Rich Dad Poor Dad 2

"Rich Dad, Poor Dad 2: The Cashflow Quadrant" by Robert Kiyosaki

How to make money (written before the US housing crisis and credit crunch)

"All Marketers Are Liars", Seth Godin, Penguin, £7.99

Seth Godin writes interesting and witty books on how marketing works. In this one Seth puts his hands in the air and admits it; all marketers are liars. Well perhaps it should be good marketers are storytellers but then that wouldn't be quite as interesting. And perhaps that is the point.

The book is really about how successful marketers put together compelling and authentic stories. That doesn't always mean that the stories have to be completely true but they do have to be true in the right places. Mr Kipling has never said that his cakes were baked in a cottage in the heart of the countryside. Broadly speaking we are happy to believe that there is a Mr Kipling making exceedingly good cakes and we probably have a more pastoral image of the baking process than is probably deserved.

The big thrust of the book is that when business develop their story they must reflect a particular worldview and then be completely internally consistent with that perspective. So a Rolls Royce, for instance, needs to be covered in wood and leather and the customer service level offered with it needs to be highly personalised (whether it needs to be or not) to fit the image of the product and the brand expectations of the customer.

There are loads of examples in the book and some interesting advice on how to take advantage of the concepts. A definite recommendation from Arrowsmith.