This podcast reviews Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell which asks: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, Gladwell builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages.

Subscribe to and download the podcast at iTunes.com. For show notes and more information on the authors of Cocktail Party Statement, visit cocktailpartystatement.com.

One of the biggest issues for small business with a web 2.0 strategy is finding a way to unite them all and simplify the updating process.

Hootsuite is more than a twitter client.  In the video below, I’ll go over why I love Hootsuite so much and how I leverage it to not only update all my statuses on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, but to also keep track of click throughs and trends.

Cocktail Party Statement talks about Linchpin by Seth Godin in this episode. A linchpin, as Seth describes it, is somebody in an organization who is indispensable, who cannot be replaced—her role is just far too unique and valuable.

Subscribe to and download the podcast at iTunes.com. For show notes and more information on the authors of Cocktail Party Statement, visit cocktailpartystatement.com.

Being a part of an “award-winning” firm is something to showcase and feature in your company’s presentations to potential clients. While we’re all overwhelmed with award shows in every possible category, the benefits of being able to point to your awards is invaluable. Having awards makes it easier to sell your business – you have already convinced a jury that you are worthwhile and this neutral party is sometimes the nudge your clients need to validate your services. But how do you take your work from being worthy of entering a competition, to being worthy of an award?

Recently Karen Albritton judged the Public Relations Society of America’s Silver Anvil Awards and wrote this excellent article with a few great tips on how to succeed in winning awards and what a judge is looking for. A few of the highlights from the article include:

• Research matters. Great campaigns begin with insight and insight comes from research. Lack of research was the most pervasive challenge for the entries I judged.
• Media impressions alone aren’t results. Award-worthy campaigns deliver a business or an organizational impact. Most clients are clamoring for real metrics and will be delighted to have their agency come to them with ideas on how to measure business impact.
• You can’t win on execution alone. Most campaigns today integrate multiple communications channels including media relations, events, collateral materials, social media and even advertising.

• Ideas over tactics. There is no substitute for a big idea — a big idea derived from an insight into your audience that is linked to strategy. Understand the power of an idea and how to package it.

(photo nasa hq photo)

In this unique episode, the team take on TWO business books by the same author, Jim Collins. Good to Great and How the Mighty Fall (the update, which considers the recent downfall of some of the “great” companies).

Subscribe to and download the podcast at iTunes.com. For show notes and more information on the authors of Cocktail Party Statement, visit cocktailpartystatement.com.

Thousands of business books are published every year – too many for any reader to sift through single-handedly. Cocktail Party Statement is made up of 3 MBAs who disect the findings of business books and summarize them so you can make a statement at a cocktail party like a pro. They have chosen the best of the best – the ones that deliver the biggest payoff for today’s busy readers. Their book synopsis is chronicled in their radio show.

Subscribe to and download the podcast at iTunes.com.

Keep up to date with the news of each podcast release.

For show notes and more information on the authors of Cocktail Party Statement, visit cocktailpartystatement.com.