Do any companies thrive through uncertainty, chaos and bad luck? If any do, is there something that they all do which explains why they thrive when others fail? If there is, is it a set of actions or decisions that are applicable for you in your business?

Here is the surprising answer to these three questions: Yes, yes and yes

Jim Collins has used his signature research methodology once again to produce a profoundly useful book that should be read by all. The approach is to take a huge body of information on large and well-known companies who have all thrived through a 30 years period which included booms, busts, changes in the regulatory environment, new competitors, viable alternatives and more. Then Collins and his team compared them to companies with very similar profiles, in the same industries, those who were inconsistent in their success or simply failed. Finally, they identify what the companies that thrived all had in common, that the comparison companies did not. The result is a reliable body of practical information which forms the basis of this book.

Find out more. Great by Choice, by Jim Collins

____________________

If you show staff appreciation in a way that they don't understand, they feel unappreciated.

According to the US Department of labour, 64% of Americans who leave their jobs say that they do so because they don't feel appreciated. Confirming this result other evidence suggests that the number one factor in job satisfaction is not the amount of pay received, but whether or not the individual feels appreciated and valued for the work they do. It appears that there is something deep within the human psyche that cries out for appreciation. Despite this, Gallup Research reports that almost 70% of the people in the United States say they receive no praise or recognition in the workplace.

In line with his Five Languages of Love, Gary Chapman shows that what makes one person feel appreciated does not make another person feel appreciated. There is confirmatory research that appreciation communicated globally across the organisation is not effective. For recognition and appreciation to be effective, it must be individualised.

An insight worth being reminded of at the beginning of the year. 5 Languages of Appreciation, by Gary Chapman

____________________

WHERE AND WHEN:

Michelangelo Hotel, Sandton Square, *_WEDNESDAY 1st February_* 7:45 a.m.
to 8:45 a.m. *__*

Please confirm your attendance or non-attendance by replying to this email or by calling 011 788-8903

Note: We charge you only what we are charged by the Hotel - which is now R 220.00 inclusive, so //invoices// are raised on your confirmation of attendance. /

We look forward to seeing you

Ian Mann

Gateways Business Book Breakfasts have been held every month from February through November for the past 16 years!

Jerry Wiessman is a veteran presentation coach

He has coached executives from the world's finest companies including Yahoo!, Intel, Intuit, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Dolby Labs, Netflix and many others.

In _Presentations in Action,_ Weissman offers 80 separate vignettes on presentations techniques with examples from masterful celebrities, politicians, and business people. The advice offered is sound and is offered in bite size chunks that are easy to digest and implement into your own speaking style. Why are some presentations dynamic, and others fall flat? If you had the answer none of yours would. This book reveals the dynamics behind effective presenting.

Being able to make an excellent presentation is important for so many reasons.

Yes, good ideas poorly presented do sound like poor ideas.

____________________

The Toa Te Ching (pronounced dow-da-jing) is the world's oldest leadership manual written to help anyone in a position of power to use that power wisely to create harmony, productivity and happiness.
According to legend it was written by Lao-tzu in the 6^th century BCE and has been brought to life by James Autry, a leadership consultant and the author of ten books.

The book, titled _Real Power,_ is an insightful translations of the Toa Te Ching's ancient wisdom into practical leadership lessons. It speaks to the heart as well as the mind with its enduring messages and inspiration. Through his simple and evocative comments on this ancient text, Autry shows how the workplace can be transformed from a source of stress into a source of creativity and joy and make work more fulfilling for all, leaders and staff. This is not the Pollyanna musings of another out-of-touch writer, Autry is a former Fortune 500 executive.

This is eminently practical. It is profoundly empowering.

Don't miss this breakfast, our last for 2011

____________________

WHERE AND WHEN:

Michelangelo Hotel, Sandton Square, *_WEDNESDAY 2th November_* 7:45 a.m.
to 8:45 a.m. *__*

Please confirm your attendance or non-attendance by replying to this email or by calling 011 788-8903/

Note: We charge you only what we are charged by the Hotel - which is now R 220.00 inclusive, so //invoices// are raised on your confirmation of attendance. /

We look forward to seeing you

Ian Mann

Gateways Business Book Breakfasts have been held every month from February through November for the past 16 years!

If you have profit responsibility in your business you have to hear this! Miss this one at your peril

It is called "The Mirror Test: Is your business really breathing?" In the middle ages doctors use the misting of a mirror to determine whether the patient was still breathing. The author describes 3 mirror tests, back to basics questions for businesses of any size to check whether they are in great health and growing, just surviving, or really dying.

Can you be looking good and rotting on the inside? Jim Collins (How the Mighty Fall,) proves you can be; Jonathan Byrnes (Islands of Profit in a Sea of Red Ink) shows why 40% of your business is unprofitable. What the Mirror Test does is make the problem very easy to grasp and the solution practical.

It's a Wall Street Journal bestseller, and Inc. Magazine rated it the best book of the year.

The Mirror Test, Jeffrey Hayzlett

____________________

Why does enduring success always have to start with failure?!

Managers are paid to solve problems, but the sheer complexity of the modern world makes getting any serious problem right first time almost impossible. Good ideas are suffocated by bureaucracy while bad practices and dangerous errors flourish

Harford draws important insights from a wide variety of contexts, from warfare to biological evolution to the process of business innovation. From these parables, he builds up a check-list of conditions that must be in place for good ideas to chase out bad ones - including the acceptance that serious problems can only be solved through a willingness to fail.

Tim Harford is an economist by training and an award-winning broadcaster of the consistently excellent programme, More or Less. He knows how to deal with complicated subjects in lay terms without sliding into patronising oversimplification. His solutions are clever and unexpected.

Adapt, Tim Harford

____________________

WHERE AND WHEN:

Michelangelo Hotel, Sandton Square, *_WEDNESDAY 7th September_* 7:45 a.m.
to 8:45 a.m. *__*

Please confirm your attendance or non-attendance by replying to this email or by calling 011 788-8903/

Note: We charge you only what we are charged by the Hotel - which is now R 220.00 inclusive, so //invoices// are raised on your confirmation of attendance. /

We look forward to seeing you

Ian Mann

Gateways Business Book Breakfasts have been held every month from February through November for the past 16 years!

Some simple insights into behavioural economics can add real value to your business

For example, HP general employees predicted annual sales patterns more accurately than the official forecasts six out of eight times. Companies as varied as AT&T, Electronic Arts, and Pitney Bowes are using experimental economics methods as an inexpensive tool for avoiding costly mistakes. There are correct and incorrect ways of leveraging reputation, reciprocity, trust and much more, all based on sound experimentation in behavioural economics.

The book explains how to put the science to work and the value of doing so.

_Secrets of the MoneyLab_, by Chen & Krakovsky__

____________________

All business decisions are grounded on beliefs about the economy, employees, and politics

Which changed the world more, the washing machine or the internet? Why are poor countries more (yes, more) entrepreneurial than rich ones? Why don't free-markets make poor countries rich? No, we are not in the post-industrial age.* *No, government should not stay out of business.
Why we are not smart enough to leave things to the market. And more.

Oxford economics professor, Chang challenges much of what we assume to be true with facts, insights and impeccable logic. You will be surprised, you will be informed, and you will have a fresh perspective on much of what you took for granted.

_23 things they don't tell you about Capitalism,_ by Ha-Joon Chang

____________________

WHERE AND WHEN:

Michelangelo Hotel, Sandton Square, *_WEDNESDAY 3^rd August_* 7:45 a.m.
to 8:45 a.m. *__*

Please confirm your attendance or non-attendance by replying to this email or by calling 011 788-8903/

Note: We charge you only what we are charged by the Hotel - which is now R 220.00 inclusive, so //invoices// are raised on your confirmation of attendance. /

We look forward to seeing you

Ian Mann

Gateways Business Book Breakfasts have been held every month from February through November for the past 16 years!

Imagine overhearing the dinner conversation of a group of CEO’s who know each other well and are talking frankly about their careers…

The book is the record of candid interviews with 70 CEO’s. The interviewer is a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and deputy national editor for the New York Times, and the former business editor of Newsweek. There is no shortage of airbrushed biographies of “outstanding CEOs” but this is different. It is filled with their insights, the hard lessons learned on the way up and the qualities they really value in others.  

Everyone in a leadership role should hear what they say – parts will confirm what you have thought, parts will challenge you, and parts will surprise you.     

Make a point of attending this breakfast or read this book…                        

The Corner Office, by Adam Bryant

____________________

The problem is rarely the quality of the strategy, it is almost always the quality of the execution.

The approach of this concise book is to focus on seven questions that will ensure the best implementation of your strategy. It is the result of Prof Simon’s 25 years of working with companies and his research.

The first two questions test whether you’ve built a strong foundation for strategy execution. The next two address your ability to focus everyone’s attention on your strategic agenda. Questions five and six ask whether you have done enough to facilitate the behaviours needed for success. The final question focuses on the future and your company’s ability to adapt to change. 

Find out more...

Seven Strategy Questions, by Robert Simon

____________________

WHERE AND WHEN:

Michelangelo Hotel, Sandton Square, WEDNESDAY 6th JULY  7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.

Please confirm your attendance or non-attendance by replying to this email or by calling 011 788-8903

Note: We charge you only what we are charged by the Hotel - which is now R 220.00 pp inclusive, so invoices are raised on your confirmation of attendance.

I look forward to seeing you again,

Ian Mann

Gateways Business Book Breakfasts have been held every month from February through November for the past 16 years!