Customer Reviews

How to Get to the Top: Business Lessons Learned at the Dinner Table (Fox Business Library)

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I have read and then reviewed all of Jeff Fox's previous books and thus was eager to read his newest one in which he shares "business lessons learned at the dinner table" while he and other contributors to this volume were growing up. Of special interest to me is how skillfully Fox uses real-world situations to illustrate the lessons' practical value.

For example, one story in Chapter II focuses on Guiseppe ("Joe") Italo who was the only person at work one Saturday, sorting and distributing his company's mail. He answered a call from an especially important customer who had an emergency. Joe solved the problem by hiring a helicopter to deliver the needed product. Later, the chairman of Joe's company (a "notoriously tightfisted skinflint") was outraged to learn about the incident. Then he received a call from the customer. "I am president of [a U.S. automobile manufacturer]. I was told that you have a guy working there who saved my company maybe millions of dollars. I think is name is Joe Italo, or something like that. Please bill us for the helicopter, and be assured that we will never forget what you did for us." Joe was willing to go (as Napoleon Hill would describe it) "the extra mile" but he also demonstrates the power and value of personal initiative. In this context, I am reminded that there are only two rules for Nordstrom's employees: #1 Use good judgment and #2 See rule #1.

Throughout his narrative, Fox cites dozens of other examples, many of them contributed by a diverse group individuals who also learned valuable lessons from "the kitchen table, or its equivalent" that has been "the center of families of all cultures in all places since the cavemen discovered fire." Of special interest to me is Fox's observation that, to get to the top, become an effective multi-tasker: "juggle like Mom. Meticulously manage your time. Keep a list. Stay organized. Be relentless. Get a lot done every day. Plan. Be on time. Stay healthy. Don't complain. Be like Mom: No matter the pain, don't complain."

I especially appreciate Fox's wit that adds a special seasoning to the series of observations. Here's a brief selection, obviously out of context:

"Speak sweetly, you may have to eat your words."
"Tip as if you were the tippee."
"Bad ROT is bad return on time."
The rainmaker's S.W. Rule: "Some will. Some won't. So what?"
"Let the customer park as close to your cash register as possible. You park in the rain. Be a rainmaker."
"Keep listening until you hear ka-ching."
"Always be ready to play. And never forget your playing shoes."
"If you are reluctant to bring a [job] candidate home for dinner, don't invite him, and don't hire him."
"Don't give the Jewish guy a pork roast."
"Sour milk is bad. Sour grapes is worse."

In several of his previous books, Fox has shared his thoughts about "rainmaking" which, in essence, is the process by which to create or increase demand for whatever one offers while establishing and then sustaining mutually beneficial relationships with everyone involved in the given enterprise. Quantify (i.e. "dollarize") the value of what you offer to each prospect and customer and you will create "rain." Preferably, a deluge of new and repeat business. Here's the formula: Rain = revenue.

In How to Get to the Top, Fox brilliantly uses an extended metaphor, the dinner table, when asserting that for everyone - as children, spouses, parents, and grandparents - there are important life lessons as well as business lessons to be learned at the dinner table, wherever it may be, whoever else is seated around it. Frankly, until I began to read this book, I was uncertain what Fox means by "the top," especially the recurring reference to CEO in the titles of his earlier works. One man's opinion (mine), I think for Fox and everyone else, "the top" is not a location nor even a destination; rather, it is a process by which to become the very best human being each of us can be. That process never ends because each of us will always be a "work in progress." If we can apply the lessons to be learned from others, and if we can also learn from our own experiences (especially failures, setbacks, and disappointments), we can - and will - become better human beings. In other words, rain = wisdom.

That is Jeff Fox's hope for those who read his book. It is a great and admirable expectation.

Unlike his earlier books, this one has no overarching theme---it is a bunch of good advide, in short bullet like chapters, with an umbrella like title as an excuse to pull them together. But the advice is well worth it, delivered as Fox always does---direct and to the point. Upset with a boss or colleague? Ask what's in it for you to take them on. Can't close the deal? Hey, it's like the person you have dated for 5 years---it's you who must pop the question; same with business. Want to know what's going on? The sales force knows. They are the ones closest to the action. And, always, always remember---nothing is more important than getting and keeping good customers. A good vacation book---small and portable.

Jeffrey J. Fox is rapidly becoming one of my favorite
business authors . . . his HOW TO BECOME A
RAINMAKER is a "must" read for anybody in the
field of marketing . . . I'd now add his latest,
HOW TO GET TO THE TOP, to that same list--but
also involve virtually anybody else involved in any
aspect of business . . . those involved with non-profit
organizations and/or in education would benefit from it, too.

Fox took based his lessons on a series of lessons he
learned at the family dinner table from such business
leaders as Jim Donald, CEO of Starbucks; Tom Chappell,
founder of Tom's of Maine; Leslile Blodgett, CEO of
Bare Essentials; and George Steinbrenner, owner of
the New York Yankees.

Some of the advice seems very basic, but in thinking
about it, I wonder how often I don't do it more often; e.g.,
keeping the following in mind:

* Everyone is a tipper. Tip as if you were the tippee. Yesterday's
tippee might be tomorrow's tipper.

I also liked what he said about complaining:
* Be like Mom: No matter the pain, don't complain. As one at the
top puts it: "In all the years, over forty, that my mother was
a single mom, despite poverty, crippling ailments, heartbreaking
setbacks, the one thing my mother never once did was to
complain. Not once."

Lastly, there was this suggestion that made so much sense that
I'm amazed that so few store owners never thought of it previously
(but then again, neither did I):

* Windows are for window-shopping. Walking through your doors
is the first customer action that precedes a sale. Why deface your
stores and windows with, for example, credit card stickers and
news of community events? Customers expect businesses to
accept all credit cards. Turning your doors into a credit card
collage is unnecessary, irrelevant. Your windows are not bulletin
boards. They are a place to display merchandise, to entertain
customers, to attract customers. If you feel the need to display
the ads and flyers announcing the Lions Club pancake breakfast,
pin them to a bulletin board in the back of your store. Interested
customers will have to walk by your merchandise to read the
notices. Take a lesson from the master merchants of Fifth Avenue
in New York City. Their holiday window displays make the stores
a destination, generate publicity, and enhance the shopping
experience.

My only criticism of this otherwise excellent book had to do
with his list of contributors at the end . . . he includes them,
almost as an afterthought, and they have little relationship
to the individual chapters . . . I would have much preferred
seeing what exactly Steinbrenner or any other business
leader actually taught Fox.

Jeff Fox has a habit of delivering a lot of good advice, but doing it with few words. This short book is a good read to remind you of things you probably know already - or should know, but may not have thought much about lately. Good common sense advice, readable, and easy to put in use.

I was really surprised how trite this book is. Not only does the chapter headings leave a lot to be desired, I was literally bored to tears with the content of the book. And no this book will not help me get to the top, what ever that is.

Marketing guru Jeffrey Fox has a formula for successful books. Short book, short chapters, pithy advice. His latest offering is full of pith, purporting to offer "Lessons learned at the dinner table."

Anyone starting their career, who is mid-career or in the twilight of one's career - all can benefit from this book. Each chapter is a concise nugget of practical business wisdom for success. Fox's ideas are concrete, opinionated, to the point and well-reasoned.

A quick read that you may want to go back to again and again!