It's How Good You Want To Be by Paul Arden

Recently, I visited the Oxford bookstore in Chennai and enjoyed the ambiance of the reading lounge attached to a mini coffee shop. I picked up the book by Paul Arden as I had a hot blueberry muffin. I loved the book. And the marketing strategy worked and I bought the book too. I have listed interesting insights from the book.

-It's not how good you are, but how good you want to be. Spice Girl Victoria Beckham's ambition was not to become a world famous singer but a world famous brand. Her benchmark was Persil Automatic, the world famous washing powder. Even though she was a singer, she did not set other singers like Madonna or George Michael as her benchmark.
-All creative people need something to rebel against, it's what gives their lives excitement. And it's creative people who make the client's life exciting. Creative people strive for excellence where mediocrity is needed and they do it for themselves.
-Energy is 75% of the job. If you haven't got it, be nice.
-Do not covet your ideas. Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you.

-Ideas are open knowledge. Don't claim ownership.
-Avoid knocking the competition. It usually serves to publicize them rather than you. It may win attention, it may win awards, but the likelihood is that it won't win sales. Criticizing is also much easier to do.
-Experience is built from solutions to old situations and problems. The old situations are probably different from the present ones, so that old solutions will have to be bent to fit new problems (and possibly fit badly). So, you become lazy and stop thinking. Experience is the opposite of being creative.
-If you can't solve a problem, it is because you are playing by the rules. Theatre director Joan Littlewood said, “If we don't get lost, we'll never find a new route.”
-An organization's reputation is built on one or two key people and key accounts. Try to be that key person and involve in the key account.
-Do not put your best people on new business pitches. The most respected creative people will probably do something too controversial to be acceptable to a conservative group of clients at your meeting. Put the people who consistently get the agency out of trouble on it. Their work may not be as dazzling, but it will be intelligent and the client will relate to the idea better.
-Don't give a speech. Put on a show. Instead of giving people the benefit of your wit and wisdom (words), try painting them a picture. The more strikingly visual your presentation is, the more people will remember it and you too.
-Don't promise what you cannot deliver. Do not over promise in your enthusiasm for creation. Instead, undersell and create a trusting relationship with the client by delivering before deadline.
-It's not what you know, it's who you know. Do not be afraid to work with the best. The best can be intimidating, but they respond positively if you prove your good intentions.
-If you are involved in something that goes wrong, never blame others. Blame no one but yourself. Say, “It's all my fault.”
-Present whatever you want on a Tuesday. On Tuesdays, the client or an employee feels great about meetings, people, and work.