‘101 Business Ideas that will Change the way you Work’ (I)
‘101 Business Ideas that will Change the way you Work’ by Antonio E. Weiss
This book introduces the latest research in the field of business. Most of them are interesting. Yet only some of them may be vital. If you have a tight schedule, you can read the part, ‘How this will change the way you work’ under each idea. On the other hand, if you want to investigate the rationale behind each idea, you will find the sections, ‘What you need to know’ and ‘Why it matters’ useful. The author even included the sources of each idea, like the name of a book or journal article in the last section of each idea.
What I find the book most pragmatic is the ideas about boosting creativity and memory. Everyone has his own preferences of course so I hope the following extract can inspire you to some extent.
Idea 5: When You can skip that meeting
a) If you don’t know the individuals present, do your best to turn up or join in via video conference.
b) If you do know everyone and you’re on good terms, emails, conference calls or instant messaging might be just as effective.
c) If you do know the meeting participants and you’re on bad terms, being physically present might make things worse.
Idea 6: How to improve your memory
Here is a powerful mnemonic to help improve your memory recall: MARC
M(eaning): Draw links between the new information you are acquiring and previous information you already know.
A(ttention): Retention requires focused and dedicated concentration.
R(epetition): Once you have learnt something new, try to recall it soon after to help solidify the neural links.
C(reativity): Think of different and distinctive ways to remember your new information as distinctiveness will help in recall.
Idea 7: Nice gals finish last, nice guys aren’t far behind
Men who were disagreeable earned 18% more than agreeable men, whereas disagreeable women earned 5.5% more than their agreeable female peers.
Idea 14: The virtues of exchanging favours
The more you exchange favours, the more you are both respected and productive. Productivity reached its zenith when the balance between giving and receiving favours was very slightly tilted towards giving. Too much giving resulted in reduction in productivity.
Idea 17: Avoid choice overload: ‘keep it simple, stupid’
There is little evidence that excessive choice generates positive emotions. Given that offering many options to consumers is usually more expensive for producers, it makes sense to focus on some choice, but not too much.
Idea 19: The negative impact of the superstar
Ensure that your highest performers move around the business a lot. Not only will they develop a wide-ranging understanding of how the company operates, any negative impacts they may have on particular teams will hopefully only be short-term and therefore minimized.
Idea 24: How to catch a feeling
It won’t be surprising to know that your positive emotions can transmit themselves to your team or peers, but perhaps more significantly, your negative emotions can do so, too.
Anyone in a customer service position must be made aware of the power their emotions will have on those they deal with. If you want your customers to be happy, those who deal with them should be happy too.
Idea 33: I can see your halo
Make a good first impression: Ensure that your most outward-facing trait — — be it your website, the language and tone your customer service team use or your attire, is as polished as possible. The halo effect means individuals are likely to make assumptions about the rest of your business based on these first impressions.
Idea 42: To really improve, just do it
Diligent practice combined with on-the-job learning, unfashionable though it may sound, is by far the most evidence-based and reliable way to really improve skills.
Source: A book named ‘Art Journey America: Landscapes’ edited by Kathryn Kipp, published by North Light Books
Source: From a book ‘The garden in art’ by Debra N Mancoff published by Merrell
