Hello. You have an assignment, this month. A fellow Thinker, Shawnee Brown, has asked for your help. I'll outline her marketing challenge in our first article along with a few ideas I provided her. Drop me a note with your suggestions.

A number of Think readers provided me with their recent reading lists. We'll review that in our second article. And, of course, the ever-popular and useful Think Briefs round out this issue. Let me know if there is a topic you want us to cover.

Let's get going.

The student is a black single mother in her late to 20s to early 30s with a high school diploma. She is likely to be receiving public assistance and using public transportation. She is improving herself so she can better support her family. She has family and community ties like the church that she relies on for support.

Here are some low cost ideas I came up with. Once you've reviewed them, send me your ideas and we'll pass them along to help out this worthy enterprise.

• do you have leads from the past couple of years who have asked for information but not yet attended? If so, send letters/class schedules to them
• do you have good success stories? If so, pitch them to the media. This does two things: gets the school some initial publicity, and it provides fodder for word-of-mouth by current and past students. With 42 percent of business coming from referrals, you need to get your grads talking. Provide reprints of any articles mentioning grads
• visit technology classes at high schools in the neighborhoods from which students come. Do talks on technology careers in these classes
• partner with your local health department and other public assistance agencies. Ask to put up posters in their locations about your programs. Put up reprints of your media coverage of successful graduates
• United Way often has a marketing council made up of communications professionals at various agencies. Ask to present to them about your success stories
• there is a Black Clergy Association in Philadelphia. Contact them, provide information they can use in their sermons or in their bulletins. Send posters for them to place on their bulletin boards. Go present to them

Now, it's your turn to help Shawnee. I'm looking forward to your ideas.

Ty Boyd, CEO of Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, has just finished a book by Pat Williams, past president of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Three Success Secrets of Shamgar is the book inspired by Shamgar, who makes an appearance in the Bible's Old Testament to slay 600 Philistines with an ox goad. Just the kind of one-person-changes-the-world story we like here at Hoover ink.

William Bray of The Bray Law Firm says his latest read is off -the-wall. "I just finished Lobotomy - Surviving the Ramones by Dee Dee Ramone. Did it teach me anything? Absolutely - getting an education is a much safer and saner proposition than starting a rock and roll band."

Tana Greene, president of StrataForce, says She Wins, You Win by Gail Evans is a book every businesswoman should read. Brent Dees, head of Brent Dees Financial Planning, is reading Jesus on Leadership and His Excellency: George Washingon, which Joe Grant, Grant Consulting, also is reading. Grant has recently finished Stephen Covey's The 8th Habit, which Grant says resonates with the work he does in coaching advertising executives.

Cliff Hebard, who heads up Human Technologies Consulting, says that novels often teach better than the best-selling books from Harvard Business Review. He is gleaning insights on human dynamics, as well as active listening and its payoffs from War and Peace. Who knew? Cliff also is reading Notes to Myself by Hugh Prather for its teachings on relationships and conflict.

Charlie Elberson of Elberson Partners says he liked Wayne Dyer's The Power of Intention. "I shed a lot of illusions and expectations this year and the book helped me realize what a great opportunity it represented," Elberson says.