Web Worker Daily says “Tech writers Gina Trapani and Adam Pash have created an online e-book, “The Complete Guide to Google Wave,” which does an excellent job of explaining what Google Wave is and how it can be used. The book provides step-by-step instructions on how to get invited to the service, what to do when you get there, and how to make the most of it.”

From their web site, CompleteWaveGuide.com, they readily admit that it is a bit confusing to understand at first. “Google Wave is a new web-based collaboration tool that’s notoriously difficult to understand. This guide will help. Here you’ll learn how to use Google Wave to get things done with your group. Because Wave is such a new product that’s evolving quickly, this guidebook is a work in progress that will update in concert with Wave as it grows and changes. Read more about The Complete Guide to Google Wave.”

I am using Google Wave and I have to admit it is challenging at first but what I can say about the tool is it is like Twitter, IM and email had a baby. The real time collaboration and capture of the conversations or “Waves” make it a very interesting tool when working on a group email or a topic that needs the entire conversation captured.

The book on the web site is written in a clear, straightforward style, and is sprinkled with helpful and sometimes humorous quotes from Joss Whedon’s Firefly where on the show the communication method were called “Broadwaves” and people would say “Send me a Wave”. I am convinced that the whole Google Wave team are Browncoats (what fans of Firefly are called) and the error messages are very funny (do a google search on that one).

The Web Worker Daily site goes on to say “An electronic version of the book will be offered for sale beginning in November; it’s unclear whether the online version will continue to be available once the book comes out. So if you’re interested in Google Wave, this is an excellent time to learn more about it. But you may need some patience; the book’s web site has been very slow, as I suspect it’s getting more traffic than the authors expected.“

Check out the site and let us know what you think of Google Wave.

I had always been meaning to read this book but I finally had an opportunity to sit down and really go through it to see if his advice is either timeless or fadish since four years have passed.

There are three primary themes in this book: Networking like crazy, be sincere, and pay it forward.

I found Keith to be a bit of an “in your face” writer but I like that and since he is from outside of Pittsburgh and I am from Baltimore I can relate to the” work hard but network even harder” philosophy. The ego is a bit ever present and he doesn’t have to mention repeatedly that he went to Harvard Business School. We get it, you are smart. However, he likes to point out his own mistakes so that we learn from them and that is a sign of a good leader. The only caveat in the book is that he makes it look like the only thing you should all day is making phone calls, sending e-mails, and throwing dinner parties. I know that may sound bit extreme but I believe there is a balance in the activity of networking because once you have to maintain the network you build in order for it to produce something worthwhile.

His primary argument with hyper-Rolodex people is that “they collect but don’t connect”. He goes one to point out with many examples from his youth and on through his career that the best way to become successful is to help make everyone around you successful is the most important in the whole book.

The other important element is to stay in contact and keep the network alive with reaching out occasionally to them, at the very least on their birthday, and the three ways to impact them that will make you an important contact – personal health, wealth and the benefit of children.

SMART WORKING VERDICT: BUY THIS BOOK AND KEEP IT IN YOUR LIBRARY

This is book is one that you must have in your library and should be reread once a year to make sure you are sticking to the advice. His argument that the best way to become successful is to help make everyone around you successful is the most important in the whole book. Ferrazi is quoted as saying “Connecting is a philosophy of life, a world view. Its guiding principle is that people, all people, every person you meet, is an opportunity to help and to be helped.” He goes on to say “Flat out, people do business with people they know and like.”

I would also check out this awesome review that breaks down the chapters into paragraph reviews so you can get a sense if this book is for you.

Now it is time for the long tail to take over and for us to create a personal brand that is niche but powerful and helps us improve our careers/businesses along with increasing our recognition in an area we are passionate.

In Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, personal branding expert Dan Schwabel teaches readers how to use social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs, etc.) to stand out in the working world. About.com says “The book is aimed at new grads and young professionals who are looking for their first big job, but would also be useful to anyone who wants to climb the corporate ladder or start their own business venture.” I agree buy I disagree on that one. Let me elaborate.

When I picked up the book I knew a fair amount about the concept of personal branding so the first portion of the book was a bit of a review. The book is separated into three major sections:

* Part I: “The Rise of Personal Branding,” which gives you a little history. This is where you get your first clue that this book is targeted toward younger job seekers who are looking to build a career. This is why About.com reviewed the book like this and it is focused on Social Media as your gateway to Personal Branding success. If you’re still a little confused about all this social media stuff and want to figure out how it fits into your marketing strategy – you need to read this section.

* Part II: “Command Your Career in Four Steps,” This is the heart of the book and what I liked the most because it gives you a practical roadmap you can follow regardless of where you are in your career. This is where you will get all the how-to guides and resources to discover, create, communicate and manage your personal brand.

* Part III: “Now You Have Command.” This is a bit of “take some action, this is how other people” have and it has the obligatory success stories that must backup what Dan is trying to explain to those that might be skeptical. They are called “Brand Commanders” and it is pretty good and you will probably find someone to identify with your own journey.

Three Audiences for this Book (via Small Business Trends)

I was going to talk about the types of people that would benefit from this book more than just college students or young people as the review from About.com said. Ivana Taylor at Small Business Trends did an awesome job quantifying the usefulness of various people looking to build their own personal brand.

If you’re currently looking for a full time job — This is a terrific book for you. If you’re a Gen Y looking for your first job, you will find practical tips and tricks for overcoming the “lack of experience” challenge in Chapter Five’s “Discover Your Brand.” If you’re a more experienced job-seeker who needs to look into a different industry, this chapter will help you re-position yourself for an industry that might be faring better in today’s economy.

Independent business owners, consultants and freelancers – You will find wonderfully practical tips on creating and communicating their brand using social media tools. Dan includes a wonderful “Blog Success Checklist” to make sure that your brand-building using a blog is painless and successful:

Small businesses looking for broader networking reach — Does this describe you and your business? If so, you will find “The Popular Social Networking Sites” chart a great summary of the biggest and best social networking sites and how to use them to increase your sphere in influence and build your network.

Don’t just take my word for it

I came across this great video review of the book from. It is from Maria Reyes-McDavis AKA @WebSuccessDiva on Twitter. Enjoy.

Everyone thinks they know how brands work and pretty much everyone of them have no clue. Despite these brands which result in their most identifiable element – the logo, the concept of branding has become less of an art and more about category creation and domination or dare I say survival of the fittest.

This is where The Origin of Brands by Al & Laura Ries comes in to profess and demystify that message.

Is it Really Like Survival of the Fittest?

With a title inspired by Darwin’s “The Origin of the Species”, Al and Laura Ries, who are father and daughter have become know for their series of books on marketing which started with The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. They take the approach that evolution is a useful analogy for marketers. Throughout the book, readers are encouraged to think of Darwin’s tree of life.

While their travels did not take them to the Galápagos Islands it did however take them around the world studying all the top brands and why they are great. There are many trees and the branches outward that make them diverse. Quoting Publishers Weekly “For example, the television tree used to consist solely of the three networks, but now comprises an array of cable and satellite offerings. The “phone” tree includes cellular, picture, computer, digital and other varieties. Using many examples, the authors explore this notion: “Competition between individuals (brands) improves the species. Competition between species (categories) drives the categories further and further apart.” To survive in today’s competitive market where technology makes innovations much faster than in the past, companies must continue to introduce new computers, cars, phones, food, etc”

Despite the expansion and innovation that a company could experience in “branching out” to other offerings on their respective tree, they run the risk of not being profitable and delivering for their shareholders. You see this all the time with fast food places, soft drink companies, sport clothing companies,

The Whole Point of the Book

The key to success and the whole point of the book that the authors offer specific advice on surrounds devising a new category rather than a brand. Much like the dot com era when many tech companies were creating new brand spaces and working with Gartner or other analysts to own that space. Siebel did it with CRM, Oracle did it with databases and Microsoft with desktop software. On pages 169-170 they list all these great brands who were first in their space.

Reading this book you take away that only the most innovative marketers will be triumphant  if they create a category and launch with a clever name as well, such as Starbucks did for the high-end coffee-shop category.

Who is this book for?

While the book is primarily directed at readers working in marketing, advertising and related fields, managers and executives at both large and small businesses will benefit from it as well.

Would I Buy It?

Probably not, but others should. I went through it pretty quickly and with a fairly strong marketing background I get the essence of what it was trying to say, which was pretty logical. However, if I was an entrepreneur that had no clue about marketing or branding, then I would totally own this book and keep it forever. It helps you think about your competitive space especially when you are looking to be different, be innovative and demonstrate why investors should put money in your business, then this book would be perfect for you. If you are established in business and trying to focus or “prune” as they call it in the book then I would also take a quick read.

If you want other reviews from the pros and from the passionate readers, check out their page on Amazon.

In it, he and Frank talk about the common sense things we do when we meet people and follow up with them in our human networks (i.e. church, community groups) but we usually fail to do when we get a business card and say “let’s keep in touch”.

LinkedIn by its design is for business professionals to keep in touch and as a side benefit keep our contact information up to date for others to use in their address book or recruiters to reach out with opportunities.

I read the book on the flight back from Chicago to Washington, DC after the conference and it was a clean and easy read with some great tips that every person using LinkedIn should have on their process list.

Here are the top five lessons that I took away from Lewis’ teaching:

1.) After you are done adding their information to your address book, add them immediately to Linkedin

2.) When you reach out to someone, personalize your request so they know who it is and know that you took the time to ask for them to add you to their network

3.) Use “Answers” to build a reputation on LinkedIn and answer at least three questions a week in the area you want to be know as a through leader

4.) Spend at least 30 minutes a day, preferably twice a day, either in the morning, evening or both

5.) Recommend others as part of the “Good Karma” rule. If you give recommendations you will be surprised how many people reciprocate

If you haven’t had time to dive into LinkedIn or are an old pro, this book is fantastic and you will take at least one thing from it. (I did-see #2)

You can find Lewis and Frank on LinkedIn and tell them that you read this review and want to connect with them. I am sure they will be happy to meet new fans.

Malcolm Galdwell writes very well. His books Tipping Point and Blink really changed the way people think of making a difference in business. Outliers is about success and what contributes to the success of “Outliers”. Outliers are defined by Malcolm Gladwell as “outside everyday experience where the normal rules did not apply.”  Gladwell himself is a outlier. Jay Goldman writes on in his blog http://jaygoldman.com/2008/12/02/malcolm-gladwell-talks-about-outliers-at-rotman-school-of-management/

Things you probably don’t know about Malcolm:

· Was once the Canadian record holder in 1500m run but is not the fastest Gladwell in his family

· 10,000 hour rule: takes 10k hours to be expert at something. He’s an expert at playing Risk.

· Was a student activist of an odd sort. Organized a march to prevent principal being transferred to another school.

· Was in Reach for the Top. His aspiration was to be a pastry chef (though he doesn’t remember it)

· First major assignment was for Ad Hominem, a high school newspaper

Outliers mentions the Italian community of Roseto in Bangor Pennsylvania which defied all scientific theories for remaining healthy and built a community carrying over all the advantages of community resources from their original Italian countryside.

It discusses the waste of human capital that results our of sports teams choosing kids from school who were born between January and August. Being born in the perfect age 1955ish and being around 20 years of age in 1975 the dawn of the personal Computer Age– examples

Bill Gates : Oct 28 1955

Paul Allen Jan 21 1953

Steve Ballmer March 24 1956

Steve Jobs Feb 24 1955

Eric Schmidt April 27 1955

Bill Joy Nov 8 1954

Scott McNealy Nov 13 1954

Vinod Khosla Jan 28 1955

Andy Bechtolsheim Sept 30 1955

Bill Gates was lucky to be in a school in Lakeside where the mothers banded together to buy a computer for the school in 1968 . I was a 5 year old J then. I chose to move to a school district that had a good record of parents contributing to school efforts and I have to wait for my kids to flourish to completely agree with Malcolm Gladwell as he does make a good case.

The 10,000 hour rule. Again studying people who succeeded in life Malcolm Gladwell says each of them spent 10k hours practicing their speciality. The Beatles Playing for 7 days a week in Hamburg, Bill Gates non-stop programming and getting a place in Seattle to program for free, Bill Joy who wrote UNIX, all gave the message that perseverance is also a factor for success.

I love the statement “the only measure that a law school really ought to care about – How well its graduates do in the real world.” The story of genius Chris Lagan compared to Alex Williams in the book is an example that intelligence and genius matters to an extent after which your access to resources and timing plays a part.

This is a topic that most parents of India origin debate over – the school cut off date. When I arrived in the United States in 1997 I chose to live in Maryland rather than Virginia due to the fact that Maryland had a cut off date of Dec 31^st for school then versus Virginia which had a Sep31st cut-off date. Why does this matter? Did I do the right thing? All these answers I found in this book by Malcolm Gladwell – Outliers – The story of Success.

See Malcolm Gladwell’s talk at Pop!tech which inspired me to read his book.

I was surprised by the chapter on Harlan Kentucky, the battles for honor in the Southern States and attributing it to their Scottish-Irish origin. I did not know that the South has higher murder rates but property crimes and muggings are lower. The South is to me is always the gentle culture and I guess that can all change with Honor being slighted. While it may be a very stark case study I look at my own Indian roots and see the differences in regions of India where honor means a different kind of action and the idea does have a meaning. If I were writing this book I would research Kadapa in the State of Andhra Pradesh. In the Wikipedia article there is no mention of what Cuddapah is known for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadapa but go to this websitehttp://www.umeshchandra.org/front.html and you will find it described as the “second most troublesome district in India.”

I got a preview of what was coming in the book at Pop!Tech where Malcolm Gladwell spoke about Human capitalization and lost opportunities http://blog.networksolutions.com/2008/malcolm-galdwell-speaks-about-human-capitalization-at-poptech/

Others who have reviewed this book: ( Buy the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell from Amazon )

New York Times : Michiko Kakutani http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/books/18kaku.html

New York Magazine Jason Zengerle http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/52014/

Jay GoldMan http://jaygoldman.com/2008/12/02/malcolm-gladwell-talks-about-outliers-at-rotman-school-of-management/

Entertainment Weekly: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20239689,00.html

Guardian : http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/23/outliers-story-success-malcolm-gladwell

Cross posted from CarryOnCurry.com