A book of useful information for a changing employment landscape.
A businessman details the pluses and minuses of outsourcing.
Readers likely won’t be surprised at what Gallimore, a British entrepreneur and the creator of outsourcing marketplace Outsource Accelerator, has to say in this debut book, considering how many people’s work habits have shifted during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. However, they will be engaged by his treatise as a proponent of outsourcing—hiring talented, less-expensive workers globally and having them work remotely, rather than bringing an employee into the office—and says that it’s a strategy that’s growing more common. He notes that “we all increasingly shop for clothes, buy food, build friendships, find dates, book taxis, reminisce with old friends, and binge-watch our favorite shows” online, and that “it will soon be the place we all go to hire our employees.” His book offers a fine primer for many types of small-business owners, defining what outsourcing is and whether it’s the right move for a particular company. He covers a great deal of subject matter on the subject, including how to develop a framework for outsourced workers, how to hire the right people from afar and give them appropriate job training, and how to build and manage an offshore workforce, specifically drawing on his considerable experience in the Philippines, where he’s lived since 2014. The book benefits greatly from Gallimore’s to-the-point writing style, presenting information that, in other hands, might have felt convoluted. For example, he cogently notes that offshoring relieves an employer of “most of the administrative work of compliance, payroll, HR, and the general complexities of employment. This allows you, the client, to focus more on operations, growth, and scaling your business.” The book is filled with useful tips, and Gallimore makes great use of lists and bullet points to make the information digestible, including “12 characteristics of a great client and successful student of outsourcing,” which many will find indispensable. If outsourcing will soon be the way of the world, as Gallimore predicts, this book may help many get through it successfully.
A book of useful information for a changing employment landscape.Pub Date: May 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73962-300-5
Page Count: 472
Publisher: Outsource Accelerator
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.
Want to get ahead in business? Consult a dictionary.
By Wharton School professor Berger’s account, much of the art of persuasion lies in the art of choosing the right word. Want to jump ahead of others waiting in line to use a photocopy machine, even if they’re grizzled New Yorkers? Throw a because into the equation (“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”), and you’re likely to get your way. Want someone to do your copying for you? Then change your verbs to nouns: not “Can you help me?” but “Can you be a helper?” As Berger notes, there’s a subtle psychological shift at play when a person becomes not a mere instrument in helping but instead acquires an identity as a helper. It’s the little things, one supposes, and the author offers some interesting strategies that eager readers will want to try out. Instead of alienating a listener with the omniscient should, as in “You should do this,” try could instead: “Well, you could…” induces all concerned “to recognize that there might be other possibilities.” Berger’s counsel that one should use abstractions contradicts his admonition to use concrete language, and it doesn’t help matters to say that each is appropriate to a particular situation, while grammarians will wince at his suggestion that a nerve-calming exercise to “try talking to yourself in the third person (‘You can do it!’)” in fact invokes the second person. Still, there are plenty of useful insights, particularly for students of advertising and public speaking. It’s intriguing to note that appeals to God are less effective in securing a loan than a simple affirmative such as “I pay all bills…on time”), and it’s helpful to keep in mind that “the right words used at the right time can have immense power.”
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063204935
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Career and business advice for the hashtag generation. For all its self-absorption, this book doesn’t offer much reflection...
A Dumpster diver–turned-CEO details her rise to success and her business philosophy.
In this memoir/business book, Amoruso, CEO of the Internet clothing store Nasty Gal, offers advice to young women entrepreneurs who seek an alternative path to fame and fortune. Beginning with a lengthy discussion of her suburban childhood and rebellious teen years, the author describes her experiences living hand to mouth, hitchhiking, shoplifting and dropping out of school. Her life turned around when, bored at work one night, she decided to sell a few pieces of vintage clothing on eBay. Fast-forward seven years, and Amoruso was running a $100 million company with 350 employees. While her success is admirable, most of her advice is based on her own limited experiences and includes such hackneyed lines as, “When you accept yourself, it’s surprising how much other people will accept you, too.” At more than 200 pages, the book is overlong, and much of what the author discusses could be summarized in a few tweets. In fact, much of it probably has been: One of the most interesting sections in the book is her description of how she uses social media. Amoruso has a spiritual side, as well, and she describes her belief in “chaos magic” and “sigils,” a kind of wishful-thinking exercise involving abstract words. The book also includes sidebars featuring guest “girlbosses” (bloggers, Internet entrepreneurs) who share equally clichéd suggestions for business success. Some of the guidance Amoruso offers for interviews (don’t dress like you’re going to a nightclub), getting fired (don’t call anyone names) and finding your fashion style (be careful which trends you follow) will be helpful to her readers, including the sage advice, “You’re not special.”
Career and business advice for the hashtag generation. For all its self-absorption, this book doesn’t offer much reflection or insight.Pub Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-16927-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Portfolio
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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