My Blog

Before segueing into the meat… 

I met this afternoon someone I had wanted to forget about…at least forget about the sweet-then bittersweet-then bitter experience that I had with that someone.

Life sure knows how to heal wounds, but it also knows how to attempt to scratch open the same. Been there, done that. No more, please.

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The Meat

I have gotten addicted to PR and marketing books. For the past three months, I have acquired seven books already: five of them are on PR and marketing; the others on leadership, coaching, and time and people management.

My recent addition to my humble collection is the book POP! Standing Out in Any Crowd by Sam Horn (author of Tongue Fu!). The book was given to me by my former secretary, Jinky, as her Christmas gift, following her transfer to another department to occupy a regular position. She actually gave me P1,000 to buy a book of my choice after National Bookstore failed to deliver a more expensive book I ordered for personal purchase, Talespin (personally recommended by Universal Robina Corporation’s PR girl, Viveca Singson).  (The thought of me receiving such amount on Christmas from my former staff makes me feel guilty as I have yet to fulfill my commitments to my godchildren.wahahaha! I don’t even think I’d be able to duplicate the same generosity. = )

The book discusses how to market yourself and attract someone’s attention to you (and the product your selling) in the first crucial minute ("Tell ‘n Sell" and "elevator introduction") and encouraging your prospective / present client to find worth in continuing to listen to what you can say. It revolves around the word in the title, which is an accronym, POP: Purposeful, Original, and Pithy.

In its introduction, Pop! carries Jerry Garcia’s quote: "It’s not enough to be the best at what you do; you must be perceived as the only one who does what you do."

The first two paragraphs of the introduction gives flesh to this quote:

"On the first ‘elimination’ round of FOX’s 2006 American Idol program, a talented singer named Patrick was surprisingly voted off.

Why? As caustic judge Simon Cowell explained, "You have a good voice and you’re a nice guy. You just didn’t do the one thing necessary to go through the next round. You didn’t stand out from the crowd."

Thumbing down each page, I realized that talent may bring one somewhere, yes, but it sure is not enough, if one wishes to be distinguished from the mediocre. The realization reinforces my belief that to survive in an organization, one has to know how to establish his/her distinctive value and somehow indespensibility. One has to be the "go to guy" — a multitasker, a troubleshooter, a person who views challenges as an opportunity to calibrate his/her relevance and significance to the organization.

I’m proud to say (though to voracious readers this is a pathetic revelation) that I was able to finish reading half of the 223-page book at the domestic airport in Manila, a little over 1/4 of the remaining on my flight to Davao, 1/2 of the remaining at the Davao airport, and the rest on my flight to Cebu. This took place within a period of seven days of what was a so-so semi-OB travel. Normally, I rarely finish a book in a week’s time. It usually takes me to be away from Dumaguete before I can lay my hands on the books that sit on a shelf behind my desk, seemingly creating the pa-genius effect! (hush….secret!)

Buying books nowadays requires not just serious money but literal neck- and back-stretching efforts at determining which books would be worth your "investment". For someone like me who is not classified under "wide reader", I rely on two things in buying books: (1) the catchy-ness of the title and how the write-up on the inside flap complements / supports / justifies the praises of notable personalities on the back cover, and (2) references — when you hear "big" people mention books in their speeches about their successful life journeys. Admittedly, however, Butch Jimenez has successfully positioned in my mind Al Ries and Jack Trout as among the most trusted and relevant-to-the-times when it comes to marketing / advertising / PR books.

This blog will, however, not delve at length on the contents of the book. I am one of those people who are bad at doing reviews. But I wish to share with you a portion of the book found toward the end. It may not be the best but it has something to offer that each of us may consider using, especially in dealing with people:

MORE IS NOT BETTER

"There is a time to say nothing, and a time to say something, but there is never a time to say everything" — Anonymous

Imagine you are a trainer developing a course on how employees can improve their communication. You might want to break this huge topic into something "graspable" by introducing the concept that there are "fighting phrases" and "friendly phrases".

You could point out that every time we communicate, we either create conflict or collaboration. Fighting phrases such as but, should, you’ll have to, can’t because create resentment. Friendly phrases such as and, next time, could you please, yes, as soon as create rapport.

Now, look again at the above paragaph. It may make sense, but it’s hard to grasp what was said. You would probably just move on to the next paragraph and never get the full value of those ideas because they weren’t presented in a diagram that helped you picture them in your mind.

Now, imagine if you graphically depicted that information by placing the "wrong" and the "right" types of communication in separate columns, as below.

Fighting Phrases

But / Should / You’ll have to / Can’t because / There’s nothing

Friendly Phrases   

And / Next / Could you please / Yes, you can, as soon / There’s something