Happy spending!

Jumping the S-Curve: How to Beat the Growth Cycle, Get on Top, and Stay There does just that and is co-authored by Paul Nunes and Tim Breene of Accenture, the global management consulting company.

They identify key differences in the companies that successfully make the transition from today’s successes to tomorrow’s lows. High performing companies tend to:

• Change top management while the business is still thriving.
• Look for market insights based on marketplace changes
• Refuse to scale up for scale’s sake and manage downside of scale at every turn.

Breene, strategy director for Accenture, says companies that failed were not illogical. They acted reasonably, but didn’t correct their response to market changes in time.

He also points out that high performing companies fix what doesn’t seem to be broken yet. The ride up the S-Curve is exhilarating, but they use it to prepare for their next act.

Incremental innovations are useful for extending an S-Curve and bringing in revenue to fund the next S. High performers are committed to breakthrough innovation. They turn their businesses into hothouses of talent, where they can give people room to grow. They glean insights from employees at all levels.

One reviewer recommends this book as an excellent training manual for leaders of both large and small companies.

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

If you set your mind on becoming creative, or more creative, it will happen. One thing you can do is to try the Six Hats Technique, often attributed to Edward de Bono. It involves looking at a problem from six different perspectives. By thinking about it in different ways, you will produce more ideas than if you only analyze from just one or two points of view. Here’s how it works.

The Six Hats Technique:

• Red Hat: Study the situation emotionally. What do your feelings tell you?
• White Hat: Look at the problem objectively. List the facts.
• Yellow Hat: Use a positive perspective. Which elements of your solution do you think will work?
• Black Hat: Use a negative perspective. Which elements of a possible solution won’t work?
• Green Hat: Think differently. What are some alternative ideas?
• Blue Hat: Think broadly. What is the best overall solution?

Becoming an expert in your field gives you the best chance of coming up with better ideas. Solid foundation and hands-on experience are important. In productivity studies a few years ago, it was discovered that the people who came up with the best ideas for improvement in manufacturing were the people doing the work. They knew how particular processes could be done more efficiently.

It wasn’t creative geniuses who had the best answers, it was the people who were thinking about the situation for some time. They had played out different ideas in their minds and knew what would work. They were the real experts. If you asked them, they might have said the ideas were just practical solutions, but at the same time these ideas were creative.

Bursts of activity were long thought to be a random factor in human behavior, but one scientist has found that they are generally predictable. In his book, Bursts: The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We Do, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi shows how this “bursty” pattern governs almost everything we do, and also rules much of what happens in the natural world.

He reveals a hidden side behind everyday life, economics, career development, and other activities. We even tend to our health in bursty patterns, ignoring symptoms when other things are more important until a health problem can’t be ignored, producing a flurry of medical visits in a short time.

Because for most of us time is our most valuable nonrenewable asset, we want to treat it with respect, so we set priorities. Once we do that, burstiness becomes unavoidable.

The author spends most of his book delivering real-life stories that illustrate his principles. Some, like an account of Albert Einstein’s correspondence in 1919 with a little-known scientist, illustrate how bursts govern our lives. The principles are clearly written and fascinating.

Do you experience burstiness?

Consider these five tips:

1. Play to win. If sales and profits are down, don’t slip into playing a defensive role. Do your research and create a profile of your ideal customer. Then find ways to track what has changed in your industry and in the marketplace. All these activities will help you make changes to your business strategy.

2. Call your customers and ask if they have ideas about improving your products or services. You could get some interesting suggestions.

3. Know which new ideas to ignore. You can’t act on every “want” clients have. You’ll get some off-the-wall requests and some people may just tell you your price is too high.

4. Inform key people in your company if you are thinking of adding a new product or service.

5. Set fewer priorities. When you set a dozen annual goals, everyone will be working on something else rather than what your primary goal should be.

The Small Business Administration says about 60 percent of service businesses fail within the first five years. lt happens because business owners are extremely uncomfortable with marketing and sales. The result is a frustrated and overwhelmed owner.

Chapters 3 and 4 are some of the best in this book, reviewers say. Chapter 4 tells how to talk about what you do, and relate your business to the client’s needs.

If you are a seasoned professional, you’ll find fresh ideas and tactics that will keep bringing in new business. If you’re a novice service professional looking for a complete business building system, you’ll get keys to unlock long-lasting business growth and security for yourself or/and your business.

Through verbal and written exercises, the reader learns how to develop a strong market plan and brand identity as well as why self-promotion is critical to success.

Even if you hate the idea of marketing and selling, this book can lift you up and give you the confidence to market yourself and your services.

Don’t forget to read Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle by Michael Port, Wiley Books.

Only truly unique leaders can create truly unique companies, brands and experiences. Here are 7 principles Steve Jobs follows:

Do What You Love. Think differently about your career.
Put a Dent in the Universe. Think differently about your vision.
Kick Start Your Brain. Think differently about how you think.
Sell Dreams, Not Products. Think differently about your customers.
Say No to 1,000 Things. Think differently about design.
Create Insanely Great Experiences.
Think differently about your brand experience.
Master the Message. Think differently about your story.

Carmine Gallo’s book The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success definitely kick started my brain. Hopefully I can put a dent in the Universe soon.