Philosophers have great difficulty writing books for the general reader. They either use technical terms and obscure language that give the impression of deep thought, beyond the reach of the uninitiated and essentially boring, or they write in plain language that risks their profound insight being dismissed as little more than what our grandparents called common sense. It was Bertrand Russell who said that 'common sense is not so common' and he, of course, was the supreme exemplar of the art of conveying deep thoughts in everyday language. In more recent times, Roger Scruton has admirably carried forward this tradition, but regrettably, Slavoj Zizek has not.

The author is described on the back cover of the book as 'one of the world's greatest living philosophers.' The title of the book, 'Event,' is described as 'the new and highly contested concept.' This immediately raises the Confucian question: is something simple being made into something complicated? Are we being sold common sense wrapped up as philosophy?

An Event is described as a 'radical rupture' and 'an occurrence that shatters ordinary life,' after which 'nothing remains the same,' Zizek appears to be referring to a discontinuity over time yet makes no mention of Hume's Law. Similarly, the reader is promised a discussion of 'which conditions must be met for us to perceive something as really existing' without reference to John Locke's sense perception or George Berkeley's deep meditation on the tree in the quad. In fact, the author ignores the events associated with British empiricism.

Zizek says that he is aware that something has been left out. The book ends with 130 notes, the last of which states that 'this overview is, of course, far from complete,' and mentions two particular omissions: analytic philosophy from the early Wittgenstein to Donald Davidson, and the eventual status of quantum processes in subatomic physics. In what is described as an 'accessible commute length' book, it is particularly difficult to decide what to include and what to leave out, and Zizek has opted for a mix of modern scholarship, recent history and popular culture.

The central theme of Event is said to be the impact of three great philosophers, Plato, Descartes and Hegel, who revolutionized thought in their time, thus constituting three great Events in the history of philosophy. None of Russell's readers will doubt this contention and it was probably well understood by many well-read people of earlier generations. What Zizek adds in describing the nature of an Event is mostly drawn from existentialist theory, arthouse and film noir cinema productions, Eastern mysticism and sexual anecdotes. One puts down this book wondering why 'one of the world's greatest living philosophers' attempted to popularize his work in this way.

It is now possible to publish your eBook or print on demand book on Amazon’s KDP platform for free. This is an excellent deal as Amazon sells 70% of eBooks and 50% of print books plus the royalties are favorable to authors. However, setting up an account, formatting the book and uploading your manuscripts can be a daunting endeavor. “How to Self- Publish a Book in 10 Easy Steps” offers the guidance and reasoning what to put in all those little boxes. Knowing the why and how makes the process a viable and rewarding experience.

What makes this book worthwhile is the fact that the author formulated this book when uploading an earlier version on the discontinued CreateSpace to the new KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). Thus. Beth Whittenbury encountered and solved the same problems you’ll face in uploading your book. And her roadmap lays out the process in an orderly fashion beginning with the decision, do you want to be your own publisher? There’s pro’s and con’s and you have the information to make a rational choice.

Next is obtaining the ISBN, which not only identifies your book but also its format and publisher. This section also identifies the author, page size, format, and medium, either an eBook or paperback. Other classifications are the primary subject category, target audience and if known, the publishing date. ISBN numbers are obtained through the site myidentifiers.com and prices range from $125 for one to $29.50 each when buying ten.

Next step is registering your book with the Library of Congress for a PCN (Preassigned Control Number) which assist libraries locating where your book is shelved. This chapter also covers how to cross-reference your PNC with your ISBN and the process for sending a copy to the Library of Congress. Beth also discusses whether to get a copyright on your book.

In setting up your KDP account, she suggests keeping Amazon KDP as your printer, not your publisher. This maintains your rights. This section also identifies the country where you work, your tax information, your bank routing information for royalty payments, and your Social Security Number or EIN.

Once you have set up your KDP account, you can start uploading your manuscript into the KDP system. The book provides instructions on what information goes into which boxes. For instance, you might have other contributors such as an illustrator or co-author. There are boxes for those. Other boxes include language, book title, keywords, subject category, and publishing rights. One of the more important entries will be the description box as this will appear on the Amazon book page and is the one that potential readers use in evaluating your book and making purchasing decisions. Look at similar book descriptions to help in writing this sales piece and selecting strong keywords. This description and its keywords are also part of the search parameters buyers used to find a book on a particular subject.

Once you’ve filled in the boxes in the Print Option section, you can start loading your manuscript. First, you’ll need to load a free Word template for the trim size you have chosen. This is a complex procedure and Beth leads you through this process with detailed step-by-step instructions. She also cautions about choosing a font size and that using the default font of Garamond 11-point when writing your manuscript will probably save you formatting work later on.

The next section explains how to format your title page, colophon page, dedication page, and acknowledgment page. The colophon page is also known as the Copyright Page or the Edition Notice. While the KDP template gives you the minimum notifications for what goes into the colophon page, Beth suggests. adding the Library of Congress Number, a disclaimer and your imprint. This will make your book appear more professional.

The Author’s Biography goes at the end of the book. Here you may want to add links to other books you have written or a link to Amazon’s “Write a Review” page. When you are satisfied with the manuscript, you’ve entered the KDP template, consider converting that Word file into a pdf file. This is especially prudent if you have photos or illustrations, or if it is a really large file.

We’ve now come to the book cover section. Here Beth discusses whether to go with a free cover set up by KDP or paying a designer to create one. Going the free route is discussed in detail from selecting a photo from KDP Image Gallery to designing the graphics for the title, sub-title and author’s name. The back-cover information is also discussed including book description, author’s picture, and bar code based on your book’s ISBN. The spine layout is also covered and includes the book title and author’s name printed vertically.

The final section is “Paperback Rights and Pricing.” Here you’ll choose which territorial rights you hold, your primary marketplace, the list price of your book, and any expanded distribution such as bookstores, libraries, and online retailers. Beth suggests when selecting a price, you survey those of other books in your category and not to price it above the average. Basically, royalties are calculated at sixty percent of list price minus printing cost.

Another consideration is the determination of pricing in foreign countries. Foreign sales through Amazon receive a sixty percent royalty and those sold through other channels are calculated at forty percent. Before publishing your book, obtain a proof copy as, some errors won’t be prevalent in the electronic previewer, but show up in the actual, physical, proof copy.

Once you are happy with the proof copy, you can click the Publish button and your book should appear on Amazon within seventy-two hours. Of course, now the hardest part of being an author begins, promoting your book.

EBOOK EDITION

Should you also want to publish an eBook edition, Beth’s book also takes you through those steps. While basically the same as the paper book process, they differ in some ways. As such, she walks you through them in Appendix A of her book. First, log into your account and just to the right of your book cover, click on the blue words “+ Create Kindle eBook.” Many of the boxes have already been filled for you. Make sure they have the correct information. Her book goes on to explain where the information would be different. These include the Age and Grade Range Box and the Pre-Order box.

The Manuscript Box has several choices that must be addressed. One regard is limiting sharing this book with others. You will also need a new ISBN for your eBook edition. In addition, options for your cover are less than for your print book with regard to font type and color.

After you’ve uploaded your manuscript and cover, you can preview it on your computer or on your Kindle device. Your text may not look the same as it does on a printed page. This depends on the digital device used to read your book’s pages and some devices may cut off in places you didn’t intend.

If you want KDP to be your exclusive eBook publisher, join KDP Select. The KDP Select benefits include being available on Kindle Unlimited and receiving a seventy percent royalty versus thirty-five percent. The book covers additional benefits.

Pricing of your book follows the same principles as on the print version. Consult pricing on similar books. Foreign pricing and sales conversions are done based on the country’s daily exchange rate.

The Matchbook provision allows paperback purchasers a price break on your Kindle edition. Beth highlights the pros and cons of this option. Another optional program is book lending which allows buyers to loan your eBook to friends and/or family for up to fourteen days. If you opt for the KDP Select program, the seventy percent royalty, you are automatically locked into a “Yes” on these options.

The last item is the Terms and Condition Box and must be agreed to before submitting your eBook. Once satisfied with your answers loaded in all boxes, click on the “Publish Your Kindle eBook” button and your book should show up on Amazon in seventy-two hour.

The final section in the book covers the next steps, tips, and tricks. These include how to order author copies of your book, determining the number of books sold and royalties received. It also covers how to change the text on your submitted book, creating your author central account and your author profile. With your Author Central account, you are able to track the sale of your book. Customer reviews are also covered in this section and you can comment on reviews,

When your book gets ranked one hundred or lower in your book’s browse-category, you earn the honor of an Amazon bestseller. Beth shows you how to choose the best browse-category for your book and how to navigate this maze to get on this list.

This review covers a portion of instructions offered in this book. It gives you an overview of the process. Beth writes on a variety of topics and consults with authors wishing to self-publish their work. More information is available on her website, bethwhittenbury.com.

A book marketing plan is a critical component to success as a published author.

Yet many authors tend to skimp on taking the time to put one together.

For one, they may feel that putting together a marketing plan for their book is time-consuming.

Or, they may simply find the process too confusing.

In this article, you will learn three reasons why you need a book marketing plan if you plan to succeed as an author.

Book marketing is important in crafting a strategy to getting your books in front of the right readers. It is important to know exactly how you plan to get your books read.

1. A smart marketing strategy will help you to define opportunities that are available to you in your chosen book niche. You will be able to identify these opportunities because you will have to do research while crafting your plan. This research may include locating book clubs that read books in your niche, finding magazines that you could possibly advertise your book in, and so forth.

2. A book marketing plan will help you get clear on your target audience. Your target audience is out there; and they are just waiting to read your book. Your job is to find that audience, and get in front of them. Putting together a marketing plan will help you to find out just who that target audience is, by causing you to do market research. Market research helps you to create a customer avatar. A customer avatar is a fictional person you create that symbolizes the type of person you see yourself working with, or in this case; who you want to sell your books to.

Being clear on your ideal audience, aka, your readers, will help you to have laser focus on how and what it is that you need to do in order to reach them.

3. Your book marketing plan will help you stay focused on marketing. Yes, you read that right. Your marketing plan will help you to stay focused on task at hand; and that is marketing your book. Marketing is very important. If you don't learn how to market your book, you will not sell any books, and that is the truth.

Most authors just want to simply focus on writing the book, and not on how they will market it. That is a costly mistake that far too many authors make.

Craft your plan to focus on reaching the people who are really looking for your books, and you will see an increase in your book sales.

Take the time to work on your plan, and if necessary, get with a marketing professional to ensure that you are addressing every possible outlet that is available, so that you can reach as many readers as necessary.

A book marketing plan may indeed take work to put together; however, taking the time to actually put one together will prove to be one of the best decisions you could ever make in your career as an author.

By: Phil Pringle

ISBN 0-975-1905-1-2

Book Price $25.00

Influential

Phil Pringle is the Senior Minister of C3 Church in Sydney Australia, one of Australia’s largest and most influential churches. He is leader of the CCC movement internationally (a movement of over 150 churches). Phil’s relevant and dynamic style has made him a much sought after speaker in both Christian and secular contexts.

Leadership Traits

In eighteen chapters Phil reveals the heart of a true leader. He covers points as, the leader and his vision (p. 33), the leader a winner (p. 51), the leader’s trials (p. 57), the leader’s weapons (p. 97), leader’s attitude (p. 109), the leader as communicator (p. 201), the leader and teams (p. 243), the leader a decision maker (p. 297), and more.

Leadership Responsibility

Phil Pringle is quick to engage readers with his concise and informative style. He addresses the great need for leaders stating, “It appears that the real role of the Chief Executive Officer is to manage the values of the organization… God… entrusts leadership positions only to those He has tested and brought through the fire.”

Pringle’s words carry conviction to challenge others. He shares, “Leaders don’t find their foundations for influence in themselves, but in God. Without God they forfeit their destiny and the destinies of those who follow them.”

Phil employs quotes for impact, like the following statement from E.M. Bounds, “While the church is searching for better methods, God is searching for better men.” And from Dale Carnegie he explains, “Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain-and most do-but it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.”

Personal responsibility is a clear trait of Phil’s message. He expresses, “Leaders have learned to rule their attitudes. They are not waiting to see how they feel. They know how they want to feel and choose to “feel” that way.” And, “Leaders don’t wait to see what will happen; they make things happen… we motivate ourselves to achieve… “

Phil gives concrete keys to see results, revealing that, “If the leader is personally growing, the organization he or she leads is growing.” and, “The discipline of living right before God in secret is the key to a success that is granted from heaven.” also, “People rarely succeed at anything unless they enjoy what they are doing… A smile overcomes… “

Become A Great Leader

Phil Pringle presents a compelling tool for empowering those who are called to become a great leader.

My husband loves gardening and has fantasies about owning a large plot of land and being a farmer. He drives me nuts, asking if he can keep worms on our second floor apartment balcony in La Jolla. My answer is no!

For now, he gets his little square box in the church community garden. I'm not a nature girl but did find a book title that caught my eye in the library. It was "Farewell, My Subaru", written by Doug Fine. It caught my attention because that's the brand of car I drive. The cover photo was cute, with a garden growing under the hood of the car.

Doug was previously a journalist who bought a piece of land as a bachelor with the intention of settling down and going green all the way.

This book was an entertaining, light-hearted read. His adventures began with car trouble, a flash flood, purchasing two goats and some chicks. The goats got into mischief but he grew attached to them. He had to convince the inspector that his property was a farm. He moved on to trying vegetable oil fuel, installing solar panels and a well, hunting and gardening.

As with many small town stories, there were local characters, including his hippie neighbor. Of course, they saw him as the character. He scared off the FedEx delivery man by wearing home-made body armor to fight off a rattlesnake. The locals got a few chuckles from this newcomer as they watched him adjust to his new life. He had to ask for help and learned by trial and error. He eventually figured things out and even found love along the way.

Doug loves his new life and wrote this charming book about his adventures. He included interesting facts along the way with some statistics. I still have no interest in farming but I'm sure if we moved to a small town, I'd find myself adjusting over time. At first, I'd probably look like the lady from "Green Acres".

Somehow, in centuries past, people survived without cell phones, computers and telephones. They lived off the land and were productive with their hands. They actually spoke to each other verbally and wrote letters.

For garden enthusiasts, this is a fun read. There were a few swear words and adult themes in it so I wouldn't give it to children but it could be an amusing gift to give.

Start where you are with what you have. You've heard it hundreds of times. But what does that mean? You've published the book and you got it on up Amazon. Congratulations!

Now what? Now the fun and frenzy begins.

You push people to buy it. You share the link from Amazon. You do "free download" days with the eBook. You run Facebook ads. You blog about it. You send out eblasts. You get creative and do a book trailer and a few blog tours. You write a press release. You pitch yourself to the media. You book yourself on podcasts or run a teleseminar or start podcast all around the subject of the book.

Hoping people buy the book, talk about the book and then have more people BUY the book. Whew!

Book sales are soaring – for at least three months. Then you know what happens after about 90 days?

Nothing.

You're worn out and tired of pushing your book. You stop pushing it and your sales tank. All that hard work and you are now at a stand still.

That's why being an author is not enough. You have to become an authorpreneur. You must have a strategy to turn your book into a business.

You are the expert and the authority on whatever the topic of your book. You should not limit yourself to just being a sales person for a book. You are the CEO of your information product business.

An authorpreneur creates courses, workbooks, audio books, home study courses, lecture series – and even "branded" products like T-shirts, journals, backpacks or phone cases. This is what we call "product line extension."

Think like an entrepreneur – not like an author. Sure, you can go speak and sell books in the back of the room. But you're not leveraging the entire business model of what is possible with a book.

• You can hold a yearly conference or convention around the subject of your book.
• You could create a whole sales funnel and launch video / audio lessons for different levels of learning. Think about launching a series for those who are beginning, then intermediate and finally advanced.
• You could coach individuals and consult with businesses.
• You could sell your book in bulk to organizations.
• You could become a paid spokesperson, columnist or a regular contributor to media organization as the expert.
• You could get sponsors and provide them with content for their blogs.

The opportunities are endless. There are hundreds of products or streams of income you can pull out of your book, but you've got to think like an authorpreneur. It's really about leveraging your resources, expertise and business savvy to get to the next level.

One of the most interesting regions of the world is Central Asia. And it is interesting because Americans don't know a whole lot about this area, even though so much early history had been written there. Consider the old silk roads, Genghis Khan, and the rise of the USSR. Remember the Domino effect? So, what are the Central Asian republics? Do you even know, and I bet you can't spell them, but maybe you should learn?

Yes, I'm referring to you Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. You may not realize this, but recently a pipeline has been put through many of these countries and now has been completed and goes through the back door to China. And there has been civil unrest, and the overthrow of the government of one of these countries recently. And a couple of them border Afghanistan, which I think we all know little bit more about that we did 10 years ago.

Still, if you'd like to learn more, and I believe you should, then there's a very good book that you should read, it is a book that I own, and I recommend to you. The name of the book is;

"Central Asian Republics" (Nations in Transition Series) by Michael Kort, Facts on File Publishers, New York, NY, (2004), 200 pages, ISBN: 0-8160-5074-0.

Interestingly enough, this book written by Michael Kort and is extremely well written, and it makes sense because the author holds a PhD from Boston University, and he is a historian, and also an author of "The Soviet Colossus: A History of the USSR , "and, he is the co-author of" Modernization and Revolution in China, "which is also sitting next to my desk to read in the future. If it's anywhere close to as good as this book, I would consider it a must read.

Now then, in this book you will find out what scintillation is, and how it came into existence from ancient times to the 19th century. You will also learn how the Soviets came into control this region, and how they were kicked out reclaims their independence, and now we've become trading partners with their neighbors. Part two of this book is very excellent because it has specific chapters on each individual country, and there is a great chronological table of events.

If you're going to talk about the future of that region, and how things are shaping up with China, Afghanistan, Turkey, and the Soviet Union, and what the United States role is in keeping the peace, then you need to make sure you have your facts straight, and therefore I highly recommend this book. Please consider all this.

Unlike big business owners, small business owners have the burden of taking care of every single aspect of their business – recruitment, marketing, finance, accounts, managing employees to managing vendors, and so forth. But here we focused only on books that can help you gain marketing knowledge and skills. Here are the top 10 books on marketing which we believe are helpful for new as well as established small business owners.

Book # 1: The New Rules of Marketing & PR – David Meerman Scott

In the new marketing scenario, the methods such as ad copy, etc. do not bring results for your business. With the popularity of smartphones and other devices and proliferation of the Internet, new methods, rules, etc. of marketing have evolved. This book discusses the importance and benefits of using such techniques.

David M Scott provides fresh examples of success from various industries and businesses across the world. He highlights the new tools and techniques that marketers should use to communicate with their buyers directly – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. In short, this book is a guide that offers actionable strategies and insider tips that can be implemented immediately.

Book # 2: Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking – Andy Sernovitz

This book by Andy Sernovitz emphasizes the use of word of mouth marketing for businesses. The book elaborates purpose of blogs, social media, viral emails, etc. – when to use them and how to make them work.

Word of mouth is an effective tool to share information quickly and easily to promote businesses. It is an effective tool that can promote your business via your customers, friends and relations.

Book # 3: Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business – Jay Conrad Levinson

This book furnishes strategies for Internet marketing, tips on using technology like pod-casting and automated marketing, programs for targeting prospects, cultivating repeat, referral business, management lessons in the age of telecommuting and freelance employees, etc. – exclusively for small businesses.

Book # 4: Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide – John Jantsch

John Jantsch is a well-known expert in small business marketing. In the book, he discusses all the proven tools and tactics together in a step-by-step marketing system. This road map helps small business owners in knowing what they need to do to market their businesses.

Book # 5: Smarter, Faster, Cheaper: Non-Boring, Fluff-Free Strategies for Marketing and Promoting Your Business – David Siteman Garland

This book provides strategies for building, marketing and promoting businesses. These techniques are smarter, faster, cheaper and therefore save your time and money. The book is equally helpful for start-ups as well as those who are already in the market for sometime.

Book # 6: Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed: Leverage Resources, Establish Online Credibility and Crush Your Competition – Patrick Schwerdtfeger

This book provides effective practical strategies and tactics – a complete tool kit to use resources sensibly, to establish online credibility. If you apply these strategies, you can get good results for your business within a brief span of time.

Book # 7: Ultimate Small Business Marketing Guide – James Stephenson

This book is an essential guide for every business owner. James Stephenson presents in this book 1500 great marketing ideas that are sure to boost your sales revenue, profits and customer loyalty and also to help you stay ahead of your competitors.

Book # 8: Web Marketing for Small Businesses: 7 Steps to Explosive Business Growth – Stephanie Diamond

Marketing for small businesses was difficult in the past. But today, it is not the case. Web marketing enables small businesses to take advantage of marketing opportunities and win new customers.

The book 'Web Marketing for Small Businesses: 7 Steps to Explosive Business Growth' focuses on different ways of marketing with a detailed strategy to put them into action. The main content of the book comprises checklists – niche, brand, story, search, content, social media tactics, traditional tactics and results. This book helps you implement web marketing strategies.

Book # 9: Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook – Dave Kerpen

This book is a key to unlock the door to new opportunities. It tells you about how to build brand awareness by engaging customers in social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and other social media networking sites.

Book # 10: 500 Social Media Marketing Tips: Essential Advice, Hints and Strategy for Business: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and More! – Andrew Macarthy

This book is a guide to small businesses. It provides 500 social media marketing tips covering all the web's biggest players like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube and others. These tips will help you build brand awareness in social media networks, attract and engage your customers and ultimately help you increase sales.

Customer loyalty is the gold standard to any business. Loyal customers have a higher life time value, refer more business and become advocates. They will not shop or leave you on price and they will give you another shot if you screw up. Customer satisfaction is not the same thing. Satisfied customers don’t necessarily buy again. The Holy Grail for any business is to create loyal customers. There is one catch. You cannot build loyal customers without engaged employees.

Why is this important to me?

I am not doing this summary to waste your time. It is my vision to provide concise action steps that you can adopt right now to enhance your life. People spend over 30% of their time on work related tasks. This is time spent away from family, friends and other activities. Gallup shows that 91% of employees are either disengaged or actively disengaged which means that they hate their work.

One major cause for disengagement is the fact that management does not trust their people. This is horrible because customers want action right now and if your frontline people are not empowered to make decisions then this process gets convoluted very fast causing customer frustration.

It is human nature to want to do a good job. If you were given a choice, would you want to do ordinary work or magnificent work? Everybody wants to do a good job but most people are in the wrong places so they have to use their weaknesses as primary strengths. Management has the wrong people in the wrong jobs.

Empowerment takes more than a minute is a short book with a good message. I will discuss some of the major points in this summary.

1. Empowerment – Empowerment is simply letting people do what they already know how to do. People want to do a good job but are afraid to because they are not empowered. Sharing information is a key step in starting an empowered organization.

2. Job Insecurity – Managers sometimes feel that if they give too much power to the people then they will be out of a job. I have seen this in every department throughout my career. It does not matter if it is Sales, Service or Development, people hoard work load to protect themselves. It is the leader’s job to craft the vision so people understand that as they let go of some work that they will get additional work as the company scales and grows.

3. Autonomy – People want autonomy and freedom to do a good job. The problem becomes a balancing act because management usually wants to keep a short leash on their direct reports. The way around this is to define what is expected in terms of goals and performance for your people and communicate the relevance of what they do. Each team member needs to have a personal scorecard that they measure their tasks each day.

4. Teams – The authors talk about self-directed teams. I agree that you need to reduce hierarchy and I would make one caveat about the teams. They need to be accountable, defined and small. Large teams will get wildly inefficient simply with the communications burden. Small teams are much more effective and should be kept to 5 people or less.

Empowerment is something that can transform an organization if used correctly. This book is a good guide on why it is important. Implementing a culture like this takes work. We are in the process of levering this up even more at our software company. The first thing we did was to work with each team member and communicate the relevance of their role and asked them for things that they could measure each day. All our departments have weekly scorecards but sometimes the individual measures for each job is different than the department measures.

I hope you have found this short summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes habit. Habits form in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is individual scorecards. Engaging your people about the relevance of every job and theirs in particular is a great start and the individual scorecard will allow them to track the important measures of their job.

It is a tough and competitive business environment you

live and it is getting more and more difficult to achieve

your goals. You have to stand out among your colleagues

and competitors. You have to work hard for career

advancement, and better compensation.

Whether you are a senior executive, an entrepreneur or

an employee, this book will show you the best way to

succeed, accomplish your personal and career goals,

outshine your competition and differentiate yourself

from the pack. David F. D’Alessandro shows you how to

stand out from the crowd by developing your own

“personal brand”; and provides valuable lessons in

the etiquette of reputation building.

What is Personal Brand?

You need to realize that success does not only come

from hard work and appropriately playing the part.

To be successful in business and in your career, you

must be able to distinguish yourself from the rest of

the pack – you need to develop, build and defend your

reputation.

Personal branding is a way you manage your career or

business. It is a way of communicating that makes you

different and special. By using these qualities you

can distinguish yourself from your peers so that you

can expand your success.

There are 10 rules you can follow for building a

successful personal brand and keeping it:

Rule 1: Try to Look Beyond Your Own Navel – The biggest

obstacle in building a positive personal brand is your

own ego. In order to develop an attractive personal

brand, you need to have self-respect and you need

to respect the people around you.

Rule 2: Like It or Not, Your Boss is the Coauthor of

Your Brand – You must realize and accept the fact that

early on in your career, your boss will reap most of

the rewards for ideas you give, money that you brought

in, etc. This is how the corporate world operates. Do

not fight the power structure. Instead learn how to

play and live by it.

Rule 3: Put Your Boss on the Couch – Not all bosses

will help you. It is best that you recognize what type

of personality your boss has so that you would realize

what advantages and disadvantages this person can

cause to your brand.

Rule 4: Learn Which One is the Pickle Fork – Good manners

are crucial in developing and enhancing your personal

brand. Manners are about consideration and respect,

knowledge and patience. Practice good business etiquette.

Rule 5: Kenny Rogers is Right – While it is important

for you to seize the opportunity to build your brand,

it is equally crucial to know what battles to take. Know

when to keep on fighting and when to move fold.

Rule 6: It’s Always Show Time – You must realize that

reputations are not usually made by big events –

sometimes it is those big events that smear your brand.

What builds your reputation is your day-to-day

behavior in the business setting, such as how you deal

with people, how you make decisions, your work habits,

etc.

Rule 7: Make the Right Enemies – The best personal brands

include courtesy, fairness, tolerance, self-respect and

having good and proper manners. However, a small amount

of ruthlessness is good for your brand. Your reputation

will not suffer much if you fight your enemies,

but it will suffer if you lose your self-respect.

Rule 8: Try Not To Be Swallowed By the Bubble – Once you

are successful in building your brand and is rising in the

ranks, do not lose sight of the forest. Do not be too

full of yourself that you will be swallowed by success.

It is bad for your humanity, and bad for your career.

Rule 9: The Higher You Fly, the More You Will Be Shot

At – Everybody makes mistakes. The higher you are in the

ladder of success, the more likely that your mistakes

will be highlighted. Accept the fact that bad press comes

with prominence in any field.

Rule 10: Everybody Coulda Been a Contender; Make Sure You

Stay One – Set yourself to be distinct from your peers.

Since you are constantly being compared to your peers,

don’t be afraid to offer something unique or distinctive.

Don’t give up easily. Don’t throw in the towel immediately

because of a setback or two. Learn from your mistakes and

turn it into an opportunity. Don’t lie, cheat or

steal. Be cautious of the reputation you are building.