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Crèdit de la imatge: Jim Randel.

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This is another in a series of simple, but not simplistic, books that teach a "large" subject very painlessly. This one is all about networking.

Billy is a high school history teacher. He would like to be a college music teacher, but such vacancies are few and far between. Randel, the narrator, tells Billy to start by asking his network, like friends and family, if they can help. Maybe someone knows someone who knows someone. He shouldn't assume that they already know about his desire to be a college music teacher; he has to tell them, specifically. If he sends an email, he should be very careful about who gets it. Don't just send it to everyone on your e-mail list.

If that doesn't fulfill the request, expand your horizons. For instance, dust off your college yearbook, and start looking up old classmates. Cold calling is never fun, but it is an essential part of networking. The book talks about connectors, those who seem to know people in many different "groups." If you come in contact with such a person, becoming acquaintances or friends with them is a very good idea. Think of social capital as a form of karma; you can never have too much of it. Try very hard to do things for other people (increasing your social capital supply) before you ask for things from other people (reducing your social capital supply).

Billy's wife, Beth, is a lawyer who would like to be partner. She knows that it involves bringing in more clients, but she is uncomfortable asking total strangers for their business. Randel suggests that she join business and professional groups that will put her in the company of people who may need her services in the future. Networking is not supposed to be quick or easy, so don't get discouraged if "it" doesn't happen very quickly.

This is another excellent book that is made for busy people. The idea is to distill the major points from many books on a subject, like networking, into an easy to read format that still has a lot to say. Along with the rest of the series, this is very highly recommended.
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plappen | Nov 13, 2013 |
Here is a simple, but not simplistic, look at the world of credit cards.

Beth and Billy are your average married couple who suddenly find themselves with a lot of credit card debt. Billy feels that as long as he pays the minimum payment each month, everything is fine, but Beth is not so sure. Along comes Randel, the author, to explain to them the reality behind credit cards.

Credit card companies want cardholders to pay just the minimum payment each month. That way, they can charge interest on the unpaid balance, raising your overall bill. If that particular ard was never used again, it can take years to pay your total bill by paying just the minimum amount. You will also pay the credit card company more than you originally owe, because of the accumulated interest on the unpaid balance.

Credit card companies can, and will, raise your APR (Annual percentage Rate) whenever they want; the Cardholder Agreement says so. They can also be very sneaky about setting the cut-off time for receiving payments. For instance, they can set the cut-off time for 10 AM, when they receive their daily mail delivery at noon. Even if your payment was received that day, it is still late, which means that they can charge a late fee. College students are a goldmine, because they are probably financially illiterate, and think of credit cards as free money.

What can the average consumer do about it? Pay off as much of your bill each month as possible; forget about paying just the minimum payment. Call your credit card company, and ask them for a lower interest. It could shave months, or years, off the time needed to eliminate your debt. If you have a large debt, look for a one-time infusion of cash to reduce the debt. Consider a low-interest credit card as a place to which to transfer your balances.

This book does a wonderful job at teaching the financial literacy not taught in school. get past the stick figure illustrations, and this book is highly recommended for everyone.
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plappen | Nov 21, 2012 |
Why are some people so good at persuading others to buy their product or service? How are some people able to (as the saying goes) sell ice to eskimoes? Here is the answer.

Once again, the characters are Billy and Beth. Billy is a real estate broker who is not doing so well. Mary, one of his co-workers, gets all the phone calls, and is selling many more houses. Billy thinks of Mary as an insincere flatterer who simply tells people what they want to hear, so she is "cheating," right? Billy doesn't know that the first step in fixing your frustration is to look in the mirror. You can't control other people, only yourself. Beth is a paralegal going to law school at night. She invites Billy to attend a session of a course on persuasion taught by Jim Randel, the book's narrator.

The book also explains the rules of persuasion. People are persuaded by people they "like." Find some common ground with the person you are trying to persuade. Consider adopting the vocabulary and speech patterns of the other person; it helps put them at ease. Effective persuasion does not just happen; preparation is vital. Learn to listen to the other person (put another way, know when to shut up). A good way to be "liked" by the other person is to listen to them. You might also pick up clues to what the other person is thinking, and how they can be persuaded. Try very hard for consistency with past commitments and statements. To make decisions, some people tend to use shortcuts. People follow celcbrities, crowdsm and authorities. Logic is rarely used in making decisions. Learn how to access people's emotions. Integrity is very important in persuasion.

Perusasiveness can be learned, without needing to resort to manipulation. Understand the rule of repicrocity; people don't like to feel indebted. Do not overdo it; subtlety works equally well.

This is part of a series that distills a large subject (like how to be persuasive) into a short and easy to read book that is made for busy people. It saves the reader from having to read many books on the topic. This book (along with the rest of the series) is very highly recommended.
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plappen | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Nov 11, 2011 |
If you really want the skinny on success, I can boil it down even further than Jim Randell does:

Being successful is hard work
There are no shortcuts
The secret is perseverance

Jim Randel sent me a copy of this book for review promising it would be a quick, diverting read, and it is - I got through it in about an hour, as Jim promised I would, and to the extent you can be said to truly enjoy a book you're done with in fewer than sixty minutes, I did so - though I do wonder what it achieves, seeing as its content seems to squarely defeat its own purpose: if, according to Jim Randel, you are the sort of person who needs a "skinny book" - with cartoons, designed with those with the attention span of a gnat, that you'll get through in an hour - to tell you how to succeed, you've a fat chance of ever doing so.

For Randell is firmly in the camp of those, like Malcolm Gladwell, who believe that it is not talent but hard work and perseverance that delivers success. But that's more or less where Randell leaves it: for those with a short attention span, that's clearly a thanks for nothing moment. But even Gladwell noted there's a bit more to it than that (he cites "opportunity" in his prescription as well), and my own view, having read and been dismayed by Gladwell's book, is that that, too, underplays the role of talent, aptitude, potential or whatever, which is the gating criteria for any success, as it's that baseline capability that even keeps you coming back. It doesn't matter how hard you practice, if you're tone deaf you'll never play violin at the Royal Albert Hall, and if you're not a complete moron, very quickly you'll figure that out and move onto another hobby.

Now if one takes opportunity and talent/potential for granted, it seems to me it is a truism that anything worth doing will also require application, so the main message of Randel's book, no matter how compelling it may be, really ought not be a surprise to anyone who remembers their socks before trying to put on their shoes each morning.

The illustrations are a bit feeble. I know they're meant to be of stick people - that's part of the joke - but it's a weak joke and the illustrations look rather a lot like Microsoft Word Art - the sort of graphics which inhabit dreary PowerPoint presentations - and if I were the publishers of this series I'd spend quite a lot more effort on page layout and illustration to compensate for the meagre amount of actual content.

Anyway, to go into much more detail would be to provide more content than the author has himself, so I'll stop. Better than a kick in the head, but so is boiled cabbage, and someone really passionate about the ideas in this book would get far more from Gladwell's Outliers (notwithstanding my own qualified opinion of that book), and on Randel's own theory would be much better advised to read in more depth anyway.
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JollyContrarian | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Sep 27, 2011 |

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Estadístiques

Obres
18
Membres
115
Popularitat
#170,830
Valoració
4.2
Ressenyes
13
ISBN
25

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