One-line review

Movies are used to illustrate various business lessons, which makes the lessons easier to learn for those of us whose eyes glaze over when faced with learning business concepts.

What drew me to the book

I work for myself online–much of it related to writing, editing, and web sites. The business side of things is something that I learn as I go (business was conspicuously missing from my college curriculum). Since textbooks and business books generally put me to sleep, I was interested in The Big Picture: Essential Business Lessons from the Movies because it sounded like a more entertaining way to learn.

My thoughts on the book

The Big Picture: Essential Business Lessons from the Movies does a good job of pulling business lessons from a wide range of movies (1941-2009). A different lesson, given as the chapter title, is taken from each movie (though some chapters use more than one movie). I have not seen all of the movies, but I have heard of many of the ones that I haven’t seen and I still got the point of the lesson from movies that I haven’t heard of at all.

The wide range of movies is nice because it helps reach a wide range of people rather than a particular generation. There are plenty of movies from different genres as well.

This is the kind of book that, as an employee, you wish your manager had. Or as a student, you wish your instructor had. It’s an easy read, but it’s also a valuable reference for instructors, managers, and speakers because it provides a handy resource of stories that help convey particular business lessons in a way that people will actually understand.

The movie theme is carried out very well in this book from the terminology used for the sections (called “Takes”) to the renaming of the preface and conclusion to “Establishing Shot” and “Final Shot.” The theme is continued in the design elements throughout the book (not just the cover). Each chapter title page has a director’s chair with the name of whichever co-author wrote that particular chapter. A little box that looks like a ratings box is also included, but instead of a rating it includes the business themes for the movie being discussed. I appreciated the attention to detail in keeping the theme front and centre for the reader without overdoing it.

Find this book online

The Big Picture: Essential Business Lessons from the Movies: Amazon US | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

The Book

Marketing in the New Media by Holly Berkley discusses what new media is and how to use it as a small (or medium) business owner. It’s a good primer on the issues and techniques involved in this type of marketing. The book is a fairly easy read using a number of case studies to illustrate different approaches and providing a list of references to back up the information in each chapter.

The Review

New media, in case you’re unaware, is pretty much everything but radio, TV, and print, and outdoor ads. Cell phones, e-mail, live chat, web sites, RSS, blogs, podcasting and social media are “new.” Berkley defines the difference between old and new media as one of control: in the old media it was the advertisers who were in control but in the new media it is the consumer.

The case studies used to illustrate the various concepts are very helpful in illustrating the uses of various social media. Not being from the US, I found the analysis of the recent US presidential campaign interesting in showing the disparities in social media success of each party. There is also an interesting look at the Super Bowl and how companies that can’t afford to buy a TV ad (which no “small” business could) can still capitalize on the marketing efforts of the big guys through new media. This book focuses on the American market in its examples–not being a marketer I’m not sure whether that affects its relevance to marketing in other countries, but it is something to be aware of.

I was glad to see that this book covers much more than just having a web site and buying online ads. Berkley focuses on getting business owners to understand how to interact with their target audience since the new media requires interaction, unlike old media, which is somewhat of a new concept (and explains why many businesses come across as clueless when they apply old media techniques to new media).

As a consumer, I wasn’t particularly thrilled that she advocates having interns go around on social media and answer questions by mentioning a company product or service. As a consumer I always find these types of answers annoying and disingenuous when I come across them online but then I’m kind of crotchety that way.

The Verdict

This is a good primer on new media marketing. It’s not a how-to book, but it’s a helpful overview of issues and options. I can see it being useful for those starting their own new media marketing or hiring someone to do it for them. You can buy this and other Self-Counsel Press titles at Self-Counsel Press (US & Canada), and Amazon (US, Canada & UK).

The Book

Writing for the Web, 4th Edition by Crawford Killian touches on all aspects of writing web content including website structure/organization, word choice, style, and editing. Also addressed is the issue of writing for different audiences in sections on corporate websites, blogs, and marketing/advocacy writing.

The Review

Take a quick spin around the Internet and you’ll find a number of sites (including corporations) that need a lesson in writing online copy. If the job of writing web copy has fallen to you and you’re not quite sure how it should be different from printed copy or if you simply want to know how to write better for the online medium, then Writing for the Web, 4th Edition is a readable, useful book to have on hand.

An introduction to hypertext starts off the book. Using the history of the medium, Killian explains why online and offline are different and deserve different treatment. The author goes on to cover structuring a website, organizing a website, writing good content, editing webtext (print if off to read!), corporate webwriting, writing for blogs, advocacy and marketing on the web, and frequently asked questions.

Each chapter is subdivided with many lists, bullets, and examples that make it easy to understand and remember the points being made. It is nice to see references (usually online so the reader can access them) to back up the occasional statistic or other figure used to make a point. The occasional exercise is included so that you can practice the concepts discussed (sample answers for some exercises are even included in an appendix). Some chapters also include handy reference lists, like a list of frequently confused words (like ‘affect’ versus ‘effect’) and lists of common abbreviations.

Despite being suitable for use as a textbook (it has in fact been used for workshops and college courses), Writing for the Web, 4th Edition is an easy read. Written in a conversational tone that speaks directly to the reader using language that seventh graders’ can understand, Killian practices the concepts of reading level and writing tone that he teaches in the book. Too bad more textbook writers don’t do the same (I would have spent more time reading and less time sleeping while studying if that had been the case).

Like other Self-Counsel Press books, Writing for the Web, 4th Edition comes with digital content, but thankfully this book has its additional content online so it is accessible to both Mac and Windows users (or, for that matter, users of any other type of operating system). Killian’s blog devoted to web writing is actually quite useful and not your typical author “buy-my-book” blog.

At 150 pages, Writing for the Web, 4th Edition is short enough not to be intimidating but long enough to convey a lot of useful information and serve as a handy reference to keep on hand.

You can buy this and other Self-Counsel Press books from Self-Counsel Press (US & Canada) and Amazon (US, Canada & UK).

The Book

Start & Run an Internet Research Business by Gerhardt W. Kautz goes over starting a business providing research services primarily carried out on the Internet. There is information on general aspects of setting up a business with an Internet research angle.

The Review

I was particularly interested in this book because Internet research is something that I’ve been doing since peons were allowed onto the Internet around 1994 so I was interested in finding out how this skill could be used in a business. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this book particularly helpful as it focused more on general business start-up.

This book has good information on writing a business proposal, what needs to be addressed in client negotiations, how to document your work process so that you account for all your hours, and how to write a business report. There are also plenty of sample documents to work from.

Unfortunately if you don’t already know the tricks to Internet research that go beyond simply Googling keywords, you won’t learn much more of them in this book. Out of 140 pages, a scant 5 are specifically dedicated to finding information on the Internet. Information sources beyond search engines are mentioned, but they are fairly common ones that many people will already have found. It’s possible that I’m wrong on this because I’m just so used to doing research, but I’m assuming–again, perhaps wrongly–that if you’re contemplating Internet research as a business that you have already explored beyond Google. I wanted to see more time spent on how to find niche information sites that are off the beaten track.

The case study followed through the book is of someone who has worked in a specific industry and decides to offer industry-specific research by providing research on military contract opportunities. While there are certainly readers out there who are in a position to adapt this model to a different industry, I would guess that there are many interested in this type of book who aren’t. A few more case studies or alternate scenarios would make this book useful to a much larger audience that isn’t quite sure how to go about making Internet research a business that isn’t so narrowly focused.

I didn’t get a chance to look at the CD that comes with this book–my PC is currently sitting in disconnected bits in the living room and with a functional Mac I have little incentive to put it back together–but it appears that, unlike the Dan Furman books, many (all?) of the forms and letters are reproduced in the appendix of the book. That’s good for those of us working on a Mac who can’t open the files (or those who have a tendency to lose CDs).

On the whole, this book is good but not quite what I was expecting. I wanted to see information on Internet research as a business set this book apart from a general home-business book and, for me, it just didn’t go far enough to accomplish that.

You can buy this and another Self-Counsel Press titles from Self-Counsel Press (US or Canada) and Amazon (US, Canada, UK).

The Power of Who: You Already Know Everyone You Need to Know by Bob Beaudine proposes that the traditional view of networking that many of us are familiar with simply does not work and that, as the subtitle says, we already know everyone that we need to know. Beaudine is an executive recruiter and I’ve learned to pay attention to people in his line of work when they give advice on landing the job you want since recruiters/headhunters essentially study the “getting a job” process for a living. I also hate networking so I’m open to the idea of not sucking up to complete strangers in the hopes that they may one day may be useful to me.

Beaudine’s thesis is two-fold: One is that most of us live unintentional lives, never examining what we truly want and so never getting it. The second is that instead of asking people that we know and who know us to help us get what we want, we instead go out and ask relative strangers because we don’t want to admit weakness to our friends or don’t believe that they are powerful enough to help us get where we want to go.

There is a lot of information and advice in this small book although little of it is new. Many of us need to hear something said in a certain way in order to finally hear it so this book may do it for you even if you’ve heard the information before. I’ll grant the thesis that too many of us never get what we want because we don’t know what it is, but the idea that we’re only six degrees of separation away from our dream job through our existing network of friends and relations is a bit harder to swallow (depending, of course, on what your existing network looks like).

The writing is straightforward and conversational with plenty of anecdotes/case studies and quotes. I found some of the explanations of the diagrams of influence and the 100/40 list unclear, which is unfortunate since understanding that 100/40 list is a big part of applying Beaudine’s idea of networking (I did eventually figure it out from the context of the rest of the book, but it’s still fuzzier than it should be because I had to piece it together myself).

I do find it unfortunate that Beaudine uses a number of references to the bible. Since the book is not marketed from a Christian angle, I wasn’t expecting religious references and found them jarring. I am finding this more and more in books from mainstream American publishers, and it’s unfortunate because it makes assumptions about the audience that are neither necessary nor valid.

Putting aside my dislike for religion in my secular topics, I can see this book being of tremendous use for some, particularly those who may be panicking about their current job situation. It’s a short enough book not to be daunting, but long enough to make you take a deep breath, pause, and think about what you are going to do next.

I am adding The Power of Who to my Health & Fitness Read It, Live It, Blog It challenge which means that I am going to sit down and try to apply the advice in the book to my life and then blog about the effects/results (I’ll just shoehorn the book into the mental fitness category, in case you’re wondering how it fits). Those posts go up on Fridays and cover various books depending on what I am working on any given week (I won’t be blogging Beaudine’s book this Friday as I still have to sit down and do the work).

You can find Bob Beaudine’s book at amazon.com, amazon.ca, and amazon.co.uk.