Our Quick Read Obvious Adams Review
Here is a quick analysis of the famous book in our Obvious Adams Review…
“The best marketing book you’ve never read.” That’s the way that Obvious Adams The Story of a Successful Businessman is most often described.
But just what makes this little volume so helpful for aspiring marketers? And just why are so many contemporary business leaders turning back to this classic text?
It turns out, it was first written by Robert R. Updegraff in 1916 and published as a short
story in an April edition of the Saturday Evening Post. While the narrative specifically focused on the world of advertising, the potential to positively impact the wider world of business was rapidly observed. Indeed, it was only a few months later, in September of the same year, when the original book was published by Harper & Brothers.
Obvious Adams Review … inspiring since 1916!
The original reviews were highly complimentary…
“THE YOUNG MAN WHO IS GOING TO SEEK HIS FORTUNE IN THE ADVERTISING BUSINESS SHOULD HAVE OBVIOUS ADAMS FOR A HANDBOOK. INDEED, ANY YOUNG MAN WHO IS GOING TO SEEK HIS FORTUNE IN ANYTHING MIGHT BE AIDED BY THE COMMON SENSE AND BUSINESS ACUMEN DISPLAYED IN THIS LITTLE VOLUME.”
… and so began the title’s enduring appeal.
Oliver B. Adams, or Obvious Adams, as he soon came to be known was a simple man who saw things straight down the line and made an asset from his plain seeing and plain speaking. But he wasn’t ‘born obvious’, rather he had that title thrust upon him by his early employer, Mr James Oswald.
Some of the language, and in fact the story itself, may appear somewhat antiquated to the modern reader, but the value of the story is less in the way it is told and more in the applicability of its lessons. Updegraff takes us on a journey with the young Adams so we can learn as he learns and ponder how we can apply the business winning lessons of obviousness from this unlikely business hero to our own lives.
Read Obvious Adams because…
The true value however is the route to the analysis of a situation. Explaining his method, Adams quotes Professor Zueblin who said that, “thinking is the hardest work many people ever have to do, and they don’t like to do any more of it than they can help.” In avoiding the thinking they avoid the analysis of the true situation. In contrast, the winning approach of Adams according to his then boss, Oswald, was that “he doesn’t get carried away from the facts; he just looks them squarely in the face and then proceeds to analyse and that is half of the battle.”
Obvious Adams Review Summary
So that sums up our Obvious Adams Review. On the plus side, it contains a message so profound it is hard to ignore it is one of the quickest business books you’ll find to read. So why not download a copy here and you can read it on your next flight or business journey?
On the downside, some of you may find the language a little old fashioned.
On balance, we’d strongly recommend you take a look at this enduring little volume. Enjoy and don’t forget to apply the often overlooked – the obvious!