| Kippreport.com

A business discussion with the author of ‘Connect The Dots’

December 3, 2012 3:15 by M. Aldalou

John Lincoln, Vice President of Marketing (Enterprise Segment) at UAE’s du and recently published author of business playbook “Connect The Dots” says that the book is his tribute to the tremendous spirit of the small and medium businesses that drive the world economy forward.

The book begins unusually at the end. The first chapter boldly plunges into the deep end and talks about the need to have an exit strategy. Know your exit before you take the bull by the horns, he writes. Every business has an end to it, one way or the other, and most entrepreneurs think they have a good idea but don’t consider their exit strategy.

Is your plan to fill a market gap and sell it off, do you plan to launch an IPO or keep it until retirement? The author stresses that – in either case – one needs to have a plan.

Lincoln addresses many of the regional issues as well as International business tactics. The book covers everything from price wars and marketing for women to forming the correct proposition and planning before you look for funding. It takes the reader through practical theories, stories, experiences and illustrations into why leadership is important, why more women should get into business, what makes a good manager and the art of segmentation among many other core strategies.

“The problem is that most companies operate with an opportunistic mindset when they should be carrying a strategic one,” he says. A lot of businesses are unable to ‘connect the dots’ and John says that this was the primary motive to write and spread his decades of acquired experience and knowledge to the region.

“I too did start my own business at one point,” he says. “And it failed miserably and I’ve learned a lot from it. I talk very openly and honestly about it in the book.”

Tags: business playbook, Connect The Dots, John Lincoln