A Birthday Poem
Birthdays come and go each year,
Today is yours, so don’t you fear.
Conversations fill the air,
We have joined you since we care.
Funny jokes and laughs out loud,
We will always be your crowd.
Many friends you haven’t seen,
How long has it really been?
We shall dance all through the night,
Until our spirits are truly light.
Celebrate our dearest friend,
A birthday poem, we wish to send.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Poem
Remember a Year
A little reminder to show that I care,
A few thoughts in my mind, openly share.
Where should I begin, before raindrops appear?
Has it already been another beautiful year?
Who would have guessed; no changes at all
Expressions the same, If I do recall.
In sync rhythm, with rosy red cheek.
Please do not worry, you are not asleep,
Internal changes and growth, surely not cheap.
A birthday; a chance to remember a year,
Where is the line of moving frontier?
A little reminder to show that I care,
A few thoughts in my mind, openly share.
Where should I begin, before raindrops appear?
Has it already been another beautiful year?
Who would have guessed; no changes at all
Expressions the same, If I do recall.
In sync rhythm, with rosy red cheek.
Please do not worry, you are not asleep,
Internal changes and growth, surely not cheap.
A birthday; a chance to remember a year,
Where is the line of moving frontier?
Bday Poem for best Friend
U are the best friend that I have ever found,
I promise that I will never give you any wound.
I do a lot of emotional atyachar on you,
I am sure it will disappear and it will become very few.
U are the most practical person that I have ever seen,
And also the great support you have been.
Your presence around makes me very confident,
Every moment with you around is like an achievement.
The essence of yours is your ever smiling face,
For rest of them they are a great disgrace.
The understanding nature of yours is awesome,
To be with you is a great fun.
You don’t like my always ever sad mood,
I also tend to be sometime very rude.
But kiii, a promise from my side,
I would always have a smiling face wide.
I will never make you feel hurt,
If yes, then tear away my shirt.
He my best friend pandu,
Never ever get angry on this gandu.
I promise that I will never give you any wound.
I do a lot of emotional atyachar on you,
I am sure it will disappear and it will become very few.
U are the most practical person that I have ever seen,
And also the great support you have been.
Your presence around makes me very confident,
Every moment with you around is like an achievement.
The essence of yours is your ever smiling face,
For rest of them they are a great disgrace.
The understanding nature of yours is awesome,
To be with you is a great fun.
You don’t like my always ever sad mood,
I also tend to be sometime very rude.
But kiii, a promise from my side,
I would always have a smiling face wide.
I will never make you feel hurt,
If yes, then tear away my shirt.
He my best friend pandu,
Never ever get angry on this gandu.
Bday Poem for best Friend
Happy birthday my best friend,
Amazing times, we always spend.
Laughter and jokes are common place,
Since we built that solid base.
Special friend that I hold dear,
Always wish to have you near.
We get along, like bread with honey,
A friendship worth, much more than money.
If you stumble, count me there,
Gratitude; no need to declare.
Your thoughts are clear, in my mind,
Understanding we always find.
Happy birthday my best friend,
I’m excited to attend.
This birthday poem, is just for you,
A great big smile is overdue.
Amazing times, we always spend.
Laughter and jokes are common place,
Since we built that solid base.
Special friend that I hold dear,
Always wish to have you near.
We get along, like bread with honey,
A friendship worth, much more than money.
If you stumble, count me there,
Gratitude; no need to declare.
Your thoughts are clear, in my mind,
Understanding we always find.
Happy birthday my best friend,
I’m excited to attend.
This birthday poem, is just for you,
A great big smile is overdue.
Bday Poem for best Friend
Happy birthday.
Happy birthday my best friend ******,
All your wishes will come for free.
You are the most the most important person in my life,
More important than my beloved wife.
I pray that all your wishes will come true,
You would be the most sought after in the crew.
you would climb the ladder of success to Everest,
everyone will say you are the best.
Your life will always be smooth sailing,
you will get all success without failing.
Your smile and you will always be inseparable,
All paneer dishes would be always be there at ur dinning table.
I wish happiness to everyone associated with you,
I hope in ur life I am the chosen few.
You will get the best person in your life,
And he would be really lucky to take u as his wife.
Wish you again, happy birthday my dear,
Live life to fullest without fear.
Happy birthday my best friend ******,
All your wishes will come for free.
You are the most the most important person in my life,
More important than my beloved wife.
I pray that all your wishes will come true,
You would be the most sought after in the crew.
you would climb the ladder of success to Everest,
everyone will say you are the best.
Your life will always be smooth sailing,
you will get all success without failing.
Your smile and you will always be inseparable,
All paneer dishes would be always be there at ur dinning table.
I wish happiness to everyone associated with you,
I hope in ur life I am the chosen few.
You will get the best person in your life,
And he would be really lucky to take u as his wife.
Wish you again, happy birthday my dear,
Live life to fullest without fear.
Book Review of Why We Buy: Paco Underhill
A. Name of Book: Why We Buy
B. Author: Paco Underhill
C. Background of Author: (Education, work experience, other books that he has written):
Paco Underhill is an environmental psychologist, the author of the books Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping and Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping, and the founder of a market research and consulting company called Envirosell. He employs the basic idea of environmental psychology, that our surroundings influence our behavior, to find ways of structuring man-made environments to make them conducive to retail purposes.
A highly regarded speaker, Underhill has delivered keynote speeches at conferences, universities and corporations spanning the globe for over a decade. From buying behavior to consumerism in the modern world, Underhill's "insightful" and "entertaining" presentations have been lauded worldwide. Packed with surprising details, anecdotes, important lessons and groundbreaking observations on shopping and corporate behavior, Underhill's speeches give those in attendance a peek into the mind that set a new standard in the industry nearly 30 years ago, and who is the guiding visionary for Envirosell and its approach to research. Today, he is known as one of the era's forefront shopping anthropologists, with offices in Tokyo, Milan, Moscow, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and New Delhi.
Paco has presented on such topics as The Global State of Retail; The Science of Shopping; The State of Luxury Goods; Cross-Channel Convergence (Online, Mobile Phone, Bricks-and-Mortar); The Future of Travel; Retail Banking in the 21st Century; The Evolution of the Mobile Phone; Trends in Global Shopping Malls; The Future of Bread and Food Service; Getting to the Modern Airport; What Women Want; and others.
Paco's new book, What Women Want (Simon & Schuster 2010), focuses on how the changing status of women affects the physical world we live in.
D. Summary of Each chapter (100 words each): Mention each chapter – summarize in 100 words.
Chapter 1 - Background
Stores would not survive without impulse shopping.
We are over retailed.
New stores are trying to steal existing market share because there is no new market.
Brand names are being eroded. ("Selling the Invisible" says the opposite.)
Chapter 2 - The Mechanics
In some stores, buyers spend three to four times longer than non-buyers. Get them to shop longer - talking to employees helps.
As shoppers ourselves, you would think we could organize our own stores properly.
We can determine where shoppers will walk in a store.
Amenability and profitability are inextricably linked.
Chapter 3 - The Approach and Entryway
While walking through parking lots people are not looking at the store windows.
Chapter 4
Keep the customers' hands free to touch and browse.
One store gives you a bag to gather stuff in and then tries to sell you the bag at the check out.
Chapter 5 - Signs
People don't see signs. They are focused on other things, or signs are badly laid out and placed in the wrong places.
Put signs where people are waiting. Give them something to look at.
In 1½ seconds, we can only read 3 or 4 words.
Chapter 6
Shoppers move like people - they want to see stuff face on, not sideways. This applies to window displays & store displays.
American shoppers move to the right the same way they drive.
Chapter 7 - Dynamics
Provide seating for support people: husbands shopping with wives, etc.
More than 50% of fast food is served in Drive-Thru Windows. Ten percent of those people park in the parking lot to eat (primarily women).
Chapter 8 - Shop like a man
Men are easier to up sell than women.
Men are more likely to ignore price tags.
Sell to the woman - close to the man.
Open a women's store next to a store that will keep the men happy, e.g., computers etc.
Women's stores are not organized for men to buy.
Men's Health magazine sells more than 1.5 million copies per month.
Chapter 9 - What women want
Hardware stores now make it much easier for women to shop.
Very few coupons are used anymore - Safeway card is the new style.
Stores selling cosmetics.
Stuff for older people on the lowest shelf. We can't get down there with any comfort.
Will I get jostled if I stand here?
Fast food restaurants: men tend to sit at front, women in rear.
Women focus on results, not processes when computer shopping.
Gas station for women: the cleanest washrooms anywhere.
Chapter 10 - We're getting older
We can't read labels and signs. They must make it easier for us. Eyes start to falter at age 40. Also, blues and greens blend so are not good for contrast. At 50, we get 1/4 less light in our retinas than a 20-year-old does.
The lighting is too dull.
Put a magnifying glass on a chain near medicine bottles.
ATM's should talk to us.
How can you make your store more senior citizen friendly?
Over 60's wheel chair accessible!
Mattresses will become quasi medical and less furniture-focused.
Chapter 11 - Kids
Kids go shopping with parents. If you cater to families, is your store stroller accessible?
Even McDonalds make it difficult for kids to order. Kids can't see menus, can't see over counter.
How smart booksellers stack their shelves. Very good section about bookstores.
Toys: Adults select and buy but the kids are the decision makers. Stores need kid appeal.
Wells Fargo: 15% of traffic was under 7 years of age.
Help keep the kids amused.
Chapter 12 - The Sensual shopper
We buy more than ever based on trial & touch.
Close to 90% of new products fail mainly because people don't try them.
In 1960. 35% of a Sears store was storage, now it is 15%.
23% of Asian-American shoppers tore open packages to check the product.
Dressing rooms: Very good section in the book. It's got great potential. They are underutilized.
Testing products: Three types of pencil sharpener: hand, battery, electric. Can I test them? No way. Not set up and no pencils to sharpen.
Gel deodorants for men from Gillette: How can we distinguish one from another. They are all sealed, we can't smell them or touch anything. We have to be able to explore the product.
Chapter 13 - The Big Three
Design, Merchandising, Operations. Often these don't work well together.
Chapter 14 - Time
Bad time is when the customer is made to wait.
Chapter 15 - Cash/Wrap
Many things go wrong here. Reduce theft and other good ideas: combining the two is frustrating for the customer.
Chapter 16 - Magic Acts
Layout of stores
Add-ons - up selling
Linking products: in book store, put the kid's books & health books near the women's books.
Chapter 17 - Cyberspace: advantages and disadvantages
Difficult to find your way around.
You can't touch the products.
No social interaction, no immediate gratification.
Catalogues account for less than 10% of shopping.
Chapter 18 - Self exam
Book gives a great example for bookstore.
Examine your business: start ½ block away; look outside the store and inside the store.
Put signs where people linger.
Americans don't list banks among their top five sources of information and advice on finance. In the US which bank employee has the most interaction with customer? The security guard, and he doesn't work for the bank.
Chapter 19 - Final thoughts
In the old days, the right price/location/product was success. Now that is what's necessary to survive.
Where is the art, the presentation, the romance, the seduction in shopping?
What we like: touch; mirrors; discovery; talking; recognition; bargains
What we hate: too many mirrors; lines; asking dumb questions; goods out of stock; obscure price tags; intimidating service
Demands of anatomy must be obeyed.
Gender and ages must be accommodated.
E. 3 key learnings from the book:
1. Purchasing behaviors can be studied: Underhill and his team opened the eyes of CEO and retail managers everywhere with their unique approach of meticulously observing people as they shopped. They brought techniques from anthropology and merged them with economics to create a new science.
2. Retailers still have much to learn about why people buy: Most CEOs that Underhill spoke with knew a whole lot about how store revenues but very little about what actually made customer purchase. For example, one CEO he spoke with believed that about 99% of people who visited their stores made purchase. When Underhill revealed that the correct statistic was only 48%, the CEO was needless to say enthralled with the possibilities.
3. Sellers can benefit from understanding buyer behavior: Buyers have a certain way of walking through a store. A specific way of using their hands, looking at signs, taking breaks while shopping. Sellers who understand these behaviors can gain a huge competitive advantage.
F. How would you apply this in your personal life?
Underhill's book certainly opened my eyes to what retailers know and do not know about what makes people buy. My only problem with his book is the writing format. Underhill's writing is actually pretty good, but it lacks periodic summaries of main points to really drive home the reader's understanding.
By reading "Why We Buy," you will get an informative, if sometimes wandering, read through the psychology of buying.
Suppose if I go for a shopping, this book enables me the psychology behind the objects that I shop for. It is obvious that sellers use tactics to grab attention of buyer and make it an impulse purchase, there may be a time that the fascination towards a product is not practically a usable product and this enables me to understand the gag and shop wisely.
Also the different behavior displayed by different gender while shopping can help effectively managing shopping phenomenon on personal level.
G. How could you apply these learnings in your professional life?
1. Purchasing behaviors can be studied: Underhill and his team opened the eyes of CEO and retail managers everywhere with their unique approach of meticulously observing people as they shopped. They brought techniques from anthropology and merged them with economics to create a new science.
2. Retailers still have much to learn about why people buy: Most CEOs that Underhill spoke with knew a whole lot about how store revenues but very little about what actually made customer purchase. For example, one CEO he spoke with believed that about 99% of people who visited their stores made purchase. When Underhill revealed that the correct statistic was only 48%, the CEO was needless to say enthralled with the possibilities.
3. Sellers can benefit from understanding buyer behavior: Buyers have a certain way of walking through a store. A specific way of using their hands, looking at signs, taking breaks while shopping. Sellers who understand these behaviors can gain a huge competitive advantage.
4. You can always sell more: Your best customers are your current customers. Find ways to upsell. Entice them to the back of the store. Keep them in the store longer.
5. Women and men shop differently: For example, men tend to go into a store, look at a large shelf of items, pick one, and quickly leave. Meanwhile, women are actually more information-intensive, reading the label for each possibility before making a purchase.
6. People use all five senses to decide on a purchase: The more of the five senses to which a seller can appeal, the better. People want verification with their whole body before buying a product.
7. Shopping on the Internet is different: Okay, this one is a "well, duhhh, Mr. Underhill" today, but remember this book was written in the late 1990s. Underhill does list some truisms about the advantages of shopping on the Internet which are helpful reminders.
B. Author: Paco Underhill
C. Background of Author: (Education, work experience, other books that he has written):
Paco Underhill is an environmental psychologist, the author of the books Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping and Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping, and the founder of a market research and consulting company called Envirosell. He employs the basic idea of environmental psychology, that our surroundings influence our behavior, to find ways of structuring man-made environments to make them conducive to retail purposes.
A highly regarded speaker, Underhill has delivered keynote speeches at conferences, universities and corporations spanning the globe for over a decade. From buying behavior to consumerism in the modern world, Underhill's "insightful" and "entertaining" presentations have been lauded worldwide. Packed with surprising details, anecdotes, important lessons and groundbreaking observations on shopping and corporate behavior, Underhill's speeches give those in attendance a peek into the mind that set a new standard in the industry nearly 30 years ago, and who is the guiding visionary for Envirosell and its approach to research. Today, he is known as one of the era's forefront shopping anthropologists, with offices in Tokyo, Milan, Moscow, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and New Delhi.
Paco has presented on such topics as The Global State of Retail; The Science of Shopping; The State of Luxury Goods; Cross-Channel Convergence (Online, Mobile Phone, Bricks-and-Mortar); The Future of Travel; Retail Banking in the 21st Century; The Evolution of the Mobile Phone; Trends in Global Shopping Malls; The Future of Bread and Food Service; Getting to the Modern Airport; What Women Want; and others.
Paco's new book, What Women Want (Simon & Schuster 2010), focuses on how the changing status of women affects the physical world we live in.
D. Summary of Each chapter (100 words each): Mention each chapter – summarize in 100 words.
Chapter 1 - Background
Stores would not survive without impulse shopping.
We are over retailed.
New stores are trying to steal existing market share because there is no new market.
Brand names are being eroded. ("Selling the Invisible" says the opposite.)
Chapter 2 - The Mechanics
In some stores, buyers spend three to four times longer than non-buyers. Get them to shop longer - talking to employees helps.
As shoppers ourselves, you would think we could organize our own stores properly.
We can determine where shoppers will walk in a store.
Amenability and profitability are inextricably linked.
Chapter 3 - The Approach and Entryway
While walking through parking lots people are not looking at the store windows.
Chapter 4
Keep the customers' hands free to touch and browse.
One store gives you a bag to gather stuff in and then tries to sell you the bag at the check out.
Chapter 5 - Signs
People don't see signs. They are focused on other things, or signs are badly laid out and placed in the wrong places.
Put signs where people are waiting. Give them something to look at.
In 1½ seconds, we can only read 3 or 4 words.
Chapter 6
Shoppers move like people - they want to see stuff face on, not sideways. This applies to window displays & store displays.
American shoppers move to the right the same way they drive.
Chapter 7 - Dynamics
Provide seating for support people: husbands shopping with wives, etc.
More than 50% of fast food is served in Drive-Thru Windows. Ten percent of those people park in the parking lot to eat (primarily women).
Chapter 8 - Shop like a man
Men are easier to up sell than women.
Men are more likely to ignore price tags.
Sell to the woman - close to the man.
Open a women's store next to a store that will keep the men happy, e.g., computers etc.
Women's stores are not organized for men to buy.
Men's Health magazine sells more than 1.5 million copies per month.
Chapter 9 - What women want
Hardware stores now make it much easier for women to shop.
Very few coupons are used anymore - Safeway card is the new style.
Stores selling cosmetics.
Stuff for older people on the lowest shelf. We can't get down there with any comfort.
Will I get jostled if I stand here?
Fast food restaurants: men tend to sit at front, women in rear.
Women focus on results, not processes when computer shopping.
Gas station for women: the cleanest washrooms anywhere.
Chapter 10 - We're getting older
We can't read labels and signs. They must make it easier for us. Eyes start to falter at age 40. Also, blues and greens blend so are not good for contrast. At 50, we get 1/4 less light in our retinas than a 20-year-old does.
The lighting is too dull.
Put a magnifying glass on a chain near medicine bottles.
ATM's should talk to us.
How can you make your store more senior citizen friendly?
Over 60's wheel chair accessible!
Mattresses will become quasi medical and less furniture-focused.
Chapter 11 - Kids
Kids go shopping with parents. If you cater to families, is your store stroller accessible?
Even McDonalds make it difficult for kids to order. Kids can't see menus, can't see over counter.
How smart booksellers stack their shelves. Very good section about bookstores.
Toys: Adults select and buy but the kids are the decision makers. Stores need kid appeal.
Wells Fargo: 15% of traffic was under 7 years of age.
Help keep the kids amused.
Chapter 12 - The Sensual shopper
We buy more than ever based on trial & touch.
Close to 90% of new products fail mainly because people don't try them.
In 1960. 35% of a Sears store was storage, now it is 15%.
23% of Asian-American shoppers tore open packages to check the product.
Dressing rooms: Very good section in the book. It's got great potential. They are underutilized.
Testing products: Three types of pencil sharpener: hand, battery, electric. Can I test them? No way. Not set up and no pencils to sharpen.
Gel deodorants for men from Gillette: How can we distinguish one from another. They are all sealed, we can't smell them or touch anything. We have to be able to explore the product.
Chapter 13 - The Big Three
Design, Merchandising, Operations. Often these don't work well together.
Chapter 14 - Time
Bad time is when the customer is made to wait.
Chapter 15 - Cash/Wrap
Many things go wrong here. Reduce theft and other good ideas: combining the two is frustrating for the customer.
Chapter 16 - Magic Acts
Layout of stores
Add-ons - up selling
Linking products: in book store, put the kid's books & health books near the women's books.
Chapter 17 - Cyberspace: advantages and disadvantages
Difficult to find your way around.
You can't touch the products.
No social interaction, no immediate gratification.
Catalogues account for less than 10% of shopping.
Chapter 18 - Self exam
Book gives a great example for bookstore.
Examine your business: start ½ block away; look outside the store and inside the store.
Put signs where people linger.
Americans don't list banks among their top five sources of information and advice on finance. In the US which bank employee has the most interaction with customer? The security guard, and he doesn't work for the bank.
Chapter 19 - Final thoughts
In the old days, the right price/location/product was success. Now that is what's necessary to survive.
Where is the art, the presentation, the romance, the seduction in shopping?
What we like: touch; mirrors; discovery; talking; recognition; bargains
What we hate: too many mirrors; lines; asking dumb questions; goods out of stock; obscure price tags; intimidating service
Demands of anatomy must be obeyed.
Gender and ages must be accommodated.
E. 3 key learnings from the book:
1. Purchasing behaviors can be studied: Underhill and his team opened the eyes of CEO and retail managers everywhere with their unique approach of meticulously observing people as they shopped. They brought techniques from anthropology and merged them with economics to create a new science.
2. Retailers still have much to learn about why people buy: Most CEOs that Underhill spoke with knew a whole lot about how store revenues but very little about what actually made customer purchase. For example, one CEO he spoke with believed that about 99% of people who visited their stores made purchase. When Underhill revealed that the correct statistic was only 48%, the CEO was needless to say enthralled with the possibilities.
3. Sellers can benefit from understanding buyer behavior: Buyers have a certain way of walking through a store. A specific way of using their hands, looking at signs, taking breaks while shopping. Sellers who understand these behaviors can gain a huge competitive advantage.
F. How would you apply this in your personal life?
Underhill's book certainly opened my eyes to what retailers know and do not know about what makes people buy. My only problem with his book is the writing format. Underhill's writing is actually pretty good, but it lacks periodic summaries of main points to really drive home the reader's understanding.
By reading "Why We Buy," you will get an informative, if sometimes wandering, read through the psychology of buying.
Suppose if I go for a shopping, this book enables me the psychology behind the objects that I shop for. It is obvious that sellers use tactics to grab attention of buyer and make it an impulse purchase, there may be a time that the fascination towards a product is not practically a usable product and this enables me to understand the gag and shop wisely.
Also the different behavior displayed by different gender while shopping can help effectively managing shopping phenomenon on personal level.
G. How could you apply these learnings in your professional life?
1. Purchasing behaviors can be studied: Underhill and his team opened the eyes of CEO and retail managers everywhere with their unique approach of meticulously observing people as they shopped. They brought techniques from anthropology and merged them with economics to create a new science.
2. Retailers still have much to learn about why people buy: Most CEOs that Underhill spoke with knew a whole lot about how store revenues but very little about what actually made customer purchase. For example, one CEO he spoke with believed that about 99% of people who visited their stores made purchase. When Underhill revealed that the correct statistic was only 48%, the CEO was needless to say enthralled with the possibilities.
3. Sellers can benefit from understanding buyer behavior: Buyers have a certain way of walking through a store. A specific way of using their hands, looking at signs, taking breaks while shopping. Sellers who understand these behaviors can gain a huge competitive advantage.
4. You can always sell more: Your best customers are your current customers. Find ways to upsell. Entice them to the back of the store. Keep them in the store longer.
5. Women and men shop differently: For example, men tend to go into a store, look at a large shelf of items, pick one, and quickly leave. Meanwhile, women are actually more information-intensive, reading the label for each possibility before making a purchase.
6. People use all five senses to decide on a purchase: The more of the five senses to which a seller can appeal, the better. People want verification with their whole body before buying a product.
7. Shopping on the Internet is different: Okay, this one is a "well, duhhh, Mr. Underhill" today, but remember this book was written in the late 1990s. Underhill does list some truisms about the advantages of shopping on the Internet which are helpful reminders.
Book Review: The Secret by Rhonda Bryne
A. Name of Book: The Secret
B. Author: Rhonda Byrne
C. Background of Author: (Education, work experience, other books that he has written):
Rhonda Byrne (born March 12, 1951) is an Australian television writer and producer, best known for her New Thought works, The Secret—a book and a film by the same name. By the Spring of 2007 the book had sold almost 4 million copies, and the DVD had sold more than 2 million copies. She has also been a producer for Sensing Murder. According to an article published by Australia's Herald Sun, Byrne has also worked on the Australian TV series World's Greatest Commercials and Marry Me. In 2007, Byrne was listed among Time Magazine's list of 100 people who shape the world.
D. Summary of Each chapter (100 words each): Mention each chapter – summarize in 100 words.
1. The Secret Revealed:
The great secret of life is law of attraction.
The law of attraction says like attracts like, so when you think a thought, you are also attracting like thoughts to you.
Thoughts are magnetic and thoughts have a frequency. As you think thoughts, they magnetically attract all like things that are on the same frequency. Everything sent out returns to the source i.e. you.
You are like a human transmission tower, transmitting a frequency with your thoughts. If you want to change anything in your life, change the frequency by changing the thoughts.
2. The Secret made simple:
The law of attraction is a law of nature. It is as important as the law of gravity.
Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts.
To know what you are thinking, ask yourself how you are feeling. Emotions are valuable tools that instantly tell us what we are thinking.
It is impossible to feel bad and at the same time have good thoughts.
3. How to use the secret:
Like the Aladdin genie, law of attraction grants our every command.
The creative process helps you create what you want in three simple steps: ask, believe and receive.
Asking the universe for what you want is your opportunity to get clear about what you want. As you get clear in your mind you have got what you have asked. Believing involves acting, speaking and thinking as though you have already received what you have asked for. When you emit the frequency of having received it, the law of attraction moves people, events and circumstances for you.
4. Powerful process:
Expectation is a powerful attractive force. Expect the things you want and don’t expect the things you don’t want.
Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have and you will attract more good things.
Giving thanks to what you want in advance turbo changes your desires and sends more powerful signal out into the universe.
5. The secret to money:
To attract money, focus is on your wealth. It is impossible to bring more money into your life when you focus on lack of it.
It is helpful to use your imagination and make believe you already have the money you want. Play games of having wealth and you will feel better about it, more will flow in your life.
Feeling happy now is the fastest way to bring money back into your life.
6. The secret to relationships:
When you want to attract a relationship, make sure your thoughts, words, actions and surroundings don’t contradict your desires.
Your job is you. Unless you fill yourself up first, you have nothing to give anybody.
Treat yourself with love and respect, and you will attract people who show you love and respect.
7. The secret to your health:
The placebo effect is an example of the law of attraction in action. When a patient truly believes the tablet is a cure, he receives what he believes the tablet is a cure, he receives what he believes and is cured.
“Focusing on perfect health” is something we can all do within ourselves, despite what may be happening on the outside.
Laughter attracts joy, releases negativity, and leads to miraculous cure.
8. The secret to the world:
What you resist, you attract, because you are powerfully focused on it with the emotion. To change anything, go within and emit a new signal with thoughts and feelings.
You cannot help the world by focusing on the negative things. As you focus on the worlds negative events, you not only add to them but you also bring more negative things into your life.
9. The secret to you:
Everything is energy. You are a energy magnet, so you electrically energize everything to you and electrically energize yourself to everything you want.
You are a spiritual being. You are energy and energy cannot be created or destroyed. It just changes its form. Therefore the pure essence of you has always been and always will be.
E. 3 key learnings from the book:
The Secret reminds us that there is a powerful connection between our thoughts and our actions.
The essence of The Secret is "the law of attraction."
You are God in a physical body. You are Spirit in the flesh. You are Eternal Life expressing itself as You. You are a cosmic being. You are all power. You are all wisdom. You are all intelligence. You are perfection. You are magnificence. You are the creator, and you are creating the creation of You on this planet.
F. How would you apply this in your personal life?
The essence of The Secret is "the law of attraction." According to Byrne and the twenty-nine co-contributors whom she quotes extensively, everything in the Universe (which is always capitalized and usually synonymous for "God") vibrates on a particular frequency. When you think in harmony with the frequency of something, you attract it to you. If you think about wealth, you will receive wealth. If you think instead about your debt, you will receive more debt. You attract what you think about; your thoughts determine your destiny.
Byrne restates the law of attraction in various ways: "Nothing [good or bad] can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts" (p. 28). "Your thoughts are the primary cause of everything". "Your current reality or your current life is a result of the thoughts you have been thinking". According to the product description on the DVD, "This is The Secret to everything—the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted.
Byrne promises with ironclad certainty: "There isn't a single thing that you cannot do with this knowledge. The Secret can give you whatever you want". By it "you will come to know how you can have, be, or do anything you want".
In the final analysis, The Secret is nothing more than Name It-Claim It, Positive-Confession, Prosperity Theology (without God and the Bible), built on a foundation of New Age self-deification. In other words, the book is just another version of what some TV preachers have taught for decades.
G. How could you apply these learnings in your professional life?
The law of attraction is a law of nature. It is as important as the law of gravity.
Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts.
To know what you are thinking, ask yourself how you are feeling. Emotions are valuable tools that instantly tell us what we are thinking.
It is impossible to feel bad and at the same time have good thoughts.
Expectation is a powerful attractive force. Expect the things you want and don’t expect the things you don’t want.
Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have and you will attract more good things.
Giving thanks to what you want in advance turbo changes your desires and sends more powerful signal out into the universe.
B. Author: Rhonda Byrne
C. Background of Author: (Education, work experience, other books that he has written):
Rhonda Byrne (born March 12, 1951) is an Australian television writer and producer, best known for her New Thought works, The Secret—a book and a film by the same name. By the Spring of 2007 the book had sold almost 4 million copies, and the DVD had sold more than 2 million copies. She has also been a producer for Sensing Murder. According to an article published by Australia's Herald Sun, Byrne has also worked on the Australian TV series World's Greatest Commercials and Marry Me. In 2007, Byrne was listed among Time Magazine's list of 100 people who shape the world.
D. Summary of Each chapter (100 words each): Mention each chapter – summarize in 100 words.
1. The Secret Revealed:
The great secret of life is law of attraction.
The law of attraction says like attracts like, so when you think a thought, you are also attracting like thoughts to you.
Thoughts are magnetic and thoughts have a frequency. As you think thoughts, they magnetically attract all like things that are on the same frequency. Everything sent out returns to the source i.e. you.
You are like a human transmission tower, transmitting a frequency with your thoughts. If you want to change anything in your life, change the frequency by changing the thoughts.
2. The Secret made simple:
The law of attraction is a law of nature. It is as important as the law of gravity.
Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts.
To know what you are thinking, ask yourself how you are feeling. Emotions are valuable tools that instantly tell us what we are thinking.
It is impossible to feel bad and at the same time have good thoughts.
3. How to use the secret:
Like the Aladdin genie, law of attraction grants our every command.
The creative process helps you create what you want in three simple steps: ask, believe and receive.
Asking the universe for what you want is your opportunity to get clear about what you want. As you get clear in your mind you have got what you have asked. Believing involves acting, speaking and thinking as though you have already received what you have asked for. When you emit the frequency of having received it, the law of attraction moves people, events and circumstances for you.
4. Powerful process:
Expectation is a powerful attractive force. Expect the things you want and don’t expect the things you don’t want.
Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have and you will attract more good things.
Giving thanks to what you want in advance turbo changes your desires and sends more powerful signal out into the universe.
5. The secret to money:
To attract money, focus is on your wealth. It is impossible to bring more money into your life when you focus on lack of it.
It is helpful to use your imagination and make believe you already have the money you want. Play games of having wealth and you will feel better about it, more will flow in your life.
Feeling happy now is the fastest way to bring money back into your life.
6. The secret to relationships:
When you want to attract a relationship, make sure your thoughts, words, actions and surroundings don’t contradict your desires.
Your job is you. Unless you fill yourself up first, you have nothing to give anybody.
Treat yourself with love and respect, and you will attract people who show you love and respect.
7. The secret to your health:
The placebo effect is an example of the law of attraction in action. When a patient truly believes the tablet is a cure, he receives what he believes the tablet is a cure, he receives what he believes and is cured.
“Focusing on perfect health” is something we can all do within ourselves, despite what may be happening on the outside.
Laughter attracts joy, releases negativity, and leads to miraculous cure.
8. The secret to the world:
What you resist, you attract, because you are powerfully focused on it with the emotion. To change anything, go within and emit a new signal with thoughts and feelings.
You cannot help the world by focusing on the negative things. As you focus on the worlds negative events, you not only add to them but you also bring more negative things into your life.
9. The secret to you:
Everything is energy. You are a energy magnet, so you electrically energize everything to you and electrically energize yourself to everything you want.
You are a spiritual being. You are energy and energy cannot be created or destroyed. It just changes its form. Therefore the pure essence of you has always been and always will be.
E. 3 key learnings from the book:
The Secret reminds us that there is a powerful connection between our thoughts and our actions.
The essence of The Secret is "the law of attraction."
You are God in a physical body. You are Spirit in the flesh. You are Eternal Life expressing itself as You. You are a cosmic being. You are all power. You are all wisdom. You are all intelligence. You are perfection. You are magnificence. You are the creator, and you are creating the creation of You on this planet.
F. How would you apply this in your personal life?
The essence of The Secret is "the law of attraction." According to Byrne and the twenty-nine co-contributors whom she quotes extensively, everything in the Universe (which is always capitalized and usually synonymous for "God") vibrates on a particular frequency. When you think in harmony with the frequency of something, you attract it to you. If you think about wealth, you will receive wealth. If you think instead about your debt, you will receive more debt. You attract what you think about; your thoughts determine your destiny.
Byrne restates the law of attraction in various ways: "Nothing [good or bad] can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts" (p. 28). "Your thoughts are the primary cause of everything". "Your current reality or your current life is a result of the thoughts you have been thinking". According to the product description on the DVD, "This is The Secret to everything—the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted.
Byrne promises with ironclad certainty: "There isn't a single thing that you cannot do with this knowledge. The Secret can give you whatever you want". By it "you will come to know how you can have, be, or do anything you want".
In the final analysis, The Secret is nothing more than Name It-Claim It, Positive-Confession, Prosperity Theology (without God and the Bible), built on a foundation of New Age self-deification. In other words, the book is just another version of what some TV preachers have taught for decades.
G. How could you apply these learnings in your professional life?
The law of attraction is a law of nature. It is as important as the law of gravity.
Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts.
To know what you are thinking, ask yourself how you are feeling. Emotions are valuable tools that instantly tell us what we are thinking.
It is impossible to feel bad and at the same time have good thoughts.
Expectation is a powerful attractive force. Expect the things you want and don’t expect the things you don’t want.
Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have and you will attract more good things.
Giving thanks to what you want in advance turbo changes your desires and sends more powerful signal out into the universe.
Book Review: Star bucks Experience by Joseph Michelli
A. Name of Book: The Starbucks Experience
B. Author: Joseph Michelli
C. Background of Author: (Education, work experience, other books that he has written):
Dr. Joseph Michelli is an organization psychologist who has dedicated his career to studying successful businesses, both large and small. Prior to The Starbucks Experience, Dr. Michelli co-authored When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace with John Yokoyama the owner of the world famous Pike Place Fish in Seattle.
Dr. Michelli transfers his knowledge of exceptional business practices through keynote addresses and workshops. These presentations provide ways to develop playful and productive workplaces that maximize productivity while fueling growth and employee morale.
In addition to his dynamic and entertaining international keynote presentations, Dr. Michelli and his staff provide:
o CEO consultation
o Corporate Coaching
o Leadership team Development Services
o Group facilitation and team-building strategies
D. Summary of Each chapter (100 words each): Mention each chapter – summarize in 100 words.
The Big Idea
The genius of Starbucks’ success lies in its ability to create personalized customer experiences,
secure customer loyalty, stimulate business growth, generate profits, and energize employees –
all at the same time. This has lead to unprecedented and astounding success; since 1992, Starbucks stock has risen by an astounding 5,000 percent.
In this celebrated book, Starbucks’ “secret recipe” has been condensed into five key principles.
PRINCIPLE 1: MAKE IT YOUR OWN
Senior management must find ways to get its partners to fully engage their passions and talents
while ensuring that individual partners’ differences are blended into a good uniform customer
experience.
It can be tough to find a balance between these two leadership responsibilities, but Starbucks has managed to do so through its principle of Make It Your Own. It has created a structure known as the “Five Ways of Being”, which is encapsulated in a pamphlet known as the Green Apron Book
Be welcoming
Defined as “offering everyone a sense of belonging”. Partners should do all they
can to create a place where people feel that they are a priority and where their day
can be brightened, at least for a moment.
Be genuine
At Starbucks, being genuine means to “connect, discover, and respond”. Connect. Customers have repeatedly shared experiences of Starbucks partners making a connection well beyond some formulaic greeting. Discover.Business success requires the discovery of each person’s needs and
individual situation.
Respond. Starbucks employees not only listen to their customers, but also take action immediately based on what they hear and learn from these experiences for future customer interactions.
Be considerate
Starbucks partners look beyond their needs and consider the needs of others – customers, potential customers, critics, co-workers, other shareholders, and even the environment – in sum, the entire universe of people and things Starbucks affects.
Be knowledgeable
Partners are encouraged to enhance their expertise in coffee and customer service. Value is always added to partners’ efforts when they gain work-related knowledge. In addition, as they become more informed, their value to the business, self-confidence, and the impact they have on others all increase
Be involved
This means nothing less than active participation in the store, in the company, and in the community – a “yes, I will” attitude where breakthrough products and service are created. There must be a move away from a “bare minimum is OK” mentality
PRINCIPLE 2: EVERYTHING MATTERS
All business is detail. When details are overlooked or missed, even the most patient customers can be frustrated and costly errors can occur. Leaders have to understand that they must take
care of both the “below-deck” (unseen aspects) and the “above-deck” (customer-facing components of the customer experience.
A small detail can sometimes make the difference between success and failure. Important details live in both that which is seen and that which is unseen by the customer
PRINCIPLE 3: SURPRISE AND DELIGHT
As early back as 1912, the Rueckheim brothers, who are behind the successful candy brand
Cracker Jack, already knew that adding a surprise to each package would dramatically increase
the appeal of their product.
In that vein, delight is the caramelized popcorn – the basic product customers get – while surprise
is the prize they get! Customers want the predictable and the consistent, while hoping for an
occasional positive twist or added value thrown in. Customer delight comes from surprise as well as predictability.
PRINCIPLE 4: EMBRACE RESISTANCE
To work with resistance effectively, you must distinguish between those people who really do
want their concerns resolved and those who simply want to complain. For some concerns,
listening is all that is required; for other types of resistance, direct action is required. Management
should know when listening is simply not enough.
PRINCIPLE 5: LEAVE YOUR MARK
We all end up leaving some mark on the world. What varies – and what is most important – is whether that mark is positive or negative. Do we give back more than we take, or do we take more than we give?
Successful leaders realize that a key component of their success is leaving a powerful and
positive mark in the communities in which their businesses operate. People want to do business
with, work for, invest in, and patronize socially conscious companies
E. 3 key learnings from the book:
• In knowledge and a service economy, we add value to business by enhancing customers experience.
• Embracing resistance involves a complex set of skills that enable businesses and individuals to create business and relationship opportunities when they are confronted with criticism, skepticism, irritation or wariness.
• Employee morale is 3 times higher in companies where community involvement is an integral part of the business model than in their less-involved counterparts.
F. How would you apply this in your personal life?
The five ways of being is very important concept that i can apply directly in my personal life, so as to build and maintain personal as well as professional relationships.
The five ways are:
1. Be Welcoming:
We need to be very welcoming to people and our environment in order to have a warm relationship with the individuals. We often aren’t welcoming to the guest coming to our house, and this often spoils relationships. So by been welcoming we can make people feel more comfortable with us.
2. Be genuine:
People interacting with us don’t always want to be our best friends but they want a feeling that our behavior towards them is genuine and not fake. The advantage of been genuine is it helps building mutual trust with the person we interact with.
3. Be Considerate:
We should always be considerate of needs of people and environment and respond to the situation in a considerate manner. By making consideration our own, we can look beyond our needs and consider the needs of other.
4. Be knowledgeable:
It’s very important for every one of us to love what we do and share this knowledge with others. We should be masters of our field of passion and should be able to educate the same to our surroundings.
5. Be involved:
Being involved means active participation of all the activities related to our friends, college programs or even our communities. This helps us in interacting with people from different background and also gives us an insight of the thinking of people with whom we interact.
G. How could you apply these learnings in your professional life?
Each one of the principles are given more attention, for example under the first principle of “Make it your own” the company further lists “be welcoming, be genuine, be considerate, be knowledgeable, and be involved” and stresses that these aren’t just for the retail level folks but for every area of the company. The various principles mentioned has common important point that customer is God. So if we make our company’s management according to the customers requirement be it administration, service or the HR policy, the process should be carried out in such a way that the end user or the customer should feel that the company really cares for the customer.
Although The Starbucks Experience is geared for businesses, its ideas can also be powerful for the individual desiring to make a difference in life. One of the central tenets of the Starbucks way is relationship building. Anyone can add coffee grounds to water and call it a drink. But the relationship that is built between barista and customer, over time, can transcend coffee and pastries. Likewise, humanity was not meant to live in a vacuum or on a deserted island. We crave relationships and will acquire them as best we know how. This is only natural, considering that God created people in order to be in an active relationship with them. Perhaps churches and other business organizations should take a good look at the value of relationships to Starbucks, because they’re obviously heading in the right direction.
B. Author: Joseph Michelli
C. Background of Author: (Education, work experience, other books that he has written):
Dr. Joseph Michelli is an organization psychologist who has dedicated his career to studying successful businesses, both large and small. Prior to The Starbucks Experience, Dr. Michelli co-authored When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace with John Yokoyama the owner of the world famous Pike Place Fish in Seattle.
Dr. Michelli transfers his knowledge of exceptional business practices through keynote addresses and workshops. These presentations provide ways to develop playful and productive workplaces that maximize productivity while fueling growth and employee morale.
In addition to his dynamic and entertaining international keynote presentations, Dr. Michelli and his staff provide:
o CEO consultation
o Corporate Coaching
o Leadership team Development Services
o Group facilitation and team-building strategies
D. Summary of Each chapter (100 words each): Mention each chapter – summarize in 100 words.
The Big Idea
The genius of Starbucks’ success lies in its ability to create personalized customer experiences,
secure customer loyalty, stimulate business growth, generate profits, and energize employees –
all at the same time. This has lead to unprecedented and astounding success; since 1992, Starbucks stock has risen by an astounding 5,000 percent.
In this celebrated book, Starbucks’ “secret recipe” has been condensed into five key principles.
PRINCIPLE 1: MAKE IT YOUR OWN
Senior management must find ways to get its partners to fully engage their passions and talents
while ensuring that individual partners’ differences are blended into a good uniform customer
experience.
It can be tough to find a balance between these two leadership responsibilities, but Starbucks has managed to do so through its principle of Make It Your Own. It has created a structure known as the “Five Ways of Being”, which is encapsulated in a pamphlet known as the Green Apron Book
Be welcoming
Defined as “offering everyone a sense of belonging”. Partners should do all they
can to create a place where people feel that they are a priority and where their day
can be brightened, at least for a moment.
Be genuine
At Starbucks, being genuine means to “connect, discover, and respond”. Connect. Customers have repeatedly shared experiences of Starbucks partners making a connection well beyond some formulaic greeting. Discover.Business success requires the discovery of each person’s needs and
individual situation.
Respond. Starbucks employees not only listen to their customers, but also take action immediately based on what they hear and learn from these experiences for future customer interactions.
Be considerate
Starbucks partners look beyond their needs and consider the needs of others – customers, potential customers, critics, co-workers, other shareholders, and even the environment – in sum, the entire universe of people and things Starbucks affects.
Be knowledgeable
Partners are encouraged to enhance their expertise in coffee and customer service. Value is always added to partners’ efforts when they gain work-related knowledge. In addition, as they become more informed, their value to the business, self-confidence, and the impact they have on others all increase
Be involved
This means nothing less than active participation in the store, in the company, and in the community – a “yes, I will” attitude where breakthrough products and service are created. There must be a move away from a “bare minimum is OK” mentality
PRINCIPLE 2: EVERYTHING MATTERS
All business is detail. When details are overlooked or missed, even the most patient customers can be frustrated and costly errors can occur. Leaders have to understand that they must take
care of both the “below-deck” (unseen aspects) and the “above-deck” (customer-facing components of the customer experience.
A small detail can sometimes make the difference between success and failure. Important details live in both that which is seen and that which is unseen by the customer
PRINCIPLE 3: SURPRISE AND DELIGHT
As early back as 1912, the Rueckheim brothers, who are behind the successful candy brand
Cracker Jack, already knew that adding a surprise to each package would dramatically increase
the appeal of their product.
In that vein, delight is the caramelized popcorn – the basic product customers get – while surprise
is the prize they get! Customers want the predictable and the consistent, while hoping for an
occasional positive twist or added value thrown in. Customer delight comes from surprise as well as predictability.
PRINCIPLE 4: EMBRACE RESISTANCE
To work with resistance effectively, you must distinguish between those people who really do
want their concerns resolved and those who simply want to complain. For some concerns,
listening is all that is required; for other types of resistance, direct action is required. Management
should know when listening is simply not enough.
PRINCIPLE 5: LEAVE YOUR MARK
We all end up leaving some mark on the world. What varies – and what is most important – is whether that mark is positive or negative. Do we give back more than we take, or do we take more than we give?
Successful leaders realize that a key component of their success is leaving a powerful and
positive mark in the communities in which their businesses operate. People want to do business
with, work for, invest in, and patronize socially conscious companies
E. 3 key learnings from the book:
• In knowledge and a service economy, we add value to business by enhancing customers experience.
• Embracing resistance involves a complex set of skills that enable businesses and individuals to create business and relationship opportunities when they are confronted with criticism, skepticism, irritation or wariness.
• Employee morale is 3 times higher in companies where community involvement is an integral part of the business model than in their less-involved counterparts.
F. How would you apply this in your personal life?
The five ways of being is very important concept that i can apply directly in my personal life, so as to build and maintain personal as well as professional relationships.
The five ways are:
1. Be Welcoming:
We need to be very welcoming to people and our environment in order to have a warm relationship with the individuals. We often aren’t welcoming to the guest coming to our house, and this often spoils relationships. So by been welcoming we can make people feel more comfortable with us.
2. Be genuine:
People interacting with us don’t always want to be our best friends but they want a feeling that our behavior towards them is genuine and not fake. The advantage of been genuine is it helps building mutual trust with the person we interact with.
3. Be Considerate:
We should always be considerate of needs of people and environment and respond to the situation in a considerate manner. By making consideration our own, we can look beyond our needs and consider the needs of other.
4. Be knowledgeable:
It’s very important for every one of us to love what we do and share this knowledge with others. We should be masters of our field of passion and should be able to educate the same to our surroundings.
5. Be involved:
Being involved means active participation of all the activities related to our friends, college programs or even our communities. This helps us in interacting with people from different background and also gives us an insight of the thinking of people with whom we interact.
G. How could you apply these learnings in your professional life?
Each one of the principles are given more attention, for example under the first principle of “Make it your own” the company further lists “be welcoming, be genuine, be considerate, be knowledgeable, and be involved” and stresses that these aren’t just for the retail level folks but for every area of the company. The various principles mentioned has common important point that customer is God. So if we make our company’s management according to the customers requirement be it administration, service or the HR policy, the process should be carried out in such a way that the end user or the customer should feel that the company really cares for the customer.
Although The Starbucks Experience is geared for businesses, its ideas can also be powerful for the individual desiring to make a difference in life. One of the central tenets of the Starbucks way is relationship building. Anyone can add coffee grounds to water and call it a drink. But the relationship that is built between barista and customer, over time, can transcend coffee and pastries. Likewise, humanity was not meant to live in a vacuum or on a deserted island. We crave relationships and will acquire them as best we know how. This is only natural, considering that God created people in order to be in an active relationship with them. Perhaps churches and other business organizations should take a good look at the value of relationships to Starbucks, because they’re obviously heading in the right direction.
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