Archives for "Book Review"

i have to be honest, i had things to say about this book…but I lost my notes on it and now Im drawing a blank. Soooo I guess this will be a short review.

I really enjoyed this book, and was surprised by that to be honest. I thought it was a bit trite to focus on “girl business” but it didn’t exclusively deal with mompreneurs nor did it focus lots of time on making sure dinner was made. Instead it really hit home the need to have a business plan and how it can benefit you now and later. The resource listing in the back was also incredibly helpful though it was a bit misleading on what some things are. (Athena Foundation is not as helpful as it seems).

Bottom line:
4/5
time to read: 5 subway rides

Recently I decided to pick up a bunch of “women in business” books and this was first on the list.

It was a short read, and to be honest, there isn’t anything new that you haven’t figured out about business if you’ve read a few books, but I enjoyed the book more for the case studies. The authors reached out to a number of women in various stages of success to tell their stories. From makeup empress Bobbi Brown to a woman who owns a yarn store in Jersey, each woman had a relatable story, which really made this book stand out. There were some moments when my inner cynic came out and went “really?!” but overall it’s a good book for motivation. Just don’t expect to pick up any new sensational tips.

Bottom Line:
Rating: 4/5
Time to read: 1-2 subway rides

I picked this book up on a recommendation by a colleague with the promise, yet again, that this book is a “can’t miss.”

I’ll be upfront…this is a good book. There were a lot of good ideas here that I can use and some great tips on how to find salespeople, stand out at tradeshows, etc. My main problem…and it’s a ridiculous one…is how, well, cruel he is. Holmes repeatedly discusses how you need to have “pig-headed discipline” when working on your business. A valid point, absolutely. But his tactics are sketchy at best.

Holmes repeatedly mentions how you should undermine people during interviews to see how egotistical they can be, how you should use fear tactics to get customers to need your product, and so on. In the harsh world of business is this accurate? Probably. Do you need to throw out your ethics to run a company? I don’t believe so. I never want to use fear as a sales tool or tell people they aren’t good enough just to see how they react. Granted, I’m not baking cookies at interviews for candidates but there needs to be some sort of humanity. How does it look to the candidate when you say “Sorry about crushing your self-esteem during a time when you’re most vulnerable. I just wanted to see if you had the chops to be a salesperon.” If I was the person being interviewed I would probably think you’re a sociopath and not someone I wanted to work under.

My advice: Take the book for the tips, but don’t take it to heart.

Bottom Line
3.5/5
Time to read: 5+ subway rides

Want Starbucks?

How about now?

Okay, how about after reading 300+ pages about it?

This book, I guess, is an interesting history on Starbucks and its ceo (his punctuation, not mine) and how they overcame obstacles, low sales numbers, and Schultz’s hatred of breakfast sandwiches. But most of the time I felt myself thinking (granted, a little cynically) “So what?”
I wasn’t able to really see the POINT to this book, except to make me want a Venti Soy White Mocha No Whip. It was just some ceo talking outloud.

That’s not to say I don’t love Starbucks and what they stand for as far as fair trade and employee relations goes, but I didn’t really understand the reason behind putting it in book form.

Tony Hsieh did it better.

Bottom Line
1.5/5
Time to read: 5+ subway rides

I read this book on a recommendation from a friend. The story behind the book is an interesting one: how do you move a customer from liking your brand to loving your brand? How do your customers become life-long, diehard fans? And while it doesn’t really give any hard, fast rules on how to go about doing it, Kevin Roberts illustrates what the difference is between a brand and a lovemark beautifully. The layout of the book is really refreshing and the amount of time spent layout out each image, each logo, and each picture is really spectacular.

Bottom Line:
3.5/5
Time to read: 2-3 subway rides