EXECUTIVE;BOOK REVIEW
Better Business
Tips to drive innovation and build trusting relationships that
can spur success
by tereSa tobat
Two of the most important components of a successful business are innovation and trust. In this issue, we take a look at a title that exam- ines the innovative strategies of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. We
also review a book that lays out secrets to building trusting relationships
that ultimately help boost the bottom line.
Innovating to thrive
One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com by Richard
L. Brandt, Portfolio Hardcover, October 2011
From capitalizing on the then-untapped online book-selling marketplace to finding new market opportunities
in everything from groceries to e-readers, Amazon.com is
one of the must successful, innovative online companies.
Former Business Week correspondent Richard L. Brandt
aims to find out why. Brandt attributes the majority of the
online retailer’s success to founder and CEO Jeff Bezos,
Through numerous interviews with Amazon employees, competitors,
and observers, Brandt examines Bezos’ strategies and how he makes decisions. Taking cues from Bezos may strengthen any business and teach
leaders how to innovate to succeed.
Winning title
The Silverado Story: A
Memory-Care Culture Where
Love Is Greater Than Fear
(AJC Press, November 2010), featured in the
November/December issue of Assisted Living
Executive, was named the 2010 Los Angeles
Book Festival’s best business book.
Co-authored by Alzheimer’s futurists Stephen
Winner and Loren Shook, co-founder, CEO, and
president of Irvine, California-based Silverado
Senior Living, The Silverado Story details the care
practices the pair believes should form the core of
America’s response to the Alzheimer’s epidemic.
“We are honored that The Silverado Story has
been recognized,” Shook says. “We hope this
award will draw further attention to the need to
elevate care for those with memory impairment
alongside the ongoing efforts to develop prevention and cure measures.”
cultivating trust
The Trust Edge: How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results,
Deeper Relationships, and a Stronger Bottom Line by
David Horsager, Summerside Press, September 2011
In a people-centered business like senior living, solid,
trusting relationships are key to helping business blossom. But building trust takes time and strategy. In this
book, business strategist David Horsager, whose list of
clients includes FedEx, Wells Fargo, and American Express, provides readers with practical tools to cultivate
trust and also repair trust that has been lost.
Each chapter outlines a step-by-step guide to strengthen what Horsager
considers to be the eight pillars of trust. Horsager also offers self-evaluations
to help readers measure their own trust aptitude.
By improving trust, businesses stand to gain tremendously. Research
shows that companies with high trust levels outperform companies with low
trust by 186 percent, supporting the author’s theory that trust, not money,
is the true currency of business. ❏
Read a Great Book Lately?
Then let us know about it! Senior Living Executive is earching for execs to review books related to senior living. If you’re interested, please mail ttobat@alfa.org.
