FunnyBusiness: Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line

Dear Diary: Life as a Working Woman

  What are you doing on Tuesday, March 27th? If Joni Cole has her way, you will be keeping a day diary that could be featured in the next This Day In The Life book.

"Your day diary will cover the 24-hour period from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, March 27, 2007. In essence, a day diary is part itinerary: what you did and when you did it; and part journal: what is going through your head and heart throughout that day.

Because the theme of this book is working women, we ask that you make sure to clarify your job duties when on the job, so that readers get a real sense of what it’s like to work as an administrative assistant, or a waitress, or an at-home mom, or a movie star. Of course, a complete day diary of any working woman also encompasses all those other job-related activities, thoughts, and feelings that occur throughout any given day, whether you are multitasking on the way to daycare, celebrating at lunch with a coworker about her positive review, or tossing and turning at night over recent layoffs.

By creating a day diary and allowing us to share it with our readers, you will be contributing to the book’s power to reveal the reality of women’s working lives across the country."

    This will be the third in the series of This Day In A Life books. Unlike the previous two books,  this one is specifically targeted to working women. "We want to feature an unfiltered view of working women whether it comes with a paycheck or not," said Joni.

For transparency purposes, Joni is a personal friend whom I have the highest respect and trust. As bloggers,we share a great deal about our lives and work everyday.  Having someone take our  day diary and edit the entry for a book is a different issue.

I can only say that Joni is a writer's writer, If you decide to participate you will have the opportunity to work with one of the most special people you will ever meet. To be part of this writing project, you'll need to complete a confirmation form saying you plan to keep a day diary.

Joni says in the last book 600 people committed and 500 submitted their diaries. The book featured 34 complete entries and excerpts from more than 200 other diaries.

Just click here to get your confirmation material. Have fun.

This is cross-posted at Blogher
 

One-on-one marketing sells books

  On any given day John Shors may attend three or four book clubs -- always talking about the same book, "Beneath a Marble Sky." Shors is the book's author.

When the book-- an historical romance about the building of the Taj Mahal-- came out in hardback, it earned good reviews and mediocre sales. When it came out in paperback,Shors added a pesonal letter at the back of the book encouraging book clubs to book him for a personal engagement.

200 book clubs later, Shors' book sales are going great. It's number 350 on Amazon and getting 5 star reviews.

Book clubs are not the only people intriqued with Shors marketing strategy.He caught the eye of CBS Newsman Harry Smith. You can read his story or watch the video (beware you do have to watch some advertising before the interview  begins).

There is a second interview with just Smith chatting with Shors. You can watch that video as well.

Shors told Smith that his goal is to attend 1000 book clubs. He's booking book club discussions  through 2007.

A couple of years ago author Lorna Landvik ,"Patty Jane's House of Curls" visited my book club. It was great. Landvik lives in Minneapolis and she regularly attends book clubs in the cities. However, from a marketing perspective talking to the hometown crowd is probably not the best way to reach a wide audience.

Shors is taking  the book club personal appearance to a new level by making virtual guest appearances.Whether on a speaker phone or video conference-Shors visits these book club without stepping into their livingrooms--he is a virtual guest.

Watch the back of your paperbacks. I have a feeling that more and more authors will soon be hopping on the virtual book club tour.

"This is not a fad":Corporate Blogging

Saying she wanted to write the "uncool" blogging book, blogging consultant Debbie Weil set out to write a "how-to" book for corporations who have heard about the power of  blogs but not sure how it fits into their business model.  Released in August 2006, Weil says her books is targeted to corporate-minded people.

While she is a obvious proponent of corporate blogging, Weil says that there are some pitfalls--particularly if a company promotes customer service on their blog and then customer's actual experiences don't match up.

Weil recently chatted about the book, blogging and where she thinks corporate blogging is headed.You can re

You can read more about Weil's blog on her blog:BlogWrite for CEOS

Corporate Blogging does have its detractors. Amy Gahran, on her blog The Right Conversation   links to a post called Why Jonathan Schwartz should not be blogging  by Dave Taylor  and then shares her thoughts on why most CEOs should not blog.

"As anyone who's worked in or with corporations for more than five minutes can attest, often CEOs are the last people who can speak to the public in a relaxed, human voice. This is especially true for text blogs where you're dealing with the written word.

In my experience, most top-level executives are horrible writers. Worse, they loathe writing and they aren't emotionally prepared to handle open comments. They're more comfortable giving speeches and interviews -- which might make them better candidates for a podcast."

 

As for Taylor's rationale for CEOs keeping being nonbloggers:

The most important issue, however, is that the CEO is not the person in a company responsible for communicating with customers and the marketplace. Indeed, the traditional role of a Chief Executive Officer is to raise money. That's it. They're responsible for contributing to the strategic direction of the company, but most typically not the tactics. Look at this another way: quick, how many CEOs can you name? How many from companies with more than $10 million in sales or more than 500 employees? I thought so.

This is cross-posted at Blogher.

"Are you saying you need a penis to have authority?" she asked. "Well, it helps," he deadpanned.

That exchange was part of a conversation Naomi Wolf had with Harvard professor and author Harvey Mansfield on C-Span's Book TV.The link is to the  podcast for the program, After Words---this particular interview should be available as a podcast on 3/27.

A lot of oxygen is being sucked up on Mansfield's (not his real name)book, "Manliness"  It was reviewed in the Sunday NY TIMES in which the blog, Pink  Is The New Black, "The bitchiest book review ever". His favorite excerpt from the review:

"After a section on the history of "the great explosion of manliness that took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries"(an image that gives even me, a straight man, erotic chills), it's time for Mansfield to stop preheating the oven and cook up the geese he's already got trussed and cleaned: the feminists. Remember the feminists? These would be the late Betty Friedan and the even later Simone de Beauvoir..."

Mansfield was interviewed in The New York Times Magazine by Deborah Solomon and opinions about his book are available in lots of lblogs.
According to  Technorati, as of this morning ,more than 500 blogs are either praising or scorning Mansfield's book.

Now, back to that comment about authority and penises. It came near the end of the hour when the conversation sidetracked to women and men at work.

Mansfield was saying a Manly Man looks down distainfully at women. He added, " I think they will chafe under a woman boss. Women don't inspire the same sense of authority"

Mansfield tried to explain his point that while women can act authoritatively, manly men don't see them as  having authority for the simple reason they are not men. If I'm getting his point it doesn't matter how competent, capable and hard working we are. Manly Men will never accept women in an authoritative role unless they are  manly women ( he mentioned Margaret Thatcher.)

Confused? it has to do with his definition of manly which he says,

"My quick definition is confidence in a situation of risk. A manly man has to know what he is doing."

Returning to the conversation with Wolf, Throughout the hour, Wolf attempted to refute every single point that Mansfield made. Yet, on this one, she struggled and seemed to support his point by saying,

"Women sense that men have contempt for us and think we are not as important. Women will comment that they try to make a contribution in a meeting and are ignored but when a man says the exact same thing he's recognized ( not the exact quote --I was typing as I was watching the program)"

The exchange stopped me in my tracks.Probably because it spoke a truth to me that I wish weren't true. I see it. I experience. For many years I simply wished men would grow up and get over it.

They may respect me for my talent, but what they are  really thinking is " you aren't really the boss of me."

If Mansfield is correct ( and there is a nagging part of me that believes on this he is) then despite everything we do, women can knock our heads against the wall for as long as we want...but it won't change the fundamental barrier to success in a traditional corporate environment  --men would prefer we bring them coffee then lead them.

There is a lesson in Mansfield's book. Many of us have found that trying to play in their sandbox is an excruciating experience. Because no matter how hard we work, how smart we are, how competent we are,they really don't want us there.(and there is a part of us that has realized this for a long time)

That's why there are more women starting their own businesses then men and that's why a little more than a year ago a group of women bloggers were frustrated that the men weren't recognizing and including the contribution of women bloggers.It was maddening. What was their problem?

Their problem created our opportunity --Blogher.

Note: This is cross-posted at Bogher where I am a contributing editor on Business & Careers.

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First Impressions

"As a leader, you're probably not doing a good job unless your employees can do a good impression of you when you're not around. " -Patrick Lencioni, author of several books including the newly published Silos, Politics, And Turf Wars on leadership: Silos, Politics, And Turf Wars on leadership.

First time I read this quote I smiled.

The second time i read this quote I winced.

The third time I read this quote I decided its one of the most ridiculous quotes I've read in a long time.

It's one of those statements that you would expect to hear from a motivational speaker who is trying to get your attention. The quote is provocative --it definitely conjures up very real images and memories.

But what in the world does it mean?And what behavior is it advocating ?

I must be missing something here because as I could through my list of leadership qualities, having my team doing impressions of me behind my back is not one that I would encourage.

I prefer to have them do their impressions of me to my face.That's funny and very helpful

It's a great way for employees to tell you what you're doing that's driving them crazy.If for the past month you've ended ever meeting with ..."The net-net is",.or you tend to tap your fingers on the table as if you were practicing piano scales,( yes these are both things that my team called me on, several times) it's nice to have employees know that they can have a little fun at their manager's expense-- and hopefully get some relief from the manager's most annoying habits.

I  found  that particular quote at 800-CEO-READ Blog -- companion to the 1-800 website which is in the business of selling books for and about business.

Their blog completely confounds me. I'm assuming its designed to get people to buy  their books but they have the oddest business posts I have ever since and not all linked to books. There's just these random posts advocating a business view that seems very counter culture and bizarre.

here's a sampling.

There's the post that says the real reason businesses should advertise is to motivate employees

"Advertising at its best should make employees proud to be....employees. If it doesn't it is doomed to failure."

Or this one on focus groups

"Focus Groups are a waste of time and money.

You either know your business or you don't. Products or services must be actually tried in the marketplace--not shown on storyboards for opinion from outsiders who do not live or breath your business. If you still insist on focus groups--use your own employees-that might actually be of some value."

Or this gem on graphic standards

"Think of every potential customer as 65 years old with poor eyesight.

Even if your market is teenagers this rule applies. The single biggest marketing mistake companies make is creating promotional materials that are too hard for the eye to comfortably read. Whatever your art director recommends--insist the body copy type size be doubled or tripled. Afterall, THE objective is to be read! And, no white reverse type--ever."

However, embedded in the post on focus groups I did find a quote that I agree with,

"If I had asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse."- Henry Ford

Advance Copy

Note: Spellcheck is on the fritz, again.

Time was that only a select few "inner" circle types were privy to the advanced copies of yet- to- be published books. As Meryl Evan writes in her blog, Meryl's Notes there's a new service for books on cutting edge technology that is changing all that.

"Safari has a new service called Rough Cuts. It gives you access to books BEFORE they’re published. These chapters won’t be fully edited or formatted for print. For computer-related topics, this is an excellent idea because you know it’s hard to keep up with technology especially for books. As soon as a book on a software product is published, a new version gets released soon after.

It’s not a free service, however. Instead, the Rough Cuts are sold at 50% off the book’s expected retail price. This gives you access to the evolving manuscript in PDF and you can provide feedback to the editors along the way. The FAQ explains the three purchase options: pre-publication, pre-publication and final product, or final product only.

If you purchase both versions, you may or may not save money. As you know, many online book stores rarely sell the books at the recommended retail price. You can also learn more on InformIT and O’Reilly Web sites."

People who subscribe to this service will gain access to ,

" an evolving PDF manuscript that you can read, download or print. Once you've purchased a Rough Cuts title, you will have a chance to shape the final product-you can send suggestions, bug fixes, and comments directly to the author and editors.

You have your choice in the Rough Cuts program of purchasing just online access, just the print book when it releases, or the best of both worlds - online access immediately and the print book later.

Rough Cuts titles live up to their name-they haven't been fully edited, subjected to final technical review, or formatted for print. In other words, they'll be very current, but they won't be pretty."

Rough Cuts is starting with four titles and says they will be adding more titles on an ongoing basis.

Available Rough Cuts:

Title	Available	Anticipated Publication Date
Ajax Hacks	January	03/01/2006
Flickr Hacks	January	02/01/2006
Ruby on Rails: Up and Running	January	03/01/2006
Ruby Cookbook	January	09/01/2006

The Ghost of Clifford Irving

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This post is dedicated to the members of my book club who had a riveting discussion about this book just last week. In particular, this is dedicated to Mary.

Before there was James Frey.

Before there was "the interview on Larry King Live".

Before there was Larry King saying his show was going to "run over"  the top of the hour because Oprah was on the phone.

Before there was Oprah saying, "I've been trying to call in  all hour but the line's been busy,"

there was Clifford Irving on 60 minutes.

It's a classic. It was Superbowl Sunday 1972 and for the previous week or so the media had been consumed with whether or not Irving ,who had written a biography of Howard Hughes, had "faked it".

CBS News.Com  has highlights of that interview in a post they call: "Liar, Liar".

'Less than two months after the CBS News interview, Irving admitted that his book was a hoax. Time magazine dubbed him "Con Man of the Year." And CBS News, too, gave him an award worthy of his performance.

On March 19, 1972, 60 Minutes nominated Irving as best actor of the year in a starring role.

Irving had to pay back the $765,000 advance to his publisher. He was also convicted of fraud and served 14 months in federal prison.

Recently Mike Wallace interviewed Irving again after 27 years and admitted he couldn't figure whether the author had been telling the truth. "

If you want to check up on Clifford Irving, Answers.com has his biography. He's listed as author/fraud.Frey will in all likelihood not be branded as author/fraud ( unless we find out he really didn't go to treatment and has been drinking heavily for the past 13 years).

What a difference 36 years make. Yes, there's been a bru-ha-ha this week about Frey and his assertion of spending time in jail. But in the end, it won't be Frey who takes the real hit on this, it will be the publishing industry. As they should. That's because of a telling interchange between King and Frey regarding how Frey orginally intended to market the book.

King said,"Is it true that you originally shopped this around as a work of fiction and it was rejected 17 times."

Frey confirmed that was true.

King then asked if Frey would have been comfortable if the book had been published as a work of fiction.

Frey said he would have.

Whoa! Have I been out of the loop. I didn't know that "memoir" was a new literary genre otherwise known as "creative autobiography." Silly me, I thought it was just a shorter, hipper way of saying autobiography. Guess not.

Here is Writer's Digest explanation of the difference.

"...autobiography focuses on the writer's entire life, whereas memoir focuses on a certain aspect of it.

As Susan Carol Hauser further explains in You Can Write a Memoir, autobiography focuses on the chronology and timeline of a life. Memoir is concerned with themes that occur within that chronology.

So, putting on my Nancy Drew hat, here's what I think could have happened.

DISCLAIMER: The next section of this post is pure conjecture.

What I am about to say is not based on any facts. It's not based on any personal experience with publishing houses. It's simply based on a hunch and probably too much time watching sitcoms and movies.

Frey wanted to get his book published. The publishing houses didn't think it was "compelling enough as fiction."

So they go to Frey and say, " we want this book but only as a memoir.It's a powerful story when it's true story."

Frey ," Well most of it is true but I have changed some facts and you know I didn't really spend three months in prison ,and I wasn't in a drunken stupor every day. How could I have possibly graduated from college if I was as wasted as I say in this book?"

Publisher, " Well prison is a metaphor for what you were personally going through, isn't it?

Frey, " Yeah, that's the ticket. I was in prison."

Frey was just a Desperate Author who wanted to get his book published. There are now just four publishing houses ( I learned this last week during my podcast interview with Joni Cole who, unlike Frey is not making millions from her work ).

So, it was their way or the highway. Frey chose their way.What would have happened if Frey had picked up his manuscript and simply said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Would the publisher's have budged?

Probably not. Frey had no power at the time.

So it was either agree to the way the game is played, or have a powerful manuscript collecting dust.

I know some folks who would have walked away. Joni Cole would have. Nancy White would have. I would like to think I would, not so sure.

What the publishing house did is not that different from what the pharmaceuticals do when they fail to disclose negative health implications associated with drugs or medical devices ( Vioxx, Guidant). Or the recent disclosure that medical journals use ghost writers paid by pharmaceuticals for "scientific articles"  bylined by world renowned physicians.

Where is that outrage on that one? Didn't seem to catch the media's fancy . That's a shame. Having pharmaceutical paid freelancers ghost writing for doctors alleged research is life and death stuff. It's just not very sexy.

Businesses driven by the bottom line and Wall Street expectations now treat the truth as a  mere statistical factor for predicating success. If its 98% safe, then it's good enough to go to market( without telling people about that 2% risk)

It it has 95% true facts, then that's good enough to publish as a memoir ( why have a disclaimer to make people wonder what facts have been changed, it could depress sales)

As a culture, we accept "the stretch". It's sort of the truth.It's mostly the truth. It depends on what your definition if "is,is". It's good enough.

We like drama. And sometimes the truth just gets in the way of good drama.

It did last night. Does anyone really believe that Oprah spent the hour trying to dial in to Larry King Live only to hear a busy signal?

Does anyone really believe she just got through with seconds to spare and that the producers of Larry King made an executive decision to run over their alloted time to accomodate Oprah?

I  believe that Oprah was contacted earlier in the day. I believe  she had a private number and didn't try to dial in on the regular number. I believe the producers held her call until just the right moment.

Did it change what she had to say? Did that little "stretch" taint her support for Frey?

Did she and the folks at Larry King even think that there could be some irony in the fact that they were commenting on his veracity while they were "staging" this last minute breathless call?

Probably not. It is after all, just show biz.

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Podcast#1 _On Assignment_Joni Cole

Five years ago, Joni Cole was having a very bad day. She imagined her
friends were living "big lives"--that instead of sitting in a home
office and eating lunch out of a microwave box, they were "On
Assignment."

Joni turned that bad day into a great book idea. She invited women
from all over the country to share their day diaries.
This week--the first week of 2006--the second volume of This Day In
The Life is hitting the bookstores.
It is an addictive read and readers will walk away wishing they could"
go to lunch" with the women who share their feelings, thoughts,
passions and fears.
The book has earned a starred review from Publisher's Weekly.
This is my very first attempt at podcasting. Let's just say I have a
lot to learn.
First, I did the interview over Skype which I thought was very cool.
Only problem-- somehow I didn't have my computer settings to allow my
mic to record so while Joni's answers are loud and clear my questions
were lost.
Then I did some direct recording into Audacity and while they sounded
fine in playback, when I edit them in with Joni's soundbites, the
volume on my soundbites will make professional audio folks shake their
heads in disbelief.
And figuring out how to convert my WAV file to a MP3 that didn't sound
like a cat scratching a blackboard was an all day endeavor.
So yes, this is not the finest hour of podcasting history but it's my
first podcast.
Thanks for listening!


MP3 File

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Just Do It

Haitians have a term for the secondhand clothing and stuff we send to them. They call them Kennedys.  In Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains( this month's book club selection)  Kidder explains the term has been around since the 1960s when President Kennedy sponsored a program sending machine oil to the impoverished country.

"The Haitians tried to use the oil for other purposes, such as cooking, and concluded that the gift was of inferior quality. Ever since, the president's name has been synonymous here with secondhand and shoddy goods."

Not surprisingly many of today's Kennedys show up  as left over  branded clothing.  From running shoes "that have seen a better day" to logoed T-shirts and baseball caps, we are providing Haitians with more than needed clothing--we are providing them with a deep insight into our branded culture.

Given the amount of branded stuff we are sending them, its no wonder that Kidder saw this

"There was a young worker at Zanmi Lasante who wore a new-looking , Haitian-style straw hat on which he or his wife had sewn a homemade piece of cloth that read NIKE."

On Mexican Time

For book club this month we read On Mexican Time by Tony Cohan. While this was definitely not a business book, it did offer some peeks into the differences in Mexican business culture and ours.

Granted this exchange took place in the 1980's but even then it would be hard to find a business owner in the US who stopped ordering a product because her customers liked it so much.

"The morning Masako came back from town bewildered. Supermercado Sanchez sells a canned tuna in a spicy tomato sauce so original,so tasty that people have been telling friends about it. Quickly it sells out. Reorders have been taking longer and longer. Masako asked Senora Sanchez why it hasn't reappeared on the shelves. She stopped ordering it, she said. But why, when it's so popular? That's just it, Senora Sanchez replied. People are always asking for it. Then we run out. they complain. Too much trouble. "No vale la pena," she says, throwing her hands up. Not worth it."

And this from a conversation Cohan had with a Japanese woman who worked  in quality control at a Nissan plant in Mexico

"In Japan," she says if something falls down on the production line, workers rush to analyze the cause, take blame. In Mexico, it's 'se cayo'( it fell) or 'se rompio'(it broke). Nobody admits responsibility.'

" What do you do then," I ask her.

" First you approach the worker to the right and you ask is everything okay. Then you approach the worker to the left. Finally you agree with the worker who made the mistake that maybe something happened ---'se cayo. But you never blame."

"Pride, machismo," I say.

Yoko nods. " Every culture is different."