Book Reviews: Recommended Titles

The following books have made an impression on me, and have helped formulate my various philosophies on communication and targeting audiences. I hope you have a chance to read them too.

If you'd like to buy them, visit Amazon.com. They have these books in stock. This site no longer features direct-order. Didn't work out. But I still recommend Amazon.com for their extensive stock and excellent service.

Group Communication in Context, edited by Lawrence R. Frey.

I reviewed this book for the summer 1995 issue of Public Relations Review: A Journal of Research and Comment. Unlike the short format of the books on this page, this review is quite lengthy. Therefore, it has been situated on a separate page. Although academic, it is a fascinating read. The opening paragraph of my review reads: "What do AIDS patients, a political action committee, John F. Kennedy's inner circle of advisors, gangs, a witch coven, a city council, and the Watergate conspirators have in common?"

Top Dog, by J. David Pincus and J. Nicholas DeBonis.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. What the authors did was mix fiction and real-world communications strategy in a fiction-nonfiction format. What they ended up with is a marvelous product. You see, there is this CEO -- Arlen Royster -- who is being challenged by members of his board of directors. He has his supporters, he has his enemies. The financial numbers have been manipulated, and the you-know-what is about to hit the fan. As the story unfolds, the authors interrupt to discuss pertinent communications implications and strategies. In fact, the fiction and non-fiction are in alternating chapters.

Communication and leadership are so intertwined that they can almost be considered inseparable. The CEO is in fact, the CCO -- the company's Chief Communications Officer. Top Dog will walk you through these issues patiently, and in the process, will entertain you to no end.

Crisis Response: Inside Stories on Managing Image Under Siege, by Jack A. Gottschalk.

These are real experiences reported by the actual people who handled the crises. The author presents an excellent overview of a variety of crises:

• Business Calamities: Drexel Burnham Lambert securities fraud, AT&T network breakdown, Mobil Oil and the embargo, Continental Airlines bankruptcy, Phillips Petroleum oil spill, Westmoreland vs CBS libel trial, Pennzoil vs Texaco oil wars, Three Mile Island meltdown.

• Consumer Troubles: A defective batch of condoms, the poultry industry and salmonella, Gerber product tampering, Exxon Valdez grounding, Hill & Knowlton's trial by media.

Human Tragedies: Pan Am's Lockerbie crash, Calnev Pipeline rupture, murder at a Wall Street stock brokerage firm, Asbestos industry demise, San Ysidro McDonald's tragedy, My Lai Vietnam massacre, United Airlines accidents, Union Carbide's Bhopal disaster, White House reactions to the Challenger tragedy and "Black Monday."

Each section concludes with an essay: Guidelines for formulating strategy decisions, how consumers deal with the information explosion, and preemptive disaster management.

Particularly useful is an appendix containing "The Ultimate Crisis Plan." It's as thorough as they come, and although you may not use every suggestion, it'll make you think a lot about what you want to accomplish. And that in itself will help you when the chips are down.

A very spooky book about how we as consumers are being manipulated by marketing experts. They know everything we do.

Example: Supermarket scanners know your route around the store, they help the supermarket people situate their high-profit products. Example: Neilsen is into more than just TV ratings, they're into intrusive measurement in a big way. Example: Did you ever wonder why, when a baby is born, parents are deluged with offers for baby products at just the right time in the infant�s life? Example: As of 1989, six cities have been wired by BehaviorScan: Pittsfield, MA; Marion, IN; Midland, TX, Grand Junction, CO; Cedar Rapids, IA, and Eau Claire, WI. They know your shopping habits.

Secret Formula, by Frederick Allen.

There ain't nothing like a Coca-Cola book to quench your thirst for information. Sorry, I couldn't resist that. Anyway, this book traces 100 years of America's most famous symbol, from the first kettleful in 1886 to the "New Coke debacle" of 1985. Along the way, Coke's marketing secrets play like a historical drama, revealing previously secret insider looks at the Pepsi Wars, and exactly what happened to "New Coke."

I bought this book while at an Atlanta conference in early August 1994, soon after it was published, got hooked, and devoured it before the 4-day conference ended -- no small feat, as the book is 425 pages long, with an additional 50 pages of endnotes.

Influencing Public Attitudes: Strategies That Reduce The Media�s Power, by James E. Lukaszewski.

Lukaszewski tells it like it is. This book is easy to read, doesn't consist of lots of verbiage, but rather is pithy, down-to-earth, and unabashedly frank. It'll make you look at the news media in a whole new different way.

A sample of subjects tackled: Audiences, mutual inattention, 6 myths of communication, 5 axioms of influence, 6 realities of audience behavior, reducing the media�s power, audience analysis (key issues and vulnerabilities, identifying base audiences and special publics, analyzing the base audience, 4 strategic principles of base audience analysis, analyzing your special publics, and developing a public influence strategy.

Here are a few nuggets to whet your appetite:

• Mutual inattention: People care about you only when their lives are affected personally, directly
• Communications Myth #1: You can build a reservoir of good will
• Influence Axiom #2: Allowing the media to drive your strategy is a recipe for failure
• Audience Reality #1: Audiences don�t care

$port$ Publicity, Promotion and Public Relations: The Dream Job, by Melvin Helitzer.

Any college student who has participated in (or even just enjoyed) sports, and who has the notion of getting into public relations, has at one time or another thought about working for a sports team as an information director.

This book is a goldmine of information. It covers everything from the business end of sports to working with sports reporters ("the most �fan-atic� worshippers in the stands"), from calling press conferences to creating special events, from turning athletic stars into marquee attractions to codes of ethics and professional standards.

A particularly useful addendum is the College SID Directory. It may be slightly out of date by the time you read this, but the addresses and phone numbers are probably all current.

Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands: How to Do Business in Sixty Countries, by Terri Morrison, Wayne A. Conaway, and George A. Borden.

Anybody who does business -- public relations or otherwise -- with people outside the USA should be insightful of the cultural elements that can affect their relationships. This book provides valuable cultural overviews, behavior styles, negotiating techniques, protocol, and business practices that will help you deal with foreign clients.

For example, take Malaysia, long a center of international trade on the sea route between China and India. Some nuggets of valuable information:

• Subjective feelings of the moment form the basis for truth, rather than objective facts.
• Personal relationships are vital and time consuming, but Malaysians only do business with those they know and like.
• Food is vitally important to Malaysians.
• Depending on whom you�re greeting, use a handshake, a firm handshake, or a two-handed shake.
• Don�t give gifts except to a personal friend; they could be interpreted as bribes.
• Dress conservatively at first.

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