Will Weisser

Business book humiliations

Robert McCrum of the Guardian recently blogged about “literary humiliations” – classic books that well-read people have never gotten around to.  Despite a Cambridge education and long career as a book editor and critic, he confessed to skipping George Eliot’s Middlemarch.  So he’s finally taking it on his August vacation.  “It’s long been my ambition to devote a period of sustained [...]

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Can your e-book do this?

The inscription in my copy of “Then She Found Me” is as clear as the day it was written: “To Will, with all good wishes… and thanks.  Best, Elinor Lipman 4-6-90″ I remember that day clearly.  I was a 22-year-old publicity assistant for Pocket Books.  Lipman was an important new novelist, visiting from Massachusetts with her young son.  [...]

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Seven books in a glass of lemonade

Fantastic post from Seth Godin a couple of days ago, contrasting two completely different approaches to a roadside lemonade stand — that classic icon of pure entrepreneurial spirit:  The Lesson From Two Lemonade Stands As I was reading, it hit me that Seth had found the ultimate example that fits EVERY book he’s written since [...]

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Penguin Business Thought Leaders: Leading in Hard Times

Back in June we announced the launch of “From the Publishers Office,” Penguin’s new online network. Portfolio is playing a role in this project with a new audio series called “Penguin Business Thought Leaders” featuring interviews with some of Penguin’s most interesting and thought-provoking business authors. Our latest episode, Leading in Hard Times, is now [...]

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Introducing “Penguin Business Thought Leaders”

Penguin Group (USA) has just launched its own online network called “From The Publisher’s Office.”  The goal is to develop lots of original and unique content — video, audio, text and more.  Among the nine series now on the Penguin website are “Project Paranormal” (for vampire fans), “Penguin Storytime” (for parents of young kids), “Penguin Classics [...]

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Layoffs, layoffs, and more layoffs

This was another lovely headline to wake up to:  ADP index shows private-sector jobs fell by 697,000 in Feb. I hope America’s senior managers will read Geoff Colvin’s forthcoming book, THE UPSIDE OF THE DOWNTURN, and learn the danger of rushing into mass layoffs as a first resort. There are smarter ways to cut costs [...]

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