Josiah Mackenzie

In 2006, I fully read over 70 business and personal development books; scanning dozens more. Some were exceptional, others worthless. Here is my list of the 5 must influential books I read and outlined.

(As you’ll notice, not all of them were published in 2006. This is simply a list of books I read this past year.)

#5 E-myth Mastery by Michael Gerber

Showed me that systems are what make an effective business.

#4 Purple Cow & Permission Marketing (Tie) by Seth Godin

These two books have been completely transformed the way I now approach marketing.

#3 Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (It’s All Small Stuff) by Richard Carlson

Richard really helped me put things into perspective and reduce stress in my life.

#2 Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

Keith’s superior approach to relationship building has changed the way I do business.

#1 A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink

Want to avoid failure in the future? Then reading - and applying - this book is absolutely essential. Daniel Pink has a very thorough understanding of current economic trends, and knows what you must do to succeed in the future marketplace.

Companies looking for profitable product ideas need to know that thousands of those ideas are available to them, free for the taking–if they establish a method to collect them. This article will discuss ways you, as the organization leader, can set up a system that causes a perpetual stream of valuable ideas to flow your way.

There are three primary groups of people that hold the majority of your best undiscovered ideas. By encouraging frequent communication with these people, you will be able to profit from their insight.

Group 1: Your Customers

These are the people using your product the most, and they are the ones with the most to gain from a product improvement. Put customer feedback forms everywhere you can. Encourage customer dialog by making it clear that you value their input, and will make any necessary change they suggest. Establish an incentive program. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship: they get more efficient products, and you get higher profits.

Open the idea floodgates by making it easy for your customers to get in touch with you.

Netflix recently did a great job of setting up an incentive program for its movie recommendation feature when it offered a prize of $1,000,000 to the person who could think of the best way to boost online movie rentals. This has the potential for outstanding success: with a prize that large, many will be interested in participating. By drawing many participants, Netflix improves the odds that the winning idea will earn them much more than 1 million dollars in profit.

Group 2: Your Employees

Since those working for you are in continual contact with your customers, they often can provide valuable insights into what people want the most. To get quality employee feedback, make it known that providers of ideas will not only see their ideas implemented, but will profit from ideas that profit the company. By doing this, you also retain people that would have otherwise left the company to form their own business.

Open the idea floodgates by making it easy for your employees to suggest new ideas.

Take a look at a story published this week by BusinessWeek. The Starbucks Loyalty Card was the brainchild of a Starbucks employee. Since its introduction in November 2001, the Loyalty Card has earned over 2 billion dollars for the company. Are you beginning to see the value of listening to your employees?

Group 3: Your Network

People with stake in your success, such as joint venture partners, can be another tremendous source of free ideas. Tap into your network and try to find these people. Spend time discussing your situation, and ask for their honest thoughts on what you’re doing right and wrong. Ask them how they think you could improve.

Open the idea floodgates by talking to people in your industry that are familiar with your situation.

As you work to grow your company, make sure you take advantage of these free ideas. All it takes is setting up some simple systems to collect the ideas, and then developing a process for turning the ideas into reality. It’s a small price to pay for the rewards you could receive.