Chris J ''Mohawk'' Reed, Founder of Black Marketing, on How Dale Carnegie Changed His View on Human Relationships
Chris J Reed is the founder and CEO of Black Marketing, a marketing consultancy company specialized in building brands on LinkedIn.
Chris, who’s currently based in Singapore, is one of the most influential bloggers in Asia (he’s followed by more than 50,000 people on LinkedIn). He’s also a two times best-selling author, with the books “Personal Branding Mastery For Entrepreneurs” and “LinkedIn Mastery for Entrepreneurs“.
Born in UK, he has more than 25 years of marketing and business experience in Europe and Asia Pacific. He was also CMO for global B2C social media brands in London and Singapore.
He’s an elected board member of the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore, and Chairman for the BritCham Marketing and Creative Committee. He’s also won a few awards, among them: the Social Media Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 award by CMO Asia/World Brand Congress, Asia’s Most Influential Digital Media Professional, and the British Chamber of Commerce Rising Star Award.
Chris lectures at the The Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School and the National University of Singapore, and he’s a mentor for the CMO Council/Singapore Management University Business School.
As you can see from his photo, he’s is also the only CEO with a mohawk – the punky hairstyle.
Keep on reading and you’ll find out more about his favorite books, common bad advice he often comes across in digital marketing (spoiler alert: putting your eggs in only one basket), how to spot difficult clients before signing them, and why passion is vital.
What’s your favorite book and why? Business and non-business, if possible.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie – just the key to life and work then and now.
Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance – just an epic roller-coaster life of an entrepreneur.
Was there a moment, specifically, when something you read in a book helped you? Can you tell me about it?
Yes. In How to Win Friends and Influence People the light switched on as how I should network and build relationships on and offline.
What books had the biggest impact on you? (perhaps changed the way you see things, dramatically changed your career path)
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie – changed the way I looked at people and brought home the whole “it’s not what you know it’s who you know” ethos…
What books would you recommend to youngsters interested in your professional path? Why? (no number limit here)
LinkedIn Mastery For Entrepreneurs by me!
Any books about McKinsey and Dale Carnegie are great functional and business-like books that you can put into action.
I’m interested in finding out more about your reading habits. How often do you read? In what format?
I read LinkedIn, The Guardian and The Financial Times everyday online and Straits Times occasionally.
How do you make time for reading?
On LinkedIn, every day, on the Guardian app every day.
Do you take notes or have any other technique for conquering the torrent of information?
I take it in and think about what is useful for me in life and work.
How do you choose what books to read next?
I prefer blogs and articles about business to books. I get bored of books very easily unfortunately.
What book are you currently reading and what are you expecting to gain from it?
Books not, newspapers and LinkedIn everyday.
Marketers nowadays seem to focus more on the tools and platforms they use, instead of their main mission / how they can provide value. What bad advice do you often come across when it comes to digital marketing?
Use Facebook for everything – the worst advice you can possibly get.
How do you spot difficult clients before signing with them? Are there any red flags that you look out for?
Yes, if they try and get your services for free or want to pay you on commission they do not appreciate your service, walk away. They are losing out by not valuing you and your service.
Most successful people give the advice “follow your passion”. What would you recommend to those who are very young and not yet aware of their passion? Where should they begin their professional journey?
Everyone is passionate no matter how young, you don’t switch on passion at a certain age, I was passionate about music, girls, football, marketing and being an entrepreneur from when I was a teenager and that is still true today – passion is inbuilt, if you don’t have it you’re dead!
Links where you can follow Chris J “Mohawk” Reed or find out more about his projects:
- Chrisjreed.com
- Black Marketing
- Chris J Reed @ LinkedIn
- Chris J Reed @ Wikipedia
- Chris J Reed @ Twitter
All books mentioned by Chris J “Mohawk” Reed in this interview:
