Guy Kawasaki is a legend in the technology industry, a status earned by being one of the original Macintosh evangelists, an entrepreneur, early adopter of emerging technologies, venture capitalist, thought leader, speaker, blogger, marketing maven, and probably a dozen other things I’m leaving out. Whew. On top of all that, Guy is also the author of books like “The Art of the Start” and “Rules for Revolutionaries.” Guy has just published a new book that has made it onto SageCircle’s reading list and might be surprisingly useful for analyst relations (AR) professionals as well.
Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition ($18.65 plus S&H, click here to purchase on Amazon) is primarily for technology entrepreneurs. There are sections on topics like starting a small business, raising money, and hiring and firing that are not all that relevant to AR professionals. So what is it about this large book, 474 pages in 94 chapters plus other sundry sections, written for tech startups that should interest AR managers? It’s relevant to AR in those dozens of very short chapters on –
Selling. Evangelizing. Communicating. Beguiling.
When you think about it, all of these are very important activities for AR even if we don’t think of ourselves as evangelists or sales representatives. As a consequence, Guy’s Reality Check offers some really practical ideas and thought provoking advice on ways AR professionals can think differently about their jobs and develop skill sets unlike their peers. These new skills can provide both career advantages for AR professionals as well as competitive advantages for their employers. In addition, AR can take some of the content and incorporate it into training for their various constituencies, including executives.
The book is organized in sections, each with a number of very short chapters. Because much of the content originally appeared in places like Guy’s popular blog, magazine columns, and his speeches, each chapter is pretty much a standalone unit. For example, there is no need to start on page 1 and read all 230 pages up to “Chapter 50: How to Kick Butt on a Panel” before reading that chapter, just go to page 231 and start reading.
Bottom Line: Because AR is not a formally recognized profession with typical career opportunities of other jobs, savvy AR professionals need to move beyond the typical and develop distinctive skills to succeed in their jobs and careers. Guy Kawasaki’s Reality Check is an excellent read for AR professionals because it offers ideas not usually associated with analyst relations. If applied correctly they can help AR professionals outsmart, outmarket and ultimately outmaneuver their competitors.
Question: What is on your reading list?
Since 2000, SageCircle has helped analyst relations teams to focus on business value by encouraging innovative thinking that leverages insights and drives revenue.