The Business Book

Table of contents

1. INTRODUCTION
2. START SMALL, THINK BIG • STARTING AND GROWING THE BUSINESS
   1. If you can dream it, you can do it • Beating the odds at start-up
   2. There’s a gap in the market, but is there a market in the gap? • Finding a profitable niche
   3. You can learn all you need to know about the competition’s operation by looking in his garbage cans • Study the competition
   4. The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows • Stand out in the market
   5. Be first or be better • Gaining an edge
   6. Put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket • Managing risk
   7. Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get • Luck (and how to get lucky)
   8. Broaden your vision, and maintain stability while advancing forward • Take the second step
   9. Nothing great is created suddenly • How fast to grow
   10. The role of the CEO is to enable people to excel • From entrepreneur to leader
   11. Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken • Keep evolving business practice
   12. A corporation is a living organism; it has to continue to shed its skin • Reinventing and adapting
   13. Without continuous growth and progress, success has no meaning • The Greiner curve
   14. If you believe in something, work nights and weekends—it won’t feel like work • The weightless start-up
3. LIGHTING THE FIRE • LEADERSHIP AND HUMAN RESOURCES
   1. Managers do things right, leaders do the right thing • Leading well
   2. None of us is as smart as all of us • The value of teams
   3. Innovation must be invasive and perpetual: everyone, everywhere, all of the time • Creativity and invention
   4. Dissent adds spice, spirit, and an invigorating quality • Beware the yes-men
   5. No great manager or leader ever fell from heaven • Gods of management
   6. A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way • Effective leadership
   7. Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results • Organizing teams and talent
   8. Leaders allow great people to do the work they were born to do • Make the most of your talent
   9. The way forward may not be to go forward • Thinking outside the box
   10. The more a person can do, the more you can motivate them • Is money the motivator?
   11. Be an enzyme—a catalyst for change • Changing the game
   12. The worst disease that afflicts executives is egotism • Hubris and nemesis
   13. Culture is the way in which a group of people solves problems • Organizational culture
   14. Emotional intelligence is the intersection of heart and head • Develop emotional intelligence
   15. Management is a practice where art, science, and craft meet • Mintzberg’s management roles
   16. A camel is a horse designed by committee • Avoid groupthink
   17. The art of thinking independently, together • The value of diversity
4. MAKING MONEY WORK • MANAGING FINANCES
   1. Do not let yourself be involved in a fraudulent business • Play by the rules
   2. Executive officers must be free from avarice • Profit before perks
   3. If wealth is placed where it bears interest, it comes back to you redoubled • Investment and dividends
   4. Borrow short, lend long • Making money from money
   5. The interests of the shareholders are our own • Accountability and governance
   6. Make the best quality of goods at the lowest cost, paying the highest wages possible • Your workers are your customers
   7. Utilize OPM—Other People’s Money • Who bears the risk?
   8. Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom • Ignoring the herd
   9. Debt is the worst poverty • Leverage and excess risk
   10. Cash is king • Profit versus cash flow
   11. Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked • Off-balance-sheet risk
   12. Return on equity is a financial goal that can become an own goal • Maximize return on equity
   13. As the role of private equity has grown, so have the risks it poses • The private equity model
   14. Assign costs according to the resources consumed • Activity-based costing
5. WORKING WITH A VISION • STRATEGY AND OPERATIONS
   1. Turn every disaster into an opportunity • Learning from failure
   2. If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses • Leading the market
   3. The main thing to remember is, the main thing is the main thing • Protect the core business
   4. You don’t need a huge company, just a computer and a part-time person • Small is beautiful
   5. Don’t get caught in the middle • Porter’s generic strategies
   6. The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do • Good and bad strategy
   7. Synergy and other lies • Why takeovers disappoint
   8. The Chinese word “crisis” is composed of two characters: “danger” and “opportunity” • Crisis management
   9. You can’t grow long-term if you can’t eat short-term • Balancing long- versus short-termism
   10. Market Attractiveness, Business Attractiveness • The MABA matrix
   11. Only the paranoid survive • Avoiding complacency
   12. To excel, tap into people’s capacity to learn • The learning organization
   13. The future of business is selling less of more • The long tail
   14. To be an optimist … have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose • Contingency planning
   15. Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable • Scenario planning
   16. The strongest competitive forces determine the profitability of an industry • Porter’s five forces
   17. If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete • The value chain
   18. If you don’t know where you are, a map won’t help • The capability maturity model
   19. Chaos brings uneasiness, but it also allows for creativity and growth • Coping with chaos
   20. Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astonish the other • Morality in business
   21. There is no such thing as a minor lapse in integrity • Collusion
   22. Make it easier to do the right thing and much harder to do the wrong thing • Creating an ethical culture
6. SUCCESSFUL SELLING • MARKETING MANAGEMENT
   1. Marketing is far too important to leave to the marketing department • The marketing model
   2. Know the customer so well that the product fits them and sells itself • Understanding the market
   3. Attention, Interest, Desire, Action • The AIDA model
   4. Marketing myopia • Focus on the future market
   5. The cash cow is the beating heart of the organization • Product portfolio
   6. Expanding away from your core has risks; diversification doubles them • Ansoff’s matrix
   7. If you’re different, you will stand out • Creating a brand
   8. There is only one boss: the customer • Make your customers love you
   9. Whitewashing, but with a green brush • Greenwash
   10. People want companies to believe in something beyond maximizing profits • The appeal of ethics
   11. Everybody likes something extra for nothing • Promotions and incentives
   12. In good times people want to advertise; in bad times they have to • Why advertise?
   13. Make your thinking as funny as possible • Generating buzz
   14. E-commerce is becoming mobile commerce • M-commerce
   15. Trying to predict the future is like driving with no lights looking out of the back window • Forecasting
   16. Product, Place, Price, Promotion • Marketing mix
7. DELIVERING THE GOODS • PRODUCTION AND POSTPRODUCTION
   1. See how much, not how little, you can give for a dollar • Maximize customer benefits
   2. Costs do not exist to be calculated. Costs exist to be reduced • Lean production
   3. If the pie’s not big enough, make a bigger pie • Fulfilling demand
   4. Eliminate unnecessary steps • Simplify processes
   5. Every gain through the elimination of waste is gold in the mine • Juran’s production ideal
   6. Machines, facilities, and people should work together to add value • Kaizen
   7. Learning and innovation go hand in hand • Applying and testing ideas
   8. Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning • Feedback and innovation
   9. Technology is the great growling engine of change • The right technology
   10. Without big data, you are blind and deaf and in the middle of a highway • Benefitting from “big data”
   11. Put the product into the customer’s hands—it will speak for itself • Quality sells
   12. The desire to own something a little better, a little sooner than necessary • Planned obsolescence
   13. Time is money • Time-based management
   14. A project without a critical path is like a ship without a rudder • Critical path analysis
   15. Taking the best from the best • Benchmarking
8. DIRECTORY
9. GLOSSARY
10. CONTRIBUTORS
11. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
12. COPYRIGHT