The 10-Second Internet Manager: Survive, Thrive, and Drive Your Company in the Information Age

Shaving 50 seconds off the standard Kenneth Blanchard set in his 1982 bestseller, Brier offers ""a nice, thin book... about what I've learned in my years of running full-throttle in the fast lane of the I-way. It's a road, sadly, where my old friend The One Minute Manager would probably be found facedown with tire tracks up his back."" An e-commerce consultant, Breier has served his time in the Internet salt mines as director of marketing at Amazon and CEO of Beyond.com. He understands how the Internet's ""mind-boggling pace"" has transformed business, and he also knows firsthand that customers want more, better, faster. Though somewhat flippant, Brier's seven tenets--act fast and act smart; e-mail morning, noon and night; make feedback your friend; make your meetings effective; etc.--are sound principles for any competitive business. His advice is particularly good when it clearly comes from his own experiences. For example, he suggests having ""power coffees, not power lunches or breakfasts."" Meeting over coffee may be in keeping with the recent trend toward lighter meals, but the real benefit is that ""you can have three or four power coffees in the time it would take you to do one breakfast or lunch."" Breier also recommends that managers check their e-mail several times a day and respond to it quickly, whether replying directly to the sender or by forwarding the message to someone else. Perhaps his most useful tidbit is to clearly spell out the subject of each e-mail to insure an immediate response (e.g., ""the future of our relationship""). Filled with snappy tips and a perceptive overview of how successful online companies operate, this is sure to become one of the more popular takes on management in today's Internet economy. (Sept.)