Bootstrap Leadership Blog

I’m way overdue in writing about this online resource - one that every leader should bookmark and check out on a regular basis. It’s called 800 CEO Read, and it may be the coolest business book site on the web.  For over 25 years, 800-CEO-READ has focused exclusively on business books and ideas; they specialize in promoting and selling cutting edge books, write about business books at their blog, host events with business authors, and publish inspiring manifestos by great thinkers from around the world at their changethis.com website.

One of the things I like best about the site is their listing of popular books and ranking of the top 25 books of the month (you can find both on the home page).  In fact, 800 CEO Read takes the concept of “packaging and promoting” business books to a whole new level with one of their featured books – The 100 Best Business Books of All Time, which was co-written by Jack Covert, who is the founder and president of 800 CEO Read.  Want to see if there’s a classic you’ve missed?  Check out the table of contents for that book.

800 CEO Read is a great place to find new business ideas, check out the latest books, or just find out what everyone else is reading.  Add it to your bookmarks today, and call it up once a month to plug in to the coolest business books around…   

What's it like to lead really smart, creative people?  Well, somebody's written a book about that, of course.  The book is called Clever (2009) and it’s by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones (authors of Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?).  It’s a quick and interesting read about those special people who make a disproportionate contribution to an organization.  Every company has them; those vital few employees or leaders that really make the company go – the ones who combine skill & talent and are at the top of the employee value chain.  There’s just one little problem – turns out clever people tend to be difficult to manage.

In describing “clevers”, the authors cite nine defining characteristics, as follows:

1. Their cleverness is central to their identity
2. Their skills are not easily replicated
3. They know their worth
4. They ask difficult questions
5. The are organizationally savvy
6. The are not impressed by corporate hierarchy (and don’t want to be led)
7. They expect instant access
8. They want to be connected to other clever people
9. They won’t thank you

That’s quite a list!  Know anyone like that at work?  Does this describe you, perhaps?  I won’t give away the rest of the book (I’m sure the authors would prefer you buy a copy), but it contains some very good advice about how to manage these individuals.  Needless to say, it involves being rather clever yourself – keeping an open mind and using nontraditional managerial methods. 

Are they worth it?  In most cases, yes.  The products, sales or ideas they build and generate can take your company places it couldn’t go otherwise…so you definitely don’t want to be the narrow-minded manager who causes clevers to leave and join your competition.  But they will challenge you (and maybe drive you crazy in the process).  In the end, managing clever people requires you to look at leadership a little differently.  Which is probably a good thing, don’t you think?

30 million people worldwide have read it.  Your father or grandfather probably had a copy of it on their shelf.  It was published in 1936, and yet, when released as an iPhone app in February, it immediately became the top-selling paid business app in the iTunes store.  A new edition (only the second since the original publication) will hit stores next year.  What is it?  How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie.  Carnegie’s brainstorm of business advice has been translated into 47 languages, and is the most successful business book in history (by far).  In 2009 alone, it sold 300,000 copies – this for a book that is 74 years old! 

So who was this guy, and how did he tap into the mother lode of business counseling?  Born in 1888, Carnegie had virtually no business background when he wrote the book.  He was raised on a pig farm in Missouri, and moved east to become an actor in his early twenties.  He didn’t make it as an actor, so he tried selling trucks and writing western novels (neither of those ventures worked, either).  What did seem to stick was a class in effective business speaking that he began to teach at a Harlem YMCA in 1912 – a class that would form the basis for the book.

Carnegie knew a thing or two about marketing, for sure – in 1919 he changed the spelling of his name from Carnagey to Carnegie… probably to match the spelling of another pretty famous entrepreneur at the time.  Carnegie just intuitively “got” the relationship between public speaking and business success (these days, we’d call that connection “executive presence”).  Lots of prominent business people seem to have benefited from the connection.  Warren Buffett, for one, says that the course “changed my life.” 

The core elements of How to Win Friends and Influence People are Carnegie’s 30 principles of success, which are as applicable in one’s private life as they are in the business world.   Essentially, it’s a book about self-confidence, and how self-assuredness and poise makes us effective as people.  The 30 principles are all pretty basic themes: “let the other person do most of the talking” or “the only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.”   But actually, that’s what makes the book so charming (and yes, so effective). 

Sometimes the best advice really is the basic stuff.  Carnegie himself used to tell audiences – “I’ve never claimed to have a new idea.  I present the obvious – because the obvious is what people need to be told.”  Sounds like good coaching to me (clearly, Carnegie would be an executive coach today – or maybe Dr. Phil). 

Everyone who has ever written a business advice book owes a debt of gratitude to Dale Carnegie.  Now, if they could only out-sell him!  This tells you something about the power of his simple ideas… sound, basic advice never goes out of style – something we might all remember as we look for ways to influence in our own lives.