Though I found the book more useful for those who already have good insights into the war time history and British political system, it does describe some basics for the beginners like the difference between political and business leadership w.r.t risks. Also, we get to know and understand why Churchill's style of leadership worked at that time. And why it can still work in many forms. More information on the Book at [Rediff Books]
Ten deadly marketing sins
Philip Kotler, Professor of International marketing at Northwester University's Kellogg School of management and author of 30 books is a God in marketing. In this comparatively new book, he describes the reason why 75% of new products, services and businesses fail. That is, he discusses the 10 deadly marketing sins:
1. Your company is not sufficiently market focused and customer driven
2. Your company doesn't fully understand its target customers
3. Your company needs to better define and monitor its competitors
4. Your company has not properly managed its relationships with its stakeholders
5. Your company is not good at finding new opportunities
6. Your company's marketing planning process is deficient
7. Your company's product and service policies need tightening.
8. Your company's brand building and communication skills are weak.
9. Your company is not well organized to carry on effective and efficient marketing.
10. Your company has not made maximum use of technology.
The language and approach by the author is very interesting and we get many good insights on the theme. A necessity for anyone in marketing… More information on the Book at [Rediff Books]
The Secret
Winston Churchill gave this world the "V" sign for victory. Prime Minister of United Kingdom during the World War II, Churchill was a self made man who made the history the way we read and repeat today. This book tries to point out leadership traits from this great political leader, as applicable to the business world. Although fighting a world war and competing in the business world are very different, both require brilliant leadership for success."
Churchill's leadership style was essentially about taking responsibility, facing bad news squarely, staying open to changing your mind in presence of new information and keeping fully informed. “Responsibility must be combined with authority” and “decisiveness depends on the person at the top” are two of his philosophies.
Though I found the book more useful for those who already have good insights into the war time history and British political system, it does describe some basics for the beginners like the difference between political and business leadership w.r.t risks. Also, we get to know and understand why Churchill's style of leadership worked at that time. And why it can still work in many forms. More information on the Book at [Rediff Books]
Ten deadly marketing sins
Philip Kotler, Professor of International marketing at Northwester University's Kellogg School of management and author of 30 books is a God in marketing. In this comparatively new book, he describes the reason why 75% of new products, services and businesses fail. That is, he discusses the 10 deadly marketing sins:
1. Your company is not sufficiently market focused and customer driven
2. Your company doesn't fully understand its target customers
3. Your company needs to better define and monitor its competitors
4. Your company has not properly managed its relationships with its stakeholders
5. Your company is not good at finding new opportunities
6. Your company's marketing planning process is deficient
7. Your company's product and service policies need tightening.
8. Your company's brand building and communication skills are weak.
9. Your company is not well organized to carry on effective and efficient marketing.
10. Your company has not made maximum use of technology.
The language and approach by the author is very interesting and we get many good insights on the theme. A necessity for anyone in marketing… More information on the Book at [Rediff Books]
The Secret
I avoided this book by Rhonda Byrne for long, since I hate anything gives impression of craving for publicity and which rides on the herd-mentality of others. Now, I read every page of this book. It is such a simple book and tells the ‘secret’ which we all practice in some way or the other – the fact that like attracts like and if we ‘think’ good, good things will come to us. So if I love others, I will also get loved. But there is a catch. If I repeat weight-loss all the time, then I will end up growing fat, since life neglects the accompanying words and will hear only ‘weight’. So, we should do ‘positive’ and not ‘avoid negative’. At Rs 550, the book sells more on our curiosity than the real stuff. But who didn’t realise: common sense is the most uncommon thing these days?
The Coward’s guide to conflict
‘The Coward’s guide to conflict’ by Tim Ursiny has a very interesting title. It claims to have “empowering solutions for those who would rather run than fight and win”. And it starts with a quote from Ken Blanchard, “If you are a coward like me when it comes to conflict, then this book would be perfect for you. I now appreciate the need for conflict, and I am getting even better dealing with it”.
But the book doesn’t deliver what it promised.
“Many times our first response to an upset individual is to quite our voice and stay calm. Does this really calm the other person down? In most cases it doesn’t have a calming impact because the person feels like you don’t understand how upsetting the situation is to him.
A better approach is to match the intensity (voice volume, rate, etc) of the conversation without verbally attacking, and then slowly soften your voice.”
This is the only take-away from this book for me; though I am not sure if I would really shout the next time :) As such the book is written in a lucid way, with lots and lots of practical examples and real life situations. But what it lacks is to prove that those many examples were worth the effort in reading them.
Good one, if you are interested in the topic, have plenty of time to read, and don’t expect miracles.
The Coward’s guide to conflict
‘The Coward’s guide to conflict’ by Tim Ursiny has a very interesting title. It claims to have “empowering solutions for those who would rather run than fight and win”. And it starts with a quote from Ken Blanchard, “If you are a coward like me when it comes to conflict, then this book would be perfect for you. I now appreciate the need for conflict, and I am getting even better dealing with it”.
But the book doesn’t deliver what it promised.
“Many times our first response to an upset individual is to quite our voice and stay calm. Does this really calm the other person down? In most cases it doesn’t have a calming impact because the person feels like you don’t understand how upsetting the situation is to him.
A better approach is to match the intensity (voice volume, rate, etc) of the conversation without verbally attacking, and then slowly soften your voice.”
This is the only take-away from this book for me; though I am not sure if I would really shout the next time :) As such the book is written in a lucid way, with lots and lots of practical examples and real life situations. But what it lacks is to prove that those many examples were worth the effort in reading them.
Good one, if you are interested in the topic, have plenty of time to read, and don’t expect miracles.
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