The Invisible Employee Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton

[Incomplete Report]

This book takes an analogy to its limits. It tells the story of an indiginous tribe living on a mountain filled with Jewels and Gemstones. The Highlanders and Wurc-Urs lived in a stereotypical employer employee relationship. This analogy that runs through the book, wraps itself around the idea of the Invisible Employee and how you can avoid what happens to the invisible employee when he remains invisible.

Invisible People:

-Invisible people do unremarkable work.

-Thankless jobs produce thankless employees.

Setting goals and a vision for the workforce provides clear direction for the employees to seek.

See the employees behaviors that support the goals and vision

Celebrate those behaviors in a public manner

Use surveys to your advantage to know what your employees need to feel visible.

Blink Outs:

-People don't leave for Money...they often leave supervisors

-Talented people are the first to go.

There are tangible rewards for praise of employees, namely employee retention.

Turnover is very costly to a company

The See-er:

-See-ers see people and their achievements.

-57% of employees would rather recieve praise from their direct supervisor, while 21% would rather be praised by the president

-Set the vision, team priorities, but make sure you set the "right" goals.

-Great managers are observant

--Get out of the office and see what people are doing.

-Welcome new employees, their first 90 days is critical to determining if you meet the needs of the employee.

Will you read this book again? Possibly Yes

Would you suggest this book be added to a personal library or leave it at the public library? An easily available book at the library. I would leave it there.

Reviewed By Mike W - Twin Cities, MN

22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries

[Incomplete Report]

This book deserves a brief look at each law and how it can relate to improving my own business. It is interesting that he considers each of them laws, but in a way some of them contradict each other. I would not build a branding campaign around these principles, but they definitely are worth while to consider some of the ideas they may generate for your own campaign.

The 22 Laws:

The Law of Expansion

The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope.

-Think Chevrolet, the large, small, cheap, expensive car...or truck.

-Marketers often confuse the power of a brand with the sales generated by that brand

The Law of Contraction

The brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus.

-Think Starbucks, narrow focus is coffee, but that doesn't mean it carries a limited line, they carry ~30 types of coffee.

-Stock in depth

-Buy Cheaper

-Sell Cheap

-Dominate the category

The Law of Publicity

The birth of a brand is achieved with publicity, not advertising.

-Think The Body Shop, with virtually no advertising, but massive amounts of publicity, the Body Shop has become a powerful global brand.

--Since this book was written and revised in 1998 and 2002, I think this is what might now be called viral marketing. Creating buzz online about a product that shoots it to the masses by word of mouth and internet traffic.

The Law of Advertising

Once born, a brand needs advertising to stay healthy.

-Think Goodyear, Their consistant advertising theme has been "#1 in Tires", so who makes the best tires?, it must be Goodyear from the consumers point of view since they are apparently the leader.

-Advertise leadership

-Forces the competition to pay heavily to compete with you

-You may not make a return on your advertising

-It is a requirement to keep the customer base you have, not necessarily generate new business.

The Law of the Word

A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer

-Think FedEx, they own the term "overnight" delivery in the mind of the air cargo user

-Kleenex

-Band-aid

-Jello

-Saran Wrap

-Rollerblade

-Xerox

The Law of Credentials

The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity.

-Think Coca-Cola, "Aint nothin like the real thing" claiming authenticity for 40 years

-The leading beer

-The leading light beer

-The leading imported beer

-The leading microbrew

-The leading ice beer

-The leading high-priced beer

-The leading Mexican beer

-etc...

The Law of Quality

The Law of the Category

The Law of the Name

The Law of Extensions

The Law of Fellowship

The Law of the Generic

The Law of the Company

The Law of the Subbrands

The Law of the Siblings

The Law of Shape

The Law of Color

The Law of Borders

The Law of Consistancy

The Law of Change

The Law of Mortality

The Law of Singularity

Will you read this book again? Possibly, Marketing is not really my thing. Maybe that means I will be reading it again. It is good to be well versed on many subjects, but this is not one that peaks my interests to keep around.

Would you suggest this book be added to a personal library or leave it at the public library? This one I would leave at the library. It is a reference book plain and simple, not one I would keep on the shelf.

Reviewed By Mike W - Twin Cities, MN