We’ve been stuck on the idea of competitive advantage as the key to strategy for a long time now. Paul Skinner thinks it’s had its day. ‘Where competitive advantage assumes that the way to succeed is by being better than others, I believe the way to succeed is by supporting…
“I don’t want people to buy my book.” That’s a sentence I honestly don’t think I’ve heard an author say before, ever. But Barbara Gray’s vision for her second book, Secrets of the Amazon, was very different to that of most authors. It’s part of what she calls high fidelity,…
Networking is (quite literally, it turns out) a ‘dirty word’, but Dr David Burkus brings together studies and stories that show how we’ve got it wrong: we don’t ‘do networking’, we ARE a network. This is invaluable for anyone in business, but David also describes in detail how he gets…
Another helping of best bits from recent episodes: we’re talking about ‘fast books’ and ‘slow books’, writing with a co-author, and how doodling can help you come sideways at a book. Tune in, sit back, and listen to insights and inspiration from these superb writers: Steve Scott on how he’s…
Steve Scott started writing and publishing to build his business, but pretty soon his business became writing and publishing books: he now has more than 70 to his name, all focused on helping internet entrepreneurs succeed. In this week’s podcast this multi-bestselling author reflects on what he’s learned about the…
Something a bit different this week: I interview myself to pull out some of the learnings from the process of writing This Book Means Business, a book about writing a book to build your business written to build my business. Meta, huh? Discover how and why The Extraordinary Business Book…
Leadership expert Jurgen Appelo’s advice to first-time authors is simple: ‘Iterate.’ He goes on to explain: ‘You need a feedback cycle. You need to know as soon as possible whether it is making sense, what you’re writing. People have to read it.’ Jurgen walks the talk, building his community as…
On 16 March 2018, the inaugural Business Book Awards ceremony took place in London. It was an extraordinary occasion, bringing together the top names in books and business in the UK and beyond, and with shortlists including books from the biggest traditional publishers to the smallest independent presses and even…
Something a little different this week: a report from the bleeding edge of the publishing industry, also known as the IPG Spring Conference. This is one of the most exciting and diverse events of the publishing calendar, bringing together publishers from all genres of publishing and from all sizes of…
Have you ever thought of business as art? Edgar Papke and Thomas Lockwood, experts in organizational culture and design respectively, wanted to encourage leaders to design their businesses consciously for innovation and collaboration with their book Innovation by Design. And what better way than to write collaboratively? This is a…
