Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business [Hardcover]

Nancy Lublin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 2010

A leading not-for-profit CEO on smart ways companies can cut costs while improving results

As CEO of the youth volunteering organization Do Something, Nancy Lublin has overseen its dramatic growth since 2003. She helped it evolve from a debt-ridden, stodgy not-for-profit to a fast-moving, buzz-driven magnet for teens. Do Something now draws more than one million monthly hits on its Web site, while dispensing millions in grant money to young people with good ideas and a hunger to help others.

Lublin now shows why the best not-for-profits are brilliant at doing more with less and what the mainstream business world can learn from them, especially in tough times. For instance, organizations like Do Something are tops at motivating people with nonfinancial incentives and doing effective grassroots marketing on a shoestring budget.

Lublin's book distills the best lessons and stories from her career and includes interviews with other leaders of flourishing not-for-profits, such as Wendy Kopp of Teach for America, Adam Sterling of Save Darfur, and John Lilly of Mozilla.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lublin, CEO of the youth volunteering organization Do Something and founder of Dress for Success, shows organizations how to get more done with less of everything, especially money and personnel, while keeping innovation, passion, and creativity high. Sharing insightful stories and strategies from her own experiences and from stars in the not-for-profit world such as Billy Shore from Share Our Strength, Wendy Kopp from Teach for America, and John Lilly from Mozilla, she debunks the most prevalent myth in business today—that salary drives great performance and stellar productivity. She proposes that companies broaden their rewards and their understanding of compensation so that people become deeply motivated to excel and offers techniques for extracting the best from people including creating a stimulating workplace, offering skill development, and doling out titles liberally. She also shares advice on branding, doing more for customers, stretching finances, and more. Concluding each chapter with 11 questions to prompt creativity in specific areas, she propels readers on the road to positive change. Inspiring, wise, and eminently practical, this book distills the best practices that any company—private or public—can adopt, and that no leader should be without. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Nancy Lublin has brought so much energy to the non-profit sector and the world is a much better place because of it. I''m so glad she wrote a book to give us all a window into how she thinks and makes things happen. Regardless of your professional sector, you''ll find Zilch full of inspiration and great ideas."
-Wendy Kopp, CEO and founder, Teach for America

"Nancy''s great energy and experience come through in her book as she provides great lessons for business and life to be more effective. Nancy''s 11 question approach is a great way to make you think about how her principles apply to what we do everyday in business. I enjoyed the book and am already thinking about how I can do more with less."
-Ken Hicks, president and CEO, Foot Locker, Inc.

"Anyone who can start an internationally respected not-for-profit with just $5,000 has a lot to teach today''s business world. Inspiring and practical, this book is a must read for anyone running a business. Including me."
-Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief, The Huffington Post

"Nancy Lublin is a star! She knows how to really make a difference in a most efficient and pragmatic way...and now teaches us how to do it!"
-Diane von Furstenberg

"Nancy Lublin has done the uptight business world a big favor. Borrowing from her experience as found of Dress for Success and now CEO of Do Something, Nancy lays out a strategy for business success in the simplest terms. It''s a smart, sassy, and plain spoken book full of great ideas on his to run a for-profit company. Using compelling anecdotes for her ''not-for-profit'' world, Nancy''s amazing energy and imagination comes through in every chapter. Zilch is a no nonsense survival manual for fat cats."
-Jim Berrien, president and COO of Mother Nature Network, former president of Forbes Magazine Group

"In a reset world, Zilch provides a timely approach for operating in the ''New Normal''. Nancy Lublin''s expansive nonprofit experience provides rich organizational insights for businesses of all sizes."
-Carol L. Cone, chairman, Cone

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (June 24, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591843146
• ISBN-13: 978-1591843146
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #629,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Things you can to to enhance your company for no money (or not much money)., July 14, 2010

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business (Hardcover)

I know the lessons in this book from personal experience. My business partners and I built our present company having no money and were unwilling to give away all our equity to raise money. So, we have scratched, scraped, and done the things Nancy Lublin wisely advocates you do in this time of slashed budgets, decreased revenues, and carefully hoarded profits.

The book has 11 chapters with each focusing on a key lesson of getting by with zilch (which doesn't mean exactly zero dollars, but zero to spare and lot less than you were used to when things were fat, dumb, and happy just a few short years ago).

Each chapter is full of ideas and suggestions. For example, the first chapter is about doing more even though you have less cash to throw at people to paper over your problems. The ideas are sound: Get all levels of your company involved in realizing your company's vision and purpose. Rearrange your physical workspace so that it is more fun and stimulating for your staff. Make your staff more valuable and capable by investing in their skills development. Give out fancier titles (banks have know this forever). Help people set and achieve goals and make a big deal out of those achievements. Happy staff = a happy workplace. Be willing to thank your staff for the work they do. There are a lot more. You see how much more you can do without spending more money?

Lublin helps you with ideas about your brand, the people you hire for work OUTSIDE your company, being smarter about what you ask for, doing more for customers, getting more out of your board, your staff, and your company's story. She also points out valuable things you should consider about your finances. Heck, she even discusses barter! And you can always be more innovative.

Good book. I love her positive tone. She also illustrates her ideas with stories from her own experience or from interviews she has with successful folks you will want to emulate. She is concise with lots of good ideas rather than trying to fluff out one or two ideas into a whole book. Nothing here is rocket science or something you would never have thought of in a million years, but when you are under pressure (like you probably are now) it is nice to have someone think through what you could do so your job is to find the ones that are most relevant for you. Much easier than thinking them up on your own. And for the low low price of the book!

I think you can profit from this book.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Saline, MI.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Power of Zilch, June 29, 2010

By 

R.T. in DC (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business (Hardcover)

I'm not usually a business-book reader, but the Nancy Lublin 'brand name' caught my eye, so I opened up Zilch and took a peek...three hours later, I was still engrossed. This is the liveliest, smartest, straight-shootingest, spunkiest collection of useful tidbits and wise observations I've read about *any* subject in years. From telling anecdotes (you won't forget the one about LBJ and the NASA janitor) to genuinely interesting how-to prompts ('11 questions to get you started,' e.g.) to catchy mnemonics (the Tote Bag Principle!) to big-picture insights (the power of bartering), this book will change your life. Or at least the way you operate professionally...and for all us type-A types, isn't that the same thing? Can't wait for Lublin's next book (Nada?)--and am most enthusiastically recommending this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gotta Love George!, June 30, 2010

By 

Roxy Allen "Roxy" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business (Hardcover)

This book has TONS of great stories about rockin not for profit leaders. My favorite is about George who was hired for his passion despite his lack of specific skills and taught himself HTML, SEO, and web design, working around the clock to eventually become the Chief Technology Officer at [...]. Nancy shows that when you hire smart people, empower and challenge them, you unleash their brilliance to work for your cause. The question is if you are a strong enough leader to pass meaningful responsibilities and power on to your staff, step back, and let them launch. We young professionals are hungry for you to do this, and it will cost the organization nothing.