Book Description

A Strategic Boot Camp for Leadership Development "David Dotlich has worked with top management of the best companies to deliver Action Learning programs for over fifteen years. His insights into how leaders develop and his experience as a coach and executive are captured in this excellent book." --Arnold Kanarick, executive president and chief human resources officer, The Limited Plug into a dynamic leadership development process custom made for today?s rapidly changing, technology-driven business environment. Unlike traditional classroom-style programs, Action Learning engages managers in emotionally intense, team-oriented experiences that directly address the immediate strategic needs of the organization. Here, authors Dotlich and Noel detail the many Action Learning sessions they?ve conducted at Shell, Ameritech, Citibank, and other leading corporations that have used Action Learning to quickly and successfully implement a variety of tactical and quantum change initiatives. Readers benefit from a clearly defined framework they can use to construct an Action Learning program of their own--a program that gives companies the power to re-create themselves by first re-creating their leaders. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Action Reading
For over the past hundred years there has been the debate over whether leadership is a competency that can be trained and fostered or whether it is an innate skill that individuals are born with. Dotlich and Noel add fuel to that fire as they assert that there is a mechanism called Action Learning that can create within organizations the necessary shifts in attitudes and behaviors at the leadership level for substantial organizational renewal. Action Learning, simply stated, is fostered experiential learning. In that there is nothing new here. What is new, however, is the way in which Dotlich and Noel have created a "whole body" syllabus for organizations that includes key learning activities that are tied to business objectives.

Where many leadership programs are deficient is in tying key attitudes, behaviors, and competencies into key business situations. Making the learning relevant and urgent is the key. The tie between learning and business application must be more than cognitive. It has to be an experience that includes intellect, emotion, risk, feedback, and reflection. "When we are fully engaged in a process, we are much more likely to be profoundly influenced by it." The way in which Action Learning creates this engagement is through tackling a significant business issue with people from cross-functions within an organization. The context of the book is the demonstration of the Action Learning principles as they were applied by Dotlich and Noel on several organizations going through major transformation. Some of the richest scenarios come from Citibank's challenge to become unified in how it approached business, General Electrics mandate to become global thinkers, and Johnson & Johnson's need to upgrade and develop executive talent here and abroad. Each of these industries utilized the Action Learning framework to tackle the necessary changes brought on by the complexity of today's business.

The term framework is intentionally as there is no template for this process. Action Learning is pliable, versatile, and malleable in order for it to flex to the urgent needs of the business. What makes up this framework is consistent. Action Learning is comprised of a process that selects key issues, creates cross-functional teams, designs presentations, and involves senior management. The time frame for this process can span nine weeks to nine months. In the process the individuals are given key assignments, attend specific seminars and learning events, and have a dedicated coach and sponsor. The sponsor is the key ingredient that ensures Action Learning success. The sponsor is the senior executive who endorses Action Learning and creates an atmosphere affirming the process and creates a top-down awareness of what's at stake for the business not address the key issues. The dedicated external coach offers the second key ingredient-reflection and feedback. In the midst of chaos-business today, there is often little time for individuals to reflect upon actions taken and impact of those actions. The coach observes individual and team dynamics and offers key questions for awareness and reflection. Some of the most powerful questions include:
Is your team on the right track?
Will your project make a significant difference in cutting costs or raising revenues?
Have you made any breakthroughs?

Through Action Learning, Dotlich and Noel claim that leaders in organizations can re-create that frames of reference in order to more effectively adjust to emerging business issues and are more effective leaders. They have identified ten contrasting mindsets that illustrate the gap between traditional leadership and re-created leadership. These include:
ü Providing direction versus providing directions.
ü Owners versus mangers.
ü What might be versus what is.
ü Involvement versus isolation.
ü Generalist versus functionalist.
ü Reflection versus doing.
ü Emotion versus intellect.
ü Faith versus skepticism.
ü Receptive versus rejecting.
ü Free speech versus censorship.

Re-created leadership that is realized through the Action Learning process enables leaders to be more agile and responsive to employees, customers, ideas, and opportunities. I recommend this book for anyone who is responsible for business strategy, anyone who is leads a cross functional team, and anyone who participates in curriculum design. The Action Learning framework and the accompanying scenarios offer ideas, important key questions, and a context for personal and organizational success.

Great approach to an important subject
The authors have done well in this book. They show the importance of leader development, as well as how easy it is to get you and your organization pointed in the right direction. As a trainer, I know that the principles discussed are valid and implementable.

Also recommend a book we use in our leader development program that has scored high with our managers and well-received by our top execs: ""The Leader's Guide: 15 Essential Skills.""

Dumbed down for the average reader
The book contains really basic information that is not a new revelation. For a better book on the subject read "Action Learning in Action: Transforming Problems and People for World-Class Organizational Learning"; Michael J. Marquardt. Marquardt's is slightly better and provides better real life examples.

Good content, but what's new?
This is a terrific book if you have no idea how best to train people in a corporate environment. But if you do, then this book is old news. The ideas and concepts are absolutely right, but unfortunately the authors try to imply they invented this method and no one else has ever done it. I currently work for a training company, and we have used all of these techniques for years. In fact, many of the authors' examples are over 10 years old. On the other hand, let me repeat that the authors' educational techniques are right. But they never went into enough detail to really tell a company how to do it themselves. I wonder why? They need to tone down the sales job. At the end of the book, I wanted to get an unlisted telephone number to keep them from calling to sell me Action Learning techniques.

How to change mindsets/organizations¿the ongoing challenge
Unlike traditional leadership development, this approachimmerses executives in a process of change; learning-by-doing in acontrolled environment. Based on experiences of major corporations, the authors present a model of action learning and show how it has been applied. Action learning is tied to organizational change and building new mindsets-the ongoing challenge in today's hyper-competitive global economy. The process is also issue-focused. This book shows how to test and use this enormously valuable process. Recommended readings are provided. A worthy contribution to leadership and organization development. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall....
Ruthless Execution

Ignore this book's somewhat overheated title and concentrate on Hartman's core concepts which he develops with meticulous care. He suggests a number of strategies and tactics by which business leaders can respond effectively when they encounter what Hartman calls the "rude awakening that occurs when a company has enjoyed consistently high-level performance, but comes up against some new factor: a downward turn in the economy, a lack of product innovation, growth that occurs too rapidly, a missed market opportunity, or as is most often the case, ineffective execution." Hartman organizes his material within five Parts which consist of a total of 12 individual chapters: Managing Through Tough Times, Leadership: Dealing with Rude Awakenings, How to Play the Game, Breaking Through the Wall, and What It All Means. The focus of Hartman's book is on "business reversals and the need to shepherd business leaders through those reversals because, quite frankly, corporations are passing through a new, more complex, more worrying age. The long and short of it is that it's far more difficult to be a successful business leader today than ever before."

The statistics support Hartman's last observation. In 2001, for example, 257 public companies (with a total of $258 billion in assets) declared bankruptcy. In 2002, another 67 did so. Go back even further to the 43 companies which Peters and Waterman quite properly praised in In Search of Excellence (1982). Most no longer qualify according to the criteria by which they were selected...and several do not exist at all. Scary? You bet.

In Chapter 8, Hartman offers a "Ruthless Execution Checklist" which can be of substantial value to all organizations, regardless of size or nature:

1. Do you have a cost and working capital management program that is driven through the business?

[NOTE: For small companies, the more appropriate question is "Is there a sound reason for the expenditure of each hour and each dollar?"]

2. Do you have a proactive and disciplined approach to identifying and assessing potential acquisitions and divestitures?

[NOTE: For small companies, the more appropriate question is "What should you add to what you now offer? What should you eliminate?"]

3. Do you regularly assess whether the corporate center is adding distinctive value to each business unit?

[NOTE: For small companies, the more appropriate question is "Does everything you do add value to each customer relationship?"]

4. Do you effectively and swiftly manage out non-performers?

[NOTE: Extensive research indicates that, on average, each mishire costs 24 times her or his annual salary. Hire slowly but fire FAST.]

Most organizations now face serious challenges. Many of those organizations will not survive. For their decision-makers, what to do? To his credit, Hartman does not propose a series of specific (one size fits all) answers to that question. Rather, in the final chapter, he includes a "Ruthless Execution Index" with instructions as to how to use it. It remains for each reader to provide correct responses to the 54 statements which comprise the "Index." Once this exercise has been completed, the far greater challenge -- obviously -- is to take appropriate action. Hartman can assist with that process. I also recommend a careful reading of Bossidy and Charan's Execution, Hammer's The Agenda, Collins' Good to Great, and Kaplan and Norton's The Strategy-Focused Organization.

Familiar stories, great execution strategies
What do you do if your company has been a high performer but then hits the wall? The economy may have slowed down, your product innovation has dropped off, growth has been too fast, or execution has been ineffective. According to Amir Hartman, what your company needs is ruthless execution (a term Hartman coined with John Sifonis while working with Hewlett-Packard). This consists of the method and strategies that Hartman's research suggests business leaders have employed to break through performance walls.

Ruthless execution consists of strategies organized into three categories: leadership, governance, and critical capabilities, each of which contains several practices. Hartman does not guarantee success in breaking through the wall if you use any of these strategies. But these approaches are common to those who have succeeded in the past and were used in the order presented in the book.

When troubled or uncertain times arrive, leaders typically but fruitlessly adopt either the "Run-and-Gun strategy" or the "Slash-and-Burn" strategy. According to Hartman, a third approach of ruthless execution works far better for most business leaders. In this book, he has no interest in identifying the major causes of companies hitting the wall. No matter what the cause it is an inability to focus and execute that is at the core of the problem.

By studying a diverse set of industries and companies of all sizes, using surveys, company documents, research reports, publicly available financial data (10-Ks), and interviews with key business leaders, Hartman believes he has discovered the practices used by those companies who succeeded in breaking through the wall. Much of the book consists of overviews of these efforts, many of them familiar to business readers, including Jack Welch's time at GE, Louis Gerstner's turnaround of IBM, Larry Bossidy's famous execution at Honeywell, along with Baxter, Novartis, and Cisco.

Ruthless execution proceeds through the stages of leadership, governance, and critical capabilities. The first part of the leadership aspect is strategic recalibration: the act of validating the direction and focus a company is going to take. This involves rearranging the portfolio of business initiatives (Hartman offers four rules for portfolio management), assessing how resources are allocated to initiatives, and setting a course while finding a healthy balance between performance and growth efforts.

After strategic recalibration, the second leadership practice is devising a business philosophy. Hartman prefers "business philosophy" to "organizational culture" because a culture may endure over generations but he is referring to the view that comes from the top and typically is identified with the CEO. He holds up Jack Welch as exemplifying the creation and promulgation of a business philosophy.

The second part of ruthless execution is governance. This consists of: Accountability - using a set of "alignment" strategies; Performance management system - using a small number of critical financial, strategic, and operating metrics (10 principles are offered); Discipline - communicating messages that are consistent, straightforward, and easily comprehended.

The final part of ruthless execution is critical capabilities: These are the specific actions that executives drive to break through the wall. They are the three critical skills and delivery capabilities with which business leaders need to be equipped: Productivity management - cost and working capital management, productivity management inc. technology-driven productivity improvement (which is aimed at optimizing, reconstructing, inventing and for which Hartman outlines six principles); Talent management - hiring the best talent and getting rid of underperformers; Focused corporate transactions - mergers and acquisitions, and divestitures.

The final chapter introduces a Ruthless Execution Index intended to help executives who want to understand where to improve their ruthless execution. While some executives will find much of the material familiar, the book gathers and organizes many aspects of the execution so vital to continuing and recapturing success.

Waste of money!
Ruthless Execution is a simplistic view of leadership 101 topics. If your company needs this to break through the wall, you have much deeper problems. It seems that Mr Hartman is trying to write to the uneducated or non-professional. Don't waste your money!

Practical and Insightful, a Must for Business Execs
Too often business books fall into one of two categories: 1) the kind that provides practical information but is lacking any kind of new insight, or, 2) the kind that's packed with new ideas but is painfully short on actionable info you can really put to use.

Ruthless Execution by Amir Hartman is that rarest of business books that delivers the best of both worlds: It's loaded with new ideas and fresh insights, yet throughout the author firmly grounds his working philosophy in practical tools and proven methodologies for getting the job done.

Let's face it: Even the best-managed companies hit a wall at some point. Ruthless Execution spells out a proven framework for swiftly analyzing your strategic options in a rigorous and thorough manner. As any veteran of the business world knows, strategic recalibration is a challenge that's easier said than done. This book explains how it's done.

Great stuff. Hugely helpful to any company that needs to take a good, hard analytical look at which initiatives they should nurture, and which they should kill in order to get back on track.

Are you Ruthless? A must read for all leaders!
Are you Ruthless? A must read for all business leaders!

This could not have come at a better time. Hartman clearly articulates the methods and strategies on how to recover after hitting performance walls. Ruthless Execution dives into this described methodology within each chapter developing itself into a comprehensive workplan for success.

As a former military officer, the major obstacles that I faced when entering the corporate world were the lack of focus, discipline and accountability within the corporate framework or organization. I applaud Hartman's approach to tackling these problems head on. As he states, leaders must be proactive, focused, disciplined and held personally accountable for all respective successes and/or failures.

These are just a few points that I will file into my business tool kit. Additional points to file will include Ruthless Execution Principles (leadership, governance, and critical capabilities), The Ruthless Execution Checklist, Case Studies and Interviews with some of the top business leaders (Jack Welch, John Chambers, and Lou Gerstner), and the Performance Portfolio Framework.

Special Note: For all military officers exiting the military, this is a must read.

Outstanding! ... Read more

Book Description

Knowledge has become the most important factor in economic life.It is the chief ingredient of what we buy and sell, the raw material with which we work. Intellectual capital--not natural resources, machinery, or even financial capital--has become the one indispensable asset of corporations.

Intellectual Capital is a groundbreaking book, visionary in scope and immediately practical in application.It offers powerful new ways of looking at what companies do and how to lead them.This is the first book to show how to turn the untapped, unmapped knowledge of an organization into its greatest competitive weapon.It reveals how to unlock the value of hidden assets; how to find them in the talent of a company's people, the loyalty of its customers, and the collective knowledge embodied in an organization's culture, systems, and processes.And it shows how to manage these vital assets--which until now have largely been ignored.

Dazzling in its ability to make conceptual sense of the economic revolution we are living through, Intellectual Capital cuts through the vague rhetoric of "paradigm shifts" to show how the Information Age economy really works--and how to make it work for you and your business.

Thomas A. Stewart is an award-winning member of the board of editors of Fortunemagazine.He pioneered the field of intellectual capital in a series of landmark articles that earned him an international reputation as the chief expert on the subject.The Planning Forum called him "the leading proponent of knowledge management in the business press," and Business Intelligence, a British research group, gave him a special award for his outstanding contributions to the field.He lives in Manhattan. ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Understanding Blue's Clues for Success
The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. Mr. Gladwell, in a very well written and compelling book, has changed the way we think about the root-cause of social epidemics, mob "psychology," and institutional growth.

Through clear examples and studies of well known and familiar marketing "phenomenon," we come to realize that we often misdiagnose both our successes and our failures when it comes to understanding why certain social changes stick. We are given the "real analysis" of why Blue's Clues and Sesame Street are great successes while other more deliberate attempts at "hooking" our children on educational TV failed. We find out why the New York City crime rate was drastically reduced by cleaning up graffiti on the trains and arresting the squeegee men at the toll booths. More importantly, we learn how to challenge the status quo in our ideas of why products and services might take off or fail in our business and non-profit organizations.

We also learn why growing an organization from 100 people to 150 people presents no difficulty, but growing that same organization from 150 to 200 is all but doomed to fail. Mr. Gladwell explains why context matters in our quest to understand the social trends around us. And we learn why telling medical students to rush makes them calloused citizens despite their normally compassionate tendencies. All of this information is important to those of us working to grow our institutions and manage our company cultures. Change management is doomed to fail without a deep understanding of the "Tipping Point" as clearly and eloquently explained in this excellent book by Malcolm Gladwell. This is a must read for anyone serious about understanding why little things can make a very, very big difference!

Jumping Off Point Into Intellectual Capital
As an occassional reader of business literature and a new convert to the importance of knowledge management, I found Stewart's book a wonderful introduction to this important organizational management strategy.

I immediately found myself thinking of ways to apply the various forms of intellectual capital (human, structural and customer)to my work in higher education.In fact, Stewart's work provided important insights that proved helpful to my doctoral dissertation on higher education/business partnerships.

Admittedly, there is little here in terms of practical strategies for applying the ideas in the marketplace.However, it does encourage those who are interested in the topic to pursue more in depth and practical works on the subject of knowledge management.

Stewart treats us all like children
I started reading this book with the best intentions.However, when Stewart begins with such kindergarten level assertations, I knew as a Business student, there was no point in continuing reading this book.Stewart, a Fortune Editor, has no business training: he is a Harvard English major, and this is clearly shown in his work.If one reads his fortune articles, they are equally poorly written with bad information.I would suggest that one spend their money on better Management authors such as Jon Katzenbach or Peter Drucker, both of whom actually have a clue.

Intellectual Capital : No Longer A Blurred Term
It is my great pleasure to write a review for this important book. Over past years a lot of book investigating "the value of human resource as a competitive advantage" in organizations was published but none of them explained us what human resource and value mean in the larger context of competition, what are practical ways to use of this very competitive resource on behalf of the organization. I herald that this book gives the absolute framework we need for a new and comprehensive study on intellectual capital.

According to Stewart, Intellectual Capital is consisted of three interconnected parts, namely, Human Capital, Structural Capital and Customer Capital. Human Capital means the knowledge and skill level of corporate personnel. If an organization has a personnel inventory whose knowledge and skills are vital in the long-run, the first part of the capital forms a strong base to capitalize on. The other part of Intellectual capital, Customer Capital, means that organization is producing value for its customers and accordingly custemers have a strong loyalty to the company. The last part of Intellectual capital is Structural capital which connects Human Capital and Customer Capital to each other. Organizations need structural systems to use human resource in order to meet customers' needs and wants in a more effective way which other companies can not imitate without incurring high costs and time loss.

You will find a lot of living examples intended to make these abstract concepts understandable to readers who are accomodated to hear many pop-ups regarding human capital and its value. Overall, I strongly recommend with five stars.

provides framework for better understanding knowledge assets
The author defines intellectual capital, its characteristics that are different from physical property, and the implications. He provides data to show increasing relative value of knowledge over physical property. He discusses identifying and nurturing knowledge assets that support your company's core competence and competitive advantage. Three categories of intellectual capital were discussed: personnel talent, structural / environmental / process / system framework, and customer relationships. An interesting model to quantify the value of customer relationships / brand / competitive advantage has been presented. This can be useful for investors analyzing companies with substantial intangible assets. Four stars because the book has not made a difference in my life, yet ... ... Read more

Book Description

Here are the practical, proactive tools managers need to get a handle on today's best change management strategies and ensure the success of their business improvement and turnaround efforts. Each of the change management strategies spelled out in this guide is firmly grounded in the extensive experience of Coopers & Lybrand, a Big 6 consulting firm with a dedicated change mangement practice. Each one has been company-tested in such organizations as Agway, New York Life, Prudential Direct, and the Office of Naval Intelligence. The result? Comprehensive analysis of the global changes confronting today's business leaders. Plus proven strategies for managing major change, creating an organizational culture conductive to change, and leading change effectively. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A useful, handy & concise reference book.
A very useful book especially if you are a change agent within your corporation. In relatively short and sharp chapters, the three authors address key issues in managing change. The underlying theme that change is all about people comes out relatively clearly. Though the book is based on much of Coopers & Lybrand's approach to change management, the first six chapters are fairly generic. By learning from the Coopers & Lybrand's experiences , you can craft your appropriate change strategy for your particular situation and circumstances. Recommended reading for all those involved in managing change and transition at the workplace.

An important contribution
An important contribution to a critical subject. Change management consulting often suffers from "hack" approaches. Whether change can in fact be managed is another issue. ... Read more

Book Description

For the 30 million business partners and co-owners, the essential guide for building, launching, and sustaining successful ventures.

In The Partnership Charter, psychologist and business mediation expert David Gage offers a comprehensive guide to the art of establishing and maintaining a business partnership. The centerpiece of his approach is the Partnership Charter, a document that clearly outlines the goals, expectations, responsibilities, and relationships of the principals. The charter identifies potential sources of conflict and how they will be resolved, while addressing such sensitive issues as personal styles, values, money, and power. Illustrating every principle through engaging stories drawn from Gage's front-line experience consulting to business partners, as well as interviews with the founding partners of such successful businesses as Progressive Insurance Company and Manpower, Inc., The Partnership Charter dispels common myths and presents a practical framework for launching, building, and sustaining a thriving business partnership. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Even a company that dramatically improves its efficiency and product quality can fail miserably. Peter G. W. Keen names this phenomenon the "process paradox," a modern industrial problem that he deconstructs and defeats in his book The Process Edge. The basis of business acumen is common sense, Keen reminds us, but it must be combined with a rigor that measures pure worth. Processes--not only in customer service and quality assurance, but in larger, abstract notions such as acquisition and cultural initiatives--need to be approached in this basic manner. Using a broad, multidisciplinary approach (Keen was an English literature major in college but has since taught management science at Stanford and MIT), he immerses the theory of business processes in an economic bath, refining previously overlooked processes and debunking "magical" ones. Methods that businesses institute, after proving advantageous, can still build in value, and then must be incorporated into the entire business strategy. Keen substantiates his points with real-life cases and examples, from Dell and IBM to Wal-Mart and Boeing. Managers who wish to examine their businesses holistically and within sound theory will appreciate The Process Edge, but it will prove most valuable to managers who need to enact change now. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

The Process Edge
Excellent overview and approach to project selection for business process improvement.Clear and original thinking on the matrix and balance sheet approach to process definition.Little detail however on what to do once the targeted areas are identified.Good companion to Good To Great by Collins (with similar levels of implementation detail).

"Keen" Insight into Process Improvement
Most improvement programs struggle with the project selection process.Mr Keen provides an interesting approach in identifying processes where improvement offers the greatest impact to the organization.There is also intriguing discussion contrasting benefits and value.This is a nice thought provoking book for folks tasked with identifying improvement opportunities in any organization.

Thought Provoking!
Keen excels at extending the definition of processes and providing a structured Salience/Worth matrix approach of thinking about them.An important read for developing an understanding of processes and their role.

Exceptional value! Replaces your TQM & Reengineering books.
The inability to understand the value of business processes is the pitfall of many reengineering projects especially in IT.Internalizing this book will certainly contribute to your future projects.A must in any businessmanagement library.

Poor follow through
The book raises some interesting issues (treating processes as capital, using EVA) but ultimately falls short somehow.The author points out that there are more processes than just the traditional workflow ones, but his examples are all of workflow processes.He never talks about succession planning processes or employee retention processes.The first few chapters were interesting but the rest was more or less useless. ... Read more

Book Description

This hands-on guide--for planning, diagnosing, implementing, and evaluating organization development interventions--gives scientifically based information, tools, suggestions, and guidelines for those who must manage the human side of change.

In Organization Development, leading experts and pioneers:

Book Description

A Groundbreaking Work on the Theory and Practice of Organizational Change

Organizational change may well be the most oft-repeated and widely embraced term in all of corporate America-but it is also the least understood. The proof is in the numbers: Nearly two-thirds of all change efforts fail, and they carry with them huge human and economic tolls. Lacking any overarching paradigm for change, executives of large, underperforming organizations have been left with little guidance in how to choose the strategies that will lead them to sustained success.

In Breaking the Code of Change, editors Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria provide a crucial starting point on the journey toward unlocking our understanding of organizational change. The book is based on a dynamic debate attended by the leading lights in the field-including scholars, consultants, and CEOs who have led successful transformations-and presents a series of articles, written by these experts, that collectively address the question: How can change be managed effectively?

Beer and Nohria organize the book around two dominant, yet opposing, theories of change-one based on the creation of economic value (Theory E), and the other on building organizational capabilities for the long haul (Theory O). Structured in an unusual and engaging point-counterpoint style, the book enlists the reader directly in the debate, providing a comprehensive overview of the strengths and weaknesses of each theory along every dimension of the change process-from motivation to leadership to compensation issues.

The editors argue that the key to solving the paradox of change lies not in choosing between the two processes, but in integrating them. They identify the crucial considerations leaders must make in selecting strategies that satisfy shareholders and develop lasting organizational capabilities. With a groundbreaking conceptual framework applicable to established corporations and small organizations alike, Breaking the Code of Change is a unique and authoritative contribution to academic research and management practice on the process of organizational change.

... Read more

Reviews (4)

Human factor and business
Human factor and business
Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria's have present a framework toward as an integrative theory of change. Theory E has as its purpose the creation of economic value, often expressed as shareholder value. Its focus is on formal strong hierarchy structure and systems. It is driven from the top down with extensive help from consultants and financial incentives. There's know room the creative managers. You must agreed to the objects (make and keep the shareholders happiest man in town no matter what) that the top commands and demands.

Theory O has as its purpose the development of the organization's human capability to implement strategy and to learn from actions taken about the effectiveness of changes made. Its focus is on the development of a high-commitment culture. Its means consist of high involvement, and consultants and incentives are relied on far less to drive change. Change is emergent, less planned and programmatic. Here there's know place for silos but teamwork and personal development.

Resolving the Tension between Theory E and O
It is vary tempting if you find a business model that can boots the business finance, there's a big chance that you will follow that lead. But this can turn out on the short run well for the business and especially for the shareholders. But on the long run this have a great deal of stress on the employers by taken the human factor out of the workspace, and make the workplace a money machine. The authors argue strategies that works only on behave of the shareholders will not survive in the long run. To solve this problem one must look further than the shareholders and deeper than the business objectives (theory O). There must be a cultural transformation. Everyone must work for the same goal and not draining the gaol for the sake of the CEO. To make the cultural transformation, there will be more benefits to the organization in the long run. Finally this will create a win-win situation for the organization employees and the shareholders.

Even in the change literature are changing. In breaking the code of change the authors have may very well suggest that the old change agents like Weick, Pettigrew, Bennis, Argyris have lost contact whit the reality, they don't have the vision, the energy.
They are not change agents but organization development that help curtain organization to function within the circumstances under the economic situation of that particular moment. At the end of the book Beer and Nohria conclude that these agents didn't succeed to break the code of change.

The interesting thing is when you look at the company's the authors consider that make the loop from good to great, you will be surprise if you think that the good to great company's are IBM, Microsoft, Enron, Shell, well not anymore if you're, if you're looking for the company's that embodied the leadership that make the loop from good to great. Don't look for the company's that appear on the front page, or the company's that make the news. But look around the corner. My advise study this book, search for the human factor, and make your notes and act according to your vision. You may be surprise how in the smallest things you can be the one that turns things around from good to great. Good study material for organization consultants, HRM and MBA's.

Finally--clear reasons about what works and what doesn't
When I read this book, I felt that I had been missing the obvious for a long time. The authors provide an explanation about why most of the changes in organizations don't work, whether they are Theory E or Theory O, and how you can combine the two for meaningful and effective results. Their work is based on lots of experience and for me they finally explained what the problem is--and what to do about it. As a change agent, this book gave me great new thinking with which to practice my craft.

A thoughtful, no hype, solid content book
I have just finished reading this book and have been rewarded, as a "change" practitioner, this book adds real value in bringing the streams of change together. It is rare when I read a book on the subject and find it rewarding, enhancing what I do at the coal face. No, quick fix recipes but a thoughtful, well constructed set of ideas that do justice to this complex subject. I would reccomend this book to those who want to get beyond "listmania" and into some real thinking of what is involved in the dynamics of change.

A Must, If You Do Not Wish To Get Lost Between HH.RR & OD
Mike Beer has been for some time now clarifying the issues involved in Corporate Cultures, Human Capital, and Organizational Change. In this recent book Dr. Beer has done what SHOULD have been done decades ago: Linking several fields by providing useful Framework. This book synthesizes fields "apparently" diverse such as: Organizational Design with People & Team Profiling with Organizational Profiling and Human Dynamics. It is a precise, concise, extremely effective, and much needed book. ... Read more

Book Description

Large Group Interventions presents a comprehensive overview of twelve of the most powerful methods of large group interventions in use today. This comprehensive guide describes the methods' origins, explores their differences and similarities, and presents vivid examples and case studies of each intervention method in action. Bring together as many as two thousand employees and customers in one location for activities as diverse as creating future direction, restructuring the organization, solving problems, and generating new ideas.

Large Group Interventions covers: **A brief history of large group interventions **The search conference **Real-time strategic change **Participative design **Large group dynamics Large Group Interventions is the first and only book to present and compare different large group intervention methods and describe the situations and conditions under which each might be used. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Best Single Resource on Using Groups to Make Change
Think of this as a reference work on major strategies for making change in organizations. Bunker and Alban give clear overviews of well-tested methods at three levels: strategic planning, smaller group level, and individual job level.

At the strategic level, for example, you can compare Future Search, Search Conference, Real Time Strategic Change and other approaches to help decide which might best suit a specific situation.

Bunker and Alban also provide references on each approach, so you can get more specific information.

My only complaint is that there should probably be a revised edition one of these days to keep up with new resources.

Excellent book for practioner and "lay" person alike
Although parts of this book are aimed at the practioner, Bunker and Alban are so clear and straightforward in theory and example that their book is invaluable for anyone committed to innovative, effective organizational learning and growth. ... Read more

Book Description

"Teams that embrace bold goals and breakthrough strategies can accomplish remarkable results. This book will be invaluable to anyone embarking on that path."
– Bart Butzer
Executive Vice President, Target Corporation

"Yellow’s continued industry leadership will result in large part from embracing Bill Davidson’s philosophy and approach."
– Bill Zollars
CEO, Yellow Corporation

"Strategic change is a high-risk, high-returnproposition. Davidson’s framework provides a sure, firm foundation for success."
– Roger MacFarlane
CEO, UTi Worldwide

"This is a serious piece of work which should be required reading for all business leaders. If you plan on remaining or becoming number one in your industry, have your top management team read this right away."
– Bob Herson
CEO, Executive Focus International, Inc.

"I could not put it down–stunning insights into corporate strategy and tactics."
– Randall Lunn
General Partner, Palomar Ventures ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Breakthrough
Breakthrough is an outstanding book. Davidson gives first-hand experiences with numerous successful breakthrough companies and synthesizes practical principles on how to craft and achieve the "Outrageous Objectives" of your company's next success cycle. I disagree with the reader below. While Good to Great is also an excellent book, Breakthrough provides deeper insights into the essential ingredients of breakthrough and gives more valuable, real world examples to illustrate them.

Breakthrough
This book contains an extraordinary amount of very valuable material in a short and readable format. There are several new ideas in here that capture critical emerging trends in management. The idea of enterprise strategy, and the leadership model that goes with it, is a key, contrarian take on what works in the world of business. The depth of research underlying the
book gives great weight to what might otherwise be dismissed because it challenges our prevailing assumptions. There are many

powerful examples descibed in detail, and the author brings you inside a number of fascinating organizations, with a close-up, real-time view of leaders in action. There are also two very useful frameworks - one for strategy formulation includes some new thinking on the difference between segments, niches and mainstsream markets that sheds new light on strategic positioning. The author summarizes the experience of dozens of successful breakthrough companies in an AIM, Ready, Fire framework that captures their best practices. The final chapter on leadership also gives new thoughts on what it takes to lead a breakthrough company.

Ho-hum stuff
I disagree with the reader below who says it's the next Good to Great, one of the all-time best business books (my copy is totally dog eared, and I loan it out all the time). I didn't find anything new in this book, and I worked at two of the companies the author "studied" in his research. I say there's no need for a new Good to Great (it's timeless, in my opinion) and certainly no need for an also-ran like this one.

The Next "Good to Great"
Former Dartmouth and USC Business professor Bill Davidson has written a fascinating and lively book about businesses that reach that elusive next level of success.
Based on a 10-year study of more than 30 "breakthrough" companies, Davidson shows how remarkable companies prosper buy setting bold, outrageous "breakthrough" strategies and go after them with a vengeance and singular passion.
A great book - a blueprint for the next 10 years of business. ... Read more

Book Description

Acclaim for The Six-Month Fix

"Finally: a turnaround guide that explains the nontrivial difference between those who work for debtors and those who work for shareholders, and gives readers a peek at why most turnaround guys should not stay for long."
–– John Carrington, Chairman and CEO, WebSense

"Too many celebrate financial victory; too few dig into business tragedy. Ultimate success comes from saving the disasters, and this book tells exactly how."
–– Craig McCaw, Chairman, Nextel

"A solid turnaround guide from one who’s been there."
–– Peter Ueberroth, Chairman, Contrarian Fund

"Hard-hitting, practical thrusts."
–– Philip Thurston, Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School

"Winning basics for sports, war, or business."
–– Don Drobny, Partner, Perot Systems

"Uncommon, in-your-face thinking that resurrects business."
–– Carole Rhoades, Vice President, Seaport Ventures

"Powerful. I reread it on trips."
–– Allan Shaw, Executive Director, MS Society

"Executives must read this."
–– Martha Demski, VP and CFO, Vical

... Read more

Reviews (10)

Scariest Book You'll Ever Read....If You're a Struggling CEO
Wow, what a book!!

As Mr. Sutton says in the introduction, "If you're the CEO of a struggling business, let's hope we never meet...." Ominous words indeed. The book is much more than that however, it contains a wealth of information and "how to's" even if your business isn't in trouble. Told with humor, bravado and balls - this is a book that everyone in business needs to read today.

Hurray Mr. Sutton, we need more leaders like you.

A Turnaround MBA in 290 Pages
There is big difference in 20 years of experience and one year of experience twenty times.Sutton?s experience is worth far more than the number of years he has invested. He writes in a lighthearted style for such a serious subject as business turnarounds, that makes this an easy but powerful read.

With success in reversing the dismal fortunes of several companies in a variety of industries, the author gives a sharp insight in how to correct it in your company and better yet how to avoid it altogether. A quick glance at the table of contents will load you with ideas for improvement for any company.

Some ideas are obvious and simplistic- "Eliminate Sex", "Attack Drugs and Alcohol" and "Fight Politics", for example. Most of the examples, however, are valuable and brief. Some ideas challenge the obvious: "Downgrade Education?", "Reverse Discriminate" and "Cash Makes You Stupid."

This is a good book to have on your shelf to scan for ideas to improve your business. A straight read will be a great checklist for weaknesses in your organization that can come back to hurt you later.

For those business rookies fresh with the theories about how business is supposed to work, here is a great source to show you how it really works in the world of obstacles.

A smart man learns from his mistakes, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. There are plenty of blunders here to learn from. But you can also learn how to fix them.

First Source for Turning Finances Around
The first place you should turn when your business or personal finances are in trouble is this book. Next, follow the advice and stop the hemorrhaging. Gary Sutton is a hard nosed genius you will emulate if you want to save what's impotant to you.

Pleasantly Surprising
I did a quick web search on Gary Sutton and found very little info about him other than in the Teledesic episode. At least what he said about himself is true: he does not self-aggrandize. His track record seems genuine so I gave the book a shot. The book turned out to be quite fun to read. Sutton packaged his valuable experiences into 60+ chapters of easy-to-remember sound bites. Some of the advices are real gems.

All this and without insulting your intelligence (unlike those E-Myth/Rich Dad junk). This book may be about fixing troubled companies, but the advice here can probably be applied to startups as well.

Guts, Creativity and the Bottom Line
Gary Sutton does a wonderful job of writing a book that is an education on turning around companies in distress (the right way) and fun to read at the same time.

It is clear to me that becoming a turnaround CEO can be fun but requires a relentless attention to the bottom line, a lot of creativity and most of all the guts to do what you know is right.

Even if your not a CEO looking into turn arounds the book is a great read with lots of interesting (and frightening?) anecdotes. I recommend this book to anyone that finds the business world interesting. ... Read more

Book Description

Must reading for academics and executives alike. Leading business scholar Chris Argyris helps readers understand why individuals and organizations are unable to learn from their action, then presents the steps that must be taken to change.

... Read more

Reviews (2)

Another attempt for racionality behind human behavior
I must confess I do not have psychological background. From my humble point of view, all books like this, look at "the good and rational background" of people. They have the premise that all the staff is doing their best but "strange forces" makes them not to get the optimum for the organization. So, the goal is overcoming those refraining forces. I do believe that behavior of people is headed for their own rational interest which is not always the best for the company. In adition, we are looking for rationality in behavior which is only part of the truth. Is not envy, jealousy, narrow-minded, stuborness and so on, part of human being behavior?. without them, we only have part of the great picture and so, remedies will not work properly. Apart from that, the book is well organized and explains clearly the models the author is working with and the methodology used. Premises are strong and goals interested which lead to good results (provided human being were not as they are).

The one book to read on ending office politices
Argyris cuts to the heart of why organizations go wrong with a combination of passion and precision. Several authors who have written about effective teams and organizations such as Peter Senge and Gerald (Jerry) Weinberg regard Argyris's work quite highly, and rightly so. While other authors talk about and round the problems and issues, Argyris creates models which show not just what people do, but how they think. Other books in the field of Organizational Design that I have looked at appear dry as dust next to Argris. Readers should be cautioned, however, that Argyris is a academic and researcher -- reading his books requires work, but work well worth the effort. - Cortlandt Wilson, Software Consultan ... Read more

Book Description

Ricardo Semler thinks that companies ought to put employee freedom and satisfaction ahead of corporate goals.

Imagine a company where employees set their own hours; where there are no offices, no job titles, no business plans; where employees get to endorse or veto any new venture; where kids are encouraged to run the halls; and where the CEO lets other people make nearly all the decisions. This company—Semco—actually exists, and despite a seeming recipe for chaos, its revenues have grown from $35 million to $160 million in the last six years.It has virtually no staff turnover, and there are no signs that its growth will stop any time soon.

How did Semco become wildly successful despite breaking many of the commonly accepted laws of business? In The Seven-Day Weekend, Ricardo Semler shows that for those willing to take a chance, there is a better way to run a workplace. He explains how the technology that was supposed to make life easier—laptops, cell phones, e-mail, pagers—has in fact stolen free time and destroyed the traditional nine-to-five workday.But this can be a good thing—if you have the freedom to get your job done on your own terms and to blend your work life and personal life with enthusiasm and creative energy.Smart bosses will eventually realize that you might be most productive if you work on Sunday afternoon, play golf on Monday morning, go to a movie onTuesday afternoon, and watch your child play soccer on Thursday.

This is a radical book that will challenge the business world to make the seven-day weekend a reality. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

work and life balance
Semler has downloaded from the brains of so many successful entrepeneurs the key to balancing life and work. People live and people work. People do not need to loathe work or be treated like idiots to operate in the work place. Treat people like adults and afford them adult decision oportunities and they will shine and make you money.

Corporate America has alot to learn and Semler is ready and eager to teach. Start down the road to learning who you are as a successful business person and person by reading "The Seven -Day Weekend." People in control of their lives will self-create, self-improve and self-manage.

A management Nirvana with no HRM BS...
Many would see what Ricardo Semler describes as a sort of nirvana but I've seen a similar model work in practice in a manufacturing company, two years into a WCM re-engineering initiative. It does and can work but does require management to think differently. As an management analyst/writer, what I found most fascinating, was Mr. Semlers views on the future of the human resource management role within organisations - it must disappear! I have always considered HRM to be a red herring in Modern management adding little or nothing to organisational success but being a major BY-PRODUCT of that same success. Does it lag or Lead? Lag, I believe. My first book 'In Search of Competence' touches on this, while my second is entirely based on HRM. Good book, some very interesting management ideas. (...) ... Read more

Book Description

Empower Your Business to Succeed by Learning

?How Organizations Learn gets to the practicalities and realities of organizational learning. This is not a fad; it's the outline of effectiveness for organzations of the future.?

?Parick Canavan, corporate vice president and director of global leadership & organization development, Motorola

In this essential volume, authors DiBella and Nevis outline exactly what it means to be a learning organization. And they offer sound advice on how to increase the learning capabilties of your own company. Here you will discover a powerful array of tools and techniques for leveraging your organization's unique learning style, as well as a productive framework that will help your company learn more fully and adapt more quickly in today's volatile marketplace. A practical fusion of theory, original research, and real-world methodology, How Organizations Learn is the most comprehensive work to date concerning this all-important competitive advantage.

... Read more

Reviews (3)

Change through learning
There are many books on the change process but few address the learning that must occur by those who are changed. DiBella and Nevis provide a tool for you to analyze the learning capability of your organization, as well as to help you identify those learning leverage points that need to be tweaked for the organization to achieve its goals.

An Organizational Learning Model That Makes Sense
In my quest to learn about organizational learning, I have probably read the majority of what has been written on this topic. I have found this book by Anthony DiBella and Edwin Nevis to be the most useful in providing insights to capacity development while building on some solid theoretical foundations.

The authors build on the work of giants in organizational development, but their approach is considerably more pragmatic, consistent with the movement of organizational theorists to link their work to practice. They describe the importance of involved leadership and provide examples of how that would look. They note the difficulty of linking specific outcomes to learning inputs, because of the time lags that exist. They note that "learning itself becomes transparent over time, and we fail to recognize what we have learned or accomplished" (DiBella & Nevis, 1998, p. 199). Another feature is the acknowledgment that leadership is not vested in a single individual but rather "is exhibited both vertically and horizontally throughout any organization" (p. 76), a view that is espoused by enlightened leadership writers and valued by employees around the world.

They present organizational learning as a learning cycle, consistent with the beliefs of other theorists and practitioners. By using the learning cycle as a foundation, the authors set up a model of organizational learning as a continuous process, similar to continuous quality improvement processes or the widely recognized experiential learning model of David Kolb.

The authors respond to an identified need for tools to measure organizational learning and offer a variety of methods by which organizations can be analyzed and improved. Their model is grounded in theory, but it offers tools for translating the theory into organizational practice.

In addition to providing a meaningful model, describing organizational learning styles, and identifying facilitating factors (those factors that could be changed to enhance organizational learning capacity), the authors offer practical advice on how to enhance the factors that contribute to more productive organizational learning.

The DiBella/Nevis model is the most concrete and complete of all of the organizational learning resources reviewed. Unlike most of the writings about organizational learning, there is a research base, a research tool, and guidance on planning organizational interventions.

Their model makes sense with what we understand about learning. It also makes sense with what we know about the way organizations work. And helping organizations learn makes sense for individuals and society.

Director of the Center for Learning, Northwestern Michigan College

In-depth, practical, best book on learning organizations!
I am an organization consultant and have found DiBella and Nevis's book very useful. For instance, they provide a practical framework for assessing learning in teams. This book lacks the usual faddish gibberish surrounding learning organizations. I believe this book is significant, particularly for trainers and consultants. I chose this book to review in-depth for Training Media Review magazine. Solid, useful conceptual presentation. ... Read more

Book Description

The most difficult questions facing organizations today do not have scientifically or mathematically provable solutions. Many answers that do exist depend upon time and circumstance. Systems Architecting of Organizations: Why Eagles Can't Swim tackles a very difficult dilemma: how do even highly respected organizations maintain their vaunted excellence, accommodate the new world of global communications, transportation, economics and multinational security, and still survive against stiff competition already in place? As they are finding out, depending upon the circumstances, the demands of excellence on the one hand, and of change on the other, can be cruelly irreconcilable. This book does not just describe business strengths and weaknesses. First, it identifies potential weaknesses, then offers guidelines and insights to address them. Its approach is architectural and heuristic. Second, this book is about maintaining success in a dynamic world, not about achieving it in a static one; few are clear on what to do and not to do in the face of major change. Systems Architecting of Organizations: Why Eagles Can't Swim helps professionals gain new perspectives when reviewing their own organizations and to see problems and opportunities previously not apparent. Features ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Author comments on the motivations for writing the book
Systems architecting has been shown in two earlier books not only to exist but to be key to successful systems and product lines. Fellow executives asked for a comparable book addressing organizations as systems, which they clearly are, and especially for applicable insights for dealing with the nonquantifiable issues confronting both executives and professionals in a drastically changed international and technological world. Good organizations were failing, disappearing, being merged, consolidating or expanding, succeeding or failing -- for reasons they couldn't fathom. The book shows what,why, how, and when, folowed by insights on how to deal with them. It represents the technical management experience of seven, now retired, chief executives representing 15 major organizations, public and private, military and commercial. To the author's, publisher's and associates' knowledge it is as unprecedented as the dilemmas now faced by executives and professionals today. ... Read more

Book Description

Transform your organization!
To truly transform your organization, you must learn to transform your own mindset. Beyond Change Management-the only book specifically about the interaction of leadership style, mindset, and the change process-revolutionizes leaders' approach to transformational change. Shattering the myth that transformation can be managed, this book-part of the Practicing OD Series--offers you new directions and ways of thinking and behaving that are essential for successful change. Its unique approach brings organization development (OD) into the mainstream of leaders' approaches to change, expanding and integrating the fields of OD, leadership, change management, and consciousness. You'll also get:
* ready-to-use worksheets
* questionnaires
guidelines "Powerful business solutions to the current chaos facing many organizations today. Dean Anderson and Linda Ackerman Anderson get to the heart of change, the human touch, by using timeless techniques and tools."
--Ken Blanchard, coauthor, The One Minute Manager and Gung Ho!
"The authors combine their keen observations, sharp insights, and open hearts to produce towering works that will stand as lasting contributions to leadership and organization development. . . .[t]hey guide us along a path of personal discovery so that we may have the strength of spirit to risk the creation of more meaningful organizations."
--Jim Kouzes, coauthor, The Leadership Challenge and Encouraging the Hear ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Best Ever
Rarely are leadership books so practical. Beyond Change Management is chucked full of ideas that you can put to use immediately. Linda and Dean get to the heart of what it takes to make real change happen. They're masters at offering easy to grasp solutions for busy leaders. In this rich book are a million dollars worth of consulting ideas!

This Is The Real Thing . . .
I've been studying the ground-breaking work of these authors throughout my entire career. My expectations were high . . . and they were met in spades. This is no "airplane" read, it's The Real Thing, a comprehensive field guide for planning & executing transformational change. Packed with Case Study references, Application Tools, powerful Consulting Questions - -everything you need to go about the real work of implementing change. Thank You Ackerman / Anderson !!!

BCM -- how to write 236 pages without saying a word!
I chose 1 star only because "0 stars" was not an option. I had to use this book in a Master's course -- therefore, the professor had a captive audience in making his class read this book -- I would not recommend this book to anyone!!

The Ackermans are real heavy in theory and very light in real-world application throughout the text. This book reminds me of authors who recycle information just to get published or justify another addition.

Furthermore, very few orginal ideas are presented in this book. It is mostly borderline plagarism of Situational Leadership and work by Edgar Schein.

I'd get kicked out of school for cheating if I handed in a paper along the lines of this book... in the real-world though, the Ackermans are making money off of it -- go figure!

Chock full of good stuff
Every now and then, a book comes along that begs to be read. Beyond Change Management and its companion piece, The Change Leader's Roadmap, are two such books. In an easy to read style, the authors, Dean Anderson and Linda Ackerman-Anderson, have wonderfully elucidated the key principles of organizational transformation. Every leader of an organization seeking to transform the context, culture, and quality of their organization need to be familiar with these principles.

Based on my 20 years of experience helping organizations transform, I know first hand that the process of transforming and organization, large or small, is fraught with pitfalls, twists, and turns. Without a roadmap, such an endeaver is often destined to fail. The authors, through these companion pieces of work, provide such a roadmap. Equally as important, they clearly describe the principles of action and thought that underlie this roadmap. All too often, authors give the "how-tos" of change, but do not give ample focus on the mindset needed to effectively lead such a change. Here, in these companion pieces, the authors do both. For this alone, the book is worthy of applause.

And yet, the authors of this book do more. The level of detail provided by these books match the complexity of the change process. Rather than reduce the process to a nifty little model, they have clarified a way of thinking that is complex enough to mirror the difficult challenge of transformation. By providing a clear, intelligent fram