We have finally published the follow-on book to the first Dot Zen book in 2003 – Dot Zen 2.0!

As a publicist and journalist, one of the easiest ways to pen thoughts down quickly, is with a blog. I have been a blogger for a long time with only a short hiatus at one time. Writing casually on a blog is a great way to unwind, to crystalize thoughts, and to share ideas with like minds.

I was writing on my blog, inspired by the earlier success of our original paperback “Dot Zen,” exploring various management areas that are relevant to an owner–manager like myself, and perhaps many others like me, as well as departmental practitioners in larger corporations. These broad areas include strategic leadership, human capital and development, customer service, branding and reputation, sales, marketing, public relations, social, audiovisual and mobile media. I believe these can benefit fellow owner–managers and practitioners, as we journey on in an ever–changing, ever–evolving business environment that melds previously distinct areas together.

Unlike the first book, this second rendition goes more hands–on, with more field–proven and tested tips and tricks we explored and used in our work. We include QR codes you can scan with your smartphone or tablet’s camera to quickly surf and read the references, many of which we found useful and relevant.

Think of this book as a field and combat survival guide, something you scribble on, make “dog ears” on, and flip often. We hope you will use it often and show its battle scars of frequent use.

We live for the day, as life itself is transient and can change. We could be here today, and gone tomorrow. What is important is how we learn, adapt, and live to the fullest, contributing what we know and what we can to the fullest. The world can seem depressing when we choose to look at it that way, or the world can be exciting and stimulating to spur us on to greater heights and achieve greater things, when we choose to see its positives, and the positives we can bring to the world.

It is my sincere hope that we can all benefit from sharing our battle scars, our gray or white hairs, our tears, our laughter together. For we do not live alone, and we are part of a greater landscape, that each of us who is a single thread of distinctive designs, come together to form a complex and incredibly beautiful tapestry in life.

May your business journey be blessed with great joy, peace, strength and wisdom always.

NB: The articles have been heavily edited for the book and will differ from our online writings. Plus, the book is a 6-inch by 9-inch format, great for carrying around. 

The book has broad categories of topics:

Strategy and leadership
We discussed startup mentality, retiring products, the “last mover advantage”, marks of a true leader, the myth of uniqueness, and work ethics.

Human capital and development
We discussed recruiting the best marketing people, structured and unstructured learning, social media and recruitment, and sieving out toxic employees.

Customer service and sales
We discussed the prevention of lapses, customer service myths, managing and developing retail staffers, service failures and recovery, social media and customer service.

Branding and reputation
We discussed good brand names, packaging and industrial design, and brand journalism.

Marketing
We discussed marketing tips from pop sensations, strategies, analogies to art and paintings, optimizing paid, earned and owned media.

Public relations
We discussed the humanizing of brands, going beyond traditional PR, trends of PR, crisis prepardness and communication, and spokesperson development.

Social media and the Web
We discussed website optimization, content targeting, content development tips, graphics for the Web, responsive websites, building social media communities, business blogging, analytics, and owned media.

Mobile, video and audio
We discussed augmented reality and QR codes, video content, mobile apps, and video journalism.

Price: US$28.16. 254 pages. Shipping costs calculated separately.