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This week, the Cydcor team highlights another Seth Godin treasure, Linchpin. For more Seth Godin wisdom, see our Cydcor review on Permission Marketing.
Description of this book: Linchpin was written by marketing expert Seth Godin, who believes that finding career success today depends on learning how to market one’s self. Linchpins are an upcoming role in the world of tech, start-ups and the age of entrepreneurship. The linchpins are those that come up with new solutions, break the mold, and foster creativity in companies. Linchpin is about learning how to break out of the systemic roles traditionally in the workplace and implement new ideas where you work. Often, the linchpins are the indispensable people in the background, empowering others, but staying out of the spotlight. They often have a less specific role in the company, but rather focus on specific needs as the work scape morphs and changes. Godin believes everyone has something brilliant to offer, and being able to harness that brilliance and bring it to the workplace can equal success and happiness.
Cydcor recommends this book to professionals because: Godin has written many bestselling books on how marketing works and how companies behave, this book is specifically how to manage your career and create success and satisfaction at work. Godin explains that everyone must strive to be a linchpin, to become indispensable, or suffer. The job markets today are focused on efficiency and creativity, so only those making the most impact will get ahead.
Our favorite part: “There are no longer any great jobs where people tell you exactly what to do”. Godin highlights the importance of taking initiative, learning to work autonomously and bridging those gaps between being managed and over-managing. Flexibility and motivation are the new keys to success.
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In this installment of Cydcor Reviews, Miriam Caballero reviews Attitude is Everything by Jeff Keller.
Description of the book: This is the story of a lawyer who after practicing law for a few years, he realized he was not happy at all. He realized there were many things that he disliked and decided to change his job. In the process of finding what this new job should be, he realized there was more to do than just look for another job for him to do.
Throughout his struggle of finding the right job for him, he learned that in order for him to be happy, his happiness did not depend of his job. He learned that all this time the change needed to take place within him. This is where he learned that his attitude was the key factor to determine whether or not he would be happy or not.
Why Cydcor Leaders recommend this book: This is an easy read story many people could relate to. The author does a great job at giving examples of the negative thoughts he had based on the circumstances he was facing and the impact these negative thoughts had in his life. Once the reader is able to understand the struggles the author is explaining in his book, is easier to understand what the author is trying to explain. In this case, the message the author wants to get across is that in order to be happy, people must have a great attitude in everything they do. The author references a quote by Charles Popplestone, "You can't always control circumstances. But you can control your own thoughts."
Miriam's favorite part: My favorite part of this book is when he explains how "everyone starts with a clean mental window". The author explains that children view their life through a sparkling clean window. They are fearless and willing to get up no matter how many times they fall down. But there comes a point where life starts throwing dirt at their windows in the form of criticism, rejection, disappointments. This dirt starts to pile up and they no longer see life in the way they used to. They are not able to see things as they are and their attitude starts to change.
Another great book, Cydcor reviews The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.
Description of this book: Gladwell, a journalist and writer for The New Yorker magazine, is known for his comprehensive examinations of how change or success happens. The Tipping Point is an in depth look at how ideas get made into wildly popular companies, books or trends. Everything from television shows to teen smoking, popularity of ideas is modeled like an epidemic. There are carriers, those that evangelize the idea and get people excited about it. Malcolm Gladwell explains that there are three types of people involved in spreading an idea: connectors, mavens and salespeople. Connectors are people with a wide social network that are good at creating communities to rally for the concept. Mavens are knowledgeable experts that enjoy educating the public on their area of expertise. Salespeople are gifted at drumming up excitement for new things.
Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders and business people because: Gladwell has a talent for identifying key factors in how to make something popular. The biggest difference in an idea that fails and one that succeeds is knowing the right people to hand your idea to. Networking, knocking on the right doors and finding the people who will think the idea is “cool” is the best way to become a viral sensation. However, Gladwell also explains that ideas need to have “stickiness” factor that will help the important people spread it to others. Both of those factors also have to an in an environment where the idea and the people are relevant to current sentiment.
Our favorite part: "The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts."
Cydcor is a leading outsourced sales company that specializes in omnichannel sales. Follow Cydcor on LinkedIn or Twitter for more professional development advice. Want to work for Cydcor? Find our openings on the Cydcor Careerbuilder page today.
Description of this book: Delivering Happiness by Zappos founder Tony Hsieh is the story of how this young man created a new kind of company. Hsieh wanted to build a business that valued customers, employees, and investors equally. The CEO puts a strong focus on positive company culture, operating under the theory that a good corporate culture will let everything else fall into place naturally. A company of happy employees stay in the job longer, work harder and provide better customer service. Company success has to come from being unique and creating something people will get excited about. A focus on happiness not only attracted better talent, but gave Zappos a unique edge.
Cydcor recommends this book to leaders because: Hsieh has been able to build multiple companies in his career and has learned how to create a team of people that will work hard for his vision. Zappos now does over a billion dollars in sales annually. That is no small feat considering the competitiveness of online retailing. Future leaders should have a lot to learn about this company and take some ideas that challenge the norm of business leadership. Building a positive company culture can be a challenge and this book will lay it out for leaders.
Our favorite part: Zappos actually pays employees to quit. By giving them $2,000 to leave Zappos is they are unhappy, the company is less likely to retain team members who may be a negative influence on the work environment. That concept and other ideas.
Cydcor is a leading sales company that specializes in omni-channel relationships with customers. For more information on Cydcor, follow our Cydcor Community blog.
In honor of President’s day, Cydcor chose to review Lincoln by David Herbert to study one of America’s finest leaders throughout history.
Description of this book: This biography covers the life of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. Lincoln was raised in rural Indiana in a poor household. The book follows Lincoln’s perspective as he picked himself up through poverty and through political savvy made his way into prominence quickly. The book examines his character, his key advisors, and reveals his human flaws as well as his greatness. The author, David Herbert, is a Pulitzer Prize
Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders because: Biographies and autobiographies are excellent sources of inspiration for anyone looking to achieve professional goals. Lincoln is an especially beloved figure for Americans because he was raised in poverty and came from a disadvantage to well educated men raised in wealthy homes in cities. In many ways, Lincoln is the best representation of the American dream, that hard work and persistence will always pay off. Cydcor highly recommends any manager to take time to read and learn about prominent figures in our culture, not just for inspiration but to improve critical thinking skills and improve confidence.
Our favorite part: Herbert does an excellent job of making sure to incorporate the realities of being president into the book. He explores how decisions were made based on the information available to him, rather than taking the traditional route of glorifying the historical figure retrospectively. It is important to look at leadership objectively and understand that decisions must be made regardless of whether you have all the facts. Leadership is about being able to make the best judgment calls you can at the time it is necessary.
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The Cydcor team decided to review Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
Description of this book: Permission Marketing refers to what is now termed as “inbound marketing”, which is a way to build a business where customers are coming to you based on your presence, reputation and word of mouth. Sellers use permission marketing to get the right message to the right people in a way that is desirable to them, rather than blasting a ton of generic content to a mass market. Sometimes, making a sale is not about insistence, but rather respecting that customers choose to give sellers and marketers their precious attention, and understanding that their attention is a valuable thing not to be wasted. The way to permission marketing is making promises for the customer and then establishing trust by following through on those promises.
Cydcor encourages team members to take this message to heart- customers are to be respected and their needs met.Cydcor recommends this book to marketers and business people because: The best message of the book is humility and patience. Permission marketing means sellers need to craft a message that is valuable to consumers and worthy of their attention. This message has to be a genuine offer, and when that agreement is settled, it is important the seller not ask for more without also offering more. Seth Godin writes in an easy to understand, no-nonsense manner that makes his message simply make sense.Our favorite part: “A Permission Marketer goes on a date. If it goes well, the two of them go on another date. And then another. Until, after ten or twelve dates, both sides can really communicate with each other about their needs and desires. After twenty dates they meet each other's families. Finally, after three or four months of dating, the Permission Marketer proposes marriage.”
Cydcor is a leading sales company that specializes in face-to-face relationships and professional development. Follow Cydcor on LinkedIn or Twitter for more professional development advice. Want to work for Cydcor? Find our openings on the Cydcor Careerbuilder page today.
The Cydcor Community chose to review Don't Sweat the Small Stuff by Dr. Richard Carlson as a great book for personal development and stress management.
Description of this book: Dr. Richard Carlson has built a career on teaching people how to manage stress and let go of the minor pressures of a fast paced American lifestyle. This is the original in a series of books on making life happier and more manageable by not “sweating” the small stuff, and pointing out even in the subtitle “it’s all small stuff”. It is easy to get frustrated and hung up over things like bills, appointments, accidents and more hurdles in life, but the main message of this book is that stress and worry only make situations work. Training your brain to think about solutions rather than fret is a powerful lifestyle choice.
Cydcor recommends this book to leaders because: Stress can be detrimental to your health and career. Stressed out people also radiate negative energy and cause others to feel stressed or demotivated. Good managers need to learn how to project productive and positive energy in order to maintain workplace harmony. This book provides great perspective and can help you change your mental state to becoming a calm, happy and inspiring leader. The book offers easy to commit to strategies that incorporate small changes that make a huge difference.
Our favorite part: "Without question, many of us have mastered the neurotic art of spending much of our lives worrying about a variety of things all at once." Dr. Carlson writes with whimsy and clarity that makes this book easy to read and convey its message. This is one that will stick with you for life.
Cydcor is a leading sales company that specializes in face-to-face relationships and professional development. Follow Cydcor on LinkedIn or Twitter for more professional development advice.
Description of this book: Cydcor knows Michael Porter has long been considered a top business expert and leader, and this book is his signature piece of work. Competitive Advantage is a model for creating and managing an enterprise successfully. Porter offers tools for analysis that are taught in MBA programs around the country. Michael Porter is a professor at Harvard Business School, and lectures and writes prolifically on managing a business.
Cydcor recommends this book to leaders because: Tactics such as the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis teaches critical thinking that is crucial to successfully leading a company. Porter also discusses strategy at length, and helps businesses to either produce a scale economy or define a niche that will keep them profitable. The danger for companies is to get stuck in the middle- trying to hard to please everybody, not sticking to the chosen strategy one hundred percent can lead to high costs and low or no profits. The book is filled with many real life examples of businesses either failing or executing a strong strategy based on “market signals”, which indicate the way an industry is moving and allows good executives to anticipate opportunities.
Our favorite part: Porter stresses over and over that businesses need to focus on goals and strategy in order to be successful. Business does not have to follow every trend of what is popular. Shoe makers do not have expand into technology. Strong business strategy and profits is not always about having the biggest or best idea, but rather identifying its place in a market and doing things different from the competition.
Cydcor is a leading sales company that specializes in face-to-face relationships and professional development. Follow Cydcor on LinkedIn or Twitter for more professional development advice.
Cydcor Reviews The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
Author: Brad Stone
Description of this book: This book details the history of online retailer Amazon, which started as an Internet book delivery store and later became a corporation that sells everything from high-definition televisions to fresh vegetables. Written by Brad Stone, senior writer for Bloomberg Businessweek, the book details over 300 interviews with former employees of Amazon as well as family members of Bezos. Stone details Bezos’ thirst for exploring new markets, such as e-readers and cloud computer storage, as well as the future of the company. Amazon changed everything we know about online shopping, and also the way we read and shop today.
Why people should read this book: Not many people know the history of Amazon, and how it started in Jeff Bezos’ garage in Bellevue, WA. Bezos, a former vice-president at a Wall Street firm, studied what products would do well selling on the Internet, and decided that books were the way to go. From there, the book spills the secrets of how Amazon turned into the world’s largest online retailer, selling electronic media, toys, furniture, and jewelry. Stone’s thorough reporting is presented well, as well as his notion of belief in the company’s success.
My favorite part: Although Amazon is known for their success, I enjoyed learning its shortcomings as well. Amazon did not do well with their implementation of an auction system that failed to compete with eBay. The company will not even be profitable for years, due to their increase spending and growing. However, Bezos’s hunger has allowed Amazon to become a true American built company, one that allows other merchants to sell along with it, even without a president or chief operating officer. The story behind Bezos and his website is inspirational for any entrepreneur, and also interesting to say the least.
Cydcor is a leading sales company that specializes in face to face relationships and professional development. Follow Cydcor on LinkedIn for more professional development advice.
Cydcor team members recommend this refreshing look at what it means to sell in To Sell is Human.
Author: Daniel H. Pink
Description of this Book: Daniel Pink’s To Sell Is Human is about the art and science of selling, not only professionally but also in our personal lives. Selling is not just person going door-to-door selling products, or someone trying to make a commission quota. Everyone in society is now in sales in some particular way: selling their ideas, personalities, or projects that they want to get done. Pink looks at all aspects of the modern workforce and comes up with a great guide for anyone struggling with taking on the identity of a salesperson today.
Why People Should Read This Book: The book offers many concepts with actual statistical data and scientific evidence to back up points. Pink’s book succeeds at clarifying the typical view of sales as a negative connotation. We often motivate ourselves for all the wrong reasons when it comes to selling, and that’s not just for selling products. The book is very accessible and easy-to-read. Although this topic has been discussed to lengths in other sales books, Pink finds a way to put his own spin on the theory of selling in our world today.
My Favorite Part: Pink stresses that the old selling environment has changed significantly. Buyers now have the same information that sellers have, which used to give salespeople an advantage. He comes up with a new phrase for successful sales called Always Be Closing. Along with that comes the new ABCs: Attunement (perspective of audience), Buoyancy (handle rejection well) , and Clarity (help others see the whole picture). Other advice he offers is six successors to the elevator pitch, which allows a seller to propose something interesting to compel a conversation.
Want more recommendations from Cydcor? Check out this similar Cydcor review of Crucial Conversations.
Cydcor Reviews: Onward
Author: Howard Schultz
Reviewer: Gail Michalak, Cydcor VP of Marketing and Communications
Description of this book: Onward is the story of how Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz turned Starbucks around after a downturn in financial performance. Schultz explains that while the recession definitely had an impact in the loss in profits for the massive international coffee and specialty company, the biggest factor was a shift in company culture. Onward explains Shultz’ decision to return to the CEO position after a departure to implement a hands on strategy to bring his company to its most profitable year ever. Between 2008 and 2011, Starbucks was able to find its way again and Schultz continues to lead it to record profits every year.
Why people should read this book: Gaining insight into how a multinational corporation is managed is a powerful experience. Howard Schultz not only reveals his focus for how to drive Starbucks back to glory, but is able to admit mistakes in his character and company strategy. The book reads more like a memoir than a business book, making it interesting for anyone with a larger than life character and an obsession with producing superior product. This is a great read for any manager looking for insight into how to deal emotions, negative push back, and implementing changes in corporate culture.
My favorite part: Howard Schultz frequently admits how personally he takes criticism against him, even over something as simple as seeing a competing cup of coffee in the hands of a stranger. He isn’t afraid to be self deprecating, exposing a very passionate and very realistic person behind the success. There are many examples of the book when Schultz acted on impulse—from writing an emotional internal memo that was leaked to the press, to throwing temper tantrums over breakfast sandwiches.
Gail Michalak is the VP of Marketing and Communications at Cydcor in Westlake Village, CA, where she overseas efforts in marketing, corporate communications, public relations, and events for Cydcor.
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