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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

I was given The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything last year by the group leader of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Signature Workshop I attended last year. Like many reviewers on the Internet I was worried that Covey Jr. wouldn’t be able to add much to the conversation that his father had started and rather he was just making use of the family name.

My suspicions were way off base. Covey Jr. does an excellent job of discussing “the one thing that changes everything.” He provides excellent examples of how building trust – both personally and within an organization – leads to better results, faster paths to excellence and greater efficiency.

Covey Jr. presents a 360 degree action plan for building trust, first with yourself right through your organization. He doesn’t sugar coat the process pretending that’s as easy as flipping a switch but he does provide proof of concept that it can be done.

Just as his father has seven steps to become highly effective, ‘lil Covey presents four broad subject headings that are then broken down into smaller steps beginning with: Read More