Business on the Go

I have come to a point where I spend more money downloading audiobooks to my MP3 player than I spend on written books. Why? Portability is one factor; I can listen to books at the gym or when I have downtime at the office, not just in the car, where most audiobooks are heard.
Another advantage is that audiobooks, which are often narrated by their authors—e.g., Jack Welch’s Winning, or Tom Peters’ Re-imagine! Business Excel-lence in a Disruptive Age—can deliver their messages a lot more dynamically than in print.

Being able to listen to these books and others whenever it’s convenient for me has dramatically increased the number of business-related books I seek out. As a result, I feel far more informed about management ideas and new concepts in technology. For example, one of Welch’s books stressed the idea of regular employee reviews. Since implementing this concept at my company, I believe we have a better and more productive work environment. Employees know that their performance is regularly evaluated, which communicates to them where they stand with their peers and what improvements they need to make.

But let’s back up to explain the technology. Briefly, "MP3" describes the format of an audio file that can be stored and transferred. An MP3 file can be downloaded to your computer via a high-speed Internet connection and played directly from a computer or transferred to a portable MP3 player, such as Apple’s iPod or Microsoft’s Zune. (The iPod is different in that it converts files into an MP4 format before enabling the same results.) The file-transfer process is simple: Connect the cable that comes with the MP3 player to the USB port on your computer, and, in most cases, files can be transferred automatically.

To download a book you are interested in, you have to establish an account with a company that sells downloadable books over the Internet. Amazon.com, MP3Books.com, iTunes and Audible.com are good choices. I’ve had an account with Audible.com for many years, and I’m very comfortable with its ease of use and the way it interfaces with my iPod. It’s advertised as having more than 40,000 available books, newspapers, magazines and radio programs, and the service stores every book I’ve ever bought, which allows me to free up valuable hard-drive space on my computer or MP3 player. The single-book price is about $20; there are, however, monthly plans that can dramatically reduce the price of each book.

Although portability is the prime advantage of MP3 books over books on CD, there are far fewer MP3 books on the market. You might be able to upload books on CD to your MP3 player, however, depending on copyright laws. I’m not an expert on these matters, but it would follow that if you can upload your personal-music CDs to your MP3 player, you can upload your personal books on CD to the device as well.

Realizing that many employees today are likely to have an MP3 player, these audiobooks can be used as effective teaching and management tools. I have recommended to employees several such books filled with ideas we could implement, or that reinforce a direction I thought our company should go.

I have also found that in those cases where audiobooks were used to support such business initiatives, the implementation process was easier. To that end, managers might want to consider subsidizing the cost of online books in cases where the content is directly related to the business.

The players themselves are more expensive, of course, ranging from roughly $40 to $400. Best Buy and other electronics stores have a wide selection.

Good ideas somehow seem a lot better to employees when they come from an outside source. The MP3 audiobook can be that source.

Peter Seif has held senior positions in national communications companies and is now president of Synergy Networks.