Cover Image: Lunch with Lucy

Lunch with Lucy

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

Lunch with Lucy details the story of Sherry's career path and her experience in getting to know her employees to make her business better. I loved reading Sherry's story and struggles and how she finally came across success. As someone who has always been interested in starting a business, Sherry's story was inspiring and a very interesting read.

Was this review helpful?

Given that I am not an entrepreneur, I was suspicious if this book was for me, but as it turns out I couldn’t be more wrong. My favorite chapter is the one on the Power of Saying No, the other ones were close calls as well.

The standout from the book is it’s conversational / storytelling style, honest and openness about the mistakes and the key takeaways. And off course it’s a balanced book in the sense it is transparent as it recommends the leadership methods and techniques whilst advising when they work and when they don’t.

So I will definitely recommend this book for all budding leaders / entrepreneurs, and off course it goes into my Must have Leadership books.

Was this review helpful?

I'm on a culture kick right now, devouring books on organizational culture, so getting the opportunity to review "Lunch With Lucy," by Sherry Deutschmann, was a real treat. Sherry's entire book is written in the tone of a friendly mentor sharing her trade secrets with her reader. Not surprisingly, Sherry's recipe for success can be distilled down into five words: take care of your people. The surprising part for me is just how much opposition she's faced in trying to implement this principle throughout her career.

Sherry gives some background for the moment she decided "enough is enough" and struck out on her own as an entrepreneur: dissatisfaction with lack of response from leadership at her previous employer, an urgent need to provide for her daughter as a single mom, and the perennial challenge of being a woman in a man's work world. She started her own company, LetterLogic, on a shoestring budget, then sold the company for 7x it's EBIDTA in 2016.

The title comes from her practice of empathetic listening. The CEO alter-ego she adopted, "Lucy", took her employees to lunch every week, sometimes in groups, sometimes one-on-one, and get to know them personally. Some of it was mentorship, some of it was friendship, but all of it was investing in her people and making them feel heard. There are many other elements of the culture she built at LetterLogic - like 10% profit sharing with employees - that contributed to the company's success - but at the heart of it all is Sherry's heart and passion for people.

If you're drowning in a toxic culture or are building a business and want to see what success truly looks like, check out Lunch With Lucy!

Was this review helpful?

This book was a interesting read even for someone who is not a business owner or entrepreneur. The book is structured like a three course menu with dessert at the finish. At the beginning of each chapter you have a list of ingredients or talking points or actions and at the end of the chapter with words of wisdom in takeout boxes.

This follows the authors struggles to find sufficient jobs to take care of herself and her daughter she is raising as a single parent. Most of her jobs revolve around sales which leader to sales for a printing services which eventually leads to her developing a vary successful medical billing facility. The business is based on the actions that as a worker bee most everyone would wish for in their work environment. The author can relate as she faced many of the same struggles. She accomplishes the success in her company by having meals with her people getting to know them and developing a culture that is practices through out the company. I received an ARC from NetGalley for a fair and honest review

In my opinion this is one of the better self-help business books out there. Invest a couple of hours and get some great return on your time investment it will be well worth it

Was this review helpful?

If you are starting an entrepreneurship journey or looking to be a better leader in your company, Lunch with Lucy is a phenomenal place to start.

Lunch with Lucy is about the kind of leaders employees crave and how to become one. It is written in accessible, non CEO language. It is about more than leadership. There are basic human people skills built in that many people need to work on. There are business building blocks in there too.

I love this book. I cannot say enough good things about this book. It's easy to read, engaging, and lays the groundwork for leaders to choose their employees first.

Was this review helpful?

In this charming narrative about her experiences building her own successful printing company, Sherry supports her argument that putting employees first will result in higher profits. She created a unique culture that included an egalitarian profit-sharing plan, generous benefits, and a new way to calculate a living wage, and even an unconventional organizational chart. The takeaways from this book are surprisingly specific and profound.

Was this review helpful?

Sherry Deutschmann is the real deal. Her writing style is thoroughly authentic and immediately relatable. She shares her successes and her stumbles with an equal measure of humility and truth. She puts the spotlight on her company's most vital driving engine and beating heart: the people who worked there. Through empathetic leadership and by actually caring about her staff, Sherry built a hugely profitable company off the back of her washing machine. Her unwavering commitment to creating a people-first culture, paying a real fair living wage, and incentivizing everyone equally through a unique profit-sharing plan are just a few reasons why Sherry was named a White House Champion of Change by President Obama. We need more thought leaders like her. Lunch with Lucy is an inspiring blueprint for current and future leaders in any industry; leaders who are interested in flipping the script and building companies where people actually want to work.

Was this review helpful?

The description for this book was interesting and I wanted to learn more about the employee first culture that the author describes. The premise of the book is pretty simple and the author illustrates her points using the experiences she had running her company LetterLogic. The anecdotes are engaging and the author makes the point that these are universally applicable in principle if not exactly as policies. The author is clearly connected to her team and her care shows, though it would have also been useful to get more context around the business arc of the company itself and changes that happened over time chronologically to see what policies emerged over time and what impact they had on the organization as a whole.

Was this review helpful?

The description pulled me in but Sherry’s story telling is what got me hooked on this book. The simple steps she has taken to run her business as a CEO can easily translate to any individual working in any business. Loved the book and will be referencing it for many years to come.

Was this review helpful?