We’re in the business of helping converters and suppliers do more business. Essentially, people in the packaging industry invest a little to get fresh eyes on an operation they know too well. I admire that. And I try to be open to the same thing. Other people are smart and they have their own approach, different experiences, perhaps they’ve thought of things we haven’t (no doubt). It’s not a personal matter, it’s a question of taking advantage of the resources available.
One of the (simplistic) ways I do this is through BookBub. A discount bookseller, if you haven’t come across them. They send you an email every morning with half a dozen books in sectors you predetermine.
I have never been a self-help guy, but on a Kindle in an airport or at night in bed for two bucks, I can surely give, say, Andy Grove of Intel, half an hour to tell me what mistakes he made, what lessons he’s learned.
Is Intel’s business the same as our clients? As ours? Largely, no. But reading his take on when they were going downhill and he and his partner sat around and asked themselves the question: What if we were fired? What would the new guy do? was instructive. (The answer being: The new guy wouldn’t be so attached to the products that made us great but are dragging us down now…).
Lesson learned: Even small companies need to ask (and answer) big questions.
Another example would be Michael Donaldson’s book on negotiation. Nothing revolutionary nothing that a smart guy (like you or me) hasn’t heard before, BUT he frames things in a simple example-based way that can help reduce the fog of the everyday into a far clearer landscape: What are we doing? What can we do better? What do we need to cut? What do we need to grow? How can we sell more labels? More presses?
Worth two dollars? No doubt.
The other side of the investment of course is choosing which of the titles to spend time on and being sufficiently harsh or bold to see your own operation from the outside, parse their lessons and apply them to your own situation. We can help with that as well.
These days I try to go to bed with wise men who’ve learned things. It’s worth the effort. And the two bucks.
All the best,