The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr

Changes That Heal: How to Understand Your Past to Ensure a Healthier Future by Dr Henry cloud

• Paperback: 10 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (Mm); Reprint edition (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061043451
• ISBN-13: 978-0061043451
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces

Product Description

This is the companion workbook to the best-selling book that offers a hands-on approach to working through problems of your past.

From the Back Cover

Make Discoveries . . .This companion workbook will lead you step-by-step through the important principles from Dr. Cloud's groundbreaking book, plus give you practical suggestions for discovering the answer to the following questions and more. - What are the four basic tasks of becoming mature image bearers and more? - How do I accomplish these tasks? - What problems result because of failure to accomplish these tasks? - What changes do I need to make in my life In order to bring about healing? Make Changes . . . Once you've learned and accomplished the four basic tasks that are absolute necessary for emotional and relational stability, you'll have learned to: Bond to others - Separate from others - Sort out good and bad in yourself and others - Become an adult . . . that makes a difference!

About the Author

Dr. Henry Cloud is a popular speaker, and cohost, with Dr. John Townsend, of the nationally broadcast New Life Live! Radio program, and cofounder of Cloud-Townsend Clinic and Cloud-Townsend Resources. His bestselling books include the Gold Medallion Award-winning Boundaries books and Making Small Groups Work. Dr. Cloud and his wife and two daughters live in Southern California.

Talent Era: Achieving a High Return on Talent by Subir Chowdhury

• Hardcover: 195 pages
• Publisher: Diane Pub Co (September 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756790670
• ISBN-13: 978-0756790677
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces

 Talent Era: Achieving a High Return on Talent by Subir Chowdhury (Sep 30, 2002)

Review

"You may not think of yourself as "talent" someone deserving of all the attention that those superstars get. After you read Subir Chowdhury's The Talent Era you'll change your mind. Everyone of us is gifted in some way, and everyone of us will find Chowdhury's messages extraordinarily beneficial in developing our careers and in living our lives. Organizational leaders must take Chowdhury's lessons to heart. Organizations will soar when every employee is treated the way Chowdhury convincingly argues they should be. This book is profoundly important to moving beyond present challenges and creating organizations that are alive with creativity, energy, and enthusiasm."James M. Kouzes, Co-author The Leadership Challenge and Chairman-emeritus, Tom Peters Company"In times of crisis, managing a meritocracy is critical. A company must have the best talent, and it must rise to the top. Chowdhury's The Talent Era tells just how to make that happen." James Champy,Chairman of Consulting, Perot Systems , Co-author, Reengineering the Corporation"It is not very often that a book comes along that shakes your assumptions about people management and how it works. Subir Chowdhury's The Talent Era is that kind of book: powerful and brilliant. At a time when Talent is the scarcest and most costly resource for most organizations, this book provides insights as to how you can maximize your investment and potential in your people. All managers and leaders should read this book!" Bob Nelson, Author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, and Please Don't Just Do What I Tell You! Do What Needs to Be Done"This is an extraordinarily valuable book. Chowdhury does an amazing job of spelling out how to handle the biggest challenge facing all managers these days: getting, keeping and maximizng the value of talented people. His simple, easy to follow, common-sense but not common-practice ideas are pure gold. This is must reading for any leader in any organization." James A. Belasco, Ph.D., Best-selling Author, Teaching the Elephant to Dance, Flight of the Buffalo, Soaring with the Phoenix, Ten Commandments of Success. Executive Director, Financial Times Knowledge Dialogue "Subir Chowdhury has hit the nail on the head with this book that focuses on the value of talent in any organization today. Management has always had to deal with talented people, but heretofore, they have been focusing on how to keep such talented individuals from causing too much disruption to the rest of the organization. Today, our focus needs to be more on how to move the rest of the organization to benefit from such constructive disruption, which is necessary in today's fast-changing and competitive environment."J. D. Power III Chairman and Founder, J. D. Power and Associates"Subir Chowdhury's The Talent Era is a 'must read' for any human resource professional or line manager who is challenged by the talent issues in the workplace. Chowdhury explains, in a most 'make sense' way, the essential ingredients for recognizing, rewarding, and utilizing talent in today's economy. This book is a critical manual for remaining competitive in the marketplace."Dr. Beverly Kaye ,President and Founder, Career Systems International, Co-Author, Love'em or Lose'Em: Getting Good People to Stay "The Talent Era does what no one has done before - quantify, measure and place an analytic and financially recognizable process onto the subjective and vague subject of Talent. Subir Chowdhury has done it again - a must-have for any company on the cutting edge of innovation".Larraine Segil, Author, Intelligent Business Alliances and FastAlliances: Power your E-business" "People are the most important resource of any organisation. Recruiting, developing and keeping talented people is a formula for success. Chowdhury provides the leader with a special insight inhto the whys and how to of accomplishing this important task."C. William Pollard, Chairman, The ServiceMaster Company (7.7 billion dollar company)"Subir Chowdhury has done it again! The Talent Era confirms Chowdhury is one of the most practical thought leaders in business today. The Talent Era is the guidebook for talent management in our new world."Marshall Goldsmith, Co-Founder, Financial Times Knowledge Dialogue, Co-Editor, The Leader of the Future and Coaching for Leadership. Named one of Forbes' five top executive coaches and a Wall Street Journal "Top 10" executive educator."Attracting and retaining talent is the most important issue for business leaders today. Chowhury's book identifies intelligent responses to these daunting organisational challenges. Those organisations valuing and respecting 'human capital' will have a vast head start in creating cultures that can withstand the turmoil of today's chaotic and unpredictable economy."Stuart R.Levine, Chairman & CEO, Stuart Levine & Associates LLC, Former CEO, Dale Carnegie & Associates Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Talent is the true engine of the next economy. Talented people aren't simply ''knowledge workers''; they're free agents, capable of bringing enormous value to the organizations they are part of. Organizations that want to maximize the value of talent need to act in radically new ways. In this book, world-renowned quality strategist Subir Chowdhury presents a powerful new blueprint for recognizing talent, rewarding it, & making the most of it. He reveals the 7 key secrets of talent, then shows managers exactly how to measure Return on Talent (ROT) -- & exactly how to enhance it. He also shows talented individuals exactly how to maximize their own talents -- & maximize the rewards those talents can earn.

From the Back Cover

Talent is the true engine of the next economy.
Talented people aren't simply "knowledge workers": they're free agents, capable of bringing enormous value to the organizations they are part of. And they know it.
Organizations who want to maximize the value of talent need to act in radically new ways. In this book, world-renowned quality strategist Subir Chowdhury presents a powerful new blueprint for recognizing talent, rewarding it, and making the most of it.
Chowdhury reveals the seven key secrets of talent, then shows managers exactly how to measure Return on Talent (ROT)—and exactly how to enhance it. He also shows talented individuals exactly how to maximize their own talents—and maximize the rewards those talents can earn.
Why talents so often go unrecognized Overcoming obsolete metrics, reward systems, and mindsets It's not just money Competitive salaries are only one part of the solution Leading talented people The new role of managers in the talent-driven organization 7 great ways to leverage talent Magnifying the value of your best people Introducing the "Talent Scorecard" Quantifying talent—so you can identify, recruit, retain, and nurture it Encouraging managers to encourage talent What managers do when they are threatened by talentMaximizing your #1 marketplace differentiator: talented people.

• The 7 secrets of talent
• The new talent value chain
• The talent scorecard: measuring and enhancing ROT
• Breakthrough approaches to recognizing and rewarding talent
• Optimizing your own talents—and reaping the rewards!

Talented people are the lifeblood of the profitable, innovative enterprise.
Talented people have choices. They can go anywhere. They're free agents—no less than ballplayers or movie stars.
This book is about helping you attract them. Keep them. And make the most of them.
World-renowned quality strategist Subir Chowdhury presents a complete strategy for leveraging talent to increase business value. Chowdhury focuses on the real issues facing organizations seeking to utilize talent more effectively. You'll discover why there's more to attracting talent than inflating salaries, how managers handle talented subordinates, how to measure the value of talent and ROT, and much more.
From start to finish, The Talent Era gives you the tools you need to maximize your #1 marketplace differentiator: talent.
ADVANCE PRAISE for The Talent Era
"It is not very often that a book comes along that shakes your assumptions about people management and how it works. Subir Chowdhury's The Talent Era is that kind of book: powerful and brilliant. At a time when Talent is the scarcest and most costly resource for most organizations, this book provides insights as to how you can maximize your investment and potential in your people. All managers and leaders should read this book!" ----Bob Nelson
Best-selling Author, 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, Please Don't Just Do What I Tell You! Do What Needs to Be Done
"People are the most important resource of any organization. Recruiting, developing and keeping talented people is a formula for success. Chowdhury provides the leader with a special insight into the whys and how to of accomplishing this important task." -----C. William Pollard
Chairman, The ServiceMaster Company
"In times of crisis, managing a meritocracy is critical. A company must have the best talent, and it must rise to the top. Chowdhury's The Talent Era tells just how to make that happen." -----James Champy
Chairman of Consulting, Perot Systems Co-author, Reengineering the Corporation
"Subir Chowdhury has hit the nail on the head with this book that focuses on the value of talent in any organization today. Management has always had to deal with talented people, but heretofore, they have been focusing on how to keep such talented individuals from causing too much disruption to the rest of the organization. Today, our focus needs to be more on how to move the rest of the organization to benefit from such constructive disruption, which is necessary in today's fast-changing and competitive environment." -----J. D. Power III
Chairman and Founder, J. D. Power and Associates
"Subir Chowdhury has done it again! The Talent Era confirms Chowdhury is one of the most practical thought leaders in business today. The Talent Era is the guidebook for talent management in our new world." -----Marshall Goldsmith
Co-Founder, Financial Times Knowldege Dialogue Co-Editor, The Leader of the Future and Coaching for Leadership Named one of Forbes' five top executive coaches and a Wall Street Journal "Top 10" executive educator
"You may not think of yourself as "talent" someone deserving of all the attention that those superstars get. After you read Subir Chowdhury's The Talent Era you'll change your mind. Everyone of us is gifted in some way, and everyone of us will find Chowdhury's messages extraordinarily beneficial in developing our careers and in living our lives. Organizational leaders must take Chowdhury's lessons to heart. Organizations will soar when every employee is treated the way Chowdhury convincingly argues they should be. This book is profoundly important to moving beyond present challenges and creating organizations that are alive with creativity, energy, and enthusiasm." -----James M. Kouzes
Co-author, The Leadership Challenge Chairman-emeritus, Tom Peters Company
"Attracting and retaining talent is the most important issue for business leaders today. Chowdhury's book identifies intelligent responses to these daunting organizational challenges. Those organizations valuing and respecting 'human capital' will have a vast head start in creating cultures that can withstand the turmoil of today's chaotic and unpredictable economy." -----Stuart R. Levine
Chairman & CEO, Stuart Levine & Associates LLC Former CEO, Dale Carnegie and Associates, Inc.
"This is an extraordinarily valuable book. Chowdhury does an amazing job of spelling out how to handle the biggest challenge facing all managers these days: getting, keeping and maximizing the value of talented people. His simple, easy to follow, common-sense but not common-practice ideas are pure gold. This is must reading for any leader in any organization." -----James A. Belasco
Best-selling Author, Teaching the Elephant to Dance and Flight of the Buffalo
"Subir Chowdhury's The Talent Era is a 'must read' for any human resource professional or line manager who is challenged by the talent issues in the workplace. Chowdhury explains, in a most 'make sense' way, the essential ingredients for recognizing, rewarding, and utilizing talent in today's economy. This book is a critical manual for remaining competitive in the marketplace." -----Beverly Kaye
President and Founder, Career Systems International Co-Author, Love'em or Lose'Em: Getting Good People to Stay
"The Talent Era does what no one has done before - quantify, measure and place an analytic and financially recognizable process onto the subjective and vague subject of Talent. Subir Chowdhury has done it again - a must-have for any company on the cutting edge of innovation." -----Larraine Segil
Author, Intelligent Business Alliances and FastAlliances: Power your E-business
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

SUBIR CHOWDHURY is Executive Vice President of the American Supplier Institute headquartered in Livonia, Michigan. Hailed by the New York Times as a ''leading quality expert,'' Chowdhury's most recent international best-selling books include The Power of Six Sigma and Management 21C: Someday We'll All Manage This Way. His work is frequently cited in the national and international media.
Chowdhury lives with his wife, Malini, and daughter, Anandi, in Novi, Michigan.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction: Welcome to the Talent Era

It was late 1969, and the Amazing Mets had just won the World Series. The United States was in a turbulent time. The civil rights movement, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and the moon landing dominated the headlines. Riots had erupted across the country; music, theater, movies, and TV shows explored uncensored territory; and, yes, the Mets had won. The world had turned upside-down. But of all those events in the late sixties, the one that might seem inconsequential had one of the biggest impacts in the long term. You see, it was the Mets rather than the Cardinals who won the National League championship.
Throughout the 1960s, the Cardinals had been a powerhouse. In 1969, the Cardinals had won three of the previous five years and were expected to win again. They had Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, and several other fine players. But the Cardinals had been ruled with an iron fist, and one outstanding player voiced a complaint that had been brewing for years. Curt Flood was one of the greats: He was a three-time all-star, played a record 226 games without an error, was awarded seven Gold Gloves, and was a lifetime .293 hitter in an era when pitchers dominated. With Flood, the Cards had won three National League pennants and two World Series. It was his eleventh year in the league in 1969. Whereas Flood was making $90,000 at the time, many players were making less than $10,000. Under baseball's reserve clause—which had been in effect in one form or another since the game began—a team owned a player. If a player would not sign an agreement with his team, he had the option of quitting baseball, but he could not play for another team. Players were traded from team to team, sometimes against their wishes. This was the way it was, and, although many had grumbled about it, no one had tried to buck the system. But after losing the pennant in 1969, the Cards, who viewed Flood as a troublemaker despite his obvious skills, decided to trade him to the Phillies. Flood refused to go and on January 16, 1970, filed a lawsuit claiming that the reserve clause violated the antitrust act and should be eliminated. In the end, Flood lost the suit. He sat out the 1970 season and was traded to the Washington Senators in 1971. After thirteen games, he decided the atmosphere was too difficult and retired from the game. But the damage had been done—Flood's suit had broken the dam. In 1975 it was official: Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally won their case against the reserve clause, and free agency was born.
In 1976, the average baseball player received eight times what the average person received in compensation. By 1994, baseball salaries had reached fifty times the average salary. Free agency had changed the game, other sports, and everyone's perception of what a worker was worth. No longer were wages a suppressed topic that management dictated. Curt Flood cut his career short based on his conviction that he was in effect a slave to baseball and that he should be free to go out and seek whatever employment he could. He had seen the impact of free agency not only on the game of baseball, but also in every walk of life.
But Flood had opened up the gates. His action opened a new era—an era when people evaluate their own talent and expect to get what they are worth. At first, it was confined to sports. Basketball players quickly figured out that there are only five guys out there generating a lot of revenue, and so they ought to be paid for it. Football followed suit. Soon each top tennis player, each top golfer, each top player in any sport is a very visible Talent (in this book we will capitalize the word Talent when referring to a person with talent).
It should be pointed out that in the entertainment business, Talents have always been paid much more than others in their craft. It used to be that the studios ruled and had their actors under contract, much as did Major League Baseball. But there was generally the possibility that another studio would pick up the renegade actor. It was Cary Grant who actually bucked the studio system, but the repercussions of his actions were confined to the entertainment industry and did not affect the world at large.

Not Just Sports and Entertainment Anymore

Just as athletes and entertainers had felt the effects of free agency early, in the 1990s talented workers in many other fields began to understand their real worth to their organizations. Management may have known it all along: All workers are free agents. Companies tried for years to foster the feeling that people were there to work for life, and they would be paid whatever management felt like giving them—and they would have to take it. It was as if a self-imposed reserve clause existed. Management tried to build loyalty by dispensing more incentives, but this system began to break down as more people started to see themselves as Talent, as free agents who should receive more if they produced more.
Ironically, corporations often foolishly broke the bond of trust through massive layoffs and an indifferent attitude toward their employees. Even IBM, which typified the "you are here for life" attitude, was among the first in the "lay off people to boost your stock price" movement of the 1980s. This seemingly callous attitude toward employees was headline news, but it happened so regularly that by the 1990s, work for many people had become a place to go simply to make money—it was no longer a home away from home. Loyalty was a zero-sum game. It was not unusual to see people moving every year to a new job, enabled by the Internet and other information technologies. With the growth in the economy, new ventures opened up every day. It was a time to keep your eyes open for new opportunity.
When the big Internet blitz hit, getting into the game early often meant millions of dollars. Getting the best Talent to generate the best ideas and products meant future market domination. Suddenly, all in-demand workers were like free agents. The stories of Steve Ballmers of Microsoft driving up to the front door of Borland with million-dollar signing bonus checks for Borland's key Talents—and then driving away with them—may or may not be true, but many of these people now work for Microsoft. The so-called "Talent war" was on.
Although the "war" may have ended, today we are still in the midst of the Talent Era. People are more aware than ever of their value to their company. So, management must now identify its key Talents, attract more Talents, grow Talents, manage and motivate Talents, and keep Talents. Success depends on these Talent management skills.
This book will teach you all you need to know if you are a Talent, if you manage Talent, or if you hope to optimize the Talent in your organization. This era is defined by a basic change in relationship between employees and companies. Most employees today have lost their dedication to their company. In the face of increased layoffs and the fact that employees will change jobs if another "situation" looks better, any company that wants to be successful needs to adapt, to anticipate losing Talent, to foster more Talent, to try to keep the Talent it has, and to make sure this Talent is utilized to the fullest. Those less-talented employees, including many knowledge workers, may still be vital to keep the company going, but they need to be compensated differently.
That is a key tenet of this book—that top Talents should be compensated commensurate with their contributions and that companies must adapt to this framework to succeed. Because Talent can be found at any level, if you are paying everyone what you pay to keep Talent, you will quickly find yourself in an untenable position. Likewise, if you are a talented person, you want to work for a company that will recognize your ability and not tell you that everyone at your level gets treated the same—even if you are doing the work of three people or have just developed the product that will save the company.
In the Talent Era, the "flood gates" are open. Just as most athletes and entertainers would not want to go back to the old days, most talented business employees would not want to go back to lifetime employment contracts. Companies can do a lot more to keep Talent, but after the ideals of self-determination, capitalism, and freedom to choose are embraced by people, companies must adapt to the situation at hand. Tough decisions need to be made. Talent-friendly policies and practices may be the difference between success and failure. The Talent Era clearly won't end anytime soon. And so, every manager needs to understand the implications.

The Effects of Free Agency

Team owners know that people go to games to watch the marquee players. Look at the interest that was generated in baseball by the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run race and again with Barry Bonds. Even more intense is the attention garnered by Tiger Woods in golf. Tiger has put excitement back into golf. Throughout the history of sports, there have always been high-impact players, the all-stars. The same is true in entertainment. Big names bring in big bucks. Stars sell movies. Bigtime directors and producers like Steven Spielberg or George Lucas put people into the seats. Big-draw names can mean tens of millions in revenue for a single movie. In some sports and most entertainment, however, if you are not a marquee Talent, you may be a poor, starving artist.
But in baseball, even the worst players make exceptional money—and that is where management made its mistake. The owners' initial reaction to free agency was predictable: They went out and bid up the cost of the good players, and thus their payrolls shot up. The money spent for the best players became a draw in and of itself. The owners with the most money tended to win the most games. But to make up for their monetary losses, the owners increased ticket prices, boosted advertising and promotions in the ballparks, licensed souvenirs with their logos, and negotiated more lucrative TV contracts.
If baseball owners had paid their stars commensurate with their contributions and left it at that, then we might say that these were smart business decisions needed to compete and fill stadium seats. But, baseball owners failed to understand the difference between Talent and knowledge workers, between stars and utility players. People go to the game, read the paper, watch the news, view sports shows, and listen to radio shows to keep up with the players who win games through their ability. They are worth more money. The difference between a star and an average player is substantial. Average players can be easily replaced. Where owners make their mistake—in sports and in business—is when they start paying average players substantially more. The median baseball salary is now over $1 million. Eventually, this "salary creep" spreads to players who could be replaced by any of dozens of minor leaguers who are getting paid substantially less.
Minimum salary levels have skyrocketed since free agency began. The impact has been highly inflationary. Owners could contract most players for much less, but they seem not to understand: Treat your stars differently. Why should a fifth-place team be paying a mediocre pitcher $5 million to lose fifteen games? Obviously, you try to do your best, but the return on your investment needs to be there.

The Impact of Unions

The labor unions in baseball gained great power with the advent of free agency. The threat and the actuation of strikes had a major impact on the agreements between owners and players. Indeed, the union is a major reason for the high minimum salary now afforded to baseball's weakest players. So far, baseball owners have afforded the costs, in part by raising prices and taking smaller profits. They have bowed to union demands. Other sports unions, especially in basketball and football, have had similar success, based largely on the visibility of the Talent.
But unions have had little impact on the highest salaries paid to the stars. In fact, in most sports, unions have somewhat suppressed the money available to stars in favor of utility players. The unions' work is largely based on raising minimums—and getting the stars to go along.
So, we might suppose that unionization might be the best approach for workers in general and perhaps even for Talent. Unions have historically fought for minimum wage levels, treating employees at certain levels equally, and demanding benefits. If a corporation is unionized, it may be hesitant to offer employees new
incentives, fearing that they may become permanent and more widespread. Certainly, offering employees at a given level more than other employees at that level is likely to signal to a union that the corporation is in a position to pay more for those employees. A corporation may become reluctant to offer new programs to keep Talents, especially if it is in a competitive market where increases in costs might jeopardize the corporation. By mandating pay scales and quotas, unions may hamper management's ability to treat Talent differently. In fact, unionization generally forces companies not to respond to the needs of Talent, and so the best Talents leave. Over time, this breeds mediocrity and failure. With no one putting pressure on salaries, everyone remains on the low end, and the corporation remains flat and uncompetitive.
In essence, where unions succeeded in baseball, they could fail in a competitive marketplace. The unions took advantage of the Talents' increase in salaries to drive up the salaries of the utility players in baseball. The lesson to the unions here is to allow the Talents to get the increases and hope that those increases will drive the salary levels of all workers. If unions push for the best people to get paid better and argue that their workers should be compensated in line with any other worker, as has happened in sports, they may get the best of both worlds. This seems unlikely to happen, and so unionization may stifle the upward salary movement that is being generated in the Talent Era.

The End Game

Indeed, in 2001, the strong demand for Talent over the past three years resulted in major wage increases. The pressure on salaries for Talent is driving salaries up for everyone. Clearly, corporations are feeling the pressure from the Talent and are reacting as many owners of sports teams have—by paying more for everyone.
If business owners let themselves or unions dictate universal salary structures, then corporations, in defending key Talent, will be forced to boost the salary structures for everyone. This is what happened in professional sports, and it is happening in almost every corporation worldwide. The effect is that much of the workforce is becoming overpaid. In economic downturns, this portends massive layoffs. In turn, a company then does not have the knowledge workers it needs and is hampered by insufficient staffing. Every corporation should want its employees to be compensated properly in relation to their return on investment. If Talent is not compensated differently, the inflationary model will grip the company, resulting in seasonal layoffs, lower profits, failures, or higher prices.
Recent articles have exposed the enormous sums of money compensating the heads of the major companies. Disney's calamities with payment to their chief executives and enormous parachutes also bring on an array of questions about what is just compensation. In baseball, the $25 million per year being paid to Alex Rodriguez has come under close scrutiny, especially in light of the collapse of the Texas Rangers who pay it. Most headlines are grabbed at the CEO level, and most compensation is going to that level, whether the CEO is a Talent or not. Under what circumstances is agreeing to a golden parachute an intelligent business decision?
Clearly, most people are not paid what they contribute to a corporation. Corporations have costs other than salaries, benefits, and travel expenses. Overhead, profits, plant, and many other costs associated with a corporation factor in. Some corporations derive their revenues and most of their activities from people, for example, a consulting company. Others are so highly automated that they need very few employees to generate large sales volumes. Clearly, most companies fall somewhere in between. Most have little idea what most of their employees contribute. Hiring decisions are made based on need and the grade level of the employee needed. The actual contribution of the employee is unknown but is expected to be above some minimum guidelines. For instance, the new employee might be required to generate sales in excess of ten times salary. Managers often hear employees complain that they should receive what they deliver to the company. They are partly right. They should receive compensation in line with the company's return on investment in them. I call that "return on Talent," and I dedicate a full chapter in this book to defining return on Talent and how to measure it. Practically speaking, it would be impossible to measure every employee's return on Talent. You need to choose wisely those people whom you believe to be talented and evaluate their impact to make sure they are being compensated properly.

What Do We Mean by "Talents"?

Talents are the relatively few people who contribute the most to the organization who need to be recognized, nurtured, and leveraged to maximize the positive results only they can achieve. They are different. They are the stars, and they need to be treated like stars. They contribute more and need to be compensated more than the knowledge workers. The notions of giving "pay for performance" and identifying exceptional contributors as "high-potential" employees (hi-pos) are not new. Indeed, they are common practice. Many corporations have been trying to manage the challenges of identifying the strongest contributors and treating them differently without creating excessive discontent in the rest of the workforce.
Corporations need to learn to deal with free agency without going broke by treating employees as customers. After all, as a hiring manager, you are trying to get Talent to buy what you are offering and then to develop loyalty with ongoing customer care to retain Talent. And just as corporations are increasingly segmenting high-valued customers for special attention, perhaps it is time to segment high-valued employees (customers) for special treatment.
Compensation should not be assumed as the primary factor in attracting and retaining Talent. Money is a big factor for some, but not for others. Talents have visions, purposes, and values. Coworkers, bosses, daily work environment, and opportunity to make big differences and to win at the game of business attract Talents as much or more than does money. Fair compensation is certainly a maintenance factor. Inadequate compensation is a disincentive. Excessive compensation does not guarantee happiness of Talent. The joy of work is a central factor in the productivity and satisfaction of Talents, and indeed of all workers from top to bottom in any organization.

Why This Book?

This book will:

• Help you see why you must treat Talent differently from most knowledge workers
• Tell how to measure return on Talent (ROT)
• Show how to maximize yourself and others as Talent
• Provide key elements of a Talent-friendly organization
• Suggest what is needed to attract, hire, keep, and best utilize Talent
• Tell how to leverage the Talent on your team
• Reveal the seven secrets of Talent

Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

About the Book:-
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Crown Business; 1 edition (June 15, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0609610570
ISBN-13: 978-0609610572

Amazon.com Review

Disciplines like strategy, leadership development, and innovation are the sexier aspects of being at the helm of a successful business; actually getting things done never seems quite as glamorous. But as Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan demonstrate in Execution, the ultimate difference between a company and its competitor is, in fact, the ability to execute.
Execution is "the missing link between aspirations and results," and as such, making it happen is the business leader's most important job. While failure in today's business environment is often attributed to other causes, Bossidy and Charan argue that the biggest obstacle to success is the absence of execution. They point out that without execution, breakthrough thinking on managing change breaks down, and they emphasize the fact that execution is a discipline to learn, not merely the tactical side of business. Supporting this with stories of the "execution difference" being won (EDS) and lost (Xerox and Lucent), the authors describe the building blocks--leaders with the right behaviors, a culture that rewards execution, and a reliable system for having the right people in the right jobs--that need to be in place to manage the three core business processes of people, strategy, and operations. Both Bossidy, CEO of Honeywell International, Inc., and Charan, advisor to corporate executives and author of such books as What the CEO Wants You to Know and Boards That Work, present experience-tested insight into how the smooth linking of these three processes can differentiate one company from the rest. Developing the discipline of execution isn't made out to be simple, nor is this book a quick, easy read. Bossidy and Charan do, however, offer good advice on a neglected topic, making Execution a smart business leader's guide to enacting success rather than permitting demise. - S. Ketchum

From Library Journal

Bossidy, an award-winning executive at General Electric and Allied Signal, came out of retirement to tend to Honeywell (and bring it back to prominence) after it failed to merge with General Electric. Charan has taught at Harvard and Kellogg Business Schools. Collaborating with editor and writer Burck, they present the viewpoint that execution (that is, linking a company's people, strategy, and operations) is what will determine success in today's business world. Bossidy and Charan aver that execution is a discipline integral to strategy, that it is the major job of any business leader hoping not just to be a success but to dominate a market, and that it is a core element of corporate culture. Details of both successful and unsuccessful executions at corporations such as Dell, Johnson & Johnson, and Xerox, to name a few, support not only their how-to method for bringing execution to the forefront but also the need for it. Each author addresses specific topics in paragraphs that begin with either "Larry" or "Ram," and this easy style adds to the appeal of a very readable book. Recommended for academic and public libraries. Steven J. Mayover, Philadelphia
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Book

The book that shows how to get the job done and deliver results . . . whether you’re running an entire company or in your first management job

Larry Bossidy is one of the world’s most acclaimed CEOs, a man with few peers who has a track record for delivering results. Ram Charan is a legendary advisor to senior executives and boards of directors, a man with unparalleled insight into why some companies are successful and others are not. Together they’ve pooled their knowledge and experience into the one book on how to close the gap between results promised and results delivered that people in business need today.

After a long, stellar career with General Electric, Larry Bossidy transformed AlliedSignal into one of the world’s most admired companies and was named CEO of the year in 1998 by Chief Executive magazine. Accomplishments such as 31 consecutive quarters of earnings-per-share growth of 13 percent or more didn’t just happen; they resulted from the consistent practice of the discipline of execution: understanding how to link together people, strategy, and operations, the three core processes of every business.

Leading these processes is the real job of running a business, not formulating a “vision” and leaving the work of carrying it out to others. Bossidy and Charan show the importance of being deeply and passionately engaged in an organization and why robust dialogues about people, strategy, and operations result in a business based on intellectual honesty and realism.

The leader’s most important job—selecting and appraising people—is one that should never be delegated. As a CEO, Larry Bossidy personally makes the calls to check references for key hires. Why? With the right people in the right jobs, there’s a leadership gene pool that conceives and selects strategies that can be executed. People then work together to create a strategy building block by building block, a strategy in sync with the realities of the marketplace, the economy, and the competition. Once the right people and strategy are in place, they are then linked to an operating process that results in the implementation of specific programs and actions and that assigns accountability. This kind of effective operating process goes way beyond the typical budget exercise that looks into a rearview mirror to set its goals. It puts reality behind the numbers and is where the rubber meets the road.

Putting an execution culture in place is hard, but losing it is easy. In July 2001 Larry Bossidy was asked by the board of directors of Honeywell International (it had merged with AlliedSignal) to return and get the company back on track. He’s been putting the ideas he writes about in Execution to work in real time.


From the Back Cover

“If you want to be a CEO—or if you are a CEO and want to keep your job—read Execution and put its principles to work.”
—Michael Dell, chairman and CEO, Dell Computer Corp.

“Good practical insight and advice on managing for results at firms of any size. Execution is key, and this book clearly explains what it means and how it brings together the critical elements of any organization—its people, strategies, and operations.” —L. R. Raymond, chairman and CEO, Exxon Mobil

“The best-thought-out plans in the world aren’t worth the paper they’re written on if you can’t pull them off. And that’s what this book is all about. Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done is well written and gives sound, practical advice about how to make things happen. It is well worth the reading.” —Ralph S. Larsen, chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson

“Larry Bossidy recognizes how execution in a business defines the true greatness of a company. He captures a lifetime of building winning formulas and puts them in a simple and practical context for executives at any level. Read it!” —Ivan Seidenberg, president and co–chief executive officer, Verizon

“For those managers who have struggled to make it happen, fix a problem, get it done—or otherwise transform winning strategies into genuine results—here’s the missing medicine from two who know from long experience what works and what doesn’t. Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan offer a compelling leadership prescription, and it comes down to realism, discipline, and above all, great execution.”
—Michael Useem, professor of management and director of the Center for Leadership and Change, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

“Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan define the true meaning of leadership from an implementation point of view. Larry is the expert on productivity in the world of business, and this book demonstrates how leadership is the key to achieving ongoing financial success.” —Richard Schroeder, cofounder of Six Sigma Academy

About the Author

Larry Bossidy is chairman and former CEO of Honeywell International, a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader. Earlier in his career he was chairman and CEO of AlliedSignal, chief operating officer of General Electric Credit (now GE Capital Corporation), executive vice president and president of GE’s Services and Materials Sector, and vice chairman of GE.

Ram Charan is a highly sought advisor to CEOs and senior executives in companies ranging from start-ups to the Fortune 500, including GE, DuPont, EDS, and Colgate-Palmolive. He is the author of What the CEO Wants You to Know and Boards That Work and the coauthor of Every Business Is a Growth Business. Dr. Charan has taught at both the Harvard Business School and the Kellogg School of Northwestern University.

Charles Burck is a writer and editor who collaborated with Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. Earlier in his career he was an editor at Fortune magazine.