Be Your Own Career Coach

Be Your Own Career Coach by Rus Slater, 206 pages

Just getting started in the workforce and not sure how to get the career you want? Have you spent a long time in a career and are now wondering how to get out of the rut you seem to be stuck in? In Be Your Own Career Coach, Slater offers advice on figuring out how to get what you want out of your career, no matter where you are in your career.

Yes, this review sounds a bit like a late-night infomercial, but I'd argue that this is entirely the right tone to strike when discussing this title. While this is a business book in that it focuses on career development, it's also something of a self-help book that raises plenty of questions about what you, the reader, want out of your career, and life in general. It can be an easy, quick read, or you can do as Slater suggests and write down answers to all of the questions he poses as you read, making this a much more time-intensive, soul-searching read. And while it may not slice or dice, it does offer plenty of appeal to anyone with a job...or anyone who wants one. It's certainly worth at least a skim, though you may find yourself doing a bit more introspection as you go along.

Eat People

Eat People: And Other Unapologetic Rules for Game-Changing Entrepreneurs by Andy Kessler, 253 pages

Before I start, THIS IS NOT A COOKBOOK!

For once, this is a business book that lives up to its title. In Eat People, Kessler leaves any notion of political correctness at the door and offers up some suggestions on how entrepreneurs can launch themselves into the stratosphere of big business, such as creating a business that cuts out people, carving out a horizontal slice of the market instead of going vertical (for example, creating a better widget that makes the big machine run more efficiently rather than just building a whole new machine), and figuring out a way to make something cost less to make more money. Along the way, he gives lots of great real-life examples, some dating back 150 years, some dating from last year.

There were a lot of things I agreed with in this book, but when I disagreed with the author, wow, I REALLY disagreed with him (he seemed to throw around stereotypes WAY too much). I appreciated Kessler's candor, snark, and laid-back writing style, though at times I wanted him to throw some research at me; too often, he would give a number (say, "eight out of ten" or something like that) and would give no indication of where he came up with it. I also didn't really like the way he kept name-dropping. Yes, every business book will have some quotes or information from moguls/superstar innovators, but Kessler made a point to refer to them as his friends. Not necessary.

I honestly don't know if I'll recommend this one to anyone, though that's as much because of the people at who it's aimed as anything else. Most of the people who come to me looking for business books are looking to start a business, not take it global, and it's the latter to whom this seemed written. Should make for an interesting discussion at the Business Reads book club tomorrow though!

Outlaw

Outlaw: Fight for Your Customers and Sell Without Fear by Trent Leyshan, 165 pages

In Outlaw, Leyshan offers tips on being a better salesman, regardless of what you're selling. The book attempts to cover everything from preparing for a pitch to presenting the right personality to secure sales to beating burnout.

However, it's hard for me to muster any enthusiasm for the book. It's oddly structured, with short sections that don't logically follow each other, set apart by random quotes from everyone from Albert Einstein to Zig Ziglar. Occasionally, there are also short stories of "real life Outlaws," though only one, Ned Kelly, is an actual outlaw (sorry, Richard Branson, you don't count). Leyshan also offers random defining characteristics of "Outlaw" salespeople, though I never got a whole picture.

There is some useful information in here, but it's not worth fighting through the paragraphs full of inspirational affirmations (I swear Leyshan just looked at posters on office walls whenever he got writer's block) to find that info. There's not much to recommend this book, though I do look forward to what's sure to be a lively, rip-into-this discussion at Thursday's Business Reads book group.

Mash-up!

Mash-up! How to Use Your Multiple Skills to Give You an Edge, Make Money, and Be Happier by Ian Sanders and David Sloly, 246 pages

In this book, Sanders and Sloly argue that the way businesses run today, people need to have versatile skills, allowing them to switch gears and become experts in fields that vary widely. For example, one of the authors is a business consultant and a hypnotherapist, as well as an author and lecturer. Throughout this quick read, the authors present different ways to branch out into new fields without dropping current jobs or projects, as well as ways to market yourself as someone who specializes in multiple fields. Along the way, they introduce the reader to several "mashers" who are juggling multiple jobs at once.

This is certainly intriguing, and they're definitely right that versatile skills are important in today's business world. And maybe I'm just looking at this from a librarian's perspective (that is, from the perspective of someone who learns something new every day and gets to work on a variety of projects throughout the day, week, and year), but I think they're a bit narrow-minded to say that the best way to "mash" is to have different jobs and job titles at the same time. There's definitely a bit of a sneer when it comes to the idea of someone staying in the same job, or same type of job, for years and years; while I'm fairly new to the librarian game, I'm guessing that new projects and skills are somewhat of a requirement if you want to stay in a field for any length of time. Sanders and Sloly's ideas of "mashing" seem a bit more suited to those who simply can't settle down, or just haven't found a job they love.

That said, this book will definitely appeal to and be useful to entrepreneurs, freelancers, and others who like the idea of a hyphenate life. It also has some pretty cool ideas that can be applied to those of us who are good with just the one job title, especially their system of ranking the various qualities of a project/job (On a scale of 1-10, how much do you love it? How annoying are the people you work for and with? Are you getting enough out of it financially? etc.) Like I said before, it's a quick read, and as long as you can get past their Britishisms (Whilst? Seriously?), it's worth a skim.

Risk Intelligence

Risk Intelligence: How to Live With Uncertainty by Dylan Evans, 276 pages

How do you make decisions? Do you carefully weigh all the factors, creating pro/con lists and weighing the risks inherent in choosing the wrong thing? Do you just wing it? Evans argues that good risk-takers have something called high risk intelligence, meaning that they know how to estimate probabilities accurately. A lot of us, he argues, are either underconfident or overconfident in our abilities to make these estimates.

Despite the fact that this was much more of a psychology or even math book, this is the April pick for Business Reads. I chose it on the basis that there is inherent uncertainty and risk involved with owning or running a business. That's certainly true, and some people may find Evans' focus on probabilities fascinating and useful. However, as someone who has been known to say that there's a 50% chance of anything happening (either it will or it won't), I was largely frustrated by this book. (And based on what Evans was saying, I think he'd be equally frustrated with me.) I enjoyed a few of the chapters, particularly about those about the tricks of the mind and being aware of what you actually know and don't know, but I didn't care for the heavy emphasis on mathematical equations. This was similar to Think Twice, which we read in February for the Business Reads group; of the two, I prefer Think Twice.

The Lemonade Stand

The Lemonade Stand: What Every Entrepreneur Should Know to Succeed in Starting and Running Any Business by Ara Bagdasarian and Nick Gustavsson, 192 pages

This is the March Business Reads book, and focuses on entrepreneurs and starting small businesses. As in other business books, the authors offer up a list of principles for their "Lemonade Stand" method; what makes this one different is that Bagdasarian and Gustavsson have some fairly unorthodox principles, including forgetting about a business plan and investors, and not setting out to compete. When they explain themselves, these actually make sense, especially for someone with a small business in mind (they often use the example of someone starting a lawn-care business or car wash). There's also a LOT of emphasis on optimism and learning from problems, which are probably pretty good ideals for everyone, not just entrepreneurs.

What I didn't particularly like about this book was the fact that they pushed the "lemons into lemonade" analogy a little too hard; it got annoying pretty quickly. It's not a bad metaphor to use, but it gets old quickly. I wish they'd introduced the idea at the beginning and maybe touched on it again toward the end rather than referring to problems as "lemons that must be squeezed" on nearly every page of the book.

On the whole, however, this was an easy-to-read book with some good ideas. Anyone thinking of starting a business would probably appreciate some of what the authors are trying to say.

Think Twice

Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition by Michael J. Mauboussin, 190 pages

Everybody makes hundreds of little decisions every day, and a lot of times everything pans out just fine, whether the decisions are good or bad. But sometimes there are big decisions, with major consequences. In Think Twice, Mauboussin urges us to look at these big decisions in ways that are against our natural instincts. Don't think that just because someone has been winning it's safe to bet on them winning again; nor is it necessarily a good idea to ditch a stock of a company that's performing poorly.

Unlike most business books, Mauboussin avoids offering up a formula of how to succeed. Instead, he focuses on critical thinking, often times illustrating his points with non-business situations, including sports and psychological studies. Occasionally, he veers a bit too far toward the academic, but in general, Mauboussin offers up an engaging read. Fans of Malcolm Gladwell (who is cited several times in this book) will appreciate this one.

How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things

How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses by Neil Smith, 226 pages

In this business book, Smith describes several problems businesses face that block good ideas from being implemented, and offers ways to break through them. The barriers range from avoiding controversy, to poor management of time, to organizational silos, and a lot of them seem pretty obvious once Smith points them out. However, he does offer some great personal anecdotes to illustrate these issues and the potential solutions to them. Toward the end of the book, Smith also offers the principles he and his company (which is a consulting firm that helps companies institute change) abide by, and he details his 100-day process for creating the plans for these changes. Again, the principles are logical and seem like common sense once you read them, but Smith's description of his process is pretty boring.

Smith did a good job holding my attention through most of the book, but once he got to that process and started throwing in acronyms left and right, he lost me. Another problem I had with this book is that it's aimed almost solely at the CEOs and other higher-ups at large companies (and by large I mean 15,000+ employees). I chose this as a book for the Business Reads discussion group, and while some of the elements may be applicable to smaller businesses or non-management employees, a lot of it won't be.

One last quibble: I don't think this book is accurately named. Yes, the title makes you giggle a bit, but there's nothing about avoiding dumb things; it's all about creating opportunities or righting dumb processes that are already there.