Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends

Book ReviewThis is an awesome book. Learn the importance of helping others in your work life (and personal life) an then learn how to practically apply these new skills. It's a short review, but the book is so good that more words would only dilute its greatness.Word of thanks ... I first heard of this book from my friend Abigail. She said that it was the recommended book for someone "like me". When I looked this book up I found it was recommended by Tom Peters. Now, anything recommended by Tom Peters is sure to catch my attention. Tom says of this book, "It will - should - must change your life." So to Abigail and Tom, thank you both for encouraging me to read this book ... it definitely had a big impact!!!Book SummaryFirst, I strongly recommend you buy this book ... it's a must re-read.Second, you will get from this book practical tools to add immediate value to yourself & others, how to grow your network, and how to bring humanity back into your work and personal life.Now on to the summary...Tim Sanders means by love `the selfless promotion of the growth of the other'. For love in business Tim further defines this as the act of `intelligently and sensibly sharing your intangibles with your bizpartners'. By intangibles Tim means your knowledge, your network, and your compassion. Tim affectionately terms anyone who skillfully shares these intangibles as a "Lovecat".This becomes increasing important in our new economy as employees, employers, partners, customers, suppliers, et. al. becoming increasingly aware and able to choose alternatives to you and me for their choice of people to do business with. Specifically, there are 6 benefits to becoming a Lovecat:1. Build an outstanding brand as a person / individual ... a D.R.E.A.M brand.a. Differentiatedb. Relevantc. Esteemedd. Awareness (of you)e. Mind's Eye - distinctive memory of you2. Create an experience. 50 years ago mom's spent <$1 on ingredients and four hours making us a birthday cake. 15 years ago they spent $2 and made a box cake in less than two hours. Today we spend perhaps $100 throwing our kids and their friends a birthday extravaganza. Today's world is about giving an experience. Lovecats give their friends an experience.3. Access to people's attention. We are multi-tasking constantly in today's world. Lovecats will tend to get 100% attention when they deliver an experience and a personal connection.4. Positive presumption. When people like you they will tend to assume the best until proven otherwise. In the absence of strong connection people tend to assume the worst in our actions and interactions until proven otherwise.5. Exceptional Feedback. Lovecats will be given honest feedback good or bad much more often because of the relationship they develop. This feedback helps them improve quickly.6. Personal satisfaction. You can't be happy in life if you are miserable at work. Developing better relationships with others by helping and contributing to their work and their lives is immensely rewarding and adds to your personal success. Also, yesterday's model of success was measured by power, position, money, etc. These were achieved by tenure, making your boss look good, and handling all the dirty work. Today's model of success is measured more by information, knowledge utilized/shared, and impact / relevance. We are better able to succeed in today's model regardless of our seniority or tenure if we possess and share knowledge, networks, and compassion/relationship. We can impact others now and reap the personal satisfaction, relationships, and business success that tend to accompany such results.So how do you become a Lovecat? It's simple: share your knowledge, connect your network where appropriate, and share your compassion.Share Your KnowledgeYou have to have knowledge to share knowledge, right? So turn off the TV and go buy some books ... lots of books. There is no greater feast for our minds than a book. I'm talking about books that give you ideas about your job, your business, your life. Books that challenge you to learn and grow. Books that expand your horizons and digest for you what is happening in the world. This discipline will add to your job, your business, your citizenship, your relationship, and your life ... and he means all your life for the rest of your life. (And it will become fun if you don't already enjoy reading!)When you read books, study them. Make notes on the inside covers, notate the pages so you can go find the idea again. Slowly underline something you like and read it a second or third time, very slowly. Let the ideas sink in. Our brains absorb information at a rate that accommodates book reading. Take breaks every 30 minutes or so to let the ideas foat around in your head and really sink in. This is where ideas from various parts of your life and brain mix together and form "a ha!" moments. Really maximize the results on this!Write a review of the book for yourself or publish it somewhere like Amazon.com. (Share the knowledge!) Review your notes from time to time to keep the book fresh. When you're talking with people and books come up, share the ideas as appropriate to your conversation and interaction. If someone likes the idea, perhaps even buy them the book and send them a copy. Insert the knowledge and add to others. This is not short term knowledge like sports scores or the weather ... this is relevant, long term knowledge that can change careers and impact business decisions. We all get a laugh and relax when we hear good jokes. We pick up and call the guy who was talking about the latest research and ideas on global supply chains.Writing a review is both spiking your learning experience and sharing your knowledge to help others out. The ideas you are absorbing and sharing are also helping you in your own job, business, life. The quality of your decisions and actions are directly in proportion to what you know and your experience.In summary, aggregate knowledge in areas of interest that matter to you and your customers, process that knowledge in reflection and discussion with others, then spike the learning by reviewing and sharing what you just learned.Connect Your NetworkDo you ever have the experience when you meet someone new and find out what they are trying to accomplish / their challenges that you suddenly think of someone else you know who could help them or is interested in the same goals or challenges? Ever tell the person you are meeting and then connect them so they can help each other or find some mutually beneficial results in such an introduction?Well of course you have to have contacts to share contacts. So say hello to everyone, share the book you're reading on the train if they ask. Ask about them and their job, their challenges. Exchange business cards and follow up to say thanks. If you can connect them to someone of interest, offer to do so.The old school idea is to keep everyone separated and your rolodex a secret. This strategy is not congruent with today's world. Helping people and sharing your network is the bridge to lifetime relationships and business partnerships. Sometimes this may even cost you in the short term. Honestly, it probably would have cost you anyway ... information is hard to hide today. So choose to help and facilitate such first meetings. Lovecats are always on the prowl to help their friends meet each other.Warmly connect people as appropriate. Best is a 3 way meeting or coffee, perhaps a 3 way call if distant. Warmly connect the parties until they are fused, then disappear and let them have their own relationship. It's not about you ... it's about them.In summary, collect, connect, and then disappear.Share Your CompassionWe are all humans. Today's world of cubicles, HR policies that pit employees against each other, etc are all things that take the "humanness" out of work. Put the humanness back in. Don't be the person who is all form and little substance. Be the substance. Really be there for others when they need it. Work is a people activity and at the end of our days it is about the people we impacted and those that impacted us.Find out how others are doing and how you can help them ... be a helper. Listen much more than you talk. Look people in the eye and give them your undivided attention. Remember, not everyone wants to be loved, not everyone likes a Lovecat. Handle rejection well ... don't be a needy Lovecat. Use the word "love" appropriately, as in "I love coming to visit you guys." Never use the word `hate' ... turn every `hate' into a `love' sentence. Like "I love it when we can solve problems together", at the moment when you want to say "I hate it when we can't solve a problem together".As the relationship develops start moving toward a hug, appropriately. The shoulder hug is a great human way to say, "I'm with you, I support you, I care." CAUTION: not everyone likes to hug and touching is very touchy in the workplace. Be a smart Lovecat and figure out what is appropriate. A two handed shake is much more personal and compassionate than a one handed shake. Start small and build. The best human relationships in person and in business have a hearty hug when you meet and when you say goodbye. Lovecats understand this and they hug and use the word "love" oodles more than everyone else.NPSP - Nice and Smart People Succeed. Remember:1. You will get burned from time to time - don't worry about it, you'll recover very fast. The wins outweigh the losses by a wide margin ... a very wide margin.2. Love has boundries. Observe and learn where they are and be a smart Lovecat wherever you go.3. There is a fine line between stupid and clever. Being a Lovecat is not just about being nice ... you have to be smart too.4. Bizlove is not always smooth. Handle the bumps with poise and recover fast.5. There is a Lovecat in just about all of us ... after all people generally want to help and care about others, we just have so many barriers erected to this being easy. Use this book to refine and develop the Lovecat in you.6. Keep your employees happy. Keep your customers happy. That way you keep your company happy too.

Knowledge, networking and compassion are the tent-poles necessary to be a lovecat...a nice smart successful person.The first step in becoming a lovecat is to accumulate knowledge says author Tim Sanders. "Knowledge" is an absolute necessity to be a person of value and remain relevant in your career. And, in the process, help others to gain an edge in their careers. The result is that you become the go-to person as you acquire and share knowledge. Sanders purports that books be the mainstay for obtaining knowledge because they contain the full depth and breadth of any subject matter; a hypothesis, the research to support it and the outcomes, whereas, magazines and the news media lack depth of information. They tend to be more entertaining and have broad brush overviews.Accumulating knowledge, according to the author, is laid out as a four step program: (1) aggregation, (2) encoding, (3) processing and (4) application. Aggregation is choosing books that help you own your own job. So choose key words that are important or relevant and search for books that contain those key words on the jacket or in a book review online. Step 2 is encoding. Underline important points in your book and make notes in the margins. Get a clear understanding of the main statements so you can share with others. Then, process the information by reading your notes and writing a review of the book. Find a group to discuss the book. The last step is application which is simply using or sharing your acquired knowledge in the workplace. The more you share it, the more you get in return. It builds strong relationships both internally in your organization and externally with clients or vendors.Sanders' approach to "networking" is a lot more dedicated than simply collecting business cards & storing them for future reference. He proposes we use the contacts we make and figure out how we can MATCH them with others in our network to create business relationships. In short, he wants us to be business matchmakers.After reading through the chapter, his BIG IDEA makes a lot of sense and applies to his `'lovecat" way. His theory is that in business, you get ahead by helping others. It's not always what you know, it's who you know. According to Sanders' philosophy, those you know will think of you more & be willing to help you out more if you've gone out of your way to help them. By connecting others, you're creating, as Sanders states, a "unique, one-in-a-million business relationship with which you are forever linked to." This in turn, can potentially open up a wealth of new networking opportunities for you.Sanders offers great, practical advice that anybody can use to become a networking "lovecat". His approach is a deep commitment & may perhaps even be a lifestyle change for some. This is because you have to get into the mindset of thinking about others first. Furthermore, you can't expect anything in return, because people will be less willing to do business with you if they think you want some sort of payback. You're putting faith that by helping others, you become someone worth remembering & keeping in continuous contact. As a result, that recognition will lead to people referring you more, thus increasing your network & its value. This philosophy can definitely be hard for some to embrace, especially in today's "me first, get ahead" business society.Overall though, it is a sound approach & something worth practicing, even if you don't fully embrace the idea at first. At the very least, start small. Change begins with taking that first step, and start by connecting with one contact, it will give you a chance to see if this is something worth pursuing or not. It might be something you enjoy doing, but never thought you would."Compassion".... It's so easy to take everything for granted day to day. To fall into patterns where you dismiss people or don't give them your full attention due to distractions or other priorities or bias. But Sander's chapter on "Compassion" strikes a resounding chord. It's not an easy thing to be a "love cat" as the definition of the book outlines it. It takes continual work and effort and a lot of times being outside a comfort zone. To some people this seems to come naturally to but to others, it's a learned process. A relationship develops over time and it's much easier to keep it superficial and light than to make the effort to involve emotions and feelings. It takes a willingness to commit, care and be compassionate.Compassion is often reserved for the underdog, sick, injured, or lost souls compassion can also be felt in any circumstance. When you take the time to consider another person's viewpoint and realize they have value regardless of whether you agree with them or not, when you can put aside your differences and put yourself in their shoes, that demonstrates true compassion. When you can rise above your own stubborn beliefs and righteousness and know that everyone just wants to be loved and accepted, as a basic human need, you reap the benefits. It can't be forced or faked, but must be sincere and unconditional. Compassion is being able to take you outside yourself and consider another person's needs and wishes first and making the effort to connect with them emotionally resulting in a positive, rewarding relationship for you both. You have the reward of self-satisfaction and they have the reward of knowing you care about their welfare.Sanders' effectively discusses the benefits of embracing knowledge, lots of it. And then sharing that knowledge with your network of contacts...and becoming a business matchmaker. He suggests that we be genuinely compassionate towards our coworkers, business partners and contacts, and to ourselves...we will be "lovecats"...nice, smart people who succeed.

Tim Sanders takes a completley different view on what it means to be connected. I read this book on a recommendation from a friend and to be honest, I wasn't sure what it was all about after I read the first chapter, but soon it all began to make sense. Tim as some great ideas about networking and how important "love" is in business relationships. It might sound a little "woo woo" but what he is trying to communicate, is that is that by treating others how you would want to be treated yourself you can actually get along much better in the business world.He is all for sharing your knowledge which is great and after reading this book I went out and posted some marketing articles on our website that I had been holding back. The result was really good, we got some positive comments and ultimately is generated interest in what we do.The only small irk about this book, is that if you are really busy it might be difficult to keep up with all the ideas that he recommends. Never the less it is well worth a read if you want to know how networking really works.

This is an amazing book, no exaggeration or hyperbole, it's just an amazing book. Yes the concepts have been covered before, but none with this laser like focus and talking about the things that matter, sharing knowledge, with your network, using compassion.I read a book a week, and this stands out there as possibly one of the best I've read in the last five years. It'll give you an accurate depiction of what you need to do in business and it will buck the trend. Having read books on strategy, networking, knowledge sharing, this goes further to tie it all together.The one thing I will say is that without executing what you learn after reading a book like this, you won't achieve any benefit. It sits with you. And I plan on introducing this change the moment I walk back into the office.

Accurate and fast

Dieses Buch erklärt wirklich gut, warum es wichtig ist Liebe in die Karriere zu bringen.Neben den lehrreichen Methoden wie man Wissen über Bücher aufbaut und Anleitungen von Tim Sanders wie er Bücher besser "verarbeitet", fasse ich das Buch auch auf das Acronym NSPS zusammen (Nice Smart People Succeed)D.h. nicht allein die Liebe die Empathie die man anderen im Business entgegenbringen sind entscheidend. Es gilt auch sich Wissen anzueignen und dieses Wissen intelligent einzusetzen. Dadurch gewinnt man nicht nur neue Freunde bzw. manifestierte Bekanntschaften, es eröffnen sich früher oder später auch Geschäftschancen.

NSPS (nice, smart people succeed) the acronym is this book's "Big Thought". In order to become a true "lovecat" you need to invest your energies on building up knowledge, network and compassion.Sanders identifies the most critical success factor to be "bizlove" : "Love is the selfless promotion of growth of the other; when you are able to help others grow to become the best people they can be, you are being loving, and you too, grow".But the million dollar question is how you develop not a flimsy but a sincere love attitude towards people? On one hand it seems that Sanders hints to one's own interest (success), on the other at stake is ons's own dream and the acknowledgment that it gets done only through Others.