Jim Blythe - More Great Ideas a Day: 365 More Business Ideas for Each Day of the Year

How do you compete in todays global markets in a world of transformative technologies like the Internet? Management and leadership increasingly face a greater challenge to widen their range of skills to maximize their results.

This book is filled with ideas for every important aspect of running a business or accelerating your career, and takes into account the growing importance of digital strategy. Whether copied, adapted or used as a catalyst, the ideas will sharpen your skills in different areas,

Some are simple sometimes almost embarrassingly so while others are based on detailed research and brilliant intellect. Most are perennial, as their logic, simplicity or value will help them endure; while others are, to be honest, rather faddy. What unites these business ideas is their proven power and potency. They come from real companies and are not only insightful and useful but they have worked: often in a brilliant way or despite great adversity.

There will be ideas that strike a chord and you will be able to see how they can be used almost immediately; others prompt thought that leads to action and change, or they may have an underlying message that can be interpreted or adapted to suit the challenges you are facing. Some you may set aside for now. Whatever it is, do not reject an idea because it is from outside your industry or because it is shown as being used in a large company and you represent a small one (and vice versa).

Each idea is presented in a standard format and approach: a short description of the idea, followed by an example or two of how the idea was implemented previously, and then finally practical guidelines on making the idea work for you or your organisation. Each idea has been carefully researched and drawn from businesses and business people, past and present, from around the world. The criteria for selecting an idea are its impact, appeal and applicability.

As a result, the book provides a fascinating, stimulating, thoughtprovoking and practical guide to the world of great business ideas. We hope it will inspire and stimulate you to think about the way you do business; enable you to understand what makes a great business idea; and encourage you to adapt and implement some of the best concepts in business. Before embarking on the latter, it might be valuable to examine the guiding principles.

Having a great idea is one thing, making it succeed is quite another. Many brilliant ideas remain hidden because of poor execution, while others that should never get out of the focus group too often do. So, what are the rules when implementing great business ideas, where are the pitfalls and how can they be overcome?

Its useful to understand three guiding principles. First, implementing great ideas requires a balance between a big picture view and detailed planning, both are vital. Second, personal responsibility and flexibility are vital. Too often, people complain that circumstances have changed so it is not possible to implement the idea. This overlooks an eternal truth: the fact that things will always change. What matters is adopting a flexible, resourceful attitude. Its not what you know that matters, but how you react to what you do not know. Finally, there is no quick solution, no silver bullet or magic formula. Instead, success can be achieved with a few simple techniques and strong leadership.

One leadership skill that assumes special significance when implementing ideas is visioning. This means inspiring a sense of purpose and belief by communicating a simple, clear, compelling vision to those involved. This then provides a touchstone to guide decisions, focusing the way people think and work. Also, if people have a shared sense of purpose it is easier to initiate actions to achieve that purpose. Visioning is valuable because it promotes teamworking and consistency with everyone working towards the same goal.

A vision of how the idea will succeed needs to come from the leader and it should have several essential characteristics. It needs to be powerful, painting a clear picture of the future as well as exciting and inspiring people. It needs to be easily communicated, desirable and realistic. The vision needs to be specific and realworld enough to guide decision-making and, finally, it should also be adaptive: able to accommodate individual initiatives and flexible enough to allow for changing conditions.

You can get people to understand and support the vision by: communicating in an exciting and practical way, speaking positively so that people are intrigued, challenged and motivated. It also helps to be honest and open about your plans. Encourage people to see what the vision means for them and bring the vision to life, ideally with examples.

A great vision needs to be balanced with detailed planning and monitoring, proving the point that great leaders balance a big picture view with a detailed approach. So, dont leave things to chance, especially technology. Prepare a plan and set realistic and challenging goals that are specific, measurable and time-constrained. Also, look to achieve progress steadily and grow your idea; keep it simple, test and practice, rather than rushing things. Next, monitor and measure progress; remember that what gets measured gets managed. Finally, stay flexible and ready to make adjustments. The implementation plan needs to be capable of coping with changing circumstances. If it is too rigid or inflexible then it is likely to fail.

Another valuable technique is to manage risk and adopt a questioning approach. There are no downsides: questioning will help you be prepared for any eventuality, stay on track and build confidence. For example, consider: what could go wrong? Where are the risks and how are these being managed? Are we delivering the most valuable aspects of this idea? What adjustments do we need to make? Scenario planning is a great technique to help you understand the issues.

Questioning is also useful because it supports another useful technique: the need to develop empathy. Too many ideas fail because they dont view the innovation through the eyes of people outside the immediate implementation team. Empathy can be achieved by understanding different motivations and priorities; for example, consider how you and others might react or behave in certain situations.

Several specific leadership skills are also significant when implementing ideas. Its vital to build a strong team and then give that team energy, belief and focus. Leaders also need to be decisive, as well as managing and securing resources, encouraging creative thinking, communicating and providing feedback, managing performance and developing a no blame culture. All of these are prerequisites for a strong implementation team.

There are several practical steps that leaders can take to help new ideas succeed. For example, it is important to confront problems early and remove any constraints, such as bureaucracy, that block implementation. This shows determination, provides inspiration and helps set the pace. Also, support people: help them develop their skills and achieve their potential. This will help improve the quality of implementation as well as sustaining success.

The way people think affects the way that ideas are applied. For example, the status quo trap biases us towards maintaining the current situation even when better alternatives exist due to inertia or the potential loss of face if the current position was to change. The sunk-cost trap inclines us to perpetuate the mistakes of the past, because the investment involved makes abandonment of previous decisions unthinkable. The