Leader on the Pitch Kicks Off

The new book from TV psychologist and established CGW author Paul Boross and rugby legend Scott Quinnell, entitled Leader on the Pitch, launched on Monday to a wonderfully keen audience at Soho's Union Club.

With guests from the worlds of entertainment, sport and business, Paul and Scott got the book off to a flying start, acknowledging the hard work that has gone into its production over the past year or so.

"What started as a crazy idea grew during the filming of Sky's School of Hard Knocks series, and with the support of Christopher and the CGW team, we've turned that idea into something that you can hold in your hands, and we believe that it's going to make a genuine difference to the lives of anyone who reads it. The experiences and concepts that we're sharing aren't just for people in obvious leadership roles, they're for anyone who has to do what they do through a team of people.", says Paul.

Scott adds, "There's a story that I tell in the book, about the time that I scored a try in the 2001 Lions Tour game against Australia. If you’ve ever seen it, I just get over the line, and I just look up, and I just nod my head. That was just a little thank you to everybody who achieved my goal. I'd say that around 250 people, family, friends, doctors, teammates, all supported me, and I couldn't have done it without them. Any leader has to recognise that they can't do it alone."
The 80 or so guests at the launch event are part of that success too, because it's very easy for an author to lose touch with their readers.

Paul says, "The act of creating something new can be so isolating that we lose sight of the reason for creating it. So our book launch was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with the people who we wrote the book for.

The atmosphere at the launch was wonderful, and all of our guests were so charming and supportive of Leader on the Pitch. So many people gave us such lovely feedback that meant a great deal to both Scott and I, and that’s what gives us the strength and energy for all the hard work that is yet to come."

With so many books on leadership, and even sport and leadership, many people have asked what Paul and Scott have got to say about the subject that’s new. Scott replies, "What I would say is that everyone has a unique perspective on leadership because everyone, at some time in their life, has been inspired to follow a leader. Our angle is that leadership isn’t about the amazing charisma of the leader, it’s about the relationship that they create with their team, because in the end, the results that the leader shows for all their hard work aren’t achieved by that leader, those results come from the hard work of their team."

Join Paul and Scott's team by getting your own copy of
Leader on the Pitch, available now from all good book shops

ISBN 978-1-9082934-1-1

£7.99

Let Me Give It To You Straight by Mark Jaffe

Mark Jaffe's new book, Let Me Give It To You Straight, An Outspoken Guide to Working With Headhunters, Advancing Your Career and Reaching Enlightenment... Without the Sugarcoating, is available now.

Let Me Give It To You Straight is an examination of the human condition as seen through the striving of corporate management, a guide to getting ahead without getting mustard on your jacket. If you’re bored to tears with business books that take themselves too seriously and then don’t even bother to tell you the meaning of life, look no further.

You can order your first edition copy online right now. No waiting. It’s a perfect gift for anyone old enough to get a job. Plus, they’ll probably enjoy not receiving a box from Harry & David again this year.

Let Me Give It To You Straight. It may be the last book you’ll ever need.

http://book.wyattjaffe.net/

Landing an Executive Position: Proven Job Search Strategies That Win Offers by Beverly Harvey

Today's executive job market is fiercely competitive, and executives must market their value to organizations using a diverse range of channels and tactics.

In this book, executive career expert Beverly Harvey gives you a simple, proven, step-by-step approach to:

» Recognize why the job search strategy you used five years ago doesn't work in today’s market
» Create a job search strategy based on your unique aspirations
» Identify your personal brand and value proposition
» Launch an effective job search campaign
» Understand and pursuing the hidden job market
» Design a strategy to leverage your network
» Build an online presence that attracts the right recruiters and decision makers
» Prepare responses to tough interview questions
» Plan for persuasive compensation negotiations
» Get off to a roaring start in your new position

Beverly Harvey is a recognized leader in executive career management. She has contributed to 23 executive career books, has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, and regularly presents corporate workshops for C-level executives.

mcommerce by Rupert Potter

Rupert Potter's first book, mcommerce, is now in print and can be ordered from any good book store.

Mcommerce is quickly gaining traction, with many recent surveys predicting that growth to continue. However, for many organisations, it is little understood.

For example, what is the difference between mcommerce and ‘ecommerce on a mobile device’? When should a browser based solution be used and when should an app be used? Should a solution include a digital wallet? And, if so, what type of wallet?

Too many organisations are trying to develop and implement an mcommerce strategy without an understanding of the basic building blocks, and they are being left behind by those who already have an effective strategy in place.

This book will help anyone in any organisation that sells goods or services to consumers and is considering doing so over the mobile channel. People involved in digital strategy, marketing and in designing sales processes will benefit from this book. Although the book is not technical, IT professionals will benefit by understanding what their technology must achieve and why.

The author is a genuine practitioner. In this book he breaks mcommerce down into its fundamental components and offers a practical guide to developing and implementing a successful mcommerce strategy.

ISBN 9781908293275

Two New Books From Peter Freeth

Business author Peter Freeth has released two new books which are due in print by the end of October 2012.

But why two books at the same time?

"About four years ago, I started writing a book on the process of modelling excellence, that's where you uncover the hidden, innate talents of your highest performers and create a template that will allow you to reproduce that excellence across your business, in everything from the way that you recruit high performers to the way that you coach and train them. You would use it in building competency frameworks and talent management programs, and the most important feature is that it preserves the best aspects of your organisation's culture."

"But as I did more and more research for the book and incorporated more examples from my own work, I found it harder to keep the book focused on a coherent theme. One audience for the book is anyone who has trained in NLP and wants to really get to grips with the modelling process which underpins it, because that's something sadly lacking from almost all NLP Master Practitioner training. The second audience is anyone working in corporate Human Resources or Learning & Development. So the problem I had was how to address both of these audiences in the same book."

"Then, as the book neared completion I realised that it really wasn't that difficult to split the book into two, so now there are two books, Genius at Work and The NLP Master Practitioner Manual. So the end result is two books based on the same basic process for modelling excellence but aimed at the needs of two very different readers."

You can hear Peter being interviewed on BBC's Annie Othen show about the changing nature of selling in the UK.

Pitch Up! The New Book from Paul Boross

Paul Boross is applying his considerable experience in pitching to write his new book "Pitch Up!" which focuses on the personal pitch as a means to succeed in the ever more challenging recruitment market.

Pitch Up! will be published in January 2013 so you'll be able to get it just in time for your New Year job search.

'40 Interview Icebergs' released today

40 Interview Icebergs and How to Sail Around Them, the new book by Michael Heath, is released today.

Michael's latest book takes advice from recruiters, experts and business owners and condenses it into 40 common mistakes that job candidates make, and which prevent them from getting the jobs that they dream of.

With this book, we've introduced a brand new feature on the CGW Publishing website - you can download a sample chapter. The first chapter of 40 Icebergs can be downloaded here, and it contains all of the icebergs or common mistakes associated with writing a CV.

Revelation Authors Release 2011 Survey Results

Ask most people in businesses today if they think that manipulation and office politics affect their working lives and they’ll say yes.

But ask them to quantify the impact on the business and that’s a much more difficult question to answer.

In 2011, Revelation Consulting Ltd set out to answer that question, and we are now running an annual surveywhich has turned in its first set of results.

It perhaps won’t surprise you to learn that 95% of respondents agreed that politics, manipulation and hidden agendas in the workplace had affected them directly and personally. But the cases that get bad enough to hit the headlines really are the tip of the iceberg.

The victims of bullying and manipulation mostly won’t speak out, so we have attempted to quantify the affects of corporate politics through three of their symptoms; under-performance, absenteeism and staff turnover.

1. Staff turnover

Some 70% of respondents said that they had left a job directly as a result of corporate politics, with around three quarters of those saying that their leaving salary was anything between £20,000 and £50,000 and more than 10% of them saying that they left a job paying over £70,000 per year.

The average salary, taken across all respondents affected in this way was £40,000. (Click here to view the pie chart in a new window.)

2. Absenteeism

The average number of days that the respondents missed work during one year due to bullying and manipulation was exactly in line with the figure of 4.5 days per year published recently by the Office of National Statistics, perhaps hinting that coughs, colds and bad backs aren’t the real reason that many people stay at home for the day.

However, it’s no wonder that the problem is under-reported: 85% of respondents said that managers actively covered up the situation. In our 2012 survey, we’ll be digging deeper into this, asking why individuals don’t speak up when they suffer from the effects of workplace politics.

3. Underperformance

This is another key area where business costs can spiral out of control, with more than half of respondents saying that either their manager or multiple managers openly knew about underperformance and failed to tackle it.

The impact on team effectiveness was estimated by respondents as a percentage of their team’s maximum potential performance, and is shown in the next chart: (Click here to view the bar chart in a new window).

Whilst the data used in this chart is necessarily subjective, it gives an indication that the individual respondents knew that their team’s performance was suffering from corporate politics, and therefore we can determine that business performance and shareholder value are impacted as a result.

One aspect of corporate politics that many people are familiar with is the activity of ‘empire building’, where a person builds a political empire by promoting allies and sidelining ‘enemies’. This practice was seen firsthand by 82% of our respondents and the promotions resulted in individuals being paid on average £50,000 and with responsibility for 14 staff.

Of the respondents who had observed this taking place, roughly half said that more suitable candidates were turned down, with the other half noting that the position was never advertised. Of the respondents who said that a better candidate was turned down, half said that that candidate then either moved out of the business unit or left the business altogether.

The cost of the problem exists on many levels. A potentially good employee was lost, a replacement had to be hired with the associated recruitment costs and a potentially ineffective manager now has a significant influence over many other staff.

Manipulation at work is never isolated; its effects grow and multiply over time, affecting more staff and increasing the cost to the business with every day that it isn’t tackled.

Separating perception from reality

As a final comment, we should point out that we have made an attempt to place some quantifiable measures on what is inherently a very subjective experience. One respondent asked how it would be possible to separate individual perceptions from any objective reality, and the truth is that this is very difficult.

Manipulative people will very often play the victim, making them hard to spot by anyone who is taken in by their tales of woe. When challenged, the manipulator will have a ready excuse; it was someone else’s fault, they were just trying to be helpful or it’s them that is the real victim in all of this.

And when they run out of excuses, their next line of defence is to run for the door, sometimes in floods of tears, or to counter-attack with a torrent of abuse and ridicule. These are all diversionary tactics, and the acid test must always be, “why would someone do that if they had nothing to hide?”

If you would like to complete the 2012 survey, please feel free to do so here.

The Pitch Doctor Launches His New Book - The Pocket Pitching Bible

Hot on the heels of his first Amazon number one ranking book, The Pitching Bible, The Pitch Doctor aka Paul Boross has released a unique companion guide.

Pitching is becoming more and more well known and widely accepted as a vital way of securing new business, and even in ensuring success in job interviews. TV series such as The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den have made pitching part of our everyday language, and everyone from graduates to seasoned entrepreneurs can benefit from improving their skills and winning more pitches.

Boross’ original book, The Pitching Bible, is a well regarded and comprehensive work, but it’s not so easy to dip into when you just need a quick reminder before you walk into a meeting with an investor. With critical acclaim from experts such as Tom Ziglar, son of the great Zig Ziglar, and Gavin Duffy, star of the Irish Dragon’s Den, The Pitching Bible was a big hit with sales and media professionals all over the world.

The Pocket Pitching Bible is a streamlined version of the original with all of the exercises, check lists and reminders plus all new content and a valuable new diagnostic section that helps you get to what you uniquely need to create the perfect pitch.

The Pocket Pitching Bible is available now from all good book stores, priced at £7.99.

The Pocket Pitching Bible

CGW Publishing

ISBN 978-1-9082931-2-1

Michael Heath's new book to feature a foreword by Professor David Clutterbuck

Professor David Clutterbuck, one of the best known figures in the world of coaching and mentoring, has written a foreword to Michael Heath's new book, 'The Fit Mentor'.

Professor Clutterbuck says, "Mentoring delivers consistently high returns on investment. I welcome this book as a valuable contribution to this consolidation of good practice."

We're working hard to get Michael's book into print as soon as possible, and it should be available in the next couple of weeks. Michael is one of the co-authors of the Dragon's Den book, 'Grow Your Business', so we're very pleased to have him on board.

The ISBN number is 978-1-9082931-5-2 and you can place advance orders on Amazon

CGW Publishing signs more new authors

We're very excited to announce two new authors who will be joining us soon.

Both Hugh Jackman and Michael Heath will have books in print with us by mid May, and both bring something new to our line-up.

We'll bring you more details in due course, and of course keep an eye on the book stores.

The NLP Practitioner Manual in Training Zone's Book Club

The NLP Practitioner Manual by Peter Freeth and Stepheni Smith is being featured in Training Zone's Book Club.


Peter is currently working on the sequel to the book, entitled Genius at Work, which we are hoping to have in print by early summer 2012.

Corporate Godfathers due for November release

The author of Corporate Godfathers has this to say in the opening of his new book:

I wanted to get a reaction to this manuscript before submitting it for publication, so I asked a book reviewer who doesn’t know me or anything about me to take a look at it.

She read for about five minutes, and said: “This is scary. Is it a work of fiction?”

I answered, “How much truth can you handle?”

She caught her breath, picking up the implication of my question.

A shadow of fear passed over her eyes.

I said, “If it makes it easier for you, just go ahead and call it fiction. You’ll rest easier at night.

But remember what Harry Truman said, ”I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.”


Corporate Godfathers is available soon, ISBN 978-1-9082931-1-4

Testimonial from Trudie and Lloyd Thompson

CGW Publishing took us seriously right from the offset, and we have had the best guidance and help you could possibly imagine. We've never done anything like this before and we never in our wildest dreams believed we'd ever write a book, but hey we did and then the search began for a professional to jump onboard and advise us and that's exactly what our Publishers have done.

Christopher is not only knowledgeable but he can read our minds, he knows what is needed and his suggestions have always been brilliant.

 Trudie and Lloyd's book, Dreams Do Come True, is available now from all good book stores.

Trudie and Lloyd Thompson to Launch 'Dreams Do Come True' at WH Smith, Manchester Trafford Centre in November

Dreams Do Come True is the new book by Trudie and Lloyd Thompson, telling the incredible story of their 12 year journey through IVF treatment, losing a business and even bankruptcy.

They're currently in discussions with WH Smith in Manchester's Trafford Centre to arrange a launch event, sometime in November 2011.

Their book is at the very final production stages and should be ready to buy within the next few weeks, so the launch event will be very exciting for them, as they are donating profits from book sales to support the IVF unit at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester.

We'll be posting more details nearer the time.

Judge a Book By Its Cover

We're just working on a new book by Ronna Smithrim & Christopher Oliphant on the subject of 'Radical Acceptance', and in trying to work out the book's target market and pricing, I've realised that online shopping has skewed the book market.

I've said before that cover design is important in selling a book, and that designing a cover for print is different to designing one for that little thumbnail that you see when browsing online.

Printing a book is a fixed cost, so the main variable that determines margin is the cover price. A lower price might mean more sales, but not necessarily. This introduces another variable into the equation - the page count.

A book of 100 pages might cost *2 to print, and a book of 500 pages might cost *6 to print. I've used * as a generic currency symbol here.

However, when you look on Amazon, you see that all of the books in your genre are in the range of *5 to *10. Clearly you can't price a 500 page book at *5, because you'd make a loss on each one you sell. But if you price it at *15, you potentially reduce sales.

When someone walks into a book shop and picks up your book, the size of it communicates perceived value. The thicker it is, the more the reader thinks it is worth, up to a point, which is the size at which the reader decides that they can't be bothered to read something that big.

If you want a light holiday read, you don't buy War & Peace.

If you want a 'ten tips to being a great manager' type book, you don't want something that will take you 6 months to read.

And a book on speed reading? How thick should that be?

So I think that what authors - and publishers - are doing is increasing margins by making books smaller. Take half your content out and save it for your next book.

This creates a problem for anyone with a 500 page book - although Amazon does list a book's page count, do you look at it when you're choosing a book? Do you use it to determine the value of a book?

Probably not. You probably just look at the price and assume that all of the books are about the same size...

Choosing a CRM Vendor: Best Practices, Pitfalls, and the Myth of the Turnkey Solution by Andrew Schultz

We're proud to announce the forthcoming launch of a new book by US expert author, Andrew Schultz.

He has captured his years of experience in building CRM solutions for his clients into the book.

Getting Customer Relationship Management right is a goal to which any customer focused company aspires. Yet, rather than enabling companies to achieve this goal, the complexity of choosing the right CRM vendor can become a stumbling block to companies trying to deliver excellence in customer service.

With an increasing choice of established, corporate vendors, niche vendors and open source solutions, your decision to invest in CRM is vital in supporting the business information that underpins your delivery of sales, marketing and service excellence to your customers.

In this book, Andrew Schultz shares his expertise on the following subjects:

• CRM: The Illusion and the Reality
• The Fall of the Biggest CRM Vendor in the World
• The 3 Pillars of CRM
• Finding a Solution
• Choosing a Vendor

Having led many CRM implementations as a consultant, and in his current role helping CRM consulting firms and vendors of CRM add-on applications develop solutions relevant to customer needs, Andrew Schultz is a solution architect with deep experience in understanding customer requirements and mapping those requirements to CRM functionality.

In Choosing a CRM Vendor, he shares both his objective advice and the hard earned 'insider secrets' that you will find invaluable in making the right CRM vendor decision.

You can find out more about Andrew at his blog: andrewbschultz.com/blog