The World is Flat

Manager Tools is the first podcast I

Manager Tools is the first podcast I listen to any day it appears, no matter how many days I've fallen behind on anything else, and it's the first podcast I recommend to anyone who has to work for a living. Keep up the good work!

Now I've put some high praise in the first paragraph for your comment summary strip, on with the meat:

Mark and Mike, I swear you mentioned Neil Rackham's SPIN Selling in one of your members' only casts; it was between The World is Flat and Lemonade Stand on my list of books to buy on your recommendation. SPIN and Lemonade might not be appropriate members of this particular reading list, but you'd better put Flat up there. Fellow listeners, the book isn't selling *only* because it's popular. Grab a copy at any airport; it'll make that flight more strategically useful than your last one.

For a soft introduction to Tufte, I recommend The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint. I just keep buying more copies and handing them to anyone who cares about getting a message across -- intact. Jerry Weissman's Presenting to Win and In the Line of Fire are also handy in this context, though they appeal more to the salesman in me than to the geek.

Back to SPIN Selling: I'm a technical pre-sales engineer for a large vendor, and SPIN Selling is just as relevant today as it was in 1988 despite the de-emphasis on closing in modern sales training (say, Holden or Siebel). I can't recommend SPIN enough for anyone selling technology into the enterprise -- particularly if they're responsible for the technical credibility of their sales organisation.

Finally; if I could make a couple of suggestions specific to this list:

First, you should disclose to people that you'll make a buck from any purchase someone makes from Amazon if they click through from a link on this page, and that you'll make more if they buy immediately after following the link than if they buy a few days later from Amazon (tip: come back to this page when you buy!). I imagine that'll only encourage people to do so.

Secondly, I'd much appreciate it if you add to each book's entry a paragraph each on why it's worth our time, and a link to any episode in which you mention it. Those episodes' pages could also link back to this list. I anticipate this style of linkage will help people productively rummage around your ever expanding back-catalogue, and improve your sales as a handy side-effect of that improved service.

Best regards,
Garth.

Garth- Thanks for the kind words!

Garth-

Thanks for the kind words! That may be the best first paragraph I've read in a long time.

We did mention Rackham and SPIN Selling. I read it way back in 88, and was astounded. In fact, it was my sense of how right it was, and how people wouldn't listen even though I was using it to set records, that added to my feelings that maybe I was weird and needed to do something different with my life than climb the corporate ladder. Brilliant book.

I am going to go get the other presentation books you've mentioned. Tufte will just befuddle most readers, but for the serious reader, it's sublime. I haven't done as complete a review in this field as I have of the people part of management, and I would like to.

(BTW: That study causes books like "Zapp: The Lightning of Empowerment" NOT to be on my list. It's funny how many folks just assume that I've missed "their" book. That's unlikely, because I read so much. But to be fair, I also have a distinct point of view that provides a nice filter: if something doesn't pass the filter, I don't read it.)

You're right on the full disclosure about the book links. I'm sure I can convince Mike to add something to that effect, since he'll surely be asking me to write a blurb for each book, which, of course, you are also spot on about. Well done you, and thanks.

And we'll add TWIF too. Every time I look at the list lately, it feels like a two-legged stool.

Great post - many thanks!

Mark

Hi guys: Great website and podcasts

Hi guys:

Great website and podcasts - please don't ever stop! I've listened to TWIF twice now (thank you, Scott P., for recommending the book to me!) and it is such a great book, I highly recommend it to anyone.

I also think it should be a "must read" to anyone in high school as a "heads up" to what is coming. Good luck, class of '06, you're going to need it!

Thanks again!
Tedd

I listened to TWIF earlier this year

I listened to TWIF earlier this year while struggling at work with Wipro consultants 'messing things up'. I spent the first half of the book angry. Really angry. I even yelled a couple of times in the sanctity of the car at how things were changing and how it was wrong and not fair.

The second half of the book I settled down and started thinking. Whie I don't have the answers on how to work successfully with Wipro yet, but I do believe this book has opened my eyes to new ideas and paradigms. Last week, I moved my office to a new building and ended up across the hall from the Wipro onsite account manager. I am looking forward to building this relationship. There are so many in my company fighting with Wipro, I figure this is an excellant opportunity to take what I have been learning on Manager Tools and discover how to work with these folks better. It isn't going away and there are rewards for being the first to figure it out.

Rambling post, but it is a good book and I recommend it to everyone, whether you work in a large company or single man shop. I told my friend who owns a small ad / graphics design company he better read it immediately.

Hi, Looks like the link to Amazon

Hi,

Looks like the link to Amazon for this TWIF does not work any longer. The only thing I got was:

"We're sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page on our site.
Please double-check the URL for typos and other errors. Or go to the Amazon.com home page. "

Can you have a look? I wouldn't like you to miss out on your "commission" in case we search it on Amazon directly.

Tom

Tom, The link is as follows

Tom,
The link is as follows (including the MT commission)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374292795/leadertools-20

or in the UK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0713998784/leadertools-20

Phill

I'm a new listener, catching up as

I'm a new listener, catching up as quickly as I can. I just got to "Manager Tools Development Challenge 2006", which mentions The World is Flat, Neil Rackham’s SPIN Selling, and the Lemponade Stand, which is the source of my question. It turns out there are a lot of books that use the lemonade stand as the basis for teaching various aspects of business. Most seem to be for kids, but I wanted to check — did you mean The Accounting Game : Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand?

Carl- Yes, but only tangentially.

Carl-

Yes, but only tangentially. We didn't mean the book at all, rather the seminar upon which it is based. I haven't read the book, but have been to the seminar and it's one of the few that I've been to that was excellent.

Mark

Carl, I love the book!

Carl,

I love the book! Interestingly enough, not more than a couple of hours before reading your note, I gave my 19 year old son my copy of the book. He had come back from his first college accounting course completely confused. I hope the book does for him what it did for me.

regards,
Mike

I've nearly finished "The World Is

I've nearly finished "The World Is Flat". It is nothing short of sensational and has completely changed how I look at my work, my family, my city and my world.
Friedman writes with clarity, occasional wit and manages to simplify and clarify the mysteries of the 21st century.

If you've got time and really want to

If you've got time and really want to get to the root of the issues you may want to read "Post-Capitalist Society" by Peter Drucker first. It lays the foundation for all the 'effects' discussed in TWIF.

There are currently two free videos

There are currently two free videos from MIT in iTunes, where Tom Friedman speaks about the book. In iTunes, go to the iTunes Store, type "The World is Flat" in the search area (top right of your screen), and look for the results in "iTunes U."

If you like TWIF, you will really like

If you like TWIF, you will really like Thomas P. M. Barnett's books, "The Pentagon's New Map" and "Blueprint for Action"

The World is Flat is now

The World is Flat is now free

http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/giveaway

"Beginning tomorrow, and running through August 4th, Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Macmillan Audio will be offering the audio edition of Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat for free. Listeners will receive the audiobook in three easy-to-download sections, and soon after that, as an added bonus, will also receive an exclusive prepublication audio excerpt of Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America. The book itself will be released by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on September 8th.

Jeff Seroy, Senior Vice President of marketing and publicity at FSG, said the purpose of this audio giveaway is to "celebrate Friedman's enormous influence on our lives and times. And in preparation for the release of his new book, a green manifesto and a continuation in many ways of his thinking in The World Is Flat, we want to enable anyone who hasn't already read The World Is Flat to catch up with Friedman's argument and vision for the future."

If you'd like to receive these free audio downloads, sign up at the following address: http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/giveaway"

Source - http://blog.changethis.com/changethis_newsletter/2008/07/the-world-is-fl...

To promote Friedman's next book, the

To promote Friedman's next book, the (abridged) World is Flat audiobook can be downloaded for free until August 4. See http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/giveaway

Just finished reading TWIF (mostly on

Just finished reading TWIF (mostly on the rocky coast of Maine) and I was blown away by the section on 'In-sourcing' and UPS. I took a 'logistics management' course pre 11/9/89 and had no idea at the time what it all meant or could mean. Long book, but certainly worth the time. Also, TWIF has changed the way I view my kids' future and the comfortable life we try to create for them.

Dave