Well, this was interesting!  I ended up at Barnes & Noble this afternoon in search of an led light for my NOOK.  I hadn't been to this store, which is one of BN's top-tier "concept" stores where they roll out new retail concepts and designs.  Lo and behold, in the couple of months since I'd last stepped in the door they had totally renovated.  The Music section was finally gone -- I was surprised it had lasted as long as it had; I mean, who buys CD's any more?  And smack in the center of the store rose a shining new edifice; a NOOK store. A really really BIG NOOK store. 

The NOOK store sells Nook books and magazine subscriptions by displaying the original printed versions.  It's probably the smartest way to do this!  For example, there's a new biography of Queen Elizabeth on display.  It's hardbound, and it's thick; I hefted the book.  Probably 2+ pounds of dead tree pulp.  I thought of buying that old-school book, and the "responsibilities of ownership":  Bookshelf.  Storage.  And ultimately, when we move to a new place -- schlepping the heavy thing from place A to place B.  Nope.  I LOVE my NOOK!  

I did spot one book on the shelf that caught my attention, though -- because it absolutely defines what I decided to do a few months ago.  The authors of Reboot Your Life: Energize Your Career & Life by Taking a Break lead readers through the four phases of a career reboot:  creating space, reconnecting, exploration, and reentry.  

I have been blessed to have the wherewithal to do exactly this!  I'm now at the Reentry point, and am looking forward to the next chapter.  This has been the smartest thing I could possibly have done.  

I'll have to see about a NOOK version of this book!

 TABATHA Coffey’s Tabatha Takes Over premiers tomorrow on Bravo.  This woman is in my pantheon of modern-day gods and goddesses; she is the Mars aspect of business in a female-dominated industry, and she is one tough boss.  Tabatha goes into underperforming hair salons and whips them into shape, a reality TV model perfected by Gordon Ramsay with Kitchen Nightmares and other shows. She’s steelier in the salon than Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen!

Hair salons and spas have a lot in common.  Although I haven't worked directly with hair salons, I was fortunate to partner with the esteemed spa industry expert, Nancy Griffin, for a few years before she sold industry insider site SpaTrade.com to American Spa Magazine. Nancy has a lot of the same toughness and practicality that Coffey exhibits; one thing I adored about working with Nancy was that she was ruthlessly matter-of-fact about the foibles and follies of spa owners -- who, like hair salon owners, tend to still be more mom-and-pop operations than major chains.    

The biggest point Nancy Griffin made to me, along with her colleague and friend, Peggy Wynne Borgman (president of Wynne Business Sps Consulting, whose company provides the best Spa Director management training courses available anywhere) is that when you ask spa owners what sets their business apart from the competition, the answer is most commonly "our customer service is the best".  No, it's not.  You cannot use customer service as your key differentiator if (a) every competitor also claims it as what makes them better, and (b) if it's a baseline expectation of your customers!  Can you imagine Sprint's CEO saying "what sets Sprint apart from other carriers is that we really do connect your phone calls" -- ???

That's why I love watching Tabitha, and Ramsay as well:  they don't let small business owners give them any BS about "what makes them special" -- and they call the owners on very fundamental issues of mismanagement, like demanding basic hygiene.

Tabatha has a new book out, and I grabbed a few excerpts from her Web site -- how can you not admire this sort of honesty?  Talk about knowing who you are and being comfortable in your skin!

Excerpted from  http://tabathacoffey.com/book:
 I always made it a point to say what I needed to say in order to accomplish what I needed to accomplish. Anyone who has worked with me knows that I don’t suffer fools easily and that I won’t hesitate to speak my mind. The irony of people’s reaction to my candor is that I just say what most people want to say but don’t have the balls to say. I tell the truth.

If, along the way, I’ve been called a bitch for being honest, I haven’t taken this personally. I developed a thick skin very early in life.

So I reclaimed the word “BITCH” as someone who is Brave, Intelligent, Tenacious, Creative, and Honest. And because I am all of these things, I now proudly own the title…

Bravery—Mine is derived from being a risk taker, personally and professionally, and from always being willing to face my demons head-on.

Intelligence—I’m no idiot. Despite having left school early to pursue my career, I’m well read, well traveled, street savvy, and I’m a successful businesswoman with a strong gut instinct. What’s more, unlike many women who don’t want to appear intimidating, I never downplay my intelligence. I believe women can be both smart and beautiful.

Tenacity—If I’m really passionate about something, I never give up. I’m like a pit bull with a bone. I have always battled for what I want and what I believe in, and if I have to dig deeper for the energy to keep going, then that’s what I do to achieve my goals.

Creativity—If I didn’t have this quality, I certainly wouldn’t be writing this book! I thoroughly enjoy expressing my creativ- ity in all aspects of life, whether I’m experimenting with a new haircut, sporting a new couture outfit, or adapting to a new challenge. Creativity keeps me engaged and makes my life that much more interesting while I am coping with whatever comes my way.

Honesty—I think I’ve already covered that, haven’t I? It is the key trait that makes people perceive a woman as a bitch—it intimidates people and rubs them the wrong way. Although this reaction is often due to sexism, women are more than capable of being intimidated, too. For me, honesty is saying what I think to the people around me, but it’s also about being honest with myself. If I can’t do that, then I can’t be honest with anyone.

The more I thought about my own positive spin on the term “bitch,” the more I realized that, on some level, everyone would like to be a little braver, or exercise a little more intelligence, or be a little more creative, or tenacious or honest. The truth is, all of us, women and men, have an inner bitch. We just have to choose how much of it to let out and when.

I am just about finished with the book Different, by Harvard Business School professor Youngme Moon.  Has to be the best business and branding book all year.  She writes about what it takes to break free from the herd and create a category-breaking product.  I'n going to have to write a few posts about this, because there is so much great info in this book that I am stunned.  She writes about Sony's Aibo, the robot dog -- we bought Aibo for our daughter Brenna in 2000, and it was an amazing piece of hardware and software.  Buggy and glitchy as hell -- but the truly brilliant thing Sony did was to sell it as a PET -- and as we all know, pets are quirky, they have their own personalities, and they don't always listen to you. Hence, people were more than tolerant of their quirky little "pet" -- they loved it.  We sure did!  Other category busters include the Mini Cooper (sell a little-known teeny-tiny European car into the U.S. market that was dominated by huge Escalades, Explorers and other SUV roadhogs), and Pull-Ups (parents want their kids out of diapers by age 2 -- but they'll happily keep them in "big kid" disposable "underwear" until age 4!) and much more.  Brilliant analysis of how human brains need to categorize things -- and how deft marketers can flip that on its head.  think RedBull -- it tastes utterly disgusting, but it gives you wiiiiings!

I've been a fan of Alton Brown for several years.  His Web site bills him as "Just a Lowly Cook" -- but in reality, he's one of the top stars on the Food Network, having started by providing the English-overdubbed color commentary as Fuku-san on the original Japanese version of Iron Chef. Now, his Good Eats show is one of the freshest, most entertaining foodie shows ever made; truly disruptive and cool.

He posted this "Fanifesto" that outlines what he wants and expects regarding fan/celebrity interaction.  It's so interesting I'm reposting it in its entirety below, but the original is on his site at http://altonbrown.com/2011/09/my-fanifesto/.  

Why is this noteworthy?  Because, as he points out, there's become such a blurring of the lines between Fan and Celebrity in recent years, that it makes it challenging to be the guy at the center of attention.  Social media and cable TV have made a profound impact on the PERCEPTION of closeness some people think exists between them and a star.  

For example, nowadays you can pretty easily "find" just about anyone with a public profile -- either following them on Twitter or Facebook, their blog, fan sites, Wikipedia, etc  Didn't used to be that way.  

Here's his post:

My Fanifesto, by Alton Brown
Greetings,

Once upon a time fans knew what to expect from the fan/celebrity relationship. You could join a fan club, occasionally wait behind a barricade outside some theater or arena and hope for a live glimpse alongside a few thousand like-minded friends, buy periodicals featuring said celebrity, or actively stalk thus risking the wrath of security personnel, both public and private.

Today there are still megastars who fit the old model…George Clooney comes to mind, but the rest of us fit into an ever widening, Warholian spiral of quasi-celebrity. We are the cable-ebrities and the web-ebrities, and unlike the Liz and Dicks of the world, we live, work, eat, shop, worship, and recreate right alongside the rest of you. We don’t have gated mansions, entourages, or bodyguards. We wait in lines, drop off the dry cleaning, and interact regularly with the “citizens” around us (that’s celebrity-speak for non-famous folk). This situation often stretches the very fabric of our society because we just don’t have rules for this sort of thing.

Since I’m about to go out on book tour and meet several thousand of you for the first or second or third time I thought I’d give you my rules for this sort of thing…just so we’re all on the same page.

First, please know that I sincerely appreciate you. If you are a fan, I am beyond thrilled that you like my work. Rest assured, should the opportune arise, I will go out of my way to enhance your fan experience. I will autograph just about anything (read on), I will pose for pictures (as long as they’re respectfully tasteful), and will honestly talk with you without looking over your shoulder at the next person coming down the line, no matter how limited the time. And, I will bust my butt to make sure the television program you’re watching or book you’re reading is the best I can do and fairly priced. Now…

• If you encounter me out in the world and want an autograph or to take a picture with me I will say “yes” if I can possibly manage the time. If I am with my family I will probably still say “yes”, but I will want to move away from my family to do so. If you purposely take a picture a picture of my family I will go freakin’ ballistic. I’m quasi-famous, they’re not. They enjoy certain rights I have sacrificed by choosing to be a cable-ebrity and as a husband and father I will protect their rights to the fullest.

• Please don’t ask me to talk to someone on the phone. This is crossing the line. I’ll sign an autograph for your mom but I’m not going to get on the phone to sing her “Happy Birthday”. Same for video. Please don’t ask me to star in a shout-out to that friend who couldn’t be there. It makes both of us look creepy.

• Please understand that social media is very difficult to manage. Cable-ebrities can choose to interact with no one at all or a random few, but we can’t interact with everyone or we wouldn’t get any work done. If you are the kind of person who takes offense at being “snubbed” on social media, please don’t follow or friend me as disappointment is all but guaranteed.

• When I’m on book tour, I try to keep physical contact to a minimum. This is for your protection as well as my own. I usually tour during the start of cold/flu season and I don’t want to be responsible for accelerating the spread of what could be a potentially deadly illness. Please respect this effort by not asking me for a hug.

• Yes I’ll sign things besides books. Spoons, cutting boards, mixers, you name it I’ll sign it. But I won’t sign living things. Not you, not your hamster, not your ferret. I’ll sign your cast but not your arm. This is because hamsters often bite and most permanent markers are somewhat toxic.

• Please don’t block my exit. One time on a commercial flight a guy blocked the aisle and didn’t want to let anyone deplane until I signed something for him. My lizard-like brain interpreted this behavior as a threat. Luckily an air marshal was on the flight and stepped in just as I was considering a range of actions, any of which would probably have resulted in my being barred from future commercial flights.

• Please don’t talk to me in a public restroom. Odds are good I’m there for a specific reason and I need to concentrate on what I’m doing. Wait for me outside and I’ll be ever so grateful.

• 99% of fans are completely cool. They understand how to act in public and they respect my space and time as I do theirs. This is a testament to good old fashion manners and a societal code based on common rights. However, fans ocassionaly mutate into Fanatics who develop a sense of entitlement, a sense that their heightened level of fandom puts me in debt to them. I don’t see it that way. If you bake me a pie, draw me a picture or design a website about me, that’s great. I appreciate it very much. But I don’t owe you a darned thing unless you want $12 for the pie, which is probably fair. Be forewarned though: I usually don’t have any money on me.

• When tackling large signings I try to move fast to get you home. I will often ask that families with small children be allowed to come to the front of the line so that they can get out and to bed at a decent hour. This means some of you will have to wait a little longer. Thank you in advance for your patience. What I promise in return for this consideration is to never sit at a signing (so my feet will hurt just as bad as yours) and to never leave until the last fan has been greeted and their goods duly signed. I never have and never will (unless I have a stroke or something) left fans in the lurch.

• Concerning photos: I love making memories as much as the next guy but we’re having to put the kibosh on phone pictures because they’re slow, ponderous and most people (not you of course) don’t know how to use them. As a result we end up standing there long enough for an etching, which can get a little awkward. If you want a picture, bring a camera and have it ready. I will have someone with me who is well versed in its use and we’ll look great when he’s done. Again: camera=good, phone=bad.

• When it’s over, it’s over. I’ll stay to the last but then we simply must be going. In most cases we’re flying to the next city right away rather than retiring to the comfort of a local pub or a fancy hotel. We’ve got hours to go before heads hit beds and appreciate your understanding.

Well, that about wraps it up. We’re looking forward to a great tour and great crowds. I’m proud as heck of this new book and hope you’ll find it a useful addition to your library, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, garage. If any of the above seems vague or confusing, print it out and we’ll review when we meet.

Alton

Transitions are funny things.  Most Americans view them as crossing a busy street -- you want to get from Sidewalk A to Sidewalk B as fast as possible -- the last thing you'd consider is sitting down in the middle of the street to contemplate the journey itself.  That's why I'm glad I was able to find my dog-eared 1992 edition of the book Transitions, by William Bridges.  Bridges pointed out the concept of what he termed 'The Neutral Zone."  OK, that still makes me think of Romulans and Klingons, but in fact it's about that weird, unsettled "in-between time" that occurs after an ending and before a beginning.  Americans seem to want to ignore or skip that part, but it's real.  One must pass through the Neutral Zone in order to come out the other side to a fresh new beginning.  I miss my girls living at home, but it is amazing and wonderful to see them spread their wings and fly.  That will be my next step in my career, too.

I did it -- I finally bought an ebook.  I went NOOK over Kindle, and I flipping LOVE this thing already.  I have a penchant for reading ginormous novels -- and I love using the library, which means having to lug around a 3 pound, 1400 page paper brick wherever I go.  (1400 pages was the length of a recent novel by a favorite author -- and that was pretty much the last straw.)

I have dreamed of an actual ebook since I was a little kid -- and I am delighted with this gadget.  I did a lot of comparison-shopping, but in the end the simple fact that Barnes & Noble is a brick and mortar chain that employs people in communities all over America (instead of just Amazon's Seattle base and wherever their handful of distribution centers are) was the tipping point. It feels like supporting Barnes & Noble is just a little bit more capitalist/consumer friendly than feeding Jeff Bezos more dough.  Besides, NOOK makes it really easy to borrow library books; gotta love that.

In 2006, ABC News anchorman Bob Woodruff had his life literally blown to shreds when he was seriously injured.  It's an amazing and uplifting story of hope.  Whenever I have a tough day, I think of their story.  http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_4?asin=B002V0KA20&qid=1323918711&sr=sr_1_4.  

I have to recommend this book to anyone going through any sort of life change -- good or bad, up or down.  It's the most useful thing I've ever read and reread during times of change.  William Bridges is brilliant.