Some people are naturally www.snapreads.com/books/who-moved-my-cheese-summary/ born leaders, but others will find the road to leadership a bit more rocky. Regardless of your personal situation, though, the right leadership book can have a profound effect on your life.
From Crucial Conversations to How to Win Friends and Influence People, you’ll find the best books on leadership that teach skills that can improve every aspect of your life.
1. Know Your Product or Service
Profit is the principal measure of your company's success. It is the only one that reflects the value of your company's products and services to customers. Therefore, it is important that managers and directors understand the importance of this metric.
According to Bob Fifer, a good manager knows his product or service inside out and tries to make the best of it. He explains that to increase profits, you must reduce non-strategic costs (i.e. all costs that don't generate profit clearly and directly) and eliminate waste in time, such as reading reports, statistics, and copies of letters.
Also, you must only offer your product the differentiating elements that your customers are willing to pay for.
2. Know Your Audience
Every author knows that knowing their audience is key to a successful book. However, few publishers take this knowledge to heart when they plan their marketing campaigns. This is a big mistake. Word-of-mouth recommendation drives $6 trillion in annual global spending and generates five times more sales than paid advertising.
To understand your audience, think about who they are and what problems they have that your book can help them solve. Then, imagine the exact person who you are writing the book for. Then, describe that person in detail, from their demographics (gender, age, education, and occupation) to their psychographics (their values, opinions, interests, and passions).
Once you have a clear picture of your audience, you can begin planning how you will reach them. One way is by using a platform that allows you to identify audiences that are receptive to your book’s genre. By doing this, you can start building a community of readers who are excited about your book’s release.
Another way to find your audience is by searching online for blogs and social media platforms that speak to your target audience. This will give you a sense of what topics your audience enjoys reading about and where they spend their time. You can also use an analytics tool like Audiense to discover shared brands, authors, and accounts among your audience.
It is important to remember that you need a small group of people to champion your book and spread the word about it. This is known as the “1,000 true fans” idea, which was coined by author Kevin Kelly. Focusing on this microtribe will help you make the most of your launch and ensure that your book sells.
3. Know Your Competition
In this book, author Bob Fifer talks about the importance of having a clear culture for your company. He explains that most companies define their mission in a vague and unclear way, which can cause confusion for employees. Fifer argues that the best way to establish a culture is through actions that yield good results. He says that the goal of every company should be to become the best in what it produces or sells. This can be accomplished by setting goals, establishing benchmarks, and focusing on product differentiation.
Another key to doubling your profit is knowing your competition. This can be done by analyzing the competition’s products and services, sales strategies, marketing tactics, and management techniques. Competition can cut profits by lowering prices and cutting costs. It can also improve profits by providing a better product, higher margins, and increased market share.
One of the most effective ways to increase profit is by increasing prices. This is because it’s easier and less costly than cutting costs. It’s also more appealing to customers since they will be paying for the increased profit.
4. Know Yourself
This book gathers insight, advice and philosophies from trailblazing visionaries like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and others. The author interviews these leaders to understand what makes them stand out from the pack and how their leadership has made a difference in their organizations and in the world.
This classic is a must read for any aspiring leader, whether in business or not. The author explains how to achieve success through a solid work ethic and a set of firm principles that will guide your life and career. Despite the fact that this book is over 100 years old, it remains one of the best books on leadership to date.
A savvy business leader knows that profit is the ultimate measure of performance and that the more profitable a company, the better it will be able to serve its customers. To maximize profits, the author identifies three levers that can be pulled: sales, costs and prices. Raising prices is the most effective and easiest way to double profit. It is cheaper than cutting costs and it is easier for the customer to swallow a small price increase than it is to cut spending on items they need.
To increase profits, reduce non-strategic costs by eliminating unneeded expenditures such as copies of letters, reports and statistics. Promote a competitive environment to lower supplier prices and focus on the cost of selling, which will result in higher profit margins. Lastly, ask scientists to rate the commercial potential of their R&D projects so that only those with high commercial value are funded.
5. Know Your Value
Many of the most successful leaders make reading a regular habit. Whether they get their information from weekly newsletters or physical books, turning reading into a daily practice helps them expand their knowledge and horizons.
Bob Fifer, a corporate financial advisor to Fortune 500 companies, writes in his book “Double Your Profits” that many entrepreneurs are unaware of the amount their company spends and how it reflects on profits. He emphasizes the importance of reducing non-strategic expenses and focusing on only those aspects of product and service differentiation that customers will pay for.
Aside from that, he advises cutting costs by eliminating reports and statistics that are not used in commercial decisions and encouraging scientists to rate the R&D projects they work on. He also suggests that a variation in compensation be introduced for salespeople to keep them focused on profit. The tried-and-true Dale Carnegie book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” is another leadership classic that can help you learn how to change others’ opinions without them feeling resentment.
