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Posted July 13, 2009 3:38 a.m. by dylan
In 1954, Lewis Strauss, the head of the Atomic Energy Commission, declared the dawn of a new era. Diseases would cease to exist. Travel would be effortless. And electricity would become "too cheap to meter."
Strauss's vision has yet to become reality, but Chris Anderson, in his new book Free, asks us to take a mental leap and imagine for a moment that electricity were free. All of our buildings would be heated by electric coil. Everyone would drive electric cars. Deserts would be turned into fertile fields with the water produced by massive desalinization plants powered by an energy source with no cost. Everything that electricity touched would be dramatically altered.
Free electricity may be just a dream, but Anderson points to another area where free has become reality—bits. Moore's Law and its many corollaries describe the phenomenon that processing power, memory and bandwidth keep getting cheaper and, in fact, have already reached a point where they are too cheap to meter—the effects of which we are only beginning to see and feel.
This is merely one sightline made apparent in Free. Anderson gathers history, economic theory, and thought-provoking examples from around the world to make one powerful point: Free is all around us.
The free sample at your local bakery is just a cross-subsidy to encourage your purchase. The magazines sitting on your coffee table wouldn't get there on twelve-dollar subscriptions. Third party advertisers heavily subsidize their production and delivery (and your payment merely acts as a qualifier of your interest).
The fastest growing model online is "freemium," in which software companies entice customers with a no-cost version of a product, adding more valuable features for those willing to pay. My favorite personal example of this is Prezi, an outstanding presentation tool that works completely inside your web browser. The service is free to use, but if you need more storage or the ability to present without an Internet connection, you’ll pay a fee.
Free needs to be on your summer reading list. Entire industries are in the process of being changed and, in the extreme case, destroyed by Free. As Anderson puts it, "Once you switch from shipping atoms to transmitting bits, Free become inevitable." How will the flow of free bits affect your business? Or, how can you use Free to help it prosper? Pick up Free by Chris Anderson and start figuring it out.
Posted July 10, 2009 4:55 a.m. by 800-ceo-read
When Todd and I are out talking about our book, The 100 Best Business Books of All Time (yes, I know, a shameless plug) one of the questions we are almost always confronted with is "What books can give us some advice tailored to the current economic crisis?" That has been a hard question to answer until now, and Steve Little's new book is the answer we've been waiting for. It is the best I have read addressing the current economic climate, with real "take to the bank" ideas and solutions.
As the title indicates, Little suggests dealing with the current mess in two stages—Duck, which defines section one of his book, entitled "Pressing Immediacies," and Recover, Which he discusses in the second half of the book, "Growth Opportunities." Each of the sections is loaded with practical advice and useful ideas. In the Duck section, Little talks about the famous notion that "it takes five times as much money to get a new customer than to retain an old one." In these stressful times, Little believes that this statement can cause businesses to make the fatal mistake of assuming that it is too expensive to try and acquire new customers. He advocates a common sense approach of continuing the search for new clients while husbanding your resources. He counsels that "ducking" shouldn’t be cowering in fear, but rather putting your organization "in the best position to release a focused, explosive movement when the time is right."
But it's the second half, the Recover section, where Little really excels. His first book, The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth, was about growth, so this area is his sweet spot. He tells the story of sitting next to a road warrior sales person for a major telecom company while flying last Fall who said that she was being pulled off the road due to the economic crunch her company was feeling. As the author says "Can you see your opportunity here?...The telecom equipment sales rep was off to visit a $500,000 account. I can't imagine how her company couldn't justify the $500 to send her on this trip again in the months ahead. Clearly, spending $500 to visit an important account is not discretionary. It's a must-do, especially if competitors aren't showing up." Little goes on to suggest some quick tactics for getting and staying connected—having face-to-face meetings with clients and vendors, getting involved in your community, doing trade shows and becoming an information junkie.
This is the book I would recommend for all small business people to survive and thrive is these current times. This little book is a quick read and will help you to realize that, with sound financial and personnel management, this is the time to duck and recover, not duck and run.
Posted July 9, 2009 10:16 a.m. by 800-ceo-read
Readers might know Henry Alford's satirical columns from Vanity Fair, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. In his latest book, How to Live, Alford audaciously tackles the world of wisdom. This book isn't a typical pick for a Jack Covert Selects, since its ties to business are tenuous at best, but in these difficult financial times, it's sometimes helpful to take a step back and look at the business of life. Alford's difficult task in this book is to try and condense the history of wisdom into one neat little package.
In the first chapter, Alford sets the tone of the book, explaining that while there certainly are intelligent younger people, people are most likely to find experience and wisdom from those over seventy—those who have lived long and lived well. He writes that "valuable information is slipping through the cracks in the wall and seeping into the bed linens and evaporating into the current Boca Raton weather system." What How To Live accomplishes is catching some of that information before it slips away.
An interesting aspect of the book is getting the opportunity to read the different interpretations and definitions of what wisdom is from the people Alford interviews. On his quest, Alford gets the opportunity to sit down with a handful of celebrities, one being famous playwright Edward Albee. Albee states that he thinks wisdom is a matter of perspective, that "maybe it's finally being able to figure out what you should be worrying about and what you shouldn't be worrying about." Earlier in the book, Alford sits down with Granny D, who in her 70's went on a 14 month, 3200 mile walk across the country in support of campaign finance reform. When asked about what has made her successful in her life ventures and her 63-year marriage, she writes "See the humor in the situation. Make sure you think about how unimportant the issue really is in comparison to the troubles of the whole world."
Alford took on the task of interviewing an older generation, some famous, some accomplished, and some simply unusual. The book that comes out of Alfords ambitious journey brings wisdom and shows important lessons on adapting, friendship, holding on and letting go. Whether you start the book with expectations and preconceptions, or pick it up out of curiosity, you will ultimately be surprised and delighted with what people who have spent seventy years on this planet have seen and what they have to say about it. In these times of so much uncertainty in business, this book might not offer solutions to your most pressing problems, but it sure gives you an idea of where to look for wiser guidance and a larger perspective.
