"the greatness guide" by Robin Sharma

I enjoy reading Robin Sharma blog. his website http://www.robinsharma.com/ has been my default web page for sometime.
last weekend i went back to Robin's book from the shelf "the greatness guide" and skimmed through the highlighted portion and it makes an interesting read.
1. each day life will send you windows of opportunity. your destiny will ultimately be defined by how you respoind to these windows.
2. good things happen when you do good things.
3. what you do today defines tommorow.
4. fail faster, succeed sooner - by David Kelly
5. make time to think at least 30 minutes a day.
6. make a list of 10 greatest passion/activities that fill your heart with joy and remind you how good life can be. then schedule them once a week. anything that is scheduled gets done.
7. one conversation with an interesting person a week.
8. power of .......thank you = i appreciate you; .....please = i respect you.
9. if you eat 3 times a day you will be fed. but if you read three times a day you will be wise.
10. build cultures where people and relationaship comes first.
11. persian proverb "i cursed the fact I had no shoes untill i met a man who had no feet"
12. boomerang effect " give what you must want to see come back.
13. make better choices.
14. focus + improvement + time = genius in 5 years
15. "20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the ones you did" by Mark Twain

"the greatness guide" is filled with brilliant learning spread in numerous short passages of 2/3 pages long. skimming through the highlights uplifts the spirits for the day and so does the blogs of Robin Sharma.

unity through rhythm

Where is your family ? they are at home. you should have brought them along, it is a diiifferent meeting.
the drummers started the beats and the audience joined the rhythm. there were 25+ drums among the audience and they quickly picked up on the beats. and for the next 20 minutes the hall reverbated with drum beats and so did the mood of the audience with rhythm & beats. this was not a musical event but the begining of Toastmasters Area-25 speech contest held in Knowledge village auditorium - Dubai on March 21, 2008.
every toastmasters meet is different and dubai drums made the diiiference to the meet. their tag line "unity through rhythm" made the diiifference.

amazing kids - the free resource

kids are amazing and many a time they surprise you with their thoughts; ideas and imagination. they bring in new thinking; innovative ideas and fresh thinking in our day to day living. they can be a good mentor when you are stuck in life, they could be a breath of fresh air when you are fighting for ideas, they are a free resource when you need a new direction in your life.
they are a resource, a free resource that needs encourgaement to come forward and contribute to the new world.

friendly advise

conversation with a friend: "did i tell you the good news. perhaps i have shared with you earlier. i am taking a sabbatical. i am 45 and want to learn swimming; learn golf and may be write a book in next 2 years time. i want to take a break when i can do something not do something when i retire."
and then he proceeded to say that i am in a delimna, am i doing the right thing. but on the flip side if i am in delimna that means i am not exercising somethig run of the mill. i am doing something new.
how true, you are in delimna when you are attempting something new, something different and not run of the mills. you are progressing and exercising your creative skills.

"treasure" explore and plunder

these books have given me a quick and a meaningful insight into the subject. they are written in simple language and worth reading again and again

1. the tipping point by Gladwell
2. the 22 immutable laws of marketing
3. the blue ocean strategy
4. the wealth dynamics
5. good to great
6. Why men dont listen and women cant read maps by Allan and Barbara Pease
7. How to influence people and win friends by Dale Carnige
8. Rich Dad Poor Dad Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter
9. Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
10. Over the Top by Zig Zaglar
11. Who moved my Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
12. Awaken the Giants Within by Anthony Robbins
13. Chicken Soup for the Soul by
14. Up Your Service by Ron Kaufman
15. Seven Days Weekend by Ricardo Semler
16. Maverick by Ricardo Semler
17. Timeless Leadership by Omar Khan
18. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Robert Bach
19. The De Vanci Code by Dan Brown
20. The Enthusiastic Employee David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind and Michael Irwin Meltzer,
21. Seven Habbits of an Highly Effective People by Dr. Steven Covey
22. The Monk who sold his Fereari by Robin Sharma
23. Why Men and Women Cry by Allan and Barbara Pease
24. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
25. Storm in the Sea wind by Alam Sirinivas
26. You can win by Shiv Khera
27. How to get rich by Donald J. trump
28. I would like the world to buy coke by Roberto Goizueta
29. The seven strategies of Master Presenters by Dr. Brad McRae and David Brooks
30. Dada Answers by J.P. Vaswani
    

the tipping point

i read this book while on vacation in india. being on the bestseller list it became an obvious choice. And once i bounght the book, it was returned after completing the last chapter. the book has pearls of wisdom and something that makes you think; rethink and explore the phenomena of change.

the author Gladwell describes "The Law of the Few" and says "The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social skills." and Gladwell categorises these people into three:

Connectors are the people who "link us up with the world ... people with a special gift for bringing the world together

Mavens are "information specialists", or "people we rely upon to connect us with new information." They accumulate knowledge, especially about the marketplace, and know how to share it with others.

Salesmen are "persuaders", charismatic people with powerful negotiation skills. They tend to have an indefinable trait that goes beyond what they say, that makes others want to agree with them.

the book is sprinkeld with real life examples and theories. a must read for anyone eager to explore how an item becomes a phenomena.

the 22 immutable laws of marketing (must read for sales)

"the 22 immutable laws of marketing" piqued my interest after attending a short presentation in Abu Dhabi. the next week i bought my copy. since then i have read, re-read and grazed over many times.

It is a short book of may be less than 60 pages written by the renowned marketing team Al Ries and Jack Trout. "The 22 immutable laws of marketing" is simple to grasp & understand comprising 22 immutable laws. The first 6 laws caught my attention since they help me see business through a different glass and also sew a web between sales and marketing.

1. the law of leadership - it is better to be first than it is to be better. It is much easier to get into the mind first than it is to try to convince someone you have a better product than the one that did get there first.
2. the law of the category - if you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.
3. the law of the mind - it's better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.
4. the law of perception - marketing is not a battle of products, it's a battle of perceptions.
5. the law of focus - the most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect's mind (i.e. the way that Coke 'owns' the word 'cola', or Xerox owns 'copier').
6. the law of exclusivity - two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect's mind.

twenty-two 'laws' - with every law there is some situtation to reflect but there are counter-examples too in abundance for every rule presented in the book. the laws makes me ponder and the premises have become my measure to evaluate sales & marketing plans.

happy reading and am certain sales professionals will enjoy reading