One of the things I find myself missing these days on flights is the old Skymall catalog you used to find in the seat pocket. Nestled between a guide to toilet training your cat and gadgets designed to shoot more oxygen into your drinking water, I remember seeing an ad for getAbstract, which touts itself as “putting business knowledge in the palm of your hand.” For $299.00 per year, you get five-page summaries of business books. The ad claims they take between 100 and 500 pages and condense it down to five pages. You get unlimited access to “cutting-edge knowledge” and will “instantly see a difference in the breadth and depth of knowledge you bring to your work and personal development.”
Ever hear of MANX – Spanx for Men? A Spanx for Men is a super tight T-shirt men put on under their dress shirts to squeeze in all their fat. Once you put it on, you instantly look better, fitter, and attractive. I can only imagine the surprise women get when their man removes the Manx. Kind of like dumping a bunch of water balloons out of a spandex bag.
The lesson here? There are no shortcuts to excellence.
If, according to getAbstract, you “have a team of business experts wherever you need it. Experts like Stephen Covey, Daniel Goleman, Seth Godin, and hundreds more,” do you really think you’ll get the full force of their expertise in a picked-over five-page guide? I’ve written 10 books and I can tell you there’s no way you’d get what you needed if I had to condensed them to five pages. There’s simply no shortcut to get over fear of public speaking, market yourself for your dream job, or keeping your superstar employees loyal to you.
I have nothing against getAbstract wanting to generate revenue. After all, I’m a businessman too. I just don’t want you to think you can take a shortcut to learning something. Here’s my getAbstract version of How to Drive a Car. Give it to your 16-year-old and see what happens:
- Open the car door
- Get inside
- Put the key in the ignition
- Turn the key
- Hear the engine roar
- Pull the shifter down to where it says “D”
- Step on that long pedal on the far right side
- Be careful.
- Now you’re driving! (and getting cutting-edge instructions from Mack Munro who has been behind the wheel since 1980!)
Silly right? Imagine if your boss learns how to manage by reading five-page summaries? Lucky for me maybe – after all I’ll probably get to do some coaching work on him or her to undo the damage, but you’ll suffer in the meantime.
There are no shortcuts.
Pick up a book and read it cover to cover. Take notes. Highlight important passages which a yellow highlighter. Read it again. Talk about what you learned with colleagues. Apply one principle and journal the results. Document what works and what doesn’t. Reapply the principle. Repeat the process until you’ve mastered the principle. Now apply another principle.
That’s how it’s done.
