Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith are clear that their goal in writing The Dragonfly Effect
was to help the reader harness social technology to meet their goals.  While the use of animal-themed literary devices to make business points could be worn out after penguins, mice, beavers and hedgehogs; that is not the case with this well-written and useful social media guide.

The Dragonfly in this case has a body (to keep it and your social media goals airborne) and four wings:  wing 1 is focus, wing 2 is grab attention, wing 3 is engage and wing 4 is take action.  Each wing (idea) gets its own chapter and includes very useful Design Principles that offer actionable material throughout the book.

What I especially liked about the book was the relevant case studies, a clear, engaging writing style and the sense that both authors are passionate about not only social media and its ability to effect change, but more importantly teaching the reader how to “know what they know” to orchestrate their own social media success story.

If you are looking to harness social media to accomplish a specific goal this is a great place to start.

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Tribes by Seth Godin is his call to action for all would-be leaders out there.  According to Godin people want connection, growth and something new.  And the person to give it to them is you and me.  By leveraging the power of the internet, which Godin says “eliminates geography”; anyone with the passion and purpose to lead can find their tribe.

Godin clearly has the motivational side down as each short chapter gets the reader pumped up and ready to lead with each turn of the page.  And few authors can turn a phrase like Godin.  Only Godin could come up with “The Balloon Factory and the Unicorn” or “Sheepwalking”.  That and much more creative word and idea play is in the 151 pages of this tiny book.

I would call this a “5-hour book”.  Maybe an hour or two to read and although the ideas are catchy and sound – who doesn’t think passion and connecting with others can’t build tribes – but that leaves you with maybe three hours that this book will stay on your mind.  Like an energy drink, the feeling will pass and you are left with positive thoughts, but no clear plan.

And maybe Godin meant it that way.  He gives us the push and we take the first difficult steps.  But if you want a deeper examination of leadership you better look elsewhere.

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“One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit.”  Thus begins Harry G. Frankfurt’s book; a book I wanted to like, but in the end had to admit that this short, palm-size hardback was not for me.

Frankfurt acknowledges early on that he did no survey of the literature on bullshit and spends the next 67 pages musing on the topic.  I was looking for a more in-depth look at this communication topic and perhaps a better understanding of how to spot it, counteract it and rise above it.  None of that was in this book and shame on me for not researching this book further before I bought it.

At the end of the book, in the “About the Author” section we discover Frankfurt is a “renowned moral philosopher” and after coming across words like “perspicuous”, “procrustean” and “pleonastic” early in the book that made sense.  What didn’t make sense was this “book” was originally published as an essay in the Raritan Review.  After reading that the only thing I could think was, “That’s bullshit!”  I paid good money for a book and what I got was a souped up essay.

Save your money and your time and look elsewhere for an understanding of bullshit.

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T.J. Murphy in Inside the Box tells the story of his year going from CrossFit newcomer to holder of a 5:27 Fran time.  If you don’t know what that means, you should read the book.  If you do know what that means, you should still read it.  Both the novice and the seasoned CrossFit vet will have plenty to learn about CrossFit’s colorful history, its impact in the world of fitness and the moving stories and personalities that make it up.

Anyone who has finished 5 Ironmans as Murphy has is no fitness pushover, but after years of distance running and triathlons, a painful divorce and injuries to his body that would not go away he found himself at CrossFit Elysium in San Diego looking for a different way to health.  Murphy’s story introduces us to burpees, WODs, sweat angels and Firebreathers.  And more importantly it shows us how a small gym in Santa Cruz, CA and its legendary founder Greg Glassman invented “the Sport of Fitness”.

Going from 13 affiliates (gyms, or in CrossFit lingo “boxes”) in 2005 to over 4,000 in 2012 speaks to not only the sense of community that Crossfit has built (which Murphy excellently chronicles), but also the life transformation it can affect through changes in diet and exercise.  This is perfectly captured in Murphy’s chapter on CrossFitter Irene Mejia’s journey from morbidly obese to a de-facto leader at CrossFit Elysium.

As Murphy writes, in CrossFit “you get what you put in” and a visionary, strong-willed leader, passionate CrossFit affiliates and the willingness of CrossFit members to put it on the line every Workout of the Day (WOD) has led to a revolution in the fitness industry.

This is both a great narrative of one man’s introduction to the world of CrossFit and a fantastic record of CrossFit’s history, impact and future potential.  I highly recommend it!

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I.  Best Link of the Week:

I’m a huge fan of TED.com.  Every talk is no more than 18 minutes long and these are the most inspiring and most brilliant people you’ve ever seen.  This link is to the 20 most-watched TED talks.  See which one blows you away.

II.  Best Site of the Week:

If you are busy, and who isn’t these days, Smart Brief is a useful site that analyzes all the great content on certain business topics and sends you helpful summaries.  Great for business professionals and those that want to stay in the know.

III.  Best Book of the Week:

Gretchen Rubin released her follow-up to The Happiness Project this week, called Happier at Home.  You can read my review of The Happiness Project and see why I’m looking forward to this book.  I will have a review up in the next few weeks of Happier at Home.

IV.  Best Post of the Week:

This is my best post of last week, but since I didn’t do a Four of a Kind post then I’m going to bend the rules a bit.  Here are 10 books I can’t wait to be released this Fall.  Check out the list and let me know if you have any titles you are really looking forward to.

Thank you for sharing some time with me this week, here’s to good reading and your success!

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Being a relative newbie to copywriting, much less Search Engine Optimized copywriting, I picked up Jon Wuebben’s Content Rich for the express purpose of helping me understand the nuances of the topic and hopefully learn some tactics that I could apply to my site.  Luckily for me (and you) Mr. Webben’s book accomplishes both tasks effectively.

The book has three major parts:  1 – the basics of SEO copywriting (very informative for someone new like me), 2 – help with writing different types of copy (articles, press releases, ads, newsletters, etc) and 3 – real world examples of copywriting in action (small/medium v. large company examples, case studies and even copywriting as a career).  After covering the basics in the first part I found the chapters on articles, blogs and newsletter copy especially helpful and instructive.

Specifically informative was the discussion on using AIDA (attention, interest, desire and action) when writing great copy and the author’s admonition that copywriters write for people first and search engines second.

Using short, well structured chapters; a chapter review at the end of each chapter, and a useful list of copywriting resources at the end of the book, Mr. Wuebben has written a guide that not only enlightened me to some critical changes I need to make to my site, but a handy reference that I can return to again and again going forward.

I highly recommend this book for anyone starting out to learn SEO copywriting.

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“I saw a statistic from Kindle showing that most business books are abandoned about one-third of the way through…”                                  

                                                                                    -Mark W. Schaefer Return On Influence

When I first read that stat I couldn’t believe it.  But as I mulled it over it started to make some sense.  How many times have you started reading a book (not just a business book mind you) and gradually lost interest to the point where the book soon ends up on the nearest shelf?

So to help you slug through and make it to the reading finish line I’m presenting you 5 of my top tips that I’ve acquired over a lifetime of reading.  Here we go…

1)  Make a game of it

Commit to reading for 15-20 minutes; followed by something you really look forward to.  Or, pick a fixed number of pages and make that the goal for the day.  The trick here is to keep your commitment small and do it when you have the most energy.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.

2)  Remind yourself why you are reading it

Sometimes we just need to remind ourselves why we are reading this book.  Perhaps its work related and could potentially come in handy during next month’s sales meeting.  Whatever the case, finding your motivation can give you just the push you need to turn those pages.

3)  Look for it in a different format

Maybe 4 point New Roman type is not your cup of tea.  Maybe that fancy e-reader you got for Christmas isn’t the missing link in your quest for reading immortality.  Maybe what you need to do is ditch the reading and let someone else do it for you.  While your partner’s heavenly voice isn’t always available, perhaps the book on CD or download will take a tough reading experience and turn it into a pleasant listening one.

4)  Let it marinate

For some strange reason I always write in the inside cover of the books I read the date I started reading them.  And when I finish I put the date I finished.  Now the books that grab me by the throat (Gone Girl, anyone) usually last less than a week.  But I’m constantly surprised by the number of books I started years ago and finished this year.  Sometimes you are not ready, sometimes the book isn’t ready, either way nobody said reading is a race.

5)  Make like House of Pain and Jump Around

So no trick is going to get you through that book?  And you must have it read yesterday?  Try this nifty book hack.  Read the introduction and first chapter (authors always present their main argument(s) here), skim the chapters and subheadings in the chapters to get the gist of each one and finally read the conclusion or last chapter (authors usually put it all together here).  Not the best way to read a book, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  And I’m sure you’ll go back and read the thing later.   Riiiiigggghhhhttt.

So there you have it, 5 tips to help you finish reading that book.  Do you have any secrets you use to push through a boring read?  Let me know in the comments section below.

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Being influential on the social web these days is the holy grail of companies, bloggers, and a whole generation of people who don’t know a Q score from an Ipod.  Setting aside the money made by targeting the right people at the right time with the right product, what has taken the web 2.0 community by storm is the ability to put a number to everyone’s influence on the web; or what is commonly known as social scoring.

Social scoring not only signifies a person’s ability to influence others into taking a specific action, but represents a number that companies can leverage to find success with product roll-outs, customer service issues and a whole host of business ventures that rely on positive word of mouth.

Mark Schaefer in Return On Influence has set out to help us understand this brave new world in social scoring and uses three main pillars to get us there:

One, explain the history of influence on the web or how anyone with passion and a story can become what he terms “Citizen Influencers”.

Two, describe what makes people influential on the web; which he does by relying heavily on Robert Cialdini’s research found in his seminal work Influence.  Schaefer’s thoughts on perceived authority, consistency and commitment, and social proof and reciprocity are useful in making sense of where and how influence on the social web comes from.

And finally,  he outlines the effects Klout and companies like it; that aim to quantify this influence, mean for the future of influence marketing.

Schaefer not only tells the story of influence on the web and highlights what makes someone influential on it, but at the same time offers great tips on using those same tactics so the reader can attempt to do the same.

When it comes to Klout what I thought might be a simple “praise-fest” ended up a well-measured examination of its history, its good and bad consequences for the social web and even useful tips on increasing your own Klout score.

Closing with his and other thought leader’s views on the future of social scoring added impact to the overall narrative and like his earlier book The Tao of Twitter Schaefer has written a well-timed guide of the social web.

This book will no doubt be useful to newbies and pro’s in many diverse and impactful ways and I highly recommend it.

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With the Labor Day holiday upon us here are ten books being released this Fall you should check out.

Gretchen Rubin – Happier at Home (9/4/12)

If you haven’t read her first book, The Happiness Project, read that one first, but check these two books out in any order.  You’ll be happier you did.

Neal Stephenson – The Mongoliad (9/25/12)

I don’t read much fiction (at least not relatively speaking), but if you are in to fantasy fiction you should check out the The Foreworld Saga.  This is book two of that trilogy and after book one I would rank it up there with Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Earthsea Trilogy and Terry Goodkind’s The Sword of Truth series.

Vince Flynn – The Last Man (11/13/12)

Best action/thriller writer since Tom Clancy.  Can’t wait to read this latest installment of the Mitch Rapp series.

Preston & Child – Two Graves (12/11/12)

For someone who doesn’t read much fiction, this is my third fiction entry, but once you meet FBI Agent Pendergast you’ll know why this 12th book in his series is such a big deal.

Jon Meacham – Thomas Jefferson (11/13/12)

Meacham wrote a great biography on Andrew Jackson and is back with a look at one of our most famous founding fathers.

David Nasaw – The Patriarch (11/13/12)

Plenty is written on John and Bobby Kennedy, now from the author of The Chief and Andrew Carnegie comes a biography of the man who made them, their father Joe Kennedy.

H.W. Brands – The Man Who Saved the Union (10/2/12)

A biography of Ulysses S. Grant that does justice to his legacy as both military leader and President.

Oliver Burkeman – The Antidote (11/13/12)

I think the subtitle says it all:  Happiness for people who can’t stand positive thinking.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb – Antifragile (11/27/12)

From the same author that wrote The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness
comes another look at why the unexpected is expected in today’s world

Michael Ennis – The Malice of Fortune (9/11/12)

What if Machiavelli and da Vinci came together to solve a murder?  Historical fiction couldn’t have a better premise.

Those are the ten books I’m excited for this Fall.  How about you, what book has you counting down the days until its release?  Let me know in the comments section below.

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1.  You can learn from experts – We will probably never learn face-to-face from the experts on the topics we are passionate about, so why not do the next best thing and read the latest book they wrote.

2.  You can fill those dead spots in conversations – Ever had that awkward moment when a conversation has run its course from “how you doing” to “how about that weather” and finally into the brick wall of dead silence?  That would be the perfect time to mention the great new novel you are reading and (a) make a book recommendation that they will forever be in your debt for or (b) strike up a conversation around their most memorable book(s).  Either way, you both win.

3.  You will look smart at work – I’m not talking just business books here, but a well placed referenced to any book that helps your co-workers or boss understand a situation, problem or obstacle at work will go a long way to building your reputation as someone who knows more than Snooki’s baby’s name.  And in the interest of full disclosure I found that name out last night – Lorenzo.

4.  Knowledge is Power – Think about the smartest person you know and think about the most powerful person you know.  Are they the same person?  Do they read?  I’ve heard the saying that the only thing worse than someone who can’t read is someone who can but doesn’t.  Claim that power in your life and be the best person you can.

5.  It’s cheap – One sad benefit of the masses reading less is that books are cheap these days.  Maybe not new releases and bestsellers, but go to any used bookstore or even Amazon’s Kindle’s $0.99 deals and if you want a book cheap you can find it.  The amazing part is some of the most well-known works, or Classics, are practically free these days if you search long enough.

6.  You can go anywhere anytime you want – Tired of your stay-cations?  Not a fan of another weekend at home waiting for the work week to begin?  Why not take a trip to Hogwarts, go to Spain with Hemingway or enjoy a frightfest in Maine with Stephen King.  The point is you can go anywhere in a book and the only constraint is your imagination.

7.  Imagine – Imagine the best book you ever read.  Remember how it made you feel and the journey it took you on.  It could be a book from your childhood, something you had to read in high school or even a book you happened to come across by chance by an author you had never heard of.  Now imagine there is another book out there just as good or even better.  Now go find it.

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