I'm lazy. That's why I read lots of business books.
Drayton Bird
I once heard Drayton Bird make a surprising confession.
'I'm lazy,' he said. 'That's why I read lots of business books.'
This sounded very strange to me. 'Why would someone lazy bother reading books?' I asked him.
His reply made perfect sense, though.
'Most people waste half their lives guessing what will work. They try, fail, and squander time and money for years making it up as they go along. Why guess when you can know from someone who's done it all before?
'I can spend a day reading a book, do exactly what it tells me, and get it right first time. That's why I'm lazy. I'd rather do one day's good work than twenty years of bad.'
This made a lot of sense to me, though I'm not too sure I'd like to call myself lazy. I like time-efficient better.
But it's not only time-efficiency I look for when I read business books. I want them to have the following attributes:
Most important: give me tips that are all:
new (that I haven't heard before);
simple (so they are painless for me to implement);
relevant (so I can apply them to my business);
accessible (so I can understand them and put them to work easily); and
effective (i.e. they work).
The book must help me to be time-efficient when reading it. This could mean teaching me lots of things in a short space of time, or being clearly signposted so I can easily find the things that matter most to me.
Are you like me? Do you want this book to do those things for you? I hope so. Because I have written the book assuming you do. And here's how ...
Every tip, hint or technique in this book has been carefully selected to be:
New – either my unique way of looking at things, or presenting in a new way the results of years of study into what persuades and stays in the memory.
Simple – one of my clients once said I give 'annoyingly simple advice'. In his words: 'I could have thought of every single thing you said, but never have. Nor has anybody else I've ever met.' Everything in this book is easy for you to incorporate into your standard way of working, and is fast-acting.
Relevant – unless yours is a strange kind of business I've never come across, everything in this book should apply to what you need to sell or persuade others about.
Accessible – throughout the book, you'll find lots of simple exer-cises so you can apply what I have said to your own business, to make sure this book becomes a practical guide, rather than a theoretical manual.
Effective – everything you read in this book works. It has been tested by the thousands of businesses I have worked with, so I know what happens when people implement the advice you're about to get.
This book is easy to read time-efficiently
If you like to read cover to cover, this book takes you on a journey. I start by showing you how to have far greater impact and get better results when you speak to strangers (at networking events) ... building up to how to present to groups, again with greater impact, and better results.
However, if you have a more targeted, selective approach to reading – would rather zero in on what matters to you – I've ensured each section is totally self-contained, making complete sense on its own. That way, for example, if you only want to know how to be better at networking, simply read Section 4.
But, however you read this book, to make sure you get the best out of it, there are two sections you must read ...
If you're planning to dip in and out of relevant sections, turn to the Contents on page ix and see where you want to go first. To remind you, all the sections are self-contained, so you can read them in any order.
However, the two sections you simply must read for this book to get you the best results are:
Section 2: Why 'the Jelly Effect?' – This section explains the single biggest problem in business communications (as well as shedding light on the title of this book).
Section 3: The AFTERs – Of everything that I have ever taught any business person anywhere, the thing that has had the biggest impact on their success is the 'AFTERs', which is a process I've developed to make communication more powerful. Because AFTERs are so fundamental to business communication and all the subsequent sections keep referring to them, the book won't make sense unless you read this section.
These sections won't take long to read, but give you an instant appreciation of what you need to do to get better results every time you speak to others.