The Business Devotional: An Unusual Business Book

The Business Devotional is a new book of inspirational thoughts on management, leadership and motivation by Lillian Hayes Martin.

This is an unusual business book.  As the title suggests, it gives the impression of being a prayer book of sorts — a “devotional” .

But instead of being about God and religious worship, it is all about business.  It is a collection of 365 readings intended to be read one each day, every day of the year.  (To understand more about the devotional format, read “What is a devotional?“)

Even the physical aspects of the book give the impression of a devotional.  It’s a sturdy cloth hardback of 370 pages, in sober navy blue.  It has an attached red-satin ribbon to use as a bookmark (when was the last time you got a book with one of those?).  That way, you can pick up where you left off easily.  The paper is thick, to stand up to daily use.  This is no cheap paperback that will be falling apart in six months.

Normally, we do not review books here unless we’ve read them cover to cover. But in this case I decided to make an exception, because this is a book with content you will want to take in short bites.  You will want to savor each day’s reading slowly … to internalize what you learn.

What This Book is About

Now, you’ve probably seen desk calendars that offer a business tip each day.  You may be thinking this is something like that.  But it’s not.  In those calendars you get super-short tips or a one- or two-sentence quote by someone famous.  The Business Devotional offers a lot more to think about.  It gives a one-page reading per day.  Yes, there’s a short quote by a famous person.  But then it goes on to use some point about that person’s life to teach you a business lesson.  And the lessons have the ring of being real-life — covering situations you likely would encounter in your work day.

The famous people quoted include the likes of Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, Zig Ziglar, Oprah Winfrey, Ayn Rand — even Queen Elizabeth I (the one from the 1600s — and yes the advice was relevant to today).

The topics covered are not random.  There is a theme for each day of the week:

• Monday – Motivation
• Tuesday – Team-Building
• Wednesday – Career
• Thursday – Sales
• Friday – Leadership
• Saturday – Entrepreneur
• Sunday – Managing People

Who This Book is Best For

This book can be for anyone in business, in any role.  It is relevant whether you run a small business or work as an employee in a large corporation.

The appeal of this book has less to do with where you work, your role or the size of the company — and much more to do with your personality type.  You see, this is a book for thinkers.  If you consider yourself something of a contemplative person — perhaps a deep thinker  — you will love this book.

Also, if you are given to self-development I suggest this book will appeal to you.  For instance, if you go in a book store and head directly for the self-improvement section, you are going to love this book.

You can find the book on Amazon.  With the holidays coming up it would make a great gift for someone you know.

Like a Free Copy?

I was surprised to receive in the mail not one, but two review copies of The Business Devotional.  So I will be happy to send one reader the extra copy.  If you’d like to win the extra book, enter a comment below completing this thought:  “The one thing I want to improve about my business in 2010 is ….”

I’ll hold a random drawing on December 11, 2009 to pick one person from the comment section, and mail the winner  the book.  Open to U.S. readers and those outside the United States also.

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