PLAY YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS: THIS NEW BOOK SHOWS YOU HOW

Miami, Florida, February 16, 2009—BusinessSummaries.com releases its new business book "The Red Rubber Ball at Work: Elevate Your Game Through the Hidden Power of Play", by Kevin Carroll, McGraw-Hill Books, 2009. Subscribers may now access PDF, PDA, Powerpoint, Audio, Video and Mindmap formats of “The Red Rubber Ball at Work”, and enjoy the book summary anytime, anywhere.

Miami, Florida, February 16, 2009—BusinessSummaries.com, one of the leading e-commerce sites for business book summaries, today releases the abridged version of one of the business bestsellers "The Red Rubber Ball at Work: Elevate Your Game Through the Hidden Power of Play", by Kevin Carroll, McGraw-Hill Books, 2009. This executive book summary is now accessible to subscribers in PDF, PDA, Powerpoint, audio, video and Mindmap formats.

Business success in any field whatsoever requires creativity, problem solving, and risk-taking. But many companies, despite all they try, fail to inspire their staff to be creative and take risks to solve the problems they face – and consequently also fail to succeed.

However, according to bestselling author Kevin Carroll, famous for his bestselling Rules of the Red Rubber Ball (2007), the solution is simple: it’s child’s play!

Former 76ers athletic trainer Kevin Carroll has transformed an enduring passion for playing ball into a bestselling franchise. In this fun and thoughtful follow-up to his first book, Carroll moves the playing field to the workplace, where innovation, motivation, engagement, and teamwork are the headline issues.

He draws on “play profiles” from luminaries such as thought leaders, change agents, and business leaders, and uses their specific cases to illustrate how to bring a sense of play into the workplace to stimulate creativity, encourage risk-taking, achieve goals – and have a great time doing so.

This is an entertaining, pocket-sized book that builds on Carroll's self-help series with profiles of 33 successful workers who illustrate the value of "productive play" (as opposed to "playful play," which is not serious enough for work). The book is inspiring and clever, with a lively layout and energetic writing.

The successful “players” featured include futurist and thinker Andrew Zolli, ESPN president George Bodenheimer, bestselling authors Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell and Paulo Coelho, Food Network host Duff Goldman, South Bronx activist Majora Carter, actor and former professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and many others.

Every week, subscribers enjoy business book summaries of today’s business bestsellers in PDF, PDA, Powerpoint, audio, video and mindmap formats. The latest versions of the book summaries are all available online upon subscription to BusinessSummaries.com.

The Red Rubber Ball at Work

The Big Idea
According to bestselling author Kevin Carroll, it’s child’s play!

Former 76ers athletic trainer Kevin Carroll has turned his childhood passion for playing ball into a bestselling franchise. Drawing on “play profiles” from thought leaders, change agents, and business leaders, he explains how to bring a sense of play into the workplace to stimulate creativity, encourage risk-taking, achieve goals – and have a great time doing it.


Why You Need This Book
This entertaining, pocket-sized book builds on Carroll's self-help series with profiles of 33 successful workers who illustrate the value of "productive play" (as opposed to "playful play," which is not serious enough for work). The book is inspiring and clever, with a lively layout and energetic writing.

Successful “players” featured include ESPN president George Bodenheimer, bestselling authors Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell, Food Network host Duff Goldman, South Bronx activist Majora Carter, renowned author Paulo Coelho, and many others.


Innovation
It became apparent that the people interviewed in this section had been very playful in childhood where they were encouraged in their youthful creative pursuits by family, friends, and teachers. That encouragement had an impact on developing each person’s ability as an adult to take an idea, create multiple iterations of solutions, and ultimately deliver an idea that solved a business problem.


SETH GODIN (Author/Speaker/Entrepreneur)
Play: is scenario planning.

As a boy, Seth’s strategy was never to rely on one plan of attack.

At work:
At 44, now a father to his own sons, Seth Godin helps others conquer the business world. Fostering others’ ability to react to the unexpected is how Seth plays at work.


TOM KELLEY (General Manager, IDEO)
Play: is mobility and freedom.

In his boyhood, inventing, building, and taking things apart helped Tom and his brother understand their world. Riding bicycles allowed them to explore their world and broaden their horizons.

At work:
His brother David Kelley cofounded IDEO in 1991. Tom describes himself and David as “cross-pollinators”: people with great intellectual curiosity, people who are always taking in new information and are eager to share it with others.


MAJORA CARTER (Executive Director, Sustainable South Bronx)
Play: is being part of a community.

As young as six years old, she learned how to be a “team player,” sharing the rope her mom cut from an old clothesline.

At work:
For Majora, community is her play. She helped her community find its voice and develop a rallying cry for environmental justice.


JAMES McLURKIN (Robotics Engineer)
Play: is a passion for building things.

LEGO met her standards. LEGO dominated as a pivotal toy.

At work:
MIT graduate James McLurkin is still playing. He is one of the world’s leading designers of robot “swarms” – groups of robots that work together for a greater purpose. James says that robots are just part of his grand, lifelong procession of toys. A fun fact: James + androids = a very special opportunity to contribute to the hit movie I, Robot released in 2004.


CARLOS “MARE139” RODRIGUEZ (Sculptor/Graffiti Artist)
Play: is resourcefulness.

Many times, armed with stolen spray-paint cans, the young Carlos and his friends set out to paint the subway trains in 1970s New York City.

At work:
As a sculptor and Web designer, Carlos’ work is now seen by audiences worldwide.


Results
TINKER HATFIELD (Vice President of Design and Special Projects, NIKE)
Play: is problem solving.

Hide. Run. Shoot. Acting and reacting are all in a day’s play.

At work:
In his design studio on Nike’s sprawling corporate campus in Portland, Oregon, Tinker is surrounded by sneakers he helped design: Air Jordans. Cross trainers. Tinker’ favorite days? ASAP.


MARC HACKER (Designer and Architect, Rockwell Group)
Play: is tinkering.

At work:
With a background in product design and design education, Marc relishes his role as an advocate for Rockwell’s diverse designers.


IVY ROSS (Executive Vice President of Marketing, GAP Inc., North America)
Play: is visualization.

At work:
By fueling her active imagination with the season’s garments plus the retail space ideas her designers create, Ivy finds the common thread that ties seemingly disparate styles together in a unified, emotional message.


Teamwork
In these profiles, you will come to understand how hangin’ out with a select group of peers, mimicking adult social behavior at an early age, being a member of a sports team, and creating imaginary communities were all fantastic learning environments for the future endeavors and success of the men and women profiled.


DWAYNE “The Rock” JOHNSON (Actor/Former Professional Wrestler)
Play: is igniting the imagination of others.

Baseball, football, wrestling, army games, cops and robbers… The young Dwayne was always running, leaping, playing with other kids. No matter how many times his family moved house, this only child jumped right into his new community and made new friends immediately by playing sports and games with the other kids.

At work:
Be it the sports stage or the movie set, he has learned that a great performance depends upon the team’s willingness to strategize, practice, have a great sense of timing, and ability to always deliver moments of surprise together.


MEL YOUNG (Founder, Homeless World Cup)
Play: is bringing out the best in others.

At work:
As an adult, Mel’s belief in the importance of teams and community extends to the world around him. He dedicates himself to helping solve the problem of homelessness, first as an editor of a Scottish homeless newspaper, and then as a cofounder of an international soccer tournament for homeless people – the Homeless World Cup.


PREMAL SHAH (President, Kiva)
Play: is intellectual creativity.

During freezing cold winters in a suburb of Minneapolis, there was nothing the young Premal loved more than an unstructured weekend with his LEGO set.

At work:
As president of Kiva, a unique Web site that helps people make microloans to small business entrepreneurs in developing countries, Premal’s work is his play.


LARRY ROSENSTOCK (Founder and Chief Executive Officer, High Tech High)
Play: is creating imaginary worlds.

In college, Larry was drawn to film studies. He learned the art of filmmaking, a form of building imaginary worlds. He developed a lifelong fascination with creating environments for people and seeing what is possible when all the right elements are in place.

At work:
Larry Rosenstock never stopped building worlds. He has taught carpentry in urban high schools, served as staff attorney at the Harvard Center for Law and Education, and headed up the Rindge School for Technical Arts, among other noteworthy achievements.


TITO LLANTADA (Global Fellowship Team, Ashoka)
Play: is being resilient.

Playing catch in the backyard with his dad became a cherished activity for both son and father.

At work:
As a member of the Global Fellowship team of the social entrepreneur organization Ashoka, Tito utilizes his excellent team skills every day. His primary roles with the Global Fellowship team includes helping build and maintain the infrastructure behind a global network of more than 1,600 fellows.


Leadership
Leadership is part tactical, part analytical, part situational, and a BIG part understanding humanity. Great leaders understand the human dynamic/factors that can affect an organization.


DELANO LEWIS (Business Leader/Former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa)
Play: is being nimble on your feet.

At work:
Delano has always stayed close to the arts in order to feed that playful, dynamic part of himself his mother nurtured in his childhood.


GEORGE BODENHEIMER (President, ESPN)
Play: is a team of friends.

Each year he and his friends played on sports teams together: baseball, football, ice hockey. From Little League all the way through his high school playing days, this boy nurtured friendships through sports.

At work:
A much beloved leader, George has been president since 1998.


AWISTA AYUB (Founder and Director, Afghan Youth Sports Exchange)
Play: is sports.

At work:
That small beginning grew into the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange, an internationally recognized and award winning nonprofit organization dedicated to preparing Afghanistan’s young girls with the leadership skills they need to promote athletics in their schools and communities. Her program has helped to empower the girls to break down gender barriers in their country.


DUFF GOLDMAN (Owner, Charm City Cakes)
Play: is challenging what’s possible.

From two common forms of concocting everyday creations – cooking and LEGO – he learned the fine arts of improvisation, problem solving and experimentation.

At work:
If you’ve ever tuned into the Food Channel and caught Duff Goldman and his Charm City Cakes team in action on Ace of Cakes, you know Duff is somebody who has made his work his play.


Curiosity

PAULO COELHO (Author/Alchemist)
Play: is skill and instinct.

The young Paolo found the repetition of shooting marbles into holes absorbing. At some point in a long-ago afternoon of playing, he became the marble, the target, the motion and sound of THWACK, flicking the marble with his thumb.

At work:
To write, he uses that same mix of instinct and discipline he learned from playing marbles.

BusinessSummaries.com is a business book summaries service. Every week, it sends out to subscribers a 9- to 12-page summary of a best-selling business book chosen from among the hundreds of books printed out in the United States. For more information, please go to http://www.bizsum.com.

Outfluence

Outfluence The Better Way to Influence by Al Betz

The Big Idea
“Everybody experiences far more than he understands. Yet it is experience, rather than understanding, that influences behavior.” - Marshall McLuhan

This quote underlines a truth that seems evident, yet few of us really think about the deeper meaning of how much influence is exerted upon us from our environment, seemingly many times without our conscious consent. There is a better way if you feel you don’t have all the authority, money, or clout you need to effect real, positive change.

Applied consciously, it creates a powerful, irresistible message that promotes growth in personal lives, relationships and businesses.

It’s called Outfluence.

Outfluence turns conventional thinking about influence upside down—making a powerful force available to anyone who chooses to use it.


Why You Need This Book
This book will introduce the power of silent communication and teach you principles and behaviors to help you become more effective in your day-to-day interactions. It will also teach you that the effort extended to show others that we care makes an impression – whether our approach is in the form of speaking, writing, listening, or practicing patience and respect.


What is Outfluence?
Outfluence is a lifestyle comprised of silent communication principles and behaviors. Outfluence is a focused form of nonverbal communication.

The philosophy behind the concept is that our silent communication often speaks more effectively for us than does our auditory communication.

Outfluence is a constant messaging process that we engage in purposely and, frequently, silently. It’s focused on the relationship between you and a current customer, on the budding connection between you and a prospective client, or on a developing personal bond.

Financial rewards are part of being a successful practitioner of Outfluence, but money is not the only benefit. Relationship building is a valuable reward when all parties to a business venture are inspired to do their best and are focused on making each other successful.


The Difference between Influence and Outfluence
Influence is an ephemeral power that operates without any direct or apparent effort. It is usually associated with prestige, wealth, ability, power, or position.

How do you influence if you don’t have prestige, wealth, ability, or position? You turn to social influence.

People bend to peer pressure in an attempt to fit in. They do it to acquire social influence.

Traditional methods of influence serve a purpose when honorably employed. But there is a better way to influence: it’s called Outfluence.

An Outfluencer always looks outward, desiring to help another person first, secondarily thinking about the Outfluencer’s positive purpose.


The Value of Silent Communication
Outfluence is valuable and accessible to you for these reasons:


OUTFLUENCE IS CONTROLLED BY YOU
Outfluence is delivered from the source (you) directly to the recipient when you are ready. When you implement Outfluence, you are always reaching the right person or entity.

OUTFLUENCE IS SILENTLY DELIVERED
Outfluence will amplify your quiet voice and help you to navigate the obstacles to communication. Impact is delivered silently over time by using low frequency messages such as your thoughtful actions, respectful voice, and well-crafted writings. In the process, your confidence will grow and your timidity will subside.

OUTFLUENCE IS NOTICEABLE
The point is that people notice everything you do. Your silent actions have meaning. If you can silently perform your job with a deliberate strategy that focuses on giving rather than getting, you have a better chance at having your actions interpreted as you intend them.

OUTFLUENCE IS HELPFUL TO EVERYONE
The concept that Outfluence is helpful to everyone was demonstrated beautifully by a judge at a jury trial in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland.

During the jury selection process, the judge spent about 25 minutes telling the jurors about the history of the jury system. The jury undertook their duties with an enlightened perspective on the depth of their responsibility to serve.


Inspired Performance
Inspiration makes the difference between a mediocre act and a stellar performance. When you’re in the presence of someone who is inspired, your blood moves a little faster, and your eyes shine a little brighter.

The feeling is magnetic, a natural high. The components of an inspired performance are:

• Desire – you have to want to perform exceptionally well;
• Compassion – you have to be sensitive to the needs of other people and care about meeting their needs;
• Courage – you have to be willing to step forward and risk failure;
• Faith – you have to believe in a positive outcome.

THE STEPS
Is there a formula for achieving an inspired performance?

PREPARE TO SERVE
In preparing to serve, it is necessary to first develop your knowledge base and your skills to your highest ability, and to maintain them at a high level. Service is meaningless without high-quality, inspired performance.

COMMIT – BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Before entering a business meeting, tell yourself that whatever happens from this point forward will be positive, no matter what. People enjoy working with cooperative, engaging, competent, inspired people.

You have surely noticed that when you get angry with someone, they tend to get angry back. When you smile at someone, they tend to smile back.


SELECT YOUR CLIENTS AND/OR EMPLOYERS CAREFULLY
Inspire your performance by identifying the profile of your ideal client. That will make it easy to inspire step three, which is to service them really well.

FIGHT FOR EVERY DETAIL
You want to fight for every detail in your work. Whether you are a new professional or an experienced professional, you should know the importance of fighting for every detail.

AVOID NEGATIVE PEOPLE
Negative people absorb your energy. Their attitude will influence your behavior unless you are emotionally and intellectually strong and aware.

If you fall into a pattern of complaining about life, you will attract more things to complain about.


How will you know when Outfluence has worked? You will know when your customer, or a prospective customer, asks one of the following questions.

“Will we see you again next time?” The form of the first question indicates that your customer wishes to do business specifically with you next time; the second question implies that your customer really is not concerned who does the work next time.

How else will you know that Outfluence has worked effectively?

WILL OUTFLUENCE WORK?
Here’s why it will: over time you will fine-tune your ability to accurately assess people in those first few moments of seeing them, greeting them, or interacting with them.
You will learn to respectfully move away from people and situations that put you at risk, either physically or psychologically, and you will confidently move toward people who exhibit Outfluence traits that make them appealing to you.

Outfluence is people relating to people. Outfluence principles?

Can you attract people into your life who are positive and uplifting? Can your life be better if you Outfluence other people? Good people lead you to other good people and good experiences.

OUTFLUENCE WILL ENABLE YOU TO INSPIRE EVERY DAY!
Outfluence can make you a better person, and inspired performance can make you better at your job. In combination, those two attributes can make your life and your work more interesting, more fun, and less stressful.

You have every reason to believe that your journey on the path of Outfluence and inspired performance will have a positive result. Know that as your life changes people will be watching, and they will follow your lead.

Be hopeful that as time passes you will begin to recognize your Outfluence progeny in the world.

BusinessSummaries.com is a business book summaries service. Every week, it sends out to subscribers a 9- to 12-page summary of a best-selling business book chosen from among the hundreds of books printed out in the United States. For more information, please go to http://www.bizsum.com

Say It Like Obama

The Big Idea
Barack Obama has brought the power of oration back to American politics. In speech after speech, Barack Obama has “fired up” millions of enthusiastic supporters with his inspiring vision, rousing rhetoric, and charismatic presence.


Creating Strong First Impressions – Image and Body Language
The strong first impression that Barack Obama makes reminds us that body movement and image speak a language to the audience as potent as anything said out loud.

Barack Obama is adept at establishing excellent first impressions. Good eye contact has also been valuable to Obama.


Effective Use of Body Language and Voice
In the delivery of his 2004 keynote address, Barack Obama demonstrated outstanding use of body language. In short, Obama created a very strong first impression.

Obama came across as authentic. Like Bill Clinton’s story, Ronald Reagan’s story, Harry Truman’s story…” This has helped him connect with audiences; his life story is viewed as a classic story and it has endeared Obama to millions of Americans.


Practices for Earning Trust and Confidence
Given Obama’s tremendous success, leaders have much to learn from the way he uses excellent communication practices to earn the trust and confidence of others.

Charisma helps leaders energize and motivate others.

Image and body language are also important for forming strong first impressions. Notable second impressions can reinforce strong first impressions.

Strong communicators remember the importance of props and staging in sending sub-messages that reinforce key themes. Obama’s success demonstrates many best practices with regard to winning hearts and minds.

Excellent communicators use details skillfully to demonstrate that they understand the experiences and perspectives of audience members. Empathy and action – these are things the audience seeks.


Driving Points Home
Leaders have much to garner and apply from Obama’s successes. Rhetorical questions help crystallize attention on key ideas.

When leveraging the “power of three,” skilled communicators underscore key points, building momentum or enhancing a sense of logic.


Conveying Vision
Leaders also have much to learn from the way Barack Obama conveys vision so effectively to audiences. Use of dynamic imagery represents another useful communication technique.

Finally, effective communicators often offer anecdotes, providing brief narration and short tales to breathe life into key themes. A speaker can inspire others to great achievements by employing words that resonate, including words that evoke shared values, patriotic values, and cherished principles.

Outstanding orators will build to a high point and end on that high, leaving listeners stirred, inspired, motivated, and focused on key themes.

This helps to keep those themes and ideas dominant in the minds of audience members.

BusinessSummaries.com is a business book summaries service. Every week, it sends out to subscribers a 9- to 12-page summary of a best-selling business book chosen from among the hundreds of books printed out in the United States. For more information, please go to http://www.bizsum.com.

Gal Borenstein is BusinessSummaries.com's Author of the Month for February 2009

Miami, Florida, February 2, 2009—BusinessSummaries.com, one of the leading e-commerce sites for business book summaries, announces that Gal Borenstein, acclaimed author of the book What Really Counts for CEOs (published by Borenstein Executive University Press in 2009), is the Author of the Month for February 2009.

At the end of the day, every CEO has to be able to find out which marketing strategies and tactics are working for in his or her company. Yet, trapped by old-school marketing practices that don’t fit and perpetuate finger-pointing between sales and marketing departments, it can be hard to find out for sure which marketing practices are really effective. That’s unless a CEO is able to quickly discern What Really Counts.

It’s a brave new world for CEOs. The move from old-school print advertising to Web 2.0 social networks and the emergence of digital strategies has left many CEOs in the lurch. Far too often, many of them have no idea which part of their marketing works and which part doesn’t. And neither do many of them know what they should invest in to enhance their company’s long-term success. This confusion leads to quite a few CEOs spending more marketing budget dollars than necessary – and by doing so, squandering profit margins and resources that could be used elsewhere.

If the CEO does not understand which parts of the marketing effort are producing the best ROI, there is a strong likelihood that in seeking to increase efficiency, he or she will cut the very infrastructure required to maintain or restore the company’s vitality.

In What Really Counts for CEOs, Gal Borenstein, founder and CEO of the Washington, D.C. integrated marketing communications firm The Borenstein Group, seeks to teach CEOs to ask their marketing, sales and communication teams the right questions that will produce better answers, those which lead to meaningful metrics resulting in marketing outcomes that can be repeated and adjusted accordingly. In short, they will find out What Really Counts and make it work hard for their money.

This book will help CEOs uncover the key challenges they must face, and will give them the tools needed to treat marketing as a science.

The BusinessSummaries.com editorial staff interviewed Gal about his book and the story behind it. Key excerpts from the interview are posted on the BusinessSummaries website. The summary of What Really Counts for CEOs was released to BusinessSummaries.com’s subscribers on January 5, 2009.

Every week, subscribers enjoy business book summaries of today’s business bestsellers in PDF, PDA, Powerpoint, audio, video and mindmap formats. The latest versions of the book summaries are all available online upon subscription to BusinessSummaries.com.