An engaging, empowering business protection guide.
Corporate attorney and prolific author Sutton (Finance Your Own Business, 2016, etc.) discusses how to identify, sidestep, and untangle oneself from problem customers in his latest entrepreneurism manual.
The customer isn’t always right, says Sutton; in fact, he says, he or she might be a freeloader, a “feegoader” who “will use every angle to goad, or pressure you to reduce your fee,” or even mentally ill. Such “toxic” folks are everywhere, he says, and they particularly prey on business newcomers who are unwilling to turn away customers—but should. After that warning, Sutton goes on to shares his own stories (as a young lawyer, he had to defend a client who never paid his bills) and case study examples of difficult or downright disastrous customer relationships. He then offers tips on how to spot and evade bad apple clients, such as listening for clues and trusting one’s instincts on first meetings, and performing due diligence, including credit checks. He provides tactics for shaking off those who seem like trouble, such as by having clear, upfront policies on details such as retainers and return fees; by claiming an “imaginary partner” that one must consult before entering into agreements; or by saying that one is bound to a non-compete clause. The author concludes with three appendices that detail key avenues of recourse when one does get ensnared, including liens, small claims court, and collection agencies. Sutton’s book is an engrossing venting session with anecdotes that will be entertaining and relatable, especially to anyone who’s ever worked in restaurants or construction. They reinforce the idea that one shouldn’t be too nice—and, in fact, one should be wary—when dealing with people in one’s business. He also cites an array of sobering statistics to support this view, including that nearly 20 percent of American adults have a mental disorder, and that it can cost $50,000 to recoup $10,000 in unpaid fees. The book only skims the surface of legal advice that one might need for actual lawsuits, but it still offers a good kick-start to safeguard oneself against such prospects.
An engaging, empowering business protection guide.Pub Date: May 17, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-944194-03-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Success DNA, INC.
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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