No, this well-designed, focused book is not about Caarles Darwin's theory - or is it? Tom Salonek, a successful entrepreneur of the first order (he founded Intertech Foundation to respond to the multiple needs of families with critically ill children while he maintains his status as an award winning business man, etc etc etc) has addressed the fact that starting a new business or company in these critical economic times not only conceivable - it is possible to come to the end of the day a winner. Knowing that the bookshelves and sites for downloading Internet literature are bursting at the seams, he wisely (and thankfully for those of us who plan to use his concepts) keeps his book of how to build a winning business short, terse, pointed, and immensely usable.
This very wise young man has kept his book to the point by dividing it in to sections. In this thin but brain-heavy volume he lists '70 Takeaways' - 70 succinct clues one a few pages each that are the building blocks for his advice to those who want to make the necessary changes in this new world of Internet-ruled planning. These 'takeaways' are ideas suggested for the savvy new mind in the business world. Examples of some of these takeaways are: 'Hire Slowly' - and his method of explanation for this particular tidbit of advice is 'Avoid hasty hires. While it may seem like a simple solution in the short term, you'll end up paying more and spending more time on the process in the long run, since employees hired in a hurry rarely make a good fit' and not to give away too much of the riches of this book, some of the other takeaways (without comments) are 'Watch out for Bias', 'check in regularly', 'be patient': and on to Managing 'Keep Them Motivated' 'Fire Quickly', 'Know What Matters'; on Strategy 'Involve the Team When Defining Values', 'Ensure You Have Alignment'; on Talent Strategy 'Promotion', 'Compensation', 'Partner Relations'; on Leading 'Leaders Insist on Results, 'Leader Delegate', 'Leaders Listen'; on Problems, 'Slay Monsters Early', 'Own Your Mistakes'. That is the general drift, remembering that there are 70 of these little wise statements of advice an each follows with Salonek's commentaries.
To cap off this book as a functional and very usable resource (and there probably no competitors in this field now that Salonek has published his volume that took 15 years to write), the author offers Internet sites to download his own well-designed and easy to use forms to facilitate the skills learned in this book. The evolution bit in the heading? Well, when it comes to adapting to the new business world status post the Economic Crisis we are experiencing, there is evidence that change, and mutation, and adjustment to new technology and new ways of perceiving and being a leader and a happy employee must be addressed. It is all right here - easy wise, digestible, and entertaining at that. A terrific new book to heed. Grady Harp, July 11
