Category Archives: Management Resource Lists

Lists of management resources culled from the world wide web.

Not all User Generated Content (UGC) is Valuable – Exhibit A: Mixtent.com

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If you have more than a few connections on LinkedIn, then you’ve surely been exposed to the most asinine website dedicated to UGC since CompanyNameSucks.com: mixtent.com. (You’ll have to learn why CompanyNameSucks.com is asinine all on your own, I’m going to use the rest of this blog to tell you why I think you should opt out of mixtent.com – and opt out quickly.)

I’m not the first to write it, but the Internet really is just one big bathroom wall. Often it’s just a place where anyone can express any opinion at any time with little or no recourse. The difference, as I see it, is the Internet is filled with small-minded billionaire wannabes who will gladly stomp on your privacy and dignity while they construct a new enormous bathroom wall and then encourage others to step up with their Sharpies and write whatever the hell they want without any regard to the veracity or value of their opinions.

This, my friend, is the essence of most sites 100% driven by user generated content. The rub for those of us who just want to live our lives in honest and ethical fashions is that without users generating content (any content) these sites will not be able to be flipped for the billions the founders expect. We, you see, get included in this content whether we deserve or even want to be included.

Enter mixtent.com

I doubt there has ever been a more ridiculous, misguided or pointless effort allegedly directed at professionals and cloaked in some misstated mission about helping sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to which person is better at what skillset. This site is nothing more than a HotOrNot.com for professionals, only this one ranks you without your permission.

The primary problems with mixtent, as I see them, are two-fold: 1) You are ranked as hot or not on a multitude of skillsets by those in your LinkedIn network – whether you want to be or not, and regardless of whether or not this particular contact has seen you demonstrate this particular skill; and 2) Like all ranking, rating and review sites, this one can be gamed. In fact, mixtent (in my opinion) seems to be actively participating in and encouraging the gaming by helping you send messages to everyone in your network that you’ve just ranked them… now will they please go and rank you.

Here is one such auto-generated message: “My Entrepreneurship percentile is 89%. Help me increase it and find out where you rank…” This is followed by a link to join mixtent so you can start ranking others.

The ranking process is really a joke because you are presented with two of your LinkedIn contacts (who may not have opted in to mixtent, but have certainly not opted out) and you are asked which of these two is better at __________. The tendency for most human beings is to give the nod to the person they like or know the best, not necessarily the person most deserving of the honor.

This means a well-liked dufus is likely to rank higher on most skills than a hard-charging doer. (My guess is that most hardened, yet accomplished women executives will be butchered on sites like this, as they generally had to step on one or two toes on their way through the glass ceiling.)

Okay, How Do I Opt Out of mixtent.com?

The greatest part about all of this nonsense is that you cannot opt out of mixtent.com without first granting them access to your LinkedIn profile. That’s right, you have to first let them suck all of the personal and other information from your LinkedIn profile before you can tell them you don’t want to play their shitty little game.

That, my friends, is ballsy. Of course, once you’ve opted in, you can (as of this writing) fairly easily opt out by clicking on the tiny “opt-out” link at the very bottom of the homepage.

Interested in mixtent.com’s About Us page?

I thought it would be fun to read between the lines of mixtent.com’s About Us page (the bold text in parentheses is mine):

About Us

Our goal is to help you connect with the most talented people. We want to help you hire, get hired and find talent to do amazing things. (We just don’t think you’ll be able to do that by using this website.)

Mixtent is building a professional reputation graph on top of the main social and professional networks. We believe we can become a driving force in making online recruitment and talent management materially more efficient. (Or, at the very least, we can help companies find unqualified people who have the most friends or don’t rock any boats… ever.)

Mixtent is built on the core notion that collective intelligence gathered through engaging experience can provide the right data to solve the hardest problems online. (That is, are they hot or not?)

Our mission is to reduce structural unemployment driving down asymmetries of information and increasing liquidity on the labor market. (What the fuck?)

We are looking for crazy talented engineers. Take a look at our jobs page (Why do they need to have anyone apply? Don’t they already know who the crazy talented engineers are by just looking at the ratings on their own website?)

We are located in Redwood City, CA. (Okay, finally something I can believe here.)

How about the geniuses behind this monstrosity?

Here are the links to the LinkedIn profiles of two guys listed as Founders at mixtent.com (in case you are a crazy talented engineer in Redwood City looking for work):

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=6037432

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=23979582

Oh, and if they’re already in your network and haven’t opted out of mixtent just yet, be sure to rank them appropriately.

ScreenCrafters Awarded Patent for First Party Leads System

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Boutique Technology Firm Secures Important Digital Marketing Rights

Fairhope, AL, March 9, 2011 — ScreenCrafters, a top provider of First Party Leads for automotive dealers and many other industries, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) awarded the veteran, boutique technology firm a patent for their highly successful lead generation and delivery system. The system, sometimes called SiteEncore™ or Last Man Standing, often doubles or even triples the number of sales leads clients generate from their own websites.

The USPTO patent, number 7,904,335 titled “Web Site Lead Generator,” covers virtually all uses of undefeatable pop-ups and pop-unders to generate sales leads or gather consumer information from client websites. ScreenCrafters has been providing this technology to automotive dealers since 2006 and currently drives First Party Leads for nearly 2,000 websites.

Unlike traditional pop-ups, the ScreenCrafters Web Site Lead Generators are designed to create sellable leads where most pop-ups just deliver advertising that has little or nothing to do with the host website. Additionally, ScreenCrafters Web Site Lead Generators are virtually never blocked by traditional pop-up blockers; this often makes them the most effective lead providing vendor for their clients.

“We have used ScreenCrafters lead generation system on our websites for over five years.” Stated Mark Burshears, Technology Director for the O’Brien Auto Group. “ScreenCrafters regularly generates about 40% of all email leads from our website and we consistently close 18% of those leads. Our results have been outstanding.”

In addition to offering their product directly to car dealers and other website owners, ScreenCrafters also licenses their technology to a number of companies to use in creating their own lead-generating systems. Currently, ScreenCrafters is evaluating further licensing opportunities for their newly patented technology, including helping large classified advertising websites drive additional leads, as well as powering daily deal offers that deliver incremental revenue for a number of verticals.

“As you can imagine, since the official announcement that the ScreenCrafters patent would be awarded back in December, many companies have inquired about both exclusive and non-exclusive licensing opportunities of this technology.” Disclosed Steve Stauning, founder of pladoogle, LLC, the company managing the licensing relationships for ScreenCrafters. “It’s great to see ScreenCrafters go from this sort of obscure company built from the ground up by Steve and Cindy Crim to become one of the hottest topics in digital marketing circles.”

NY Times Hardcover Business Best Sellers – October 2009

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New York Times – Hardcover Business Best Sellers – October 2009

 

Yawn… Eleven months and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers continues to dominate the NY Times hardcover business best seller rankings. We love this book, and yet it still seems a little unbelievable that one book could remain on top of such a dynamic list for so long. (To read our review of this outstanding book, check out our July 2009 best seller rankings.)

 

Upon further review, we understand why Gladwell can stay at Number One: Nearly all of his challengers deliver books with no real substance, very little entertainment value, and they fill no unmet need of the book-buying public. From the boring premise of Shop Class as Soulcraft, by Matthew B. Crawford to the asininely unnecessary The 50th Law, by 50 Cent (and Robert Greene), to the clearly miscategorized What Happy Working Mothers Know, by Cathy L. Greenberg and Barrett S. Avigdor, the NY Times business list is thin, at best.

 

Given the absolute drivel populating this month’s list, we simply cannot recommend anything in the Top Five not written by Gladwell. From Numbers Six to Fifteen, there is only Jim Collins’ How The Mighty Fall at Number Seven that is worthy of a leader’s time. (Might we recommend you take a look at some classically good leadership books instead?)

The Top Five – NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers October 2009 (to view the entire list, follow this link):

 

This
Month

 

Last
Month

1

OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunities as well as talent — from the author of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point.”

1

2

THE HEALING OF AMERICA, by T.R. Reid. (Penguin Press, $25.95.) How other industrialized democracies provide health care for all at a reasonable cost.   

9  

3

WHAT HAPPY WORKING MOTHERS KNOW, by Cathy L. Greenberg and Barrett S. Avigdor. (Wiley, $19.95.) How to be a successful parent and professional without sacrificing personal happiness.

 

 

4

THE 50TH LAW, by 50 Cent and Robert Greene. (HarperStudio/HarperCollins, $19.99.) Conquering fear to attain power: a philosophy of life.

  

5

THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER, by Dave Ramsey (Thomas Nelson, $24.99.) Debt reduction and fiscal fitness for families, by the radio talk-show host.

     
     
     
     
     

 

 3

 

 

NY Times Hardcover Business Best Sellers – September 2009

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New York Times – Hardcover Business Best Sellers – September 2009

 

Ten months and counting for Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers as it continues to dominate the NY Times best seller rankings. To read our review of this outstanding book, check out our July 2009 best seller rankings.

 

Though not showing the staying power of Gladwell yet, two authors were able to hold their Top 5 rankings from last month: Mezrich and Ramsey. We have no comment on Ramsey’s “work,” expect to say that it likely should be moved from the NY Times business rankings. (How does dolling out credit card debt elimination advice to consumers with below average intelligence qualify as a business book?) Regarding Ben Mezrich’s The Accidental Billionaires, we can actually recommend this read for those of you looking for something with a little more entertainment than “how to” advice. We enjoyed Billionaires almost as much as we liked Mezrich’s earlier offering, Bringing Down The House, and we were pleasantly surprised that we walked away feeling we learned a little something.

 

We have no plans to read anything written by former Lehman VPs (A Colossal Failure of Common Sense) or how Bernanke prevented the second Great Depression (In Fed We Trust), though we do welcome your comments about these final two of this month’s Top 5.

The Top Five – NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers September 2009 (to view the entire list, follow this link):

 

This
Month

 

Last
Month

1

OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunities as well as talent — from the author of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point.”

1

2

THE ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES, by Ben Mezrich. (Doubleday, $25.) How two Harvard undergraduates created Facebook.

2

3

THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER, by Dave Ramsey (Thomas Nelson, $24.99.) Debt reduction and fiscal fitness for families, by the radio talk-show host.

3

 

4

A COLOSSAL FAILURE OF COMMON SENSE, by Lawrence G. McDonald and Patrick Robinson. (Crown Business, $27.) The inside story of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, from a former vice president of the firm.

8

5

IN FED WE TRUST, by David Wessel. (Crown Business, $26.99.) How Ben Bernanke and his Federal Reserve colleagues worked to prevent another Great Depression.

 

 

NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers – July 2009

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New York Times – Hardcover Business Best Sellers – July 2009

Okay, how long can this thing last?

What will certainly be recorded as the most successful business book written in 2008, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers continues to dominate the best seller rankings for the eighth consecutive month. With success like this, Outliers truly stands to become an outlier itself. (For those who’ve read it, you may be asking whether Outliers would have performed so well had it been released in a bull market. Gladwell would likely argue in the negative.)

Given the unbelievable run normally reserved for motivational and self-help titles, we decided Outliers was due both a second read and a dedicated review this month. We even considered changing the title of this regular post to Outliers and the Other Hardcover Business Best Sellers.

What is the Best Book Released in 2008?

In January, we called Outliers “one of the best books released in 2008.” We can now definitively say after our reread that it is not one of the best books released in 2008… Outliers is the best book released in 2008; and second place isn’t even close.

Like similar mega-successful eye-opener Freakonomics, Outliers is not a “how to” book. In fact, it is unlikely that the book provides many readers with any practical knowledge that will easily translate into future success (for them). The only probable application of the lessons learned in Outliers is with future generations. Some readers of this book will certainly use the education gained to hyper-focus their progeny with 10,000 hours of hockey practice or computer programming. (Certainly this was not Gladwell’s intent.)

Outliers, like Freakonomics, is an interesting, enlightening and educational read. Its success during a recession is remarkable (since it provides little to no useful advice) and a testament to just how well Gladwell develops and presents its central theme and ideas. Gladwell knows his audience and he delivers what they want. He superbly delivers his educated observations in an entertaining and informative way.

Yes, But Will Pseudo-Intellectuals Enjoy Outliers?

Just like Freakonomics, Outliers has its detractors; and they are likely one in the same. Despite its success – or, more likely, because of it – there are those who declare they hate this book. (Hate is such a strong word, but it’s warranted here. Those who don’t find either of these books to their liking don’t simply recommend against them, they claim to literally and utterly despise them.)

Without detailing the most common complaints against a great read that (as of today) has spent 245 days on Amazon’s Top 100 list (currently at Number 15), let’s oversimplify it and say that those who dislike this book are mostly jealous, failed writers. Take this excerpt from an unbelievable 2,370-word diatribe masquerading as a review railing against Outliers on Amazon.com: “… McDonaldized salmagundi of information is itself is [sic] an inadequate account of the thesis proffered by Gladwell.”


Where do we start with this overly pretentious, unloved thesaurus user? His silly and revealing typographical errors? (Perhaps his book would be published if he would just proofread a little.) The length of his unreadable review? (This entire post is just 1,015 words long; 57% shorter than his Amazon attack.) His self-satisfying misuse of the made-up term “McDonaldized?” (I’m sure by his misapplication of the word coined by George Ritzer he means Outliers was written for mass consumption – shame on Malcolm for wanting to sell a couple of books.) Salmagundi? (Wasn’t that the guy who wrote The Satanic Verses?)

Okay, enough about the naysayers; other than to mention they remind me a lot of the fat guy in the Def Leopard T-shirt who told me in 1986 that “U2 sucks, man.” He was wrong, he knew he was wrong, but he couldn’t bring himself to like what others liked. His loss.

Alas, Outliers is not Perfect

Although it is the best book of 2008, Outliers is not The Old Man and The Sea and Gladwell is not Hemingway. Those expecting Hemingway or Salinger or Hugo are going to be sorely disappointed in Gladwell’s work; and in the work of the other 200,000+ authors who published books in North America in 2008.

…

Why do we read? People read for a number of reasons, though most would say they read to be entertained and/or informed; and Gladwell’s Outliers is entertaining and informative. That’s why it could very well remain Number 1 for twelve straight months. (Unless we just jinxed it.)

…

(While we said this article would be a review dedicated to Outliers, it would be disingenuous if we failed to brag that the cleverly titled 10-10-10, by Suzy Welch fell out of the Top 15 after just two months on the list. Way back in May, the AskTheManager.com editors bet that this tome and fellow May 2009 Top 5 read The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide, by Martin Weiss were headed straight for the bargain bin. Weiss’ drivel did not disappoint, and made it to the table-of-shame in June. It seems it took Welch’s formulaic pages a whole month longer. Look for either title on the clearance rack this month only if you’ve run out of good books to read.)

The Top Five – NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers July 2009 (to view the entire list, follow this link):

This
Month 		Last
Month
1 OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunities as well as talent — from the author of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point.” 1
2 HOW THE MIGHTY FALL, by Jim Collins. (Jim Collins/Harper­Collins, $23.99.) Companies fail in stages, and their decline can be detected and reversed 10
3 SHOP CLASS AS SOULCRAFT, by Matthew B. Crawford. (Penguin Press, $25.95.) A philosopher and mechanic argues for the satisfactions and challenges of manual work.
4 HOUSE OF CARDS, by William D. Cohan. (Doubleday, $27.95.) The fall of Bear Stearns and the beginning of the Wall Street collapse. 5
5 THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER, by Dave Ramsey (Thomas Nelson, $24.99.) Debt reduction and fiscal fitness for families, by the radio talk-show host. 4

NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers – May 2009

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New York Times – Hardcover Business Best Sellers – May 2009

The May 2009 New York Times Hardcover Business Best Sellers list looks a lot like what we saw the last few months with two exceptions: tomes ranked at Numbers 3 and 5. Of course, those previous lists also included books ranked at Numbers 3 and 5, the notable difference with this month’s contribution to those top spots will be how incredibly short-lived these two entries will be on the best sellers’ list.

Between Martin Weiss’ The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide and the cleverly titled 10-10-10, by Suzy Welch, the AskTheManager.com editors are taking bets on which one won’t make the Top 15 of any future list. Our best guess is that on sheer kitchyness and the strength of a famous husband, 10-10-10 won’t make the bargain table at Barnes and Noble for a few more weeks (we think The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide is probably already there).

Outside of the Top 5, we feel compelled to highlight Jonathan Lehrer’s How We Decide at Number 13. This terrific read is maintaining a presence on the NY Times list likely because we named it to our Ten Best Decision Making Books Ever list in March.

How We Decide introduces the reader to many concepts surrounding behavioral psychology and economics, and how these affect our decision making. This book is loaded with entertaining information that will stimulate your thoughts about how we think and make decisions in response to the complex situations we face. Although this book is enjoyable, it falls a little short in helping the reader uncover clear rules for making better decisions. (Still a recommended read, however.)

The Top Five – NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers May 2009 (to view the entire list, follow this link):


This
Month

Last
Month

1

OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunities as well as talent — from the author of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point.”

1

2

HOUSE OF CARDS, by William D. Cohan. (Doubleday, $27.95.) The fall of Bear Stearns and the beginning of the Wall Street collapse.

2

3

THE ULTIMATE DEPRESSION SURVIVAL GUIDE, by Martin D. Weiss. (Wiley, $27.95.) Strategies for protecting your money in the worst of times.

4

PEAKS AND VALLEYS, by Spencer Johnson. (Atria, $19.95.) Making both good and bad times work for you personally and pro­fessionally.

4

5

10-10-10, by Suzy Welch. (Scribner, $24.) Evaluating decisions based on how they will affect your life in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years.

NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers – April 2009

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New York Times – Hardcover Business Best Sellers – April 2009

 

It’s déjà vu all over again as the April 2009 New York Times Hardcover Business Best Sellers list looks a lot like what we saw in March and February. Just as those months revealed America’s concern over the economy through our reading choices, April continues this trend. In fact, both of the newcomers to the April Top Five deal specifically with the current financial turmoil; making Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers the only outlier on the list.

 

Besides Gladwell and the newbies, The Great Depression Ahead, by Harry Dent and Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover round out the Top Five. We, of course, recommend neither of these books, so we find it quite strange that they remain in the Top Five. Perhaps if we quit pointing out what we dislike about them, they will just go away.

 

Outside of the Top 5, we feel compelled to highlight Jonathan Lehrer’s How We Decide at Number 6. This terrific read is moving the NY Times list likely because we named it to our Ten Best Decision Making Books Ever list last month.

 

How We Decide, as we revealed last month, introduces the reader to many concepts surrounding behavioral psychology and economics, and how these affect our decision making. This book is loaded with entertaining information that will stimulate your thoughts about how we think and make decisions in response to the complex situations we face. Although this book is enjoyable, it falls a little short in helping the reader uncover clear rules for making better decisions. (Still a recommended read, however.)

 




The Top Five – NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers April 2009 (to view the entire list, follow this link):

 

This
Month

 

Last
Month

1

OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunities as well as talent — from the author of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point.”

1

2

HOUSE OF CARDS, by William D. Cohan. (Doubleday, $27.95.) The fall of Bear Stearns and the beginning of the Wall Street collapse.

 

3

THE GREAT DEPRESSION AHEAD, by Harry S. Dent Jr. (Free Press, $27.) A financial prognosticator anticipates further market crashes and an extended downturn, but sees a way for savvy investors to prosper.

2

4

PEAKS AND VALLEYS, by Spencer Johnson. (Atria, $19.95.) Making both good and bad times work for you personally and pro­fessionally. (†)

 

5

THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER, by Dave Ramsey (Thomas Nelson, $24.99.) Debt reduction and fiscal fitness for families, by the radio talk-show host. (†)

4

 

NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers – March 2009

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New York Times – Hardcover Business Best Sellers – March 2009

 

The March 2009 New York Times Hardcover Business Best Sellers list looks a lot like what we saw in February. Just as last month began to (finally) reveal America’s concern over the economy, March continued this trend. While the March list contains no credible financial survival guides (sorry, Dave Ramsey, we’re not a fan), the The Great Depression Ahead, by Harry Dent vaulted to Number 2, while fellow gloom-and-doomer Paul Krugman, a former Nobel winner, saw his tome fall to Number 7.

 

It didn’t seem to matter that we warned you not to buy Dent’s book last month – we even pointed out that his previous book (The Next Great Bubble Boom: How to Profit from the Greatest Boom in History: 2006-2010) predicted the Dow would hit 40,000 in 2009 – you attacked Amazon and bricks-and-mortar retailers to push his latest prognostication-filled tome higher than it deserved. (Truthfully, his stuff doesn’t deserve to be anywhere on this list.)


 

Contrast Dent’s collection of more wild guesses with Number 1 on the NY Times’ list for the fourth consecutive month, Outliers. This is one great read and deserves a look by anyone interested in the psychology of success. (Outliers could very well be the best book released in 2008.) In Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell poses the question: why do some people succeed, while those with more talent, brains and/or brawn never reach their full potential? We don’t want to give away the answer here, so like we do with the rest of Gladwell’s work, the editors of AskTheManager highly recommend you read it for yourself.

 

After Outliers, the next best read on this month’s list is probably Number 15’s The Snowball by Alice Schroeder. Schroeder delivers the most recent in a long line of Warren Buffett biographies; and although the list is long, her book easily made our list of the Ten Best Warren Buffett Books of all time.

 

The Top Five – NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers March 2009 (to view the entire list, follow this link):

 

This
Month

 

Last
Month

1

OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunities as well as talent — from the author of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point.”

1

2

THE GREAT DEPRESSION AHEAD, by Harry S. Dent Jr. (Free Press, $27.) A financial prognosticator anticipates further market crashes and an extended downturn, but sees a way for savvy investors to prosper.

6

3

THE BIG RICH, by Bryan Burrough. (Penguin Press, $29.95.) The four wealthiest Texas oil families across several generations.

 

4

THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER, by Dave Ramsey (Thomas Nelson, $24.99.) Debt reduction and fiscal fitness for families, by the radio talk-show host. (†)

3

5

HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED, by Thomas L. Friedman. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.95.) How a green revolution can renew America, by the New York Times columnist.

2