Review: Getting to Big the Small Way - Frank Prestipino
July 6th, 2008
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A few weeks ago the June edition of the Australian Marketing Institute’s Marketing Update newsletter was released - and in it is the second book review I have done for the AMI - Getting to Big the Small Way
For those who are not members of the AMI… here is the review
BOOK REVIEW
Getting to Big the Small Way
By Frank Prestipino. Published by McGraw-Hill, New York, 2008. 322 pages. RRP AUD$39.95. ISBN 13: 9780071484404.
While taking on a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) can get you out of bed in the morning, chances are getting your project off the ground is fraught with challenges. Budget. Risk management. Board approval. Hmmm, all sounds too hard!
But what if you could fly under the radar and drive significant change in your organisation? In ‘Getting to Big the Small Way’, Frank Prestipino illustrates how taking baby steps to drive change is a sound business strategy.
The book’s argument focuses on the Pareto Principle — that 80% of the benefit is derived from 20% of the effort. Prestipino says that as a business you need to focus on the 20% (or even less) to drive incremental yet significant change in your organisation. All without the red tape and risk associated with big transformation projects.
Although the idea is similar to that of Tim Ferris in ‘The 4 Hour Work Week
For example, moving into adjacent markets and exploiting the products, skills and resources that are already at your fingertips, or closing the perception gap between how you and your customers see your organisation. Prestipino supports each idea with plenty of real-world examples and draws significantly on his experience at Oracle and other organisations.
The book itself generally reads well, with practical tools that complement Prestipino’s arguments. Near the end of the book I felt the tools became very prescriptive and took too much of the focus — great if the tools fit your organisation perfectly, a little disappointing if you need to adapt them to meet the challenges of your business.
That being said, there are plenty of great ideas I have taken from this book and am implementing within the business I live and breathe every day. I would recommend this as worthwhile reading for anyone with a strategic marketing or communications bent.
Who else is Joining the Conversation?
March 1st, 2008
At the moment I am participating in a little experiment called "Use New Marketing to Prove New Marketing" (UNM2PNM) being run by Joseph Jaffe.
What is Joseph trying to achieve? Apart from spreading his ideas and selling a few more copies of his book, ultimately it is about proving if this whole social media thing actually works, if it is measurable etc. Pretty interesting stuff for a marketer like me.
Here is the deal - Joseph asks for people to participate (I put my hand up). His publisher sends a copy of the book (free book for me!), I read it, write a review and post it online. He gets link love, I get link love. He gets free PR, I get a free book and a good read. He gets rich, I get smarter (hopefully!). Now that is new/social media at work.
My copy of Joseph Jaffe’s book "Join the Conversation" arrived at work yesterday (the one thing holding back society as we know it is the fact that it takes 4 weeks for stuff to ship from the US by snail mail!)… so it is time to hold up my end of the bargain. Stay tuned for my review of the book, coming soon.
And if you are interested in reading the book - buy it here - proceeds are going to charity
