[LRUG] Switching from solo contractor to being a development company

[Andrew Stewart]

On 17 Feb 2012, at 11:37, Sidu Ponnappa wrote:
> You don't have to get an MBA, but you do
> need to have a steady stream of books that you read and people that
> you learn from. The bare minimum I would recommend is getting a
> subscription to 'The Economist' and reading it religiously every week.

I disagree with this.  Reading The Economist might help if you are CEO of a multinational corporation but it's a waste of time for fledgling companies.  And if you read it religiously every week it will soak up a lot of time which could be much more usefully spent talking to your actual/prospective customers.

Don't get me wrong: I like The Economist and find it interesting; and it makes me feel clever.  But one day I realised I had read it week in, week out for ten years and it hadn't given me a single piece of actionable information for my business.

I believe the same applies to most business books.  They make you feel like you're achieving something but usually you aren't.

Cheers,
Andy Stewart
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http://airbladesoftware.com