Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

I’m currently reading Rules of Thumb, 52 Truths For Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self, by Alan M. Webber.  Webber has serious thought leader/biz cred since he was the co-founder of Fast Company magazine.

As one might expect of a professional, thinking journalist, Webber has written a book that is easy to read, imminently dippable and provokes thought.  He probably isn’t saying anything we’ve not heard before (somewhere), but it gets my synapses to snapping…and he reminds me of other authors with good ideas, such as Dan Pink.

Two of the Rules to get you thinking:

#27: If You Want To Be Like Google, Learn Megan Smith’s Three Rules. (Ms. Smith is the Vice President, New Business Development, and General Manager, Google.org)

Aside from the fact that reading Ms. Smith’s background makes me feel like a talentless lump of inert matter…the rules are oh-so-simple (and oh-so-hard to follow for many – scary!)

1. The customer participates.

2. The customer drives.

3. Open systems beat closed systems.

As Webber notes, companies no longer have control, rather they like it or not.  Customers “drive” all over the Web getting info, shopping, and sharing their experience.  So, for all those folks that are still “considering if they want to give up control” (as I read in an article headline about the health care industry considering social media…Yes, the health care industry) – sorry, you’re not even in the car.

#29: Words Matter. A single word can make all the difference…Webber gives the example of the KaosPilots school for social entrepreneurs.  They changed their slogan from “The best school in the world” to “The best school for the world.”  (And note, no sign of “innovative” “leading” or “solutions” …;-)

“The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between lightening and the lightning bug.” – Mark Twain (quote from the chapter’s “So what” section, which also reminds me I need to go pull Twain’s books off the shelf and do some re-reading.)

I didn’t give the link to Amazon to buy the book, since you can probably find it at your local library (as I did.)  You can also probably pick up some of my other recommended (and recent) reading:

Robert B. Parker, The Professional.  The 452nd Spenser book (well, it seems that way.)  If you don’t know the character, I’d recommend you start with the very first one, The Godwulf Manuscript and keep going.  It’s a whole universe, with interesting characters you’ll watch change and grow through the years (even PI Spenser’s insufferably self-involved, pompous princess of a lady love, Susan Silverman, has gotten more tolerable through the years.)  Total entertainment, easy-to-read and well-written.

Thunder at Twilight, Vienna 1913/1914, by Frederic Morton.  Terrific, engaging writing and great perspective on the recent economic strum n’ drang.

I’ll also be working on a pile of comic books graphic novels over ‘toonis this evening, including the latest issue of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8. If only Joss Whedon, Buffy’s creator, were running the show at V- it might actually be entertaining. (Did I mention that both Webber and Dan Pink recommend you look at/read/consider things outside your norm?)