GUEST POST – Is it Dumb for a CEO to Write a Book?
By Henry DeVries | Forbes
Is calling your prospects dummies a good way to attract clients? You bet it is.
Danna Korn is co-founder and CEO (Chief Energizing Officer!) of Sonic Boom Wellness in Carlsbad, California – a software company specializing in fun, innovative corporate wellness programs that improve employees’ daily health habits.
In what she calls her “other life,” Korn is a motivational speaker and best-selling author (including four books in the “For Dummies” series, two of which were the best-selling “For Dummies” books of the year).
Korn was recommended to me for a panel I was putting together on CEO authors. When I asked her publicist for a copy of one of her books I was embarrassed when it arrived because I already had a well-thumbed copy on my bookshelf. Like many other dummies I like gluten (think bread, cookies and gravy), but gluten does not like me. I love her book almost as much as I love warm sourdough bread with melted butter.
To be fair, the Dummies series of books says it is aimed at “those frustrated and hard-working souls who know they aren’t dumb, but find that the myriad of personal and business issues and the accompanying horror stories make them feel helpless.”
An expert on the physiological effects of gluten, Korn does not want people to feel helpless when it comes to health. She most enjoys writing about how people can live – and love – the gluten-free lifestyle. She makes the science easy to understand, while helping people navigate the social, emotional, and logistical challenges that a gluten-free lifestyle can present.
So I was happy Korn accepted the invitation to speak at the Executive Next Practices Institute “CEO Authors on Innovation” morning event on Friday December 4, 2015 at Taco Bell Headquarters in Irvine, California.
The Executive Next Practices Institute (ENP) is an established mastermind organization comprised of Fortune 5000 C-level and top functional leaders (CEO, CFO, CMO, HR, CIO, Board Directors) who meet to discuss innovative business and leadership strategies. Roundtable sessions are held with a strict non-solicitation policy to encourage leaders to interact, engage, and think collaboratively, and to ensure maximum relationship-building. Founded by my long-time business associate Scott Hamilton, I like the ENP model because it follows a “next practices” development method, which discards the status quo in favor of a more effective and relevant approach to today’s business problems and solutions. Meetings are highly interactive.
As the ENP publishing practice leader, I also invited to the CEO author panel Leon Shapiro, CEO of Vistage who is writing a book on new trends for educating business leaders; David Nordfors, formerly of Stanford University, CEO of IIIJ in Silicon Valley and author of the upcoming book (I am helping to edit) Disrupting Unemployment; and David Giannetto, senior vice president of Astea and author of Big Social Mobile.
The public is invited. For more information visit https://www.enpinstitute.com/events/. The authors will explain why they found time in their busy schedules to write a book.
Korn, for instance, has pioneered the worldwide gluten-free initiative since 1991, when her then two-year-old son, Tyler, was diagnosed with celiac disease. With more than two decades of experience in what was then a nascent industry, she is renowned as the “Gluten-Free Guru” – a moniker People magazine donned her when they featured her life’s work and passion in 2007.
An aggressive advocate for the gluten-free community, Korn has helped make gluten-free products more accessible, affordable, and tasty. Founder of the world’s largest support group for kids on a gluten-free diet (Raising Our Celiac Kids – R.O.C.K.), Korn speaks around the world. In her “free time,” Korn is a consulting partner for General Mills’ gluten-free initiative.
I am looking forward to hearing what she has to say at the breakfast meeting in December. I plan to skip the blueberry muffins.
Read the full article here.