I joined over 50 of my colleagues and peers for the annual F+W Media business innovation summit last week. The meeting was in Fort Collins, Colorado, which allowed us to spend some more time with new colleagues from Interweave who joined the F+W Media Group last year.

I can only assume that other publishing and media companies have similar events? If they don’t, they should. Over two days we were taken through presentations on key areas of our business dispersed with break-out and discussion sessions. The summit was insightful, rewarding and practical and it really was a great (and smart) group of people to spend a few days with.

The meeting was opened by our CEO, David Nussbaum, who reflected on the changes in our business over the last 5 years. It’s amazing to consider how far we’ve come in that time. From essentially a print based publishing business as we were then, to a digitally led media business with new revenue lines, initiatives, products and audiences to sell to.

Above and beyond the presentation content, though, I was struch by how much the attendees wanted to contribute and help colleagues and peers. We’re a 500+ employee business and so sharing, learning and collaborating in this way is hugely valuable to all. I feel very lucky that we have this breadth of experience to draw on for our UK operation.

I came away with 100+ ideas for the F+W Media International business. From big strategic launch opportunities to tactical and specific improvements we can make to our day to day business. I know my team here are waiting on the to-do list from me and I’m looking forward to putting changes in place as a direct result.

Innovation is alive and well at F+W Media.

Does your company have a similar event? If so, what format does it take and does it work for you?

There are a lot of reasons why this difficult economic climate is a great time for starting a new business. For many would-be entrepreneurs it’s the loss of work or at least instability at work that is catalyst to go after a dream. Struggling companies closing or getting out of markets will create opportunity, while at the same time there are deals to be done on business costs. But there’s another reason that this is a great time for entrepreneurs.

In effect many medium to large businesses are now having to behave as if they were small start-ups and work out how they can be nimble, efficient and build relationships with customers in this way. Here are three key things that small and start-up businesses can do to get ahead of larger competitors:

Change the business model.
Many large organisations are having their fundamental business challenged. Whether it’s through free content on the web, mobile changes, social media, global threats or any number of trends, some of the most significant scale markets in the world look very different today than they did only a few years ago. A lean, hungry and dynamic start-up can rip into this and cause damage to established players to take market share and find opportunity. With no traditional business to protect, ask yourself how you can change your market or do something different to disrupt what a larger competitor is doing.

Speed to market.
Business has never moved faster and this can be challenging for larger organisations. Inter-department communication, meetings, approval processes and the typical red tape of a larger organisation are all barriers to speed that a start-up entrepreneur need not worry about. It’s much easier for a smaller business to spot an opportunity and go after it quickly, or if something isn’t working to pivot and change to respond to the market.

Voice, character and personality.
Read almost any advice on marketing in the social web, and you’ll be told to be yourself online, show your personality and build relationships. This is much easier for the small start-up, where the owner/manager is more often than not the person running social media accounts. It’s not impossible for large business, but with corporate accounts and marketing staff on payroll it can be much more difficult to inject this level of character and personality..

So I agree with those that say this is a great time for starting a small business not only for the opportunities this economy presents, but also the way that business has had to change which helps passionate and dedicated entrepreneurs build themselves.

The challenge for larger businesses is how to behave in this way, and ensure the processes that inevitably come with scale are working to allow them to deliver in these areas.

Another international football championship is over, with England once again departing early to the inevitable penalty shoot out. I caught a review of the tournament on the radio and it got me thinking what, if any, lessons there were for business to take from the tournament…

Have a strategy
Spain have won three international tournaments in a row playing a style of passing football that you could argue is changing the beautiful game. I don’t have a good enough football knowledge to compare this Spanish team to the all time great sides, but it does seem they are defining a method of playing that other countries have to adjust to. For all the beautiful football, they’re also strong in defence and didn’t concede a goal in the knock-out stage of the tournament.

Lesson: Have a strategic plan built on strong foundations.

Bring out the big guns
The Portugal vs Spain game finished 0-0 after extra time and so was decided on a penalty shoot out. Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best players in the world, was held back to take a later penalty but Portugal had lost before he even had the chance.

Lesson: Put your best people on your most important initiatives early.

Don’t write people off.
Arguably the player of the tournament, Andrea Pirlo, was released by AC Milan who believed his best football was behind him and he didn’t have the fitness to continue at that level. He stepped up Euro 2012 and tore into England and Germany.

Lesson: Take advantage of your experienced talent and don’t dismiss it.

Invest in youth.
It’s no coincidence that Barcelona have enjoyed domestic success during the same period that Spain have been dominating the world stage. With a great academy system and new talent coming through, Spain (and Barcelona) look likely to be threats for years to come.

Lesson: Have a pipeline of up and coming talent in your team you’re developing.

Don’t be afraid to stand still.
This is a tough one for me as I like to see new ideas all the time, but you can’t fault the study. A group of Iranian Economists conducted research into penalty shoot outs with the aim of determining the best strategy the goalkeeper should take. After analysing the data, the statistics showed that a goalkeeper would save more shots by simply standing still in the middle of the goal than diving to either side. So why do ‘keepers dive? It’s because they feel they have to be seen to be trying to save the shot – no-one ever gave the goalkeeper that lept one way or the other a hard time.

Lesson: Sometimes (just sometimes) standing still and observing is the right option.

There you have it, 5 business lessons from Euro 2012.

As a relative newcomer to the industry (I entered publishing in 2008), I’ve had a lot to learn about the book publishing process. This has been a fascinating journey for me, and one that’s by no means complete.

At the same time as learning the process, I’ve also spent significant time looking at how it needs to change so that we can better adapt to new opportunities. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but here are some fundamental principles that are and will continue to change in the book publishing process:

Frontlist and Backlist:
This concept will gradually reduce in relevance as the market moves away from the traditional trade to online business (either online sales of printed books or ebooks). It’s a concept rooted in the traditional model of high street stocking up of new titles. Instead, a marketing focus will take over with titles coming in and out of play relative to marketing campaigns and wider market trends.

Spring & Autumn Seasons:
The sales cycle will disappear, for the same reasons as above as it’s rooted in the traditional model. Publishing date will be based on the marketing focus.

Books vs content:
I’m sure already the case for many, but publishers will have multiple channels through which new content can be pushed and will be able to flex these according to the consumer and opportunity. A mix of printed books, ebooks, online content, apps and things we haven’t yet thought of will all be available to publishers as they consider a new content opportunity.

Size & format:
Aside from printed vs digital, the length of content will change towards shorter, succinct pieces that work better in the digital environment. Multiple bite size pieces will be sold digitally and will make up the content of one printed book. Video, audio and other media will become equally important in the content piece as text and image.

Jacket design:
The importance of jacket design will decrease, driven by the main purchase decision being made on the basis of discoverability (see below) and a small thumbnail image.

Meta data will become critical:
We’re already here really. Meta data is the sales tool of the digital world. Search optimized, evolving, rich, meta data will become the single most important marketing tool for any title. It will need to be organic, enhanced and updated to reflect the interests of the moment. Discoverability in digital stores will be absolutely key (but by then we’ll be calling it something different).

Some of these things are happening today, some are on the near horizon and some may take longer. Whatever the timeframe, we will need to become ever more adaptive as the parameters of our industry evolve.

What other changes to the traditional book publishing process would you highlight?

Image courtesy of David Reece under the creative commons licence.