Book Review: Lipstick on a Pig

Lipstick on a Pig: Winning in the No-Spin Era by Someone Who Knows the Game, by Torie Clarke

The majority of this book is a lesson plan for dealing with mistakes ~ and Ms. Clarke sure has made some mistakes. Her book is laden with examples of big public situations in which she made mistakes, what she did to step up and admit to them, and how she tried to repair damages done. She explains how and why she (and others) did it (ad nauseum), and recommends you do so too.

While everything she says is wise if not true (I can't personally vouch for all her anecdotal stories), and she does offer a complete "guide to the age of transparency," I personally felt I was beaten over the head with her points. Example after example of what went wrong and how transparency and accountability saved the day, that's what this book is.

I'm a big believer in transparency, in accountability. You make a mistake, you come forward and say so ~ preferably with an apology and a plan to correct what you can. It doesn't matter if you are an individual on your own, one small cog in a giant machine, or the president (of anything). Momma & Papa taught me that. Torie Clarke is trying to teach you that, just in case your parents and other educators didn't.

While the author feels that this is vital in our transparent new world of the Internet and the fast open information environment we live in, I just think this is good old fashioned common sense. Behave with dignity, integrity, and you'll communicate better, winning more people over even if you were a miserable ol' idiot. (It may sound funny to hear a whore say that, but as I've always said, whoring itself doesn't take away your integrity; it's your lack of integrity which will make you dirty.)

So when Torie tries to sell old world ways for a new world days, I'm not surprised: Technology may have changed, but people haven't.

If you're a fan of political and corporate news stories, a historian of who said what and why, then this may be of interest to you. But I got what she was saying in example one, and the rest is just a complete re-hash with different names being dropped. Enough already. Move onto something else; I get it and I am bored.

True, I'm already a believer ~ but when you preach to the choir you generally can get them to stand up and sing with you, and I didn't stand up and sing (or cheer) for this book. I only finished it for you, dear reader, so you don't have to.

In fairness, the author also discusses thinking outside the box, and how vital it is to work with the media. But there are other places to get those messages.

Unless you are, as many of Torie's fans are, an old school corporate giant or political guy who still believes you can control the media and the world by withholding information (and then I cannot imagine you're here reading), I say "Pass."

Title: Lipstick on a Pig: Winning In the No-Spin Era by Someone Who Knows the Game (Hardcover)
Author: Torie Clarke
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Free Press (January 31, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743271165
ISBN-13: 978-0743271165

The Whore's Book Review Rating System:

Buy It: A must have for your shelf.

Buy It Now: Not only a 'must have,' but so good, you should rush order it.

Check Out: Go to your library and read it. (If it means more than that to you, then you can buy it or put it on your wish list.)

Pass: Not worth your time or money.

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