At first glance, “An Idea a Day…: 365 Great Business Ideas for Each Day of the Year” sounds like a book that offers you ideas for you to start a business with. In fact, it’s not – it’s more like a collection of great inspiration and excellent recommendations to help you spur an existing business to greater heights.
Rather than written by a single author, the book is put together by various authors and editors who have carefully curated some of the best insights in business today. Each of these 365 ideas are presented in a standard format and approach – there’s a short description of the idea, followed by one or more examples of how the idea have been implemented by some of the world’s best companies and managers, and finally practical advice of how you can implement the idea in your own situation. These ideas cover the whole gamut of business themes: from marketing to sales, strategy to motivation, public relations to communications, branding, management, leadership and even cost-cutting.
For example, you’ll read about how the general manager of Singapore’s Raffles Hotel actually gives his personal cellphone number to many of his guests to “go that extra mile”, or how market research company Taylor Nelson Sofres made their employees proud to be a part of the company when they involved itself and donated to aid relief operations in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami disaster in South and Southeast Asia.
Each idea is also succinctly written and takes up only one or two pages – there’s no waffling here, which makes it easy reading. I went through five ideas in a single 20-minute sitting, so no, it’s not going to take you an entire year to finish the book. In fact, I’ll reckon you’ll be zipping through “An Idea a Day” like I was, digesting the best nuggets from the book.
So yes, as long as you’re in business, there’s something in here for you. I especially recommend “An Idea a Day” to small business owners, or those in middle to senior management types in larger companies.
