I trust everyone had a great Fourth of July with their friends and family. Did any business take place? Yes? No? Maybe so? Perhaps ever so subtly. Were you asked how business was? Could this have been someone testing the waters of your service? Were you asked to go golfing or take part in some other activity? Maybe this is someone's way of speaking to you privately. Did you ask these questions of others to test the waters of the market?

While I didn't intend to write about picnics and fireworks as a networking opportunity, it did just come to me. Perhaps that would be a great topic for another time, however I wanted to pick up where I left on my last post that can be found on www.berlinbusinessassociation.blogspot.com.

First, I wanted to make a correction. The book I mentioned about diplomacy is actually titled "On the Manner of Negotiating with Princes".

Second, I wanted to round out "The Basics" book list by adding a couple of titles. I mentioned that Trump suggested some reading of Jung. What I left out was that he also recommended The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale.

Another great read is by Malcolm Gladwell. He has written three very fascinating books and each will be addressed in its proper context in future posts. However, for this post, the book I want to bring to your attention is Outliers. In it are revelations about curious, coincidental circumstances out of your control that have an impact on what you do for a living and your particular level of success at that profession. Everything from the month of birth, the generation one was born into, the chosen profession of grandparents, etc, accounts for the uniqueness of success found in his subjects. I feel that since the premise of summer postings is about start-ups, transitional opportunities, or improvements to existing operations, this book might make you think about your career.

So in addition to polishing yourself up and getting motivated, you may want to take a step back and see if "the launch sequence" has begun on the correct "rocket" of your career.

As we move forward the topics will proceed in the following order:

Basics (this post and last)
Outlook
Analysis & Market Place
Personal Marketing
Sales
CRM (Client/Customer Relations Management)
Organizational Management
Leadership
Management

Have a great week. Follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/UCDWS. Connect with me on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/drewstraub.