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Like anyone that has a marketing or advertising component to their job, finding the right way to break through the clutter and make your message memorable is one of the toughest goals to achieve. I picked up Powerlines by Steve Cone with the hope that it might offer some formula or tips on how to create great powerlines for use in my marketing/advertising copy.

To be clear, Cone defines Powerlines as “a compelling story about an event, person, place, product, or a part of human nature that has lasting impact. Sometimes these lines are just a few words, sometimes several sentences, and once in a great while, must one word.” This definition in itself is not very powerline-ish but it is a definition … just one that I couldn’t remember off the top of my head and had to go look up just now. He also says powerlines must “ring true” and they should not overreach.

I like books that have lots of great examples and then actions you can take immediately to start enacting the change the book is advocating. Powerlines has lots of great examples but I didn’t find the tips came early enough in the book. Either I’m not seeing them or they just aren’t there. He had tidbits here and there but he didn’t dedicate as much text to steps you can take to improve the powerlines you create. Read More

Part of my current responsibilities at work – one that I particularly enjoy – is managing the student newspaper. I’m not the editor, my job is to hire and train the students who work on it, make sure the files get to the printer, ensure everyone gets paid and other administrative duties.

One of the biggest challenges we face at the newspaper is recruiting and retaining volunteer writers. I’ve been studying reward systems from a consumer perspective (e.g. how to use programs like Air Miles to encourage customer behaviour) for a few years but haven’t thought of a specific strategy for employees.

The idea popped into my head this past summer and I sought out a book I could learn from. that’s where Steve Kerr’s Reward Systems: Does Yours Measure Up? came into play.

Steve Kerr has been the Chief Learning Officer and managing director at Goldman Sachs and before that spent time as GE’s CLO heading up their prestigious Crotonville corporate university. Read More

A few years ago, my friends Bessie and Christian gave me Delicious Library for my birthday. It’s a program that uses your iSite (or other Web cam, I guess) to catalouge all your DVDs, books, CDs and I think toys now too.

I’ve been using it ever since and I’ve recently published my shelf to the Web. It’s not the entire listing, but it has the bulk of my library. Check it out here.