Craig McIvor: There's plenty of help on the page - if you let the wisdom sink in

The business self-help book market is booming. A quick trip to the bookstore will show you an endless plethora of expert knowledge and experience.

Business owners, in search of quick fixes, are becoming the students of authors who stretch across wide cultural and geographic boundaries.

To quote Will Rogers: "There are three kinds of men, ones that learn by reading, a few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves." The attractiveness of this new global university is that it allows business owners to get valuable insights without having to undergo any painful experiences.

I am often asked what books to read that will help business owners in their quest to improve their situation. More often, though, owners want to know how they can remember all of the knowledge and information that they read and how to put it into practice.

Lets take Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point as an example. It is a treasure trove of stories that give wonderful insights into the psychology of consumers and how businesses have used different techniques to turn their businesses around. He posits that ideas, messages, products and behaviours spread in the same way that viruses do.

In one section of the book he talks about how social epidemics take hold with the help of a small percentage of the population who happen to have special skills. He mentions three types of people who influence the spread of new products and services. There are the "Connectors" who are people who have a skill in making friends and new acquaintances. Once they start to use new products, their large groups of acquaintances take note and start using the products themselves.

"Mavens" are information specialists who know about new products and prices and share this with others. When a new product arrives, they will usually have the product or know all about it and will help to guide others as to where to get it and its benefits. The third group are know as "Persuaders" or salesmen and they are key in getting people to buy the products once they have been convinced by other means.

How can this simple concept help your business? Well, many new businesses have used it to good effect to launch new products. They find a small number of Connectors, Mavens and Persuaders in the target market and get them to use their products. Very soon, through their contacts and their influence a large number of people start to take up the same product in the same way that a virus spreads. These companies have learned that just having a product in a store is no guarantee that the right sort of people will buy your products and the social viral effect will ensue.

Is it right for your products? Maybe, maybe not. But it is a technique that has its merits.

The problem with books of this type is that there are so many examples, and the book is so interesting that it is read within a few days - and within a short time much is forgotten. The question is how to convert something that is interesting into something of value to your business.

The trick is to read these types of books slowly - over a few weeks or even months.

Read a chapter and think about how its lessons apply to your business or your management style. Think about how it could be applied or why it may fail. This process allows you to remember more of the lessons and to start creating a database of situational business practices.

Once you decide that some technique or practice may have application in your business, it is important to be conscious of how things are integrated in practice. There is nothing worse than an "enlightened" leader who changes the deckchairs around every week after reading a new book.

First, think through the concept yourself. Second, try to get broad support for the new idea among your staff. Third, test out scenarios to make sure it will have a positive benefit. If you can't convince people that it is worth getting behind - and you have to say "Just do it!" - the reality is that your new fangled idea will be end up as simply fangled.

Reading is only one source of lessons. Business leaders can also draw on their own experiences as a customer or from their friends or family. Both positive and negative experiences can be used. If you have had a very positive experience as a customer, ask yourself what it was that made you feel this way. Is it worth applying the same techniques in your business? Maybe, maybe not. But it is another technique of merit for your database.

Next time you find yourself at the airport and you are searching for a good plane read, look for something that is a bit outside of your comfort zone. It doesn't have to be a business textbook per se, but something with business-like ideas or human behaviour concepts. It will probably test you in thinking outside of the square.

Who knows, you may end up implementing something that is so successful that someone may write about your experience in their book!

Craig McIvor is the managing director of Corporate Management Advice which assists businesses with growth strategies

www.managementadvice.org