SOUL PROPRIETOR

101 Lessons from a Lifestyle Entrepreneur by Jane Pollak

An eatery at a prime retail mall just folded after barely a year of operation. Located at an MRT station, it attracted a steady stream of diners each day, offered full service, and superb value for money set meals at under $6. Perhaps that was the problem - the pricing was not justifiable with the prime rentals they are paying for that location. This scenario makes for a good case study and was pleasantly holding court in my mind when I found this book to while away five hours waiting for accommodation in a local hospital.

‘Soul Proprietor – 101 Lessons from a Lifestyle Entrepreneur’ [1st edition] is an unpretentious read right from its rather unimpressive cover. Inside is a simple and solid guide from author, Jane Pollak, who owns a small but a successful business selling decorated eggshells. Pollak provides readers with 101 brief and down-to-earth advice and warnings in catchy subtitles that draw you into her narrations.

Where an enterprise’s image is concerned, Pollak offers in Lesson 5 ‘It’s best to focus your message carefully in every aspect of your business – written, visual and operational’, Lesson 7 ‘If you’re going to compete in business, your printed materials need to project the statement that you are a serious player.’, and Lesson 8 ‘Words shape your company’s image. Make sure they reflect what you want said about your business.’

What I like about Pollack is that she is a realist and not just some motivational guru who inflates readers with notions that puff up insecure entrepreneurs. She talks about taking necessary time off for other aspects of life [Lesson 28 – Occasionally the planets may line up to force you to take time off] yet persuades you to ‘forgo immediate results for the promise of greater, more lasting gains’ [Lesson 26 – It’s important to know when to discard something you already have for the promise of something better to come.] Indeed, ploughing through adjustments with the goal in mind is often the hardest challenge for business owners! So common to find insecure business owners seek one hype after another (like sugar boost) hoping this will move their business forward.

Pollak wisely reserved the finest advice for last. At #101: ‘Truly understanding your core values will make some choices easier to refuse.’ Kudos to Pollack for the courage to keep a healthy objectivity toward her business.

This book reminds me of a vital question business owners need to answer: What is your business? Bearing in mind that a business lasts beyond products that inevitably face technological, utility, or design obsolescence. If all you can describe are your products and business activities, you ought to search deeper and think harder.

Where you can get it: S$7.90 DU YI Bookshop, NUH Main Lobby

Level of impact: Good dose of sensibility
Timing of book: A time when I feel strongly that business owners need to keep in check their emotional investment for their business or creative ideas and stay objective about prevailing market conditions and the nature and typical lifespan of their businesses.

SOCIAL MEDIA 101

TACTICS & TIPS TO DEVELOP YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE by Chris Brogan

Having just changed my phone to one of andriod breed [an operating system for mobiles that is ranked fourth most popular smartphone device-platform in the United States as of February 2010], I was naturally interested to explore on social media. What andriod seems capable of is that it enables my phone to host a wide range of social media. What I'm capable of, however, lags far behind ... so, purely judging a book by its cover, this book seemed timely.

As a guide for a social media dummy like myself, I was hoping to find explanations or  illustrations showing how different social media such as Twitter and Facebook connect with audience and how each medium connect with each other. Perhaps I am too much of a dummy to find it and sadly, I didn't learn anything that improved my knowledge of the power of social media for social or business use. Maybe it's not written for dummies!

Where you can get it: NLB
Level of impact: None
Timing of book: Title alone - very relevant to these times when social media is a conversation buzzword that seems to elude those above forty!

Everyday Negotiation by Deboral M. Kolb & Judith Williams

Named as one of the Ten Best Books of 2000 by Harvard Business Review, this book is for two groups of people.

One group comprises of those who have the propensity to see negotiation not as a synonym for manipulation but as a process of discovering and leveraging on commonalities for win-win relationships of any kind. Originally titled 'The Shadow Negotiation: How Women Can Master the Hidden Agendas That Determine Bargaining Success' to draw women readers, this second edition is titled 'Everyday Negotiation' and recognises that the insights of women highlighted in the book are gems for men as well.

The other group includes anyone who feel that negotiation is a buzzword for the power-hungry and those apathetic to helpless ordinary folks. They feel they are the voiceless ordinary folks. If you belong to this group, this book will empower your as an advocate for the ordinary folks. Soon, you will find there is no such thing as helpless or voiceless ordinary folks. Everyone is in fact engaged in negotiation in one way or another; in open or insidious ways, with clear expressions or non-verbal cues.

Case studies are used throughout this book that make for enjoyable reading.

One thought summary: After reading a copy of this book from the library, I knew I had to have it for myself. As one who is often impregnated with the discontentment that precedes changes within myself, and around me, I enjoy the good outcomes of change but dread the discipline and time required to see it come through. Yet, changes are born of good negotiations where two parties eventually form a more positive sum of values. This book is real in that it does not have one-size-fits-all formulas, but sound principles that make the most important change possible: the change in ourselves.

Where you can get it: Kinokuniya S$35.00; National Library
Level of impact: Reduces frustrations, improves relations when I refuse to see people at the negotation table as 'for me or against me' proponents.
Timing of book: Being conflict-averse, I was drawn to the chapter titled 'Negotiating Change'.

Execution: the discipline of getting things done
by Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan

This book powers up my belief that there is a bigger reason for getting up in the morning and doing everything else! From contract to payment, the critical gap is execution. I've seen execution that is technically excellent and moves faster than integrity checks could catch up, and I've seen execution that shoots bullet holes into contracts as soon as they are signed. Poor execution causes businesses to bleed, yet commercially flawless execution can be planned.

For anyone who thinks execution is for rank and file, read the book. I've always been impressed by bosses who move with the big picture and yet can instinctively sniff out execution loopholes. Great leaders can sniff out loopholes. What I like about the book is what it says about leaders: leaders are realists! As such, the authors suggest that companies that don't execute well usually have leaders who are out of touch with day-to-day realities.

One thing straight - I don't like execution without a clear idea of the bigger picture it serves. As such, I detest and grind my teeth doing things I see no purpose to. Being naturally anti-busy, I don't have any intrinsic need to be seen being busy. However, being free of tasks does not mean I'm not fruitfully engaged - these are separate issues.

One thought summary: There is execution and there is execution. Not all execution have the same output. There's execution that starts with time. This follows time and date. At 9am on a Monday, the restaurant crew shows up. The manager mechanically unlocks the door, the chef systematically prepares the kitchen, the cashier non-chalantly turns on the cash register, and whatever else needs to be done before they open at 10am. Then, at 10pm, they return the restaurant to the condition before they opened in the morning. And there's outcome A.

There's execution that begins with something to achieve for that day. Let's say a shoe shop has to generate $5,000 of sales that day. So when the service staff shows up for work, they are reminded of the sales target and everybody tries to remember it during the day. If a customer buys shoes, they think of the sales target. If a customer walks away, they think of the sales target. Their relief comes when they meet the sales target. Conversely, they are stressed that day if they fail to meet it. And there's outcome B.

Then there's execution that begins from the time each employee is recruited. The business owner shares with him the dream that he has for the business that embraces the business. As each employee hears this dream, he/she is inspired. Progressively, he/she develops an original expression of the owner's dream - that of course, by now, has also become his/her dream. The doorman opens the front door of the boutique hotel, and extends his expression of the dream to the first customer walking in. Likewise, the frontdesk, the bell-hop, the chef, the chambermaid each has an expression of the owner's dream in all they do. And there's outcome C.

Which execution do you think yields the most desirable outcome?

I prefer the execution that yields outcome C. Although it takes a longer time to produce results than the preceding two execution styles, it is one that develops people and their potential. Yet, it can be a strategy that faces most resistance and criticism especially from certain minority 'who need to know everything now and where exactly they stand' and who think discovery is too dangerous. It takes time to convert those who are used to practising time-based and short-term goal-oriented execution to adopt vision-embracing execution. Sadly, some never. But those that do are the valuable leaders of tomorrow. And for these, I think it is worth persevering.

Where you can get it: Kinokuniya S$41.20; National Library
Level of impact: Important towards seeing the bigger picture in all I do
Timing of book: Immaculate

Creative Capitalism compiled by Michael Kinsley

Bill Gates put forth 'Creative Capitalism' as the way profitable businesses can offer solutions to help make life better for the poorest on earth where philanthrophy, governments and charitable organisations can be limited. He proposed that businesses continue to do what they are good at doing and use about 10% of their time and talent in creation and innovation to produce solutions to help the poor who will never be able to afford their products. What follows are chapter by chapter debates from worthy advocates and adversaries or at times, bi-positional proponents. I like the intensity, directness and diplomacy of the debate.

One thought summary: I always believe that there is a bigger reason for getting up in the morning in the same way that there is a bigger reason for business beyond generating good money. Therefore, I tend to lean towards Gates' position that businesses are important players in society and the world to improve the living conditions of the underprivileged or 'the needy and the poor of the earth' [Isaiah 11:4]. I also find the longterm intangible benefits of engaging in such social causes valid to the business and these can range from attracting new investments or good calibre employees, to garnering the goodwill of governments and people groups.

Where you can get it: Kinokuniya S$47.03; National Library
Level of impact: Intense and urgent
Timing of book: Good timing

The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford

This book met the purpose of my trip to Kinokuniya: that is, to find something with real-life and up-to-date applications of economic principles. The primary user is Krystle though I have to read to vet its suitability for her. [Not bad that she scored A for Econs in the first term and is already tutoring her classmates] From 'Introduction' to chapter 1 - so far so good. Interesting illustrations from coffee chains [oh! the draw of caffeine - even in words!] to the mafia, marginal costs and barriers to entry seem like the steam of a hot cuppa in my hands. Savouring it slowly... going onto chapter two...

Where you can get it: Kinokuniya S$18.14; NLB
Level of impact: still reading and discovering
Timing of book: hoping this is better than 'Armchair Economist'

14th February 2009

STARBUCKED
- A Grande Tale of Caffeine, Commerce & Culture by Taylor Clark


I think if there is one book you want to pick up to understand what coffee is all about - history and evolution of the cuppa, coffee crop cultivation and trade, the coffee culture in urban societies - just read this book. Of course, it's one man's study and take on it but there is deep research and investigation that makes it pretty credible.

Personally, I picked up the title because I like Starbucks. I simply see that it has a very simple business philosophy: that is, to provide good coffees and a great place for people to meet. True enough, excerpts of interview with Starbucks honcho Howard Schultz reveal that the business just aims to provide a simple cup of coffee and along with it, a unique experience.

Great overview of business practices affecting competition, location, unfair negotiation powers and many realities of business that consumers are spared from knowing but get to enjoy all the benefits of the winners and losers.

One thought summary: The voice of the visionary is often foreign to many who are dubious of the simplicity and focus of his thought, and who are convinced that there must be deeper hidden motives. The visionary often then finds himself a subject of open debate and dissection to slice the perceived nobility of his purpose. People of passion are dream carriers who see that the potential is greater than the present. Yet they are realists not illusionists and they often have track record to prove. I especially like the Starbucks work culture where though people who work there look good and are typically efficient, creating a buzz culture that you can expect at every Starbucks outlet, individualism is not allowed where the whole is more important than the one. Teamwork is emphasized and the most important person is the one who greets you at the counter.

Where you can get it: got mine at Kinokuniya, seen it at Popular; NLB
Level of impact: The 3-in-1 coffee/commerce/culture is a natural draw
Timing of book: Only for enthusiasts of 1 or more of the 3 topics