Book Review: Wired to Care

Dev Patnaik's book, Wired to Care

I don’t recall ever hearing the word ’empathy’ and ‘corporation’ in the same sentence…that is, until I picked up Dev Patnaik’s audio book, Wired to Care.

Through stories drawn from the histories of some of our best known corporations, such as Mercedes Benz, Nike, Disney, IBM, Clorox,  Harley Davidson,  Patnaik illustrates how a deeply empathic knowledge of  one’s market can be utilized to increase customers’ feelings of validation. This, in turn, attracts customers, because they are drawn to that which makes them feeling good about themselves.

The subtitle of this book, How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, is well illustrated. However, this book isn’t only about prosperous companies, it’s also about making  this world a better place, calling on corporations to embrace a higher standard, and giving meaning to the work we do.

In one of my careers, managing a design studio at a university, and later, in my work as an information architect,  I learned the importance of knowing one’s audience and of always being able to see from their perspective. This is one of the most valuable competencies I have acquired on my career path so far. Many companies hire people for what they know about business rather than what they understand about their customer.

While listening to this book, I got many great work outs on a treadmill, and an elliptical trainer and was so enthralled, I finished reading the book in 4 days.

The audio book version of Wired to Care is available on  Audible.com. If you prefer having a hard copy, you’ll find it on Amazon.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Length : 7 hours, 42 minutes (Unabridged)
Narrator:  Dennis Holland
Release Date: June 2008
Publisher : 2009 Audible, Inc.

Book Review—The Age Curve: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Storm

The Age Curve: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Storm, by Kenneth Gronbach, came highly recommended as a must-hear (or must-read) and is a book for any players in the corporate world, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations and even parents.

The Age Curve

Having listened to The Age Curve, I never will look at a news story, business decision or politics in the same way. This book has added to my ability to think critically about trends shaping our country and about business models that exist today. It is one of the best business books I’ve heard or read.  Start to finish, this book is so informative that I have found myself re-listening to some of the sections.

And I wish to give a hand of applause to the author, Kenneth Gronbach.  He actually made a book about demographics that not only is informative, but also is entertaining! I especially appreciate his concise style.

I have a confession to make. When listening to the audio book, I found the subject matter so valuable for considering  long-term career goals  (the next 20 years at least) that I went out and bought the hard cover version for my book shelf. I know I will refer back to it from time to time. And although this is a blog about audio books and exercising the brain and body, I promise to read this hard cover version on a stationary bicycle!

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Length : 6 hours, 6 minutes (Unabridged)
Narrator:  Max Bloomquist
Release Date: June 2008
Publisher : 2008 Brilliance Audio Inc