Stan Silverman - Be Different!: The Key to Business and Career Success

Be Different!

Be Different!

The Key to Business and CareerSuccess

Stan Silverman

Be Different! The Key to Business and Career Success

Copyright Business Expert Press, LLC, 2019.

Cover Image Credit: JuSun/iStock/Getty Images

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by anymeanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the priorpermission of the publisher.

First published in 2019 by

Business Expert Press, LLC

222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017

www.businessexpertpress.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-94999-174-1 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-94999-175-8 (e-book)

Business Expert Press Business Career Development Collections

Collection ISSN: 2642-2123 (print)

Collection ISSN: 2642-2131 (electronic)

Cover and interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd.,Chennai, India

First edition: 2019

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America.

Endorsements

Stan Silvermans advice in Be Different! The Key to Business and Career Success will not only lead to business and career success as the title suggests, but will lead to a more purposeful and fulfilling life. Ive known Stan for nearly two decades. During that time his company was a key supplier to our company, and we worked together on industry association boards.

Stan is one of the most value-centered, outstanding leaders I know. Ive seen him live the messages of his book first-hand. This excellent book has great advice. Marching to a different drummer, being values-centered, doing the harder right rather than the easier wrong will not only differentiate you as a leader but lead to differentiated results and happiness. Study and put to practice this book.

Robert A. McDonald

8th Secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs

Retired Chairman, President, and CEO of
The Procter & Gamble Company

Over the course of three decades as Publisher of Directors & Boards, I have had the opportunity to review many business books, but few have been as informative and instructive as Stan Silvermans recent publication, Be Different!. Having served on Stans board when he was President and CEO of PQ Corporation, a large, highly successful global chemical company, I had eagerly awaited the publication of his book which provides valuable lessons on how to be an effective leader. My expectations were exceeded!

For the past several years, I have read his nationally syndicated column, which dispenses valuable and practical guidance for top executives. Stans advice is spot on, as only someone who has been there can deliver. Be Different! is a must-read for corporate leaders who are trying to differentiate their companies and themselves. Learn from Stans wealth of experience to advance both your business and your career.

Robert H. Rock

Chairman

MLR Media

Publisher, Directors & Boards

Be Different! adds incredible value in an environment devoid of doing things right for the right reason. It provides guidance on how to cut through the bureaucracy and red tape that stifle transformative change and sets the bar for individual and organizational excellence. Finally, we now have a compilation of the astute wisdom of a seasoned C-Suite executive whose life-long work has been focused on driving results by developing leaders through his professional experience, innate intuitiveness, clear communication and heartfelt EQ.

Stans advice never grows old. I have personally learned and benefited through real life interaction and observation. My files contain many of his columns cut and pasted for quick reference. They have rescued me many times! His writings contain first-hand advice and direction worth more than any MBA. This is a must-read handbook for any aspiring leader as well as current executives.

Judith Spires

CEO

KB US Holdings

If you are looking for a book about leadership, one that combines knowledge and experience, you will want to read Be Different! by Stan Silverman. Stan knows about leadership from all anglesfrom bottom up and top down, from process engineer to chief executive officer, and from inside out and outside in, as board member and columnist.

His leadership lessonsthe importance of setting the tone at the top, building a culture of trust, and empowering people, to name a feware invaluable for us all, no matter where we stand in the organizational hierarchy.

Anne M. Greenhalgh, Ph.D.

Deputy Director, McNulty Leadership Program,
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Co-Host, Leadership in Action, SXM Radio

It is a rare person that becomes a CEO. Even achieving that leadership position is not an assurance of success. The landscape is littered with CEOs that didnt achieve the greatness the board anticipated. One can imagine how often goals allude even successful CEOs.

Stan is the rare individual who became successful as a CEO. Even rarer, he is able to mentor other executives with timely insights through his writing. Most business writers observed good leaders and wrote about them. Stan was a great CEO who is also a uniquely good writer who can pass along his insights effectively.

Brian R. Ford

Retired EY partner

Independent Board Member

If you want to be successful in business, career or life, be different. Be different in how you lead, how you negotiate, how you listen. Emerson said, Do not go where the path may lead, go where there is no path and leave a trail. Stan Silverman tells you how. Buy the book and devour it, internalizing then executing on the best advice you are likely to ever receive.

Dianne L. Semingson

Founder and CEO

DLS International

In todays fast-paced, ultra-competitive business environment, leadership at the top is a key, sustainable differentiator. Stans book helps the leaders of today and tomorrow understand the values, passion and persistence required to make a real difference to help your company become the preferred provider of products or services to the market.

Mike Lawrie,

CEO

DXC Technology

Speaking truth to power has taken on a new meaning in our current business, political and cultural environment. Be Different! urges all leaders to set the right tone at the top, nurture the right organizational culture and respect and listen to those within their organizations who speak their mind and share their views, even if contrary to the views of the leader. Leaders who ignore these lone wolfs do so at their own peril and that of the organization.

Stan Silverman teaches this and other valuable lessons to business leaders for creating competitive advantage, and shows individuals how to differentiate themselves from their peers to win that next job and advance in their careers.

Stephen S. Tang

President and Chief Executive Officer

OraSure Technologies, Inc.

Stan Silverman has produced an unconventional tour de force in his book, Be Different!. The book is unique: it is neither a get-rich-quick manual nor is it an erudite rendition of strategic concepts, but is rather a set of integrated principles to build ones career with honor and integrity.

In addition to analyzing some well-publicized examples of business mistakes, e.g., Starbucks, Theranos and Turing Pharmaceuticals, Silverman weaves in lessons from his own very successful career, starting as a junior engineer and becoming the CEO of a major global corporation.