COMPANY OF ONE

Sub-titled 'Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business', Paul Jarvis left the traditional world of business when he realised that devoting his days to a high-pressure, high-profile corporation was not his idea of success. He quickly discovered for himself the immense benefit of deliberately cutting out the outdated corporate hierarchy that constantly demands more productivity, more output and more annual growth. His book is a refreshing new approach to running a successful business that focusses on getting better rather than bigger. Jarvis shows how remaining small can provide the freedom to pursue more meaningful pleasures in life, and help you avoid the headaches that routinely arise in the day-to-day grind of a traditional growth-orientated business. Learn how to set up your business, determine your desired revenues, deal with an unexpected crisis, keep your key customers happy, and of course accomplish all of this on your own terms. His chapters cover what is required to lead, growing a company that doesn't grow, determining the right mindset, personality, scalable systems, teaching everything you know, utilising trust and scale, and the hidden value of relationships. He gives one example of the oldest continuously run hotel in the world, in existence for about 1,300 years (it opened its doors in AD705) which has been managed by 52 generations of the same family in the picturesque countryside of Japan's Yamanashi prefecture where the focus has been on customer service. Penguin paperback, 249pp.