Recalculating: 97+ Experts on Driving Small Business Growth

PR for People® Reviews:  BOOKS: By Barbara Lloyd McMichael

SPECIAL REVIEW!

Recalculating: 97+ Experts on Driving Small Business Growth – curated by Joann M. Laing

Information Strategies Inc. – 336 pp - $

A business plan is considered a basic building block of any company, but in today’s fast-changing business climate, it’s essential to be nimble, too. With that in mind, the publisher of Small Business Digest is now offering “Recalculating,” a collection of short articles that offer guidance on how to adapt successfully to changing circumstances as you grow your business.

   Business consultant JoAnn M. Laing collected expert advice and organized it into sections on leadership, finance, human capital, marketing/ sales, and operations/technology. In each chapter, you’ll find perspectives and strategies from CEOs, bankers and entrepreneurs.

   “Recalculating” won’t take the place of an MBA, but it does consolidate a lot of wisdom for business owners and managers who need to make adjustments while keeping their operations running. Whether you have questions about reputation management, cloud computing or due diligence – you’ll find pragmatic solutions in these pages.

    Laing does a fair job of anticipating the kinds of issues that are bound to arise. In the marketing section, she includes essays from professionals who advise on overcoming a negative Yelp review, or tapping into new marketing opportunities. Among the human resource topics you’ll find a couple of interesting pieces on hiring and managing Millennials. 

   But there are some gaps in the coverage. For example, only one piece covers the huge issue of how unconscious bias impacts hiring practices, marketing campaigns and customer service. In our increasingly diverse society, at a time when there is contentious discourse about racial inequity, this is a topic that cries out for more insight.

   Another article deals with employment and marijuana laws, but the author focuses almost entirely on medical marijuana and its potential impact on workplace performance. For businesses in states with legalized recreational marijuana use, that could open a new can of worms.

   Readers may have to wait for “Recalculating 2.0” for some of those topics, but there’s still plenty of substance in this iteration.

RECALCULATING will be released in early October. Stay tuned for more information!