This is one of the best books on management I have read in a long time! The ideas inside Get Weird by John Putzier are highly adaptable to my own business, Flying Pen Press, a book publishing company. While Putzier directs his narrative at large corporations, the book rings true for the small business owner, as well as within our publisher-author relationships.



Putzier postulates the rather obvious ideas that people are more likely to join and stay with a company where they are respected, trusted and most of all, where they enjoy themselves. These ideas are obvious, yet so few companies have failed to see this.



With this in mind, Putzier offers 100 different methods of turning these ideas into reality. Each method is easy to implement, inexpensive for the company, and will actually increase productivity and employee retention. Most of them can be implemented by middle managers without need of a superior's authorization, other methods are best implemented companywide by the top executives.



After a full chapter that broadly discusses the basics of creative thinking in the business place, Putzier applies his own creativity to the following topics: Employee Recruitment, Employee Retention, Company Culture, Recognition & Incentives, Training & Employee Development, and a miscellaneous chapter that includes ideas for sales, service, public relations, and personal satisfaction.



Here are just a few of the ideas that I will be implementing at Flying Pen Press:



To recruit employees: #11, Birds of a Feather. We will be assigning a current emlployee to act as host to prospective recruits.



To retain employees: #22 Mind Your Own Business! We will open up the books to everyone so that each staff member can see how their actions, decisions and expenditures affect the company's bottom line.



To improve company culture: #60, You can Call Me Ray! Let each staff member rename his or her own job title in a serendipitous vein.



To give employees recognition and incentive: #72, Cooperation Compensation. Department heads will meet one-on-one with each other and agree in writing on list of what they need from each other. Then at the end of the month, Each department rates the other departments on how they did, and bonuses will be based on that department's average rating.



To train and develop the staff: #83, Road Trip. We will take staff members to visit our suppliers, vendors, and retailers to give them a better idea of how it all fits together.



To recruit authors: #2, All the Wrong Places. We will start recruiting science fiction authors at sci-fi movie premieres and sci-fi conventions.



To retain authors: #24, Come On Down! We will open all of our meetings to authors, so they can see what goes on at their publisher's offices.



To add value to the publisher-author relationship: #51: Camp MED. We will turn one of our offices into a quiet writer's library, with classic books, writing guides and top-notch computer with fast internet.



To recognize our authors and provide incentives: #76, What Are My Options? We will be giving authors shares of the company's profits, over and above royalties, provided that they deliver at least one book each year and communicate regularly with their fans.



To support author training and development: #28, Collect the Dots. We will purposefully add typos and grammar errors to the author's galley, and give a prize or bonus if the author catches them all.



This is just a very small portion of the methods I will be implementing at Flying Pen Press. Our philosophy has always been to give authors and staff the greatest respect possible. Get Weird! by John Putzier will go a long way to putting Flying Pen Press in the vanguard in this repect.



I recommend this book very strongly, and I think it will be most appreciated by human resources personnel, mid-level and high-level managers, company executives, small-business owners with three or more employees, and corporate recruiters.



--David A. Rozansky, Publisher, Flying Pen Press

Denver, July 14, 2009