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Book Review: Smart Brevity

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I rarely write book reviews anymore. And I’ll bet you rarely read them. But this one will be brief, and worthwhile for both of us. Promise.

Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz is a must-read for communicators generally, and writers specifically. It’s worth a review. Plus, this gives me an opportunity to try writing in Smart Brevity style.

Smart Brevity - The Power of Saying More with Less book cover

Smart Brevity Count:
762 Words | 3 Minutes

The Big Picture

Most of us write the wrong way. It’s not our fault. We’re victims of bad incentives, such as:

But what most communicators ultimately want is simply to be effective. Writers want to be read. Speakers want to be listened to.

There is a better way, and Smart Brevity provides the guide. [Read more…]

Author Interview: Wendy Marx, Thriving at 50+

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Ageism, like other forms of group discrimination, is despicable, ignorant, and illegal. Yet it’s commonplace among business leaders, especially in the tech sector. And it is, as Bill Maher has pointed out, “the last acceptable prejudice in America.”

Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot, told the New York Times in an interview that he was “trying to build a culture specifically to attract and retain Gen Y’ers,” because, “in the tech world, gray hair and experience are really overrated.”” Mark Zuckerberg has been quoted saying, “Young people are just smarter.”

Thriving at 50 Plus by Wendy MarxSubstitute a term like “white people” in place of Gen Y’ers or young people and just imagine what the backlash would have been. But because the bigotry was age based, it elicited barely a peep.

The average age of employees at Facebook, LinkedIn, and SpaceX is under 30. It’s under 35 at Tesla, Google, Amazon, Apple, Salesforce, Adobe, Intel, and Microsoft—among others.

Yet as Tricia Lucas, CEO of Lucas Select, has written, there are numerous benefits to hiring those over 50: they are flexible and dependable problem solvers, they make great mentors, they usually have large professional networks, and, most importantly, “they are ethical.”

[Read more…]

Author Interview: Joe Contrera, Extraordinary Results

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What makes a leader truly effective? It’s question that’s been at the center of conferences, workshops, blogs, and MBA courses for decades, and a topic of books and debates for centuries.

The most effective leaders guide others rather than command them. They seek to influence rather than control, and to inspire rather than intimidate. They earn loyalty by empowering people to be their best in pursuit of a higher purpose.

Are some people just born with the “leadership gene,” or can those qualities and capabilities actually be taught, and learned?

Among the individuals who’ve given that question extensive thought and study is Joe Contrera, president and founder of Alive @ Work ® LLC, a leadership development company committed to helping Extraordinary Leaders Achieve Extraordinary Results.

Book - Extraordinary Results: Mastering the Art of Leading, Coaching, & Influencing OthersHe’s a leadership speaker, coach, consultant, and author of three books. His most recent book, Extraordinary Results: Mastering the Art of Leading, Coaching, & Influencing Others has become a vital resource for leaders in organizations across the country who understand the importance of influence to effective leadership.

Here’s the story of Extraordinary Results.

The Inspiration

Webbiquity: What inspired you to write this book?

Joe Contrera: It was the culmination of taking everything I had learned educating and developing leaders for 19 years and putting it into a format that was more of a “how to  lead and influence” versus a nice book with a lot of theory.
[Read more…]

Marketing Technology Buy The Book

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With more than 90% of B2B marketers now embracing content marketing success depends not on producing more content but better content. And marketing technology can help,  from ideation and research through production, promotion, and analytics.

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Software - coverSo it’s no surprise that 70% of marketers say they plan to spend more on content marketing in the coming year, while 68% will allocate more dollars for marketing tools. Spending on marketing technology (martech) consumed 29% of budgets this year, up from 22% in 2017.

Numerous studies have shown that having a documented content marketing strategy is vital. But what about documenting your content marketing technology strategy? That’s where The Comprehensive Guide to Content Marketing Software, a new 377-page ebook now available on Amazon, comes in.

With thousands of tools on the market across dozens of categories, it’s challenging to identify the most important types of tools to invest in, choose the best tools for your needs within those categories, and integrate all the tools in martech stack (or more accurately, your martech matrix) to make all the pieces work  together.

[Read more…]

Book Review: DISCOVER Questions Get You Connected

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In the age of empowered buyers, business is often won by the sales person who asks the best questions. Deb Calvert, president and founder of People First Productivity Solutions, has written the essential field guide for sales professionals who want to learn how to ask those questions.

DISCOVER Questions Get You Connected - a guide for professional sellers by Deb CalvertToday’s buyers have access to unprecedented levels of information: product specifications, pricing, customer reviews, competitive comparisons. It’s all a few clicks away. They don’t need sales professionals to tell them what they can easily learn elsewhere, and will resent (if it happens at the wrong point in their buying process) being “sold.”

What they do want is consultative guidance, especially when it involves co-creating unique value.

Of course, the notion that asking the right questions is key to sales success is nothing new. Mike Bosworth’s Solution Selling remains a classic guide to asking smart selling questions.

But sales pros who’ve read Bosworth’s book often have two reactions: 1) It’s an incredibly valuable guide, particularly when selling complex, high-value products, but 2) it’s incomplete, not delving deeply enough into question design, particularly for open queries.

[Read more…]

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