A new, improved Brain Surgery for Suits
"Brain Surgery for Suits" is a good book, but there's an even better one, also by Robert Solomon, that was published more recently. It's called "The Art of Client Service," and it greatly expands on "Brain Surgery." I own both books, and I've got to say "The Art of Client Service" is clearly superior."The Art of Client Service," includes dozens of stories that support and ilustrate the book' s guidelines for account management. None of the stories are in "Brain Surgery." There's an afterword that talks about what makes a great account person; you won't find anything like it in "Brain Surgery." There are some new chapters not included in "Brain Surgery." And there's a detailed list of books for account people, also not included in "Brain Surgery." Like "Brain Surgery," "The Art of Client Service" is a fast read, but it's easily got twice the information. It's the same price as "Brain Surgery," so it's a much better value. My suggestion is before you order "Brain Surgery for Suits," check out "The Art of Client Service." If you do, my guess is you'll choose "The Art of Client Service."
Not Just for Account People!
This book is a wonderful resource that gets right to the point and provides important information. I wish that every business coaching book was this enjoyable to read -- I read it in one sitting! Although this book is written for the "Account Person," I think that it applies to anyone who has client contact, runs a meeting, or makes presentations. I am a "Media Person," and I picked up some great pointers on relationship-building.I highly recommend this book to anyone who works at an agency.
At least it's short
This book earns a lot of praise for being short, and requiring almost no effort to read. Absolutely true. It took me 20 minutes. A great big star for that.
That said, the small effort you do spend to read the book is wasted. Some of the wisdom of Solomon? Start meetings on time (#45), stick to the agenda (#46), don't mix business with pleasure too much (#4), and buy fewer, better pieces of tailored clothing (#53).
If suits think this is brain surgery, then they deserve the poor reputation they hold amongst creative people and strategic planners--the men and women in any agency who actually do the work.
"Suits" spend their days managing their colleagues--often difficult, temperamental talents. The real contribution a suit makes to the process is through his people skills. How do you develop better people skills? You become a better human being. Study the arts, the humanities, politics, the social sciences--no less an authority than Ogilvy himself recommends it. Learn to understand the big questions, so that when the time comes to understand the small ones (like why someone chooses spearmint over peppermint) you'll be more than prepared.
And just maybe you won't need advice on how to handle the vexing issue of what to wear in racy offices that let you dress casually. Solomon's advice? "...figure out a casual 'uniform' that works for you and wear that look most, if not all the time. If you need variety, change the accessories." (#55).
Brain surgery, it ain't.
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An addendum. The author emailed me and kindly offered to refund the purchase price of the book. I'd like to thank him, but decline. It would cripple the publishing industry if one expected a refund for every book one didn't like. That's why there are reviews. But I appreciate the author's courtesy, and wish him well.
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