Hooks Book Event - Blog

Washington Post's Leadership Blog Recommends Hooks Book Events Authors

Among the many topics covered at HBE events, leadership is a client favorite. Over the years, HBE has had the pleasure of working with many of the nation's most acclaimed leadership authors and speakers.

In fact, in a recent perusal of The Washington Post's On Leadership blog, Hooks Book Events CEO Perry Pidgeon Hooks couldn't help but notice how many of the site's recommended books and authors her team has worked with at various client events!

On Leadership's featured book and author on April 5^th wasI'd Rather Be in Charge: A Legendary Business Leader's Roadmap for Achieving Pride, Power, and Joy at Work, by Charlotte Beers. That same day, Ms. Beers discussed her book at an event (arranged by HBE) with the Greater Washington Board of Trade. Check out The New York Times’ interview with Charlotte too!

In reflecting on the blog’s Eight Best Leadership books of 2011, we noticed that Hooks Books Events has done author events with Robert Hurley's The Decision to Trust and Betsy Myers' Take The Lead. HBE clients have also hosted Walter Isaacson and Morten T. Hansen with earlier titles.

Of the seven leadership books, including both classics and new titles, that On Leadership says "belong on your bookshelf", Hooks Book Events has produced client events with two of the featured authors -- Sydney Finkelstein and Daniel Pink. Dan, by the way is busily working on a new book and HBE will be working with him again soon! Let us know if you want more information!

Hooks Book Events Authors: In the News and... In the Oval Office?

Hooks Book Events prides itself on creating relevant and thought-provoking author events for clients, and on knowing which books are going to be the best and the most talked about. With hundreds of thousands of new books published every year (2,500 books each day, by some estimates), it can be extremely challenging to sort through and find the right book for the right client at the right time. Fortunately, that is exactly what HBE is set up to do and does so well.

HBE clients shouldn't be surprised when an author they have just hosted at an event turns up in the news – quoted in print in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times, interviewed online on the Huffington Post or on national television onThe Daily Show, The Colbert Report, NPR, or CNN.

“We are pleased to bring our clients thought leaders with new books hot off the presses; this is a real benefit for the employees and guests of our clients," says HBE CEO Perry Hooks. "It is a thrill to host an author, then see him or her interviewed by Jon Stewart the same week!"

For instance, Julia Flynn Siler, who is coming to DC for an HBE private event on March 8 to discuss her new book, Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings and America's First Imperial Adventure, was interviewed on NPR last weekend:"How Sugar Brought An End to Hawaii's Nationhood." Julia is currently working on another piece about Hawaii's history; keep checking our site for the link!

Another notable recent example is David Walker, former U.S. comptroller general and author of Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility. Walker, who has spoken at numerous HBE client events in DC, California and New York over the past 18 months, is being touted as a 2012 third-party presidential candidate by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

"How great would it be," Friedman asks, "to have presidential debates in which a smart independent like Walker was in the middle to challenge both sides and offer sensible solutions?" "An “anointing” by Tom Friedman can not be all bad!" Hooks observes.

Hooks Book Events is proud to bring its clients the right new books and ideas for their clients, to give them access to the nation's preeminent thought leaders discussing the most current, important topics, and to do so consistently, time and time again.

A Forgotten Hero, The Quiet Heroes Among Us, and Why Words Are Not Always Our Best Tools

How well do you know yourself? Are you an introvert or an extrovert? How does that affect how others value you? Do you ever tire of too many words and want to communicate more simply – with a picture instead?

Self knowledge, the value of quiet people, and the overuse of words are just a few of the subjects explored by participants at HBE events in the first two weeks of February.

At a February 2 Department of the Interior University’s Career Diversity & Leadership event, author Stephen Shapiro had employees play Personality Poker, a game he designed. They held cards representing their personality traits, played "poker" with their colleagues and in the process learned about themselves and how others perceive them. "It's a fun thing, and people love it,'' HBE CEO Perry Pidgeon Hooks said."But it's also important. When you are looking to succeed, you have to start by knowing yourself. A lot of people never take the time."

Author Susan Cain explored the differences between introverts and extroverts and why introverts are undervalued. "I am an extrovert," Hooks admitted. "I learned a lot from Susan Cain. I think we all did." Author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, Cain is in great demand by corporate America, is working on a TED conference and is scheduled to appear on The Colbert Report soon.

"We are so lucky to work with these authors when their books are hot off the presses," Hooks noted. "We are able to bring these thought leaders to our clients for these amazing private events, early on in the life cycle of the book. Bringing the right speaker to the right client at the right time, that is what we are trying to do."

Dan Roam discussed his latest book, Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Won't Work at three events in one marathon day. Participants got to try out Roam's celebrated method of illustrating ideas with a simple picture on the back of a cocktail napkin, a practice now in use at the White House, among other places, following the publication of Roam's previous book The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures.

At an event in observance of Black History Month, speaker Elizabeth Dowling Taylor told the story of Paul Jennings, a slave who worked in the White House and later helped others escape slavery. Taylor also discussed A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons, with Jon Stewart on January 4 on The Daily Show.

There's more on tap for February, and March is absolutely chock full of events, including HBE friend Bob Shiller discussing his latest book, Finance the Good Society and our new gal pal, Liza Mundy, with The Richer Sex. Check out the calendar -- there may be room on an author’s schedule to come to your office for conversation and idea sharing.

One event Hooks is especially looking forward to is the author “meet and greet" at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on March 22. Author Siobhan Fallon will share her book You Know When the Men Are Gone with wounded soldiers and their families. "We have a wonderful event planned,'' said Hooks, who is busy raising funds to pay for the books for this and two future Walter Reed events planned for May and June.