Tag Archives: Business

A Year in Books/Day 203: Raving Fans

Posted on by
6
  • Title: Raving Fans A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service
  • Authors: Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles
  • Year Published: 1993 (William Morrow and Company, Inc.)
  • Year Purchased: 2010
  • Source: An ex-place of employment
  • About: I hate this book. I’m tempted to say that I passionately hate this book, but it’s too ridiculous and poorly written to engender that amount of feeling. If you’re wondering why I’ve kept a book this bad instead of tossing it on a rubbish heap whilst kicking up my heels in glee, I use it as a reminder to work my writing fingers to the bone so I do not have to toil in the corporate world again. Ever, ever again. Ever. Because if I do, I’ll probably have this crap thrown at me a third time. I’m not knocking the premise behind Raving Fans; it is sound-very basic, but sound. The execution, though, is worthless. The single worst passage I’ve read in my entire reading life is in this book. (See below) Honestly, if you can run through 132 pages in 15 minutes while knocking back Scotch in a dark, noisy bar without missing anything, what you are reading is too watered-down. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 179: It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be

Posted on by
4
  • Title: It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be
  • Author: Paul Arden
  • Year Published: First Edition:2003/This Edition: 2007 (Phaidon)
  • Year Purchased: Unknown
  • Source: My mom, who gave me a bunch of books to either keep or sell. (According to the sticker on the inside back flap, she bought the book at Anthropologie.)
  • About: Another corporate motivational book, this one by an ad man from the UK. He was highly successful, and so was this common-sense little volume. It is as easy to digest as your favourite ad campaign, and almost as memorable (the chapter on Victoria Beckham not withstanding). Continue reading →