Book Design Review : People Glue

Author: Ian Hutchinson
The Book: People Glue – Employee Engagement and Retention Solutions That Stick!
Publisher: Woodslane.com.au, Warriewood, Australia, 2009.

Disclaimer: This book was a gift from the author.

My aim when I start to do a RAP on a book is to look for a way to add something that isn’t in the book.
For example, I love Malcolm Gladwell’s stories and my self-appointed challenge with his work is to add take-home actions you can apply.
Normally, there’s something obvious I can add like some visual models, a questionnaire, a reorganisation of the key ideas or simply an easy to grab theme.
Well, now I’ve met my match.
I’ve found a book I don’t think is worth me rapping because it covers almost all the things I want to do in a RAP.

I originally saw this book a few months back in a book shop and tweeted that I absolutely loved it’s design, colour and layout.
Unbeknownst to me the author was following me on Twitter and offered to send me a copy to read.

Here’s what I love about this book…

1. It’s quick and easy to read. I read it in a couple of hours. Stats show that most people don’t read most of the books they buy. And I think most books are just way too big. This one is a good size.
2. It even looks easy to read. Most books have pages that have way too many words on the. I’m a lazy reader and too many words scare me off. Book Rapper is designed as one idea per page and so is People Glue. Simple, quick grabs that enable the reader to either read it from cover to cover or dip into it.
3. The words are simple, everyday and readable. There’s something humble and simple about the book. The author didn’t even put his name not the front cover! No ego stroking going on here!
4. The simple over-arching metaphor of’People Glue’ works as a visual coat hanger, a tattoo for your memory and is friendly like a dog’s wagging tail. In my view, too many books are published without the necessary refinement to make their ideas stick! This book goes beyond mere words and this makes it all the more enjoyable and effective.
5. It’s visually interesting! There’s variety on every page, each section is printed in different colours and there’s graphs and diagrams to explain the key concepts.
6. It’s useful. This is a training program in a book. You can take it and apply it quickly and easily.  You can even run your own program based on it. It includes questionnaires, cards to play with and learn from and simple implementation strategies.
7. There’s a bunch of online resources to expand your learning. Books are not islands. They live in an eco-system of other useful offers. For instance, Ian plugs his speaking at conferences and his online systems throughout the book in a comfortable and casual way.

Bonus: I expect a book to enable me to do what it says. In this case, I reckon I could take this book and implement a simple and effective employee engagement program in almost any organisation. All I would need to do is give every manager and employee a copy of the book and tell them to read it and apply it. Job Done! Now’s that’s a really effective book!

http://www.peopleglue.com.au/