Grady Harp, Top 10 Amazon Reviewer:

“… Tom Salonek, a successful entrepreneur of the first order (he founded Intertech Foundation to respond to the multiple needs of families with critically ill children while he maintains his status as an award winning business man, etc etc etc) has addressed the fact that starting a new business or company in these critical economic times not only conceivable – it is possible to come to the end of the day a winner. Knowing that the bookshelves and sites for downloading Internet literature are bursting at the seams, he wisely (and thankfully for those of us who plan to use his concepts) keeps his book of how to build a winning business short, terse, pointed, and immensely usable.

This very wise young man has kept his book to the point by dividing it in to sections. In this thin but brain-heavy volume he lists ’70 Takeaways’ – 70 succinct clues one a few pages each that are the building blocks for his advice to those who want to make the necessary changes in this new world of Internet-ruled planning. These ‘takeaways’ are ideas suggested for the savvy new mind in the business world. Examples of some of these takeaways are: ‘Hire Slowly’ – and his method of explanation for this particular tidbit of advice is ‘Avoid hasty hires. While it may seem like a simple solution in the short term, you’ll end up paying more and spending more time on the process in the long run, since employees hired in a hurry rarely make a good fit’ and not to give away too much of the riches of this book, some of the other takeaways (without comments) are ‘Watch out for Bias’, ‘check in regularly’, ‘be patient’: and on to Managing ‘Keep Them Motivated’ ‘Fire Quickly’, ‘Know What Matters’; on Strategy ‘Involve the Team When Defining Values’, ‘Ensure You Have Alignment’; on Talent Strategy ‘Promotion’, ‘Compensation’, ‘Partner Relations’; on Leading ‘Leaders Insist on Results, ‘Leader Delegate’, ‘Leaders Listen’; on Problems, ‘Slay Monsters Early’, ‘Own Your Mistakes’. That is the general drift, remembering that there are 70 of these little wise statements of advice an each follows with Salonek’s commentaries.

To cap off this book as a functional and very usable resource (and there probably no competitors in this field now that Salonek has published his volume that took 15 years to write), the author offers Internet sites to download his own well-designed and easy to use forms to facilitate the skills learned in this book. The evolution bit in the heading? Well, when it comes to adapting to the new business world status post the Economic Crisis we are experiencing, there is evidence that change, and mutation, and adjustment to new technology and new ways of perceiving and being a leader and a happy employee must be addressed. It is all right here – easy wise, digestible, and entertaining at that. A terrific new book to heed.”

 

Bookviews by Alan Caruba:

“Building A Winning Business by Tom Salonek is useful for its pragmatic approach ($9.95, softcover, http://www.intertech.com/) as it focuses on 70 “takeaways” that will improve anyone’s management skills. Based on his own experience and his father’s advice on how to work with people, the author shares how he grew his own company from $2 million in annual revenue to more than $10 million, despite the burst of the technology bubble and the worst recession of our time. He offers succinct, good advice on the fundamentals of hiring and managing employees, identifying top talent, and weeding out those with poor performance. I have seen a lot of books filled with management advice, often twice or three times as thick as this one, but this book delivers the goods. Joe Banda asks whether you are a leader and then answers with his book, You are a Leader ($14.95, Langdon Street Press, softcover). A slim volume, the book uses historical and political examples of why anyone can become an effective leader by tapping qualities they have, believing in themselves, and taking charge. It is a conventional book of unconventional wisdom that explores ten intangible qualities that exist in everyone.”

 

Reviewed By Michelle Kaye Malsbury of Bookpleasures.com

“Tom Salonek, author of Building A Winning Business, obtained his BA from the University of St. Thomas and his MM from University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management. (inside cover, 2011) He pursued an executive education certificate from Harvard and MIT in 2005 which netted him the Top Business Leader under 40 award in Minnesota. He previously taught at University of St. Thomas and founded Intertech Foundation in 2003. He has penned over 50 articles on a variety of business topics that were published in newspapers and/or magazines.

In the introduction (2011) portion of this book Mr. Salonek states that “…organizations are facing profound challenges…due to the increasingly global nature of competition and what some are now calling “The Great Recession”.” I do not disagree. Furthermore, there are distinct changes that have come about from this evolving landscape that shape what employers and employees want. Mr. Salonek addresses many of those things in this book.

Some of the highlights from this book begin with “Building a great team starts with finding great people.” (2011, p.2) Salonek says “…take the time to check out a potential new employee thoroughly before asking him to join our team.” Then he offers “…use consistent questions that all candidates must answer… Vary the setting when interviewing the same candidate multiple times…elicit important information from job candidates…provide clear information about your organization’s culture, values, and expectations.” (p.4)

Advice for employers continues with “…always call his three most recent employers and ask questions that get the real story…get a more complete and accurate description of the candidate’s past job responsibilities and performance.” (2011, p.6) Salonek also suggest that if an organization can afford to do so they should get a professional outside evaluation of each of their best candidates for any given job.

“…making a commitment to hire only top performers is a strategy worth pursuing. It’s the only way to ensure that you can deliver the best service or product to your customers…the only way to stay competitive, especially in an age of global outsourcing.” (2011, p.10) “If you think you can get by with mediocre employees, you’ll soon see your profits margins eroding…Great performers are rarely unemployed or desperate for work.” Personally, I think Salonek is spot on in this evaluation of high performing organizations. If you want to remain nimble, responsive, and competitive in today’s global landscape you’ve got to be able to recruit, hire, and train the best you can afford.

Other chapters in this book speak about offering contracts to those best qualified for your position, what things should be negotiated, how to set the tone for expectations, checking in with regularity, motivation, goal alignment, worker satisfaction, dealing with burnout, etc.. I actually created a powerpoint of certain sections of this book to incorporate into my Human Resource Management class at the University of Memphis. The kids loved it and learned a lot. I think you will too!”

 

Reviewed by Daniel Goh of Young Upstarts

“Some business books wax so much lyrical that any nuggets of useful information or valuable learning points are hidden and buried. Not “Building a Winning Business: 70 Takeaways for Creating a Strong Company during Good and Bad Economic Times“. Author Tom Salonek, a successful businessman and entrepreneur who grew his own IT consulting and training firm Intertechfrom US$2 million to US$10 million in annual revenue in the past ten years (and during the dotcom bubble burst, no less), instead comes up with a priceless book on business management that is concise yet insightful.

Enclosed within the pages are 70 pragmatic lessons that any leader or entrepreneur can immediately apply to their situation, whether it is about hiring, managing, company strategy, hiring and managing vendors, or leadership.

Let’s take takeaway No. 5, “Only Hire Top Performers”:

“If you think you can get by with mediocre employees, you’ll soon see profits eroding, since the only way you can compete is to lower prices.”

Or how about takeaway No. 12, “Provide Work That Matters”:

“As simple as this sounds, a whopping 80 percent of U.S workers do not think they use their strengths every day. Moreover, the longer someone stays at a firm, the less likely he is to say that he uses his strengths on a daily basis.”

Yes, it’s as common sense as it sounds, but you’ll smack your own forehead often as you read a certain nugget – be it a hard business principle like time management, or a softer one like defining social responsibility – that you should have known or remembered to apply.

In addition, Salonek provides downloadable templates for things such as offer letters and other basic business documents on his website. Each of these templates provides a specific tool including an interviewee checklist and employee recruitment guide for hiring, guides for strategic planning and SWOT analysis, meeting or agendas, employee review forms and more.

Throughout each section of “Building a Winning Business: 70 Takeaways“, there’s always something useful for the leader of a small team or an entrepreneur of a small firm. And because all the lessons are short and succinct, you’ll be done with it in no time.

But don’t be surprised if you find yourself going back time and again to reread relevant sections of the book”