Branding

I just finished reading The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries. Jim Estill recomemded this book to me a few years ago.

I found this book good but it is a bit outdated. It was written in 2002 and some of the companies profiled have vanished or are not in the top position anymore. Google is not mentioned in the book, which makes sense because Google really only took of from 2002 to 2004.

The most insightful chapter for me is the Law of Publicity. The authors argue that advertising does not work any more, except for brand maintenance. They say, “We live in an overcommunicated society, where each of us gets hit with hundreds of commercial messages daily. Today brands are born, not made. A new brand must be capable of generating favorable publicity in the media or it won’t have a chance in the marketplace.”

Although I gained excellent insight for brand building from the book, I disagree with some aspects. I don't think that all 22 laws are Immutable. Perhaps the number 22 was a good number in terms of promoting the book.

The authors state that internet search engines will decline in importance. They believe that people will have a natural tendency to remember websites. Google has proven them wrong already and I believe search engines will become an ever more significant part for web users. Who does not use a search engine on the web today?

If you are interested in branding I would say it a must read. If not, read it anyways and if you are a believer in advertising you will change your mind.

Leadership

A few times I have written about leadership since starting this blog. I have learned to be more careful as to what to say or write on such a diverse subject such as leadership. I find most leadership books empty and full of self-help opinions that add up to very little. Therefore I will say very little in this post about leadership.

I will quote Ed Kless in a resent blog post here. He has identified two things that successful leaders do:

1- They self regulate their own anxiety. They do not let the anxiety of others to become or heighten their own anxiety.

2- They are masters at confronting people with their own freedom. The see beyond the surface of the particular problem or question and either a) ask a better deeper question that promotes the person to see their own set of choices, or b) state a truth to the person that the person was unable to see or willing to acknowledge.

Human Accomplishment

Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950
by Charles Murray

This is a great book! I'm sure it took Murray years to collect the data he presents in this book. I found it a bit technical at times but over all it is a very well written book. Any one interested in scholarly books should read it.

Murray studied human accomplishments from 850 B.C. until 1950. According to him all accomplishments rest on 4002 individuals. He covers sciences, philosophy, music, visual arts, and literature.

Read it!!