Why do some products not become popular despite being products with great quality? How has knowing multiple languages remained important over the years? It has consistently been considered a significant skill in various aspects. And is it even possible to make strategic decisions in daily life? So let’s dive in and answer all one by one with these three book recommendations from Katrium.
Three book recommendations from Katrium 1: Being risky is better than being safe
What does this mean? The old ways are no longer working. One cannot continue to be guided by the P’s of successful marketing. These are Product, Pricing, Promotion, Positioning, Packaging, Pass-along, and Permission. It is necessary to add another P. This P is the Purple Cow. Can this really be true? The Purple Cow mentioned is the title of the first book in this list by Seth Godin.
Godin explains this by picturing an example of how regular cows through time of seeing them will become invisible, still a purple cow will always stick in one’s mind. In a few words, it drives to be remarkable and also risky.
One of the recommendations that he gives is to target a niche instead of a huge market and to find sneezers who spread an ideavirus, meaning the product or business; and more importantly, build the product around the brand perception that you want others to perceive.
The simple truth is that most of the time, a great product with poor marketing could lead to failure.
To know more about marketing efficiency, you could read our blog post that explains this topic in a more extensive way. “In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible (56).”
The main message lies in wondering ourselves what are we doing to stand out from the others? What is our purple cow?
Three book recommendations from Katrium 2: Since 2000 BC to this day
Have you wondered why Cleopatra was that successful? One of the keys for her strategic leadership was knowing several languages. What makes being multilingual so special? Basically, knowing more than one language offers you valuable insights into different cultures and ways of thinking, in terms of economics, it gives you the possibility to expand your business beyond the border and penetrate new markets since you are capable of understanding distinct cultures. Language + economics = Linguanomics is the second book by Gabrielle Hogan-Brun.
Throughout this book she explains languages in an economic, material and cultural sense; likewise she analyzes economic advantages as well as challenges of multilingualism in today’s globalized economy, how language skills could be considered as a form of human capital, yet also wonders if should there be a global lingua mundi.
But multilingualism is common these days, right? A survey made in November 2023 by the Statista Research Department, showed that on average, 37% of EU citizens can speak at least one foreign language, while 32% speak none.
If you want to learn more about multilingualism in the business world, check our blog post where we approach this topic a lot better. One thing for sure is that multilingualism promotes not only social cohesion and cultural understanding, but in addition creativity and cognitive development; more than that, it can lead to innovation and increased trade.
Three book recommendations from Katrium 3: Winning choices, is it possible?
Imagine this, your friend and you are suspected of committing a robbery together, both of you are isolated and urged to confess. You have to make a decision without knowing what your friend would do. The options are: (A)if both confess, both go to jail for five years; (B)if neither confesses, both go to jail for one year; and (C)if only one confesses, the one that does it goes free and the silent one goes to jail for 20 years. What decision benefits you the most? Think about this for a moment, no pressure there!
So, the best option is to confess, because you either go free or go to jail for five years which is much less than 20 years. Did you get it right? If not, don’t worry, Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff will help you to improve your decision-making with their book called Thinking Strategically. Both of them have studied economics and specialized in game theory, which is where the example comes from. Game theory is the science of strategy, through mathematics and logic attempts to secure the best outcomes of every “game”. This kind of thinking gives the reader a competitive mindset where it doesn’t only try to put him in other shoes but it demands him to consider making decisions in the long term.
Sounds good right? Well reading this book will improve your “strategy I.Q”, but not solve every question you might have. The best part? This book, besides the theory, has a lot of examples to practice so you can get better, not only for your business but for your daily life.
Discover growth with Katrium’s services and book recommendations
Did you find this article interesting? I hope you enjoyed it, and maybe give a chance to any of these books, or all of them! Now, it’s up to you if you want to improve some of the aspects mentioned. Lucky for you, in Katrium we can help you to upgrade your business and even more! You can check all of our services and see what suits you better, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
