Peter Shankman applied his skills as a communicator and businessman to create Help A Reporter Out (HARO), an email service that connected journalists looking for people to interview with individuals with the experience or insights to meet the journalist’s needs.

The free service was based on sharing and collaboration, principles Shankman brings to the fore in his new book, Nice Companies Finish First: Why Cutthroat Management is Over – and Collaboration is In.

What does a “nice” company do?

In a Forbes interview, Shankman recounted this experience:

I was in a hotel and came back after a long day of meetings. I saw a note on my bathroom counter: Mr. Shankman, we noticed you left your toothpaste out. It’s running very low. We took the liberty of buying you a new tube. We know how busy you are.

I was shocked. I took a picture of it and posted it on Facebook. I found out two days later from the PR person that they could trace back at least two reservations that came from that story. The toothpaste probably cost 39 cents or less, because they buy it in bulk.

In this FIR podcast episode, Book Review Editor Bob LeDrew reviews Nice Companies Finish First.

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Nice Companies Finish First: Why Cutthroat Management is Over – and Collaboration is In by Peter Shankman with Karen Kelly.

Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Ebook and paperback (256 pages) editions
Published in the US: April 2013
ISBN10: 0230341896
ISBN-13: 978-0230341890

Purchase the book online at:

Amazon US: Kindle | Print
Amazon UK: Kindle | Print
Amazon Canada: Kindle | Print
Google Play (US, UK, Canada, Australia)
Nook
iBook

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This FIR Book Review is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)