Better and Faster by Jeremy Gutsche

This highly competitive 'dog-eat-dog' world bankrupts any company or entrepreneur who fails to keep up with the times.  For example, Kodak didn't see a future for digital cameras and left the field open to competitiors.  Encyclopedia Brittanica thought that the home computer market was very small, so they didn't want to hurt their traditional method of selling.

In this book,  Jeremy Gutsche, the founder of Trend Hunter, discusses the three 'hunter instincts' - insatiability, curiosity, and willingness to destroy - and how you can use them to your advantage in business.  He lists all sorts of ways in which managers or budding entrepreneurs can do this, such as associating a product with something greater, discovering a narrowly defined niche, or having a pattern-obsessed mindset. He includes examples of companies and entrepreneurs who used these skills successfully.  One of the most interesting is the redirection of De Beers.  In the early twentieth century, demand for diamonds was plummeting and diamond engagement rings were uncommon, so De Beers hired a top New York advertising company who decided to associate diamonds with romance.  They wanted men to think that diamonds were a gift of love, and 'the larger and finer the diamond, the greater the expression of love'!

Jeremy Gutsche includes useful summaries at the end of each chapter.  This is especially helpful if you want to look something up quickly.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to get ahead in business!

I received this ebook from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.