How to succeed in business

Confessions from the Corner Office: 15 Instincts That Will Help You Get There

By Scott Aylward and Pattye Moore

Pages: 234

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Pirce: $23

 

                                               Photo provide by Tom Herron at tomherronexperience.com

How to Succeed in Business
By Anna M. Restuccia

According to Scott Aylward and Pattye Moore, to succeed in the field of public relations, business, advertising, management, and marketing it is necessary to develop seven attitude instincts and eight performance instincts. This book explains the different characteristics and traits that any manager must have in profit and non-profit organizations to grown, prosper, and generate revenue.

The key audiences of this book are those people who would like to start a new business or want to improve the structure, culture and development of an organization. There are key important concepts that explain how these two professionals became successful entrepreneurs. The authors said it is necessary to develop conceptual, interpersonal, technical and political skills to succeed. In the book, Aylward and Moore related their personal life experience while working as managers.

The book states that in order to managers to build powerful relationships with stakeholders it is necessary to have passion, dedication and motivation. But to build these relationships it is important to trust, protect, defend and honor those who work in the organization (internal public). Leaders need to work, understand and motivate employees to work as a team to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives.

According to the book, managers have a lot of responsibilities, authority and power. For this reason, it is important to managers to treat people equally, free of any bias or prejudice. Because managers are always around people from different backgrounds, it is important to listen to everybody’s necessities and desires. The top, middle and first-line managers have to empower their employees to develop more and better ideas for the organization. By giving employees more responsibilities, employees will be able to be more creative and think critically.

 In an interesting conversation via Skype with Moore, she explained some of the challenges she faces every day in her job and the strategies she uses to overcome complex and ambiguous situations in the field of public relations. She mentioned it is important to keep focus on accomplishing goals using smart and creative tactics. She advised students to take business and management classes to develop critical thinking, to learn to get things done efficiently and effectively, and to be able to prosper even in challenging economic times.

I strongly encourage student and professional to take the chance to read “Confessions from the Corner Office” because it will give them the opportunity to analyze and understand how businesses work.