Attack of the Customers by Paul Gillin with Greg Gianforte - Book review

Attack of the Customers

Why Critics Assault Brands Online and How To Avoid Becoming a Victim

By: Paul Gillin, Greg Gianforte

Published: November 30, 2012
Format: Paperback: 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1479244554
ISBN-13: 978-1479244553
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform










"Online attacks by customers, shareholders and activist groups are growing in number and in scope, and many businesses now invite attacks without even knowing it", write speakers and online marketer Paul Gillin; and software company entrepreneur Greg Gianforte, in their eye opening and practical advice packed book Attack of the Customers: Why Critics Assault Brands Online and How To Avoid Becoming a Victim. The authors describe how customers don't take their complaints quietly any longer, but instead utilize the power and scope of social media to inflict real harm on targeted companies and brands; and they share real world proven ideas to transform those attackers into advocates.



Paul Gillin (photo left) and Greg Gianforte recognize the power of social media to establish positive relationships with customers, who in turn become evangelists for the company and its brands. At the same time, however, those sames social media platforms have a dark side that can be deployed to cause severe damage to companies and brands over real or perceived grievances.

Not only are the attackers causing their havoc on their own social media platforms, but they are also going directly to the target, and complaining loudly on the very Facebook and Twitter pages established by the companies to encourage engagement. The authors provide evidence that the companies are not only blindsided by this new reality, but they also lack the knowledge and strategies to counter the attacks.



Greg Gianforte (photo left) and Paul Gillin understand that companies must be prepared for any possible attacks and discover a new way of engaging their customers. The authors outline what brands have done correctly; and also show where misguided strategies have caused the problem to escalate.

The authors divide the book into two major sections. The first section examines the attacks themselves, including who deploys them and why they are motivated to do so. The second half of the book focuses on the proactive approach of building a company that is resistant to attacks through a commitment to doing what is right for the customer.

The authors share their insights in the following areas, that are encompassed in the two overarching sections of the book:

* When customers attack
* How attacks happen
* Studies in social media crisis
* Why customers attack
* The attackers
* Ordance and tools
* Customer as critic: The power of peer reviews
* Mainstream media: Enabler or enforcer
* An ounce of prevention
* Handling an attack
* The attack resistant organization

For me,the power of the book is how Paul Gillin and Greg Gianforte combine a a no holds barred overview of the reality of online customer attacks, with a realistic approach to building a company that is resistant to those attacks. The authors present a well reasoned and balanced approach to the challenge posed by irate customers. The book contains a complete picture of who the attackers are, what motivates their attacks, and how they carry out their destructive campaigns.

At the same time, the authors also point out that companies often invite attacks themselves through a failure to respond to reasonable customer concerns, by not engaging customers in order to build solid relationships, and through a lack of understanding that the old ways of doing business don't work in a social media dominated world.

The authors enhance their concepts through the inclusion of case studies of attacks and responses in in the real world. These actual events illustrate the seriousness of the attacks, and often weak to counterproductive actions taken by the companies. The authors demonstrate the best short and long term approach is to develop a culture of customer engagement where the brands actually listen to their customers, and act on their concerns to the satisfaction of those consumers.

I highly recommend the insightful and proactive book Attack of the Customers: Why Critics Assault Brands Online and How To Avoid Becoming a Victim by Paul Gillin with Greg Gianforte, to any business leaders who are serious about taking a positive and customer oriented approach to the challenge posed by attacking customers. This book offers an alternative to the failed practices utilied by companies who face the wrath of their dissatisfied customer bases.

Modern Construction Management, Seventh Edition by Frank Harris & Ronald McCaffer - Book review

Modern Construction Management, Seventh Edition

By: Frank Harris, Ph.D., Ronald MvCaffer, Ph.D

Published: May 6, 2013
Paperback: 572 pages
ISBN-10: 047067217X
ISBN-13: 978-0470672174
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell










This book is intended for students and graduates of civil engineering, construction management, building and quantity surveying, and arranged to reflect site, business and corporate responsibilities embraced by the latest national vocational qualifications available for supervisory and management levels of career development", write Emeritus Professor of Construction Science, University of Wolverhampton, Frank Harris, Ph.D.; and Emeritus Professor of Construction Management, Loughborough Univeristy, Ronald McCaffer, Ph.D., in their new edition of their classic and comprehensive textbook Modern Construction Management, Seventh Edition. The authors describe the topics essential for complete understanding of the crucial elements of construction, including the development of the business and technical skills essential to managers.

Frank Harris and Ronald McCaffer understand that a modern construction manager must not only possess strong technical skills, but must demonstrate knowledge in the business processes of the industry. With these added business abilities, the young construction manager will be better equipped for an executive and decision making role. The authors present the latest developments in the construction industry that includes strong consideration of environmental, people oriented, and socially responsible industry practices.

The authors also place emphasis on the management of teams, customer relationships, processes, and quality management. With the increasing complexity of the construction industry, the authors ensure that new construction managers and related professionals are prepared fully understanding and executing the most up t date and modern strategies.

Ronald McCaffer and Frank Harris recognize the transformation that has taken place in the construction industry where value must be considered for customers, employee safety and engagement, the environment, and society as a whole. The authors also present a complete overview of the increasing role of social responsibility and how these changing attitudes hace changed the role of the manager.

The authors divide the book into four overarching sections the include the new and expanded role of responsibilities for the construction manager. Those four major sections are as follows:

* Project production management: Techniques relating to project management including environmental aspects and legislation
* Business management: Business aspects of both project and company management
* Administration and company management: Executive management of overall corporate control
* Self-learning exercises: Selection of problems including complete worked solutions for the classroom, tutorials, and seminars

For me, the power of the book is how Frank Harris and Ronald McCaffer combine a comprehensive overview of both construction project management and business management, with the effective teaching tools to enrich the learning experience of the students. The authors take a holistic approach to the concepts of construction management and go beyond simply discussing the technical aspects of the subject material. Instead, the book contains a strong section on the business and corporate decision making aspects of the job, including the management of people.

This seventh edition goes beyond the business and technical aspects of construction management and moves beyond those principles to add an extra emphasis on the environment, carbon usage, lean construction, sustainability, and other societal issues. With these very salient topics now a critical part of the construction management role, the authors were wise to include them in the book. As a core undergraduate textbook, this book is very modern in its approach to the construction industry. The authors include a complete section of the book that includes management and construction problems including complete worked solutions for the classroom, tutorials, and seminars.

I highly recommend the landmark and very modern best practices oriented textbook Modern Construction Management, Seventh Edition by Frank Harris, Ph.D., and Ronald McCaffer, Ph.D., to any students and graduates in civil engineering, construction management, building and quantity surveying, corporate leaders, and government policy makers seeking a clear and all encompassing guide to the current business, technical, environmental, and societal issues and challenges of modern construction management. This book is a tremendous starting point for students and professionals at any level of construction project management.

Ray Attiyah: The Fearless Front Line - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Training and leadership developer, speaker, CEO of Definity Partners, and author of the empowering and company culture changing book The Fearless Front Line: The Key to Liberating Leaders to Improve and Grow Their Business, Ray Attiyah describes how being unable to forget about bad situations has caused a loss of confidence in leaders, resulting in doing less less leading, and more over managing of their front line employees. Ray Attiyah points out that this failure of confidence becomes dependent upon elaborate systems and processes designed to prevent bad situations but which become the focus of the organization and not a means to achieve its goals. Ray Atiiyah shares an alternative approach in the form of the holistic Run-Improve-Grow model that makes excellence its focus and empowers front line employees to take ownership of their roles. The Run-Improve-Model frees up leaders as well to concentrate their time and efforts on the big picture and the overall growth the of the organization, The result is an attitude change to one of empowerment and ownership that transforms the entire company culture.

Ray Attiyah is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, May 9, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Training and leadership developer, speaker, CEO of Definity Partners, and author of the empowering and company culture changing book The Fearless Front Line: The Key to Liberating Leaders to Improve and Grow Their Business, Ray Attiyah describes how being unable to forget about bad situations has caused a loss of confidence in leaders, resulting in doing less less leading, and more over managing of their front line employees. You will leanr:

* Why leaders lose confidence and employees fell less empowered

* Why more systems and process simply become the focus rather than a means to goals

* How to adopt the Run-Improve-Grow model to empower leaders and front line staff

* How to change attitudes to one of ownership to transform company culture



Ray Attiyah (photo left) is founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Definity Partners, a training, process, and leadership improvement firm. Ray's business expertise comes from hands-on experience in engineering, operations and management leadership roles in manufacturing and service businesses, including Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Hardin and UPS.

Inspired by his experiences, Ray founded Definity Partners in 1996, and has helped dozens of companies to perpetual and transformational growth and improvement. Ray is a passionate speaker and contributes columns to the Cincinnati Business Courier. An entrepreneur who enjoys teaching and improving organizations of all sizes, Ray is an investor in and advisor to many companies and start-ups, and serves on the board of numerous non-profits.

A graduate of Rutgers with an MBA from Xavier University, Ray lives with his wife and three daughters in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is an avid soccer and poker player.

My book review of The Fearless Front Line: The Key to Liberating Leaders to Improve and Grow Their Business by Ray Attiyah.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with training and leadership developer, speaker, CEO of Definity Partners, and author of the empowering and company culture changing book The Fearless Front Line: The Key to Liberating Leaders to Improve and Grow Their Business, Ray Attiyah describes how being unable to forget about bad situations has caused a loss of confidence in leaders, resulting in doing less less leading, and more over managing of their front line employees. Ray Attiyah points out that this failure of confidence becomes dependent upon elaborate systems and processes designed to prevent bad situations but which become the focus of the organization and not a means to achieve its goals. Ray Atiiyah shares an alternative approach in the form of the holistic Run-Improve-Grow model that makes excellence its focus and empowers front line employees to take ownership of their roles. The Run-Improve-Model frees up leaders as well to concentrate their time and efforts on the big picture and the overall growth the of the organization, The result is an attitude change to one of empowerment and ownership that transforms the entire company culture on Blog Business Success Radio.