The Myth of Excellence: Why Great Companies Never Try to Be the Best at Everything
by Fred Crawford and Ryan Mathews

“Tired of business drivel? If you are ready to step beyond platitudinous mission statements and strategies cooked up in distant boardrooms that have no connection to the trenches where business battles are actually being fought, this is the book for you. It is grounded, readable, and honest.

Fred Crawford is the managing director of a consumer products, retail, and distribution practice, and Ryan Mathews is a futurist specializing in demographics and lifestyle analysis. To research purchasing behavior, they surveyed 5,000 consumers, but the responses they got surprised them. The authors “discovered” that:

1. It is better to be the best at something and pretty good at most other things that customers like than to be pretty good at most things customers like and the best at what they don’t care about;
2. Some customers operate with a product quality model that says, if you’re not at least this good, you don’t count, but if you ARE at least this good, you are good enough;
3. Price isn’t always everything; and
4. Neither is any other single thing.

Crawford and Mathews’ initial inquiries eventually grew into a major research study involving more than 10,000 consumers, interviews with executives from scores of leading companies around the world, and dozens of international client engagements. Their conclusion: Most companies priding themselves on how well they “know” their customers aren’t really listening to them at all. Consumers are fed up with all the fuss about “world-class performance” and “excellence.” They found that values (respect, honesty, trust, dignity) were more important to consumers than value. This discovery led the pair to develop a new model of “consumer relevancy.” They explain in detail the importance of price, service, quality, access, and experience for the consumer. They then suggest that for companies to be successful they need to dominate on only one of these five factors. On a second of the five they should stand out or differentiate themselves from their competitors; and on the remaining three they need only to be at par with others in their industry.

With dozens of examples, Crawford and Mathews demonstrate the validity of their premise. They argue that successful businesses are those that excel in one of these areas, are good in another, and are at least average in the rest. Wal-Mart, they say, is dominant on price and maintains a good selection of products, while Target excels at product selection and makes price its secondary attribute. The authors conclude that it is both uneconomical and probably impossible to be excellent in all areas. Instead, Crawford and Mathews suggest that companies engage in Consumer Relevancy, a strategy of dominating in one element of a transaction, differentiating on a second, and being at industry par (i.e., average) on the remaining three. It’s not necessary for businesses to equally invest time and money on all five attributes, and their customers don’t want them to. Imagine the confusion if Tiffany & Co. started offering deep discounts on diamonds and McDonald’s began selling free-range chicken and tofu.

Today’s customers are leading a revolution against business as usual: They are demanding that companies recognize them as individuals and conduct business on their terms. In The Myth of Excellence, Crawford and Mathews provide proven strategies for meeting the demands of today’s empowered customers, who are crying out to be treated with respect, dignity, and courtesy.

After describing the importance of the five key attributes, the authors explain how a company might evaluate itself to see how well it is doing. The authors’ clear writing style and copious use of examples and case studies make their ideas understandable to a wide readership.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 9.)

The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company
by Ram Charan, Steve Drotter, and Jim Noel

As a consultant, I have the opportunity to work closely with a wide variety of organizations across a great number of industries. I’m constantly amazed at the lack of focus, time and energy dedicated to developing tomorrow’s leaders from today’s current staff. Every time a leadership slot avails itself, it seems as though there is no one “ready” or qualified to fill it. I hear a variety of excuses such as current workload, unexpected chaos, and simply “no time.” When I hear excuses like these, I have to wonder if this particular organization will ever reach the level of developing their own internal pipeline of leadership talent.

One of management’s biggest challenges today is finding new leaders, and one of the questions that arises in this quest is whether to bring in “new blood” and fresh ideas or take advantage of “home-grown” experts already acclimated to an organization’s corporate culture. At a time when more and more companies are relying on headhunters to bring in leaders and management turnover is soaring among young talent, “growing your own” leaders is about to become a necessary core competence for the future. The current labor shortage and a greater willingness by younger workers to change jobs have only added to this challenge.

Written by three genuine experts in management development (one of them helped design GE’s deservedly famous succession-development process), this book finally shows organizations how to undo the knots and clogs in their in-house “leadership pipeline” so they can constantly groom the best people at every level to move up to the next rung of leadership.

Not only do the authors identify the six transition phases, or “turns,” of the pipeline—they describe each with remarkable insight; these six levels of leadership growth, for example, exist at the base of every mid-size or large organization regardless of how each structures its individual hierarchy.

The six key transitions that help a leader develop are:

• from managing yourself to managing others;
• from managing others to managing managers;
• from managing managers to functional managing;
• from functional managing to business managing;
• from business managing to group managing;
• from group managing to enterprise managing.

The author then shows you how to diagnose how individual leaders are doing, and how to help them make better progress.

At each transition, what the individual values and focuses on has to change dramatically. In organizations where this transition is not made explicit, you get almost all of the managers in the organization “stuck” doing things the wrong way, still looking from the perspective of their last job. That’s the stuff that Dilbert and the Peter Principle are made of. Although the book takes a large organization’s point of view, in various places the points are translated into a small organizational context.

With each, they take care to point out both the new skills and values (there is a difference) one must acquire before making a turn, as well as how to measure whether someone has them before moving them along. They also show how to determine whether candidates are embodying those skills and values once they’ve made the transition, and how to groom them for the next level right from day one. The result? Not just one potentially qualified in-house candidate for a top leadership position but a whole generation of them, not to mention younger generations to succeed them. The book includes sample scenarios (from both fictional and real-life organizations), definitions, checklists and charts that break down and illustrate its main points in every chapter.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 9.)

How They Achieved: Stories of Personal Achievement and Business Success
by Lucinda Watson

If I were given three wishes, I’m certain one of them would provide me with the opportunity to sit down and chat with outstanding men and women who have reached the peak of their professions. This group would include legendary CEOs, celebrated entrepreneurs, and social and cultural visionaries. I would ask them to reveal how they discovered their life’s passions, how they pursued their goals, and how they overcame adversity. I’d strive to distill those special qualities of personality that separate such unique winners from the also-rans. I would then author a best-selling book followed by an equally successful audio tape that would lead to a whirlwind tour of national keynote appearances allowing me to share this valuable insight with those interested in personal growth and success.

Well, for me that happens to be one of three wishes I’d love to have granted. However, for Lucinda Watson, it’s a proud reality. She did exactly what I just described as one of my three wishes. In fact, it was relatively easy for her to accomplish this admirable feat. Her father and grandfather turned IBM into “Big Blue.” Now an accomplished scholar in her own right, Watson grew up surrounded by the greatest business leaders and thinkers of the twentieth century. Her unique access to these top-level achievers combined with her own training and expertise make her especially qualified to obtain their fascinating inside stories. Featured are the stories of such well-known achievers as John Sculley (Former CEO of Apple Computer), Faith Popcorn (Futurist), and Donald Kendall (former CEO of PepsiCo).

This is an intimate look at what motivates people to become high achievers. The stories are organized around three types of people and what drives them: entrepreneurs fueled by risk taking and the need to create something out of nothing; CEOs/executives driven by the desire to succeed in an already established structure; and visionaries motivated by societal concerns and wanting to make a difference in people’s lives. Those interviewed remember their heroes and mentors, relive their most difficult decisions, and explain how they overcame inner demons such as fear and insecurity. What are the qualities that enable certain extraordinary individuals to transcend self-doubt and stiff competition to reach the pinnacle of success? Can these qualities be learned and emulated by others? The message they deliver is that self-confidence and self-esteem—both key ingredients for success—are not natural gifts but can be learned, developed, and strengthened.

The author discovered that strength of character, passion and hard work are the most important components to a successful business career and happy life. She brings her subjects to life, and leaves the reader with the impression of really knowing these super-achievers at a very intimate level. How They Achieved is a badly needed antidote to the Internet generation’s belief of overnight success.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 9.)

Business Masterminds: Roads to Success – Put Into Practice the Best Business Ideas of Eight Leading Gurus
by Robert Heller

Here we have a book that may very well pose a few problems for you. First of all, it’s expensive as business books go—$40 suggested retail. Here’s still another problem: It’s extremely difficult to put this book down once you get into it. Why is that a problem? It’s contains 864 pages! This masterpiece will rival any “coffee table” book you may now possess as it offers a wealth of information graphically enhanced by hundreds of beautiful multi-colored photographs, tables, charts, diagrams, and graphs.

In this enlightening volume, best-selling business expert Robert Heller presents the ideas and innovations of eight of the world’s most successful business leaders. Charting each guru’s rise to the top, Heller analyzes the factors that contributed to each one’s phenomenal success. Heller then shows you how to make their strategies work for your own success.

The eight leading business and management gurus chosen for this masterpiece are:

• Bill Gates, multibillionaire co-founder of Microsoft and master of seizing opportunities and staying ahead of the game.
• Steven Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly-Effective People and celebrated teacher of practical management skills.
• Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric for 30 years and an advocate of motivating the workforce and discarding bureaucracy.
• Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence and leading advocate of management by “perpetual revolution.”
• Peter Drucker, the first to define the art of effective management and a ground-breaking pioneer of management theories.
• Warren Buffett, globally acclaimed financial investor and pioneer of managing for shareholder value.
• Andrew Grove, Silicon Valley innovator who piloted the rise of Intel and defined the model for high-tech management.
• Charles Handy, renowned social philosopher and prophet of emerging business trends, such as portfolio careers.

Comprehend the strategies Bill Gates uses to focus on his goals, forge key collaborations, hire the best brains, make solid decisions, and dominate the market place.

Understand why Stephen Covey advocates widening circles of influence, developing “abundance mentalities,” exercising self-leadership, and optimizing personal capabilities.

Discover why Jack Welch will enter the history books as America’s greatest manager of all time.

Realize why Tom Peters’ management strategies enable businesses to exploit “perpetual revolution” and live with chaos in a commercially volatile world.

Discover the ideas of Peter Drucker on managing by objectives, achieving innovation, and focusing on customers.

Learn how Warren Buffett identifies strong brands, minimizes risk, recognizes ideal business acquisitions, and values hard work and honesty.

Grasp the methods Andrew Grove uses to manage innovation, drive performance, and master revolutionary change.

Appreciate how Charles Handy sees businesses as communities, challenges dogmas, makes groups work, and lives by the “doughnut principle.”

This “Business Bible” should adorn the shelves of every corporate library in the country. It will educate and inform you and yours for years to come. You do the math, all of these leaders are the top of their segments in business and innovation, and Robert Heller has captured what business students, managers, and CEOs need. Each subject has developed model approaches to how business is done and will be done in the future. A great read and well worth your investment.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 9.)

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t
by Jim Collins

If you read, enjoyed, and benefited from Built to Last, and you should have, you’ll be anxious to get your hands on Jim Collins’ latest contribution to managers and CEOs everywhere. In that previous classic, the result of a six-year research project, the author revealed Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.

In his latest effort, Collins sets out to answer the question, “Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?” He and his 21-person research team began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They read and coded 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and created 384 megabytes of computer data in a five-year project. The author’s ability to distill the findings into an interesting and easy-to-understand guide is a testament to his writing skills. After establishing a definition of a good-to-great transition that involves a 10-year so-so period followed by 15 years of increased profits, Collins’ crew combed through every company that has made the Fortune 500 (approximately 1,400) and found 11 that met their criteria. In taking a closer look at that 11—including Fannie Mae, Gillette, and Wells Fargo—they discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success.

Making the transition from good to great doesn’t require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Although you may not have expected findings like this, I think you’re going to read and hear much more along these same lines in the very near future. It was a pleasure to discover that many of Collins’ perspectives on running a business are amazingly simple and commonsense. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 9.)