A Patient's Point of View

This month’s issue of Fast Company offers up some “High Tech Gadgets for Highly Creative People.” Hmm. Wonder if that means these items have poor instruction manuals or what? Just in time for Christmas giving... er receiving!

The Marketing Gurus by Chris Murray is a terrific idea. The folks who create audio digests each month by condensing the most popular business books into a 20-minute listen, have assembled a book with the key marketing ideas from some of the marketing greats. My favorite authors, such as Seth Godin (Purple Cow), Faith Popcorn (The Popcorn Report), Guy Kawasaki (How to Drive Your Competition Crazy) and others are represented here.

The beauty of this approach is that they’ve taken the content of entire books and presented the most essential, salient points in 15-page chapters. If you’re not inclined to read business books, I’d recommend this one. Pick and choose from among the 17 chapters and you’ll get lots of ideas to enhance the marketing (not advertising) of your practice for 2007.

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. Starting with the bright cover and the mock duct tape, this extraordinary little book is filled with real world examples you can use to advance your practice. Why is it that urban legends have lasting power, yet sophisticated, multi-million dollar advertising campaigns (and patient education overtures made in earnest) hardly has an effect? Learn the six elements of what makes ideas stick. Discover the Velcro Theory of Memory, The Sinatra Test, the Curse of Knowledge and countless other insights. Find out why “Where’s the Beef” and the Jared campaign for Subway were so successful. (If you’re allowed to use testimonials in your jurisdiction, the chapter on Credibility will return your book investment 100X.) If you enjoyed Malcom Gladwell’s books (The Tipping Point and Blink), you’ll love this one!

If you’ve been to one of my speaking gigs, you know that I’m passionate about language and its precision. So, when I heard Dr. Frank Luntz interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air, I got a copy of his new book, Words That Work. He’s conducted hundreds of focus groups and has worked as a pollster for politicians, ad agencies, corporations and non-profit organizations. I resonate with his unquenchable curiosity and his love for English. The first chapter, The Ten Rules of Effective Language is brilliant, as are the examples he uses to make his points. (Rule 1: Use small words.) He affirms many of the guidelines I follow when writing brochures and our other patient tools. Pick up a copy if you want to improve your reports, lectures and ability to communicate chiropractic.

I’m a Seth Godin junkie (Permission Marketing, Purple Cow, Small is the New Big, etc.), so when I heard that he had a new book I immediately bought it sight unseen. The Dip is about a topic that I’ve never seen written about before: when to quit (and when to stick with it). When do you give up on a product, service or business that isn’t going well? What are the signs that indicate the wisdom of persevering through The Dip? How do you create barriers to entry for others?

Seth will remind you that much of our culture is based on quitters. For example, if every member of that gym you belong to showed up, there’d be a line for every treadmill and Stairmaster! The entire workout industry is based on people giving up or not fully using what they bought (timeshare anyone?).

Patients quit too.

In 75 short pages, Seth Godin will reveal the one thing you need to aim for to avoid “Death-in-the-Dip.” Discover why emerging on the other side of the dip is where the action is. Just be sure to avoid Cul de sacs and of course, The Cliff!

“Where does Polysorbate-60 come from, Daddy?”

When one of Steve Ettlinger’s children poised that question after reading the list of ingredients on the side of a Hostess® Twinkies® package, it prompted him to find the answer. The answer, along with where the other 26 ingredients in a typical Twinkie come from, each became a chapter in his book, Twinkie, Deconstructed.

If you have an interest in nutrition, or want to catch a glimpse behind the processed food industry, you’ll enjoy this easy read. The book is arranged in the same order as the list of ingredients in a Twinkie. Thus, wheat flour is up front, and Polysorbate 60 shows up as chapter 19. (By the way, you’re probably familiar with the crème filling. The word cream is spelled that way because to get a 26-day shelf life, no dairy product is actually used. Yum!)

I was intrigued by the title, Survival of The Sickest, A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease. But as I got into it, I couldn’t detect much evidence that Dr. Sharon Moalem was much of a “maverick." Coming from a deeply mechanistic viewpoint, and a solid belief in the religion of evolution, I was largely disappointed. Sure, there were a couple of bright spots, especially in her exploration of the role of iron and our immune system, not to mention the idea that the body is inclined to produce adaptations based on survival rather than longevity. Yes, thanks to our sturdy ancestors, you and I are survivors of the Black Plague and other pandemics. But no need to test your patience by reading about it.

I wish I could remember who recommended this book so I could personally thank him. Because The Presence Process, A Healing Journey Into Present Moment Awareness, by Michael Brown is simply profound. It meshes nicely with the work of another one of my favorites, Eckert Tolle and the work he’s done, starting with The Power of Now (which I’ve read three times). Michael Brown’s 10-week process provides a practical way to become more present through a series of readings and daily breathing exercises. His observation that many of our unhealed wounds from childhood play out again and again as adults struck a responsive chord. In fact, he somewhat confirms my theory that many health care providers often choose health care as an attempt to find their own healing, and in the process discover they can make a living helping others with what they’ve learned. Weighing in at 323 pages it’s quite a read, but the insights were well worth it!

If you follow these posts at all, you know that I’m a huge fan of Seth Godin. His last book, The Dip, has been topped (so-to-speak) by his most recent installment, Meatball Sundae. As an entrepreneur with one foot in atoms (Patient Media) and the other in bits (Perfect Patients) I find his insights to be especially relevant. It’s the first book in which he mentions chiropractic by name! It appears on page 45. “I could go on, of course. I could talk about how the millions of full- and part-time real-estate brokers are facing an uncertain future. How everyone from chiropractors to worker’s-comp agencies are facing a challenge in getting new business. But I won’t.”

Actually he does. He explains why most advertising doesn’t work. And the 14 trends affecting you, me, your patients and your future.

The title? It comes from the notion of adding whipped cream and toppings (the Internet) to what is already there—the pedestrian meatball (adjusting) that pays the bills. You gotta read this! Or you’ll be stuck with your version of paneling, shag carpet and wishing for the ‘good old days.’