The 10-Second Internet Manager

Breier tells two stories in Internet Manager. First is how he became one after a career in the very-slow-moving world of food marketing, where he was considered lightning-quick for developing new marshmallow packaging in just six months. His year at Amazon.com showed him anything was possible if you worked hard and fast enough. And at Beyond.com, which as CEO, Breier helped to take public, he put together everything he learned to run a company. The second story is how anyone can more efficiently manage themselves and their employees. Some of the advice on financing toward the end of the book is strictly high-level stuff, but in between there's a lot of information that every busy employee can use.

One of the easiest take-home messages (or, rather, take-to-the-office messages; nobody in this world does much at home except sleep) is this: "E-mail morning, noon, and night, but talk in between." He describes e-mail as "the oxygen of the Internet," because it allows people to stay in close touch without all the forced small talk that accompanies telephone conversation. But he also acknowledges that it has its limits, and suggests this rule: "After the third e-mail on the same subject, walk 'n' talk." In other words, get up, sit down with the other person, and hash it out. Other information--about conducting more effective meetings and developing brand identity--can be used by anyone from ambitious middle managers on up. But the key word here is "ambitious." Anyone who has aspirations for a fast ascent in business today can use all the lessons in this book. And, best of all, it only takes a couple of hours to absorb the entire 10-Second message. --Lou Schuler