A Gap? Can we extend books into actionable programs?

Books can be timeless. Especially some books that seem to keep maintaining or getting popular with time. This is especially hard to maintain in the growing discipline of management, but some do cut the mustard.

I have personally been in love with books for a very long time. The last 3+ years, I have been reading 2 books a week or 100 books a year. I read mostly non-fiction books and primarily management, self help books or autobiographies. I am terribly inspired by Bill Gates and his commentary on Gates Notes, I follow his style of highlighting, note taking and reviewing to make sure I have squeezed the juice out of the book.

What I find most exciting about such books is that they typically have 3 tracks:

• Inspirational story line where the author has treaded the unfamiliar path or has excelled in something outlandish or bold
• Method / Toolkit / Approach to the madness when looking back in retrospect that he/she argues can help the reader fulfill their dreams
• Lots of social proof (science, famous people vouching, companies using it etc) that this can actually work.

Why do successful entrepreneurs, athletes or researchers write books?

I am particularly fascinated by the driving force behind authors who are already successful as entrepreneurs, leaders, athletes or have come to the top in their profession. They have made money, found fame and have more to share by writing down their experience. Think of the co-founder of Nike Phil Knight or think of Lululemon’s founder Chip Wilson.

I am also fascinated by original thinkers, researchers who have dedicated their careers to find something that can shed light on what drives people, or helps them be their best version of themselves — be it at work, mindset / philosophy or anything that makes the human progress.

The driving force for these great people to write their book is to create a lasting impact — to help people become better versions of themselves.

Applying Negotiation principles from a wonderful book at work

I recently applied the Power of Negotiation as written by Chris Voss at work to get a client to pay 3x more than he initially estimated, but it took a lot of practice, watching videos, re-reading my highlights, preparing for this context of negotiation and visualizing every detail. That is applying the principles in the book properly — not just skimming through it and using what is convenient. And the effect was immediate. 3x to move the sum to a 6 digital number from a low 5 digit number is great ROI for a 14.99€ book and some hours of putting into practice. The person I was negotiating with said the following after our negotiations

”This was the best negotiation I have been a part of. Thank you for making me feel listened to and caring about our success”

I mean the guy paid 3x more than he originally intended to, but the books principles made both of us feel like it was a great result. Indeed, the book for me breaks new ground compared to the noise out there on how Negotiation “should be done”.

The Gap: Applying Principles from books into life

This whole process got me thinking hard on if there is a gap in the market.

1. Books are great to read, but are hard to apply in real life diligently
2. You can DIY the techniques yourself, watch YouTube Videos etc, but it is not convenient and miss a lot of elements to practice intentionally to make them part of your life

The question that I got stuck on is:

“Is there a way to help people live with higher quality by helping them apply time tested principles from great books and proven authors in their daily life?”

Or

“How do we make sure principles from your favorite books actually stick with you for a long time leading to meaningful impact?”

I believe this is the gap I see here:

• Taking the principles or methods from the books and making them into actionable tools or process. Think of Lean Startup here
• Creating a peer group where you can try and apply these principles in a safe environment to deliberately practice
• A time boxed period led by either the author or a certified trainer or coach who can hold you accountable to progress

Why should authors care?

For the authors, this could be a great way to extend their life philosophies into more impact. They could actually help people put their principles into action. I am sure Steve Blank and Eric Ries get a lot of happiness seeing the whole lean startup movement giving rise to a cottage industry of practioners, meet ups, events etc that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that changes the way people build products in small companies or enterprises. I think this is a wonderful example of how impact can look like for authors who have tested principles to share. Instead of the following:

• DO great shit > Pitch a book idea > Get A Publisher > Write the Book > Launch the Book > Do Tours & Signing > Do Speeches > END

I would like to add a few more steps before the end there.

• … Do Speeches > Design Courses & Programs > Record Videos > Train the trainers > Be on Skype & Coach > Make more revenues > Create more impact > END

Books into 2 day programs, boot camps etc with learning by doing approacbh

These programs depending on topic can be 2 days, weekend boot camps, over a period of 3 months or more where we help people learn by doing.

We know that listening 1 way is not going to help you apply these principles, but instead changing the learning curve to help people apply them by putting things into deliberate practise is what changes behaviour.

The topics can also be grouped into clusters such as future skills, skills at work, mindset to live happy etc.

We have a MVP going on with our friends from Blitzscaling currently. We also intend to get a few more authors to see if these programs can be designed and can create revenues + impact for everyone involved.

What do you think? Do I have a vision or am I hallucinating?