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.

What there is a lot of is examples. In fact, there are way too many examples. In one chapter he lists almost every single presidential campaign slogan from the beginning of the republic. He takes time to explain why it was good and some background to put the slogan in context. I found it to be way over the top, I could have done with about half as much.

I also found Cone used the same examples over and over again to stress his points. For example, Ronald Reagan’s “It’s morning again in America,” was repeated several times throughout the book. He was also fond of citing FedEx’s “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.”

Both of these are great powerlines but they didn’t do much to help me create my own powerlines by using them again and again.

The author does give some great tips on creating your own powerline, albeit closer to the end of the book. They are:

• Convey a genuine truth or depict an experience—real or imaginary.
• Build them to last and should rarely, if ever, be changed.
• Convey a benefit, show how they will improve our lives, recommend an action or offer some other satisfaction.
• Are made more memorable if they can be set to music or made to rhyme.
• Should be made to move on the screen on television or online.
• Should be a prominent touch point with the consumer, i.e., large and pervasive throughout the campaign.

There’s no doubt Cone knows his stuff and I would love to have him over for dinner to discuss advertising and marketing. In the case of Powerlines, I’m not certain Cone set out to actually create a step-by-step plan to come up with great powerlines. In fact one point that has stuck with me is he says powerlines are never created by group of committee but rather by individuals who have a deep understanding of the brand.

Powerlines gets a high rating on Amazon but in terms of Powerlines being a textbook for learning to create you own powerlines, it falls short.

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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:

The Five Waves of Trust

1. Self Trust: It’s about building the 4 Cores of Credibility that make you believable, both to oneself and others.
2. Relationship Trust: Imbuing the 13 Behaviors to develop consistent behavior.
3. Organizational Trust: Utilizing the 4 Cores and 13 Behaviors to build alignment in an organization.
4. Market Trust: It’s all about brand and the principle of reputation.
5. Societal Trust: Is contribution.*

* notes after the colon are from another excellent review from this Web site.

Oftentimes simple ideas and concepts are made into very long and confusing books. While some sections of Covey’s book is long and a tad boring I didn’t find the different sections to be fluffy.

Four Cores of Credibility

1. Integrity: Being the same individual inside and out (no gap between intent and behavior).
2. Intent: Having a good plan, or purpose.
3. Capabilities: Creating both personal and organizational credibility.
4. Results: Classify an individual as a producer and performer

Covey Jr. puts a large emphasis on starting with oneself. The Four Cores of Credibility really focus on building trust with yourself – being able to do what you say and or think you’ll do – and building out from there.

Thirteen Behaviours

The largest part of this book is spent on the Thirteen Behaviours which Covey Jr. presents as a checklist to building trust. Most of these seem like common sense but if there were really such a thing as common sense it would be … well … much more common and clearly it’s not.

1. Talking Straight
2. Demonstrating Respect
3. Creating Transparency
4. Righting Wrongs
5. Showing Loyalty
6. Delivering Results
7. Getting Better
8. Confronting Reality
9. Clarifying Expectations
10. Practicing Accountability
11. Listening First
12. Keeping Commitments
13. Extending Trust

Smart Trust

Throughout the book the message being delivered seems to be that if you extend trust to someone your relationship will improve, productivity will go up and everyone will be happy. Fortunately he clarifies this position under the heading of Smart Trust. He contends that a certain level of trust is warranted for each individual. He’s not suggesting your loyal coworker shouldn’t really be as trusted as the consistent client, but rather should you trust that loyal coworker to lead the next meeting. Perhaps their skill base isn’t at a level where they would be successful in that meeting.

However, after building trust with the loyal coworker, they will agree and appreciate your frankness with them when you tell them the can’t lead the meeting. That’s how Smart Trust works and why it’s an important part of this book.

In Conclusion

If you enjoyed The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey or Good to Great by Jim Collins then you’ll definitely enjoy this book. I listened to it on audio book and then referenced the print version and while Covey Jr. narrates the book himself and has s distinct voice it’s not hard to listen to.

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