Dillon Publications produced a special edition of Decision magazine to coincide with the 2008 Irish Management Institute (IMI) National Management Conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow. The the theme of this year’s conference was how Ireland can maintain a high performance economy and achieve sustainable business success.

In a double-spread article called “Extending the hinterland of the mind,” the magazine described Bookbuzz as a new Irish-born initiative aimed at getting managers to read beyond their immediate brief.

One of the issues raised in the article was the death of the book, questioning the wisdom of choosing a medium that many claim is dying. Yet despite Amazon’s Kindle ebook, despite Web 2.0, and despite open source publishing, the people at Bookbuzz are betting that we won’t give up our uniquely personal and sensual relationship with books quite yet. And, the article continued, while the role of information storage and reference previously filled by books is now being filled by the Internet, it is clear from Amazon and Oprah that books are still being promoted as colourful, life-enhancing companions.

Ron Immink, Bookbuzz co-founder and a man who combined a career in publishing with running DCU’s Invent centre for enterprise and innovation, is quoted as saying that the very people at the top of an organisation whose job is to make decisions about tomorrow, are too caught up trying to meet today’s deadlines. And because they are not immersed in the latest thinking, they are ill-equipped to come up with the new ideas that are the lifeblood of the organisation’s survival.

The article says that Bookbuzz believes it has a solution. Acknowledging that asking time-starved executives to read even the most articulate and groundbreaking business book is Mission Impossible, the company has developed a system that requires short and sharp interventions, with executives having to read only 50 pages of any given book.

Bookbuzz co-founder Yanky Fachler, (like Immink, a published business author), is quoted as saying that Bookbuzz uses books to unlock minds caught in a logjam of traffic congestion. “The key is not the book itself, but rather the excitement and fresh thinking generated by discussing the book. We deliberately choose titles that we believe will stimulate lively debate.

The article also highlighted the fact that management and executives alike point to an improvement in the quality of interaction among the participants in Bookbuzz facilitated sessions. Fachler claims that it is clear from the feedback that it’s as if participants are seeing their colleagues in a new light. Because executive decision-making is strictly off limits during the sessions, participants are able to focus on the person, not just on the role.

Bookbuzz is a corporate learning company that offers an exclusive platform where executives can explore fresh thinking and generate new business ideas – in good company. Bookbuzz was founded in the belief that the competitive edge of any company depends on the qualitative edge of senior executives responsible for building intellectual capital and developing thought leadership. The challenge facing time-pressured top people is that because they are often too busy to pick up a book, they are not being exposed to fresh thinking. Bookbuzz facilitated learning programmes offer a unique solution to this challenge.

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