Thursday, July 12, 2007

My Dirty Little AudioBook Secret

There are many many books that I should read. I'll go to a lecture or be in conversation with a colleague, and I'll hear, "this is a book you should read," or they'll simply start referencing the book, and I'll feel painfully behind in being ahead. Books like "The Tipping Point," "Blink," "Freakonomics" "The Long Tail," and "The Change Function" have become the media, marketing & business canon. But, much like the reading list for my college class in "The Literature of Social Reflection," there are jewels that I have not read.

So, I've taken to dual processing -- thanks to the powers of podcasting and digital books. While I work at my laptop (or sit in my car for alternate side of the street cleaning), I play, "The Long Tail" or twenty minute synopses of the latest business books. (You should check out Soundview Executive Book Summaries -- soundview.com, by the way.) But it doesn't stop there. I download whatever I can with respect to useful tips, tools and knowledge that might be helpful. So it was that I recently "file-shared" an excerpt from Brian Tracy's, "Ten Keys to Success in Selling." And over the past 6-12 months, I've heard it many times. And I must admit, there are jewels in those words. A few little nuggets that I find myself relating to or that are cause for pause.

So, here they are: (Please note, the lead up is much longer than the jewels)

(1) Only 2% of people are capable of working unsupervised.
(2) Launching a sales career is like flying a plane. You have to build up enough speed to take off, and then you can pull back a little. But, if you always work at the same level, you will never take off.
(3) When you go to an industry conference to hear the top performers in your industry, go up afterwards and ask them how they got where they are. Take note of the books, conferences and other recommendations they provide. And then do what they suggest. Eventually, you'll be the one on the podium.

I like to think that I am one of the 2%, so that makes me feel good. And I find the plane analogy relevant in a lot of situations. Finally, I've taken the third item to heart. One thing I like to ask speakers and executives is the following: "Media & Entertainment is one of the fastest moving industries there is." (That's why I love it so much.) "How do you stay on top of it -- particularly given your scope of responsibility and the increasing convergence (yes, I used the buzzword)?" It's a relevant question, and I've gotten some valuable responses. Try it.

Karen Levine
Triple Play Consulting
Media, Marketing & Strategy

3 comments:

Unknown said...

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Take care.
Morena

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Unknown said...

I'd like to speak with you to get some of your thoughts about a high level executive search my firm is doing for a major cable network. Call Chip @ 212.414.0200

thanks