Profitable Growth Is Everyone's Business: 10 Tools You Can Use Monday Morning by Ram Charan (Hardcover - Jan 20, 2004)

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Crown Business; 1 edition (January 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400051525
• ISBN-13: 978-1400051526

Product Description

The coauthor of the international bestseller Execution has created the how-to guide for solving today's toughest business challenge: creating profitable growth that is organic, differentiated, and sustainable.


For many, growth is about "home runs" - the big bold idea, the next new thing, the product that will revolutionize the marketplace. While obviously attractive and lucrative, home runs don't happen every day and frequently come in cycles.


Products like Kevlar, Teflon, and the Dell business model for selling personal computers may be once-in-a-decade phenomena. A surer and more consistent path to profitable revenue growth is through "singles and doubles"-small day-to-day wins and adaptation to changes in the marketplace that build the foundation for substantially increasing revenues. The impact of singles and doubles can be huge. They are not only the basis for sustained revenue growth but, in fact, the foundation for home runs. Singles and doubles provide the discipline of execution, an absolute necessity for successfully bringing a breakthrough technology to market or implementing a new business model.


Inherent in this way of thinking is the revolutionary idea that growth is everyone's business-not solely the concern of the sales force or top management. Just as everyone participates in cost reduction, so must everyone be engaged in the growth agenda of the business. Every contact of each employee with a customer is an opportunity for revenue growth. That includes everyone from the people working in a company's call center handling customer inquiries and complaints to the CEO.


In this trailblazing book, Ram Charan provides the building blocks and tools that can put a business on the path to sustained, profitable growth. For more than twenty-five years, Ram Charan has been working day in and day out with companies around the world. The ideas he has developed for solving the profitable revenue growth dilemma facing many businesses are based on personally seeing what works in real time. These are ideas that have been tested across industries and that deliver results, and they can be put to use starting Monday morning.

From the Inside Flap

The coauthor of the international bestseller Execution has created the how-to guide for solving today?s toughest business challenge: creating profitable growth that is organic, differentiated, and sustainable.


For many, growth is about ?home runs??the big bold idea, the next new thing, the product that will revolutionize the marketplace. While obviously attractive and lucrative, home runs don?t happen every day and frequently come in cycles.


Products like Kevlar, Teflon, and the Dell business model for selling personal computers may be once-in-a-decade phenomena. A surer and more consistent path to profitable revenue growth is through ?singles and doubles??small day-to-day wins and adaptation to changes in the marketplace that build the foundation for substantially increasing revenues. The impact of singles and doubles can be huge. They are not only the basis for sustained revenue growth but, in fact, the foundation for home runs. Singles and doubles provide the discipline of execution, an absolute necessity for successfully bringing a breakthrough technology to market or implementing a new business model.


Inherent in this way of thinking is the revolutionary idea that growth is everyone?s business?not solely the concern of the sales force or top management. Just as everyone participates in cost reduction, so must everyone be engaged in the growth agenda of the business. Every contact of each employee with a customer is an opportunity for revenue growth. That includes everyone from the people working in a company?s call center handling customer inquiries and complaints to the CEO.


In this trailblazing book, Ram Charan provides the building blocks and tools that can put a business on the path to sustained, profitable growth. For more than twenty-five years, Ram Charan has been working day in and day out with companies around the world. The ideas he has developed for solving the profitable revenue growth dilemma facing many businesses are based on personally seeing what works in real time. These are ideas that have been tested across industries and that deliver results, and they can be put to use starting Monday morning.

About the Author

RAM CHARAN is the coauthor of Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, the international bestseller that has changed the way managers run their companies. He is a highly sought-after advisor to CEOs and senior executives in companies ranging from start-ups to the Fortune 500. Dr. Charan earned his doctorate at Harvard Business School and has been on the faculty of that school as well as the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His articles have been published in Fortune magazine and Harvard Business Review, and his other books include What the CEO Wants You to Know, Boards At Work, and The Leadership Pipeline.

Secrets of Closing Sales : Revised and Updated, Seventh Edition by Roy Alexander and Charles B. Roth

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• ISBN-10: 1591840627
• ASIN: B000C4SI94
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches

Product Description

The most famous book on the art of closing sales is fully updated to meet the challenges of today's competitive and changing sales environment with 53 case studies drawn from real life. This new 6th edition features the newest selling methods, the latest products, new salesperson/customer relations, and new case examples. Index. Over 30,000 sold Pub: 9/97. 

About the Author

Roy Alexander heads his own consulting firm in New York City and is particularly noted for his sales and communications consultations in energy- related fields.Charles B. Roth is deceased. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Foreword: how secrets build revenues and profits

Why has Secrets of Closing Sales become required equipment for successful selling? Because it focuses on the close. Without the close there is no advancement and no reward. How soul-destroying to invest hours in prospecting, appointment setting, and customer research only to watch it all evaporate. Thus, constant adding of sophisticated ways to close sales is standard with top salesmen and saleswomen the world over.This seventh edition of Secrets is organized so you can immediately access closing techniques when you need them. Closing Labs make you say: “I’ve got just that problem. I’ll put that secret in practice today!”
In this seventh edition you’ll approach selling as consultative and conversational, empathetic group persuasion, CEO to CEO, unorthodox closing, reverse closing, win-win sign-ups, sweet spot detection, and other ways to penetrate the buyer’s mind and then capitalize on that deeper knowledge of the buyer.
You’ll learn:

• How the decision to buy is first made in the mind of the salesperson.
• When to let others do the closing for you.
• How to craft the correct story for the right prospect.
• When to assume the no-minded customer doesn’t understand and how to rephrase on another track.
• When to use the shock treatment (don’t just stand there).
• How to close when you’ve forgotten your story and need to improvise (think Robin Williams).
• How to make people-savvy closes.
• How to handle “I’ll think it over” and “Gotta check with my man” and “I’ll mull it over.”
• How to use the Echo to block objections.
• How to flow with attitude shifts that lead to sign-ups.

Are you handling a difficult buyer? The Clam, the Chatterbox, the Money-Mad, the Contrarian, the On-the-Fencer, the Doubting Thomas? Make calls with close masters to learn:

• A famous saleswoman’s enduring secret.
• The Poker principle that profits. (H. L. Mencken said, “One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective, it is also vastly more intelligent.”)
• Sometimes audacity works; you can ask for a large order and get it. (In one case a closer failed to do this and almost lost a $4 million transaction!)
Armed with this new edition, you’ll be prepared with consistently tested strategies. In this era, photographing Mars is routine, bioengineering produces spare body parts, and information can be obtained several times faster than the speed of light. Salespeople must think anew and plan in a whole new world.
—Roy Alexander

Preface: push ’em uphill—today and tomorrow

Closing sales is without a doubt the great skill of all time. The process enables you to persuade and influence, and then walk away with the listener’s agreement. That’s why closing sales has been the measuring stick for personal and business success through the ages.
People do not buy products or services, however. They buy benefits from your products and services. This structure has pushed Secrets of Closing Sales into seven editions. Experts in this book are at your service.
Recall the sage who said, “It’s easier to go down a hill, but the rewards come from getting to the top.” In West Cornwall, Connecticut, I live on a historic hill called Push-’Em-Up. The name traces back to the War of 1812. Getting American cannons and ammo up Push-’Em-Up Hill was a job for American infantry. The hills gave Americans the advantage, but they had to push ’em up first. View life as hills to conquer.
No one thought about it at the time, but this hill was also the founder of America’s selling pioneer: the Yankee peddler. The transition from “push ’em up” to pushcart peddlers was a natural. Hardworking eighteenth- and nineteenth-century salesfolk sold everything from pots and pans to Lydia Pinkham’s Compound. Peddlers and their offspring forged a new selling class. These pioneering salesfolk helped civilize the nation by bringing the latest products to small villages and by supporting the growing economy. From pushcart peddlers to present day we’ve come a long way in selling. The pioneers established techniques no less valid in our new millennium, driven by cyberspace and the global marketplace. The age-old techniques remain: finding buyers to sit down with, interviewing them to learn their anxieties and wishes, presenting solutions, overcoming objections, and making sure the service and support are constant.
Today’s new century presents both threats and opportunities. The rate of change is accelerating at dizzying speed. Whether you’re introducing a new product or selling a million- dollar work of art or a home piano, this seventh edition of Secrets of Closing Sales is your step-by-step guide. Hundreds of case histories are included. Closing Labs give you actual conversational vignettes.
The book features quantum changes in society—the global economy, the ever-escalating influence of women, the breathtaking developments in communications from Internet to intranet, website to wireless. Today’s sales closing is more important than ever, but the salesperson must be psychologically prepared, more nimble and flexible.
The pushcart peddler is history. We owe him much. Whether offering the services of a small company or selling global consumer products, Secrets will help close that sale.

—James A. Newman, Vice Chairman, Emeritus Booz Allen, Hamilton 

Double-Digit Growth: How Great Companies Achieve It - No Matter What by Michael Treacy

Double-Digit Growth: How Great Companies Achieve It - No Matter What by Michael Treacy

Firnando Chau Review



Table of Contents:-
Chapter 1 Why Is It So Hard to Grow?
Chapter 2 Who's Achieving Double-Digit Growth?Chapter 3 First Data Masters the Disciplines of GrowthChapter 4 The First Discipline: Keep the Growth You Have Already EarnedChapter 5 The Second Discipline: Take Business from Your CompetitorsChapter 6 The Third Discipline: Show Up Where Growth Is Going to Happen Chapter 7 The Fourth Discipline: Invade Adjacent Markets Chapter 8 The Fifth Discipline: Invest in New Lines of Business Chapter 9 Manage Your Portfolio for Double-Digit Growth
Index

Synopsis (2004)

The bestselling author of The Discipline of Market Leaders reveals how companies can achieve sustained growth.

In their 1995 blockbuster The Discipline of Market Leaders, Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema explained how great companies dominated their markets by offering superior value propositions. Now Treacy is back with an equally groundbreaking book-revealing how great companies master growth each year and how all businesses can identify and exploit opportunities for increased revenues, gross margins, and profits.

Treacy's main point is simple-it really is possible to grow your business by 10 percent or more, year after year, in good times and bad, without cheating. Great companies already know how to do it, and the rest of us can learn their strategies and do the same thing. Using case studies from industry leaders such as Dell Computer, Home Depot, and GE, he shows the five steps that are imperative to ensure growth:
• keep the growth you have already earned
• look for growth where it's likely to be found
• take business from your competitors

Treacy believes that any business can grow at a consistent double-digit rate, and with Double-Digit Growth, managers and investors now have the tools to achieve that lofty goal and maintain corporate success.

From Soundview Executive Book Summaries

How Great Companies Grow No Matter What

Every business demands growth, and double-digit growth is a dream for every executive who presides over a company that is seeing lackluster results every quarter. According to management expert Michael Treacy, these dreams can become a reality if managers follow a few basic principles and build solid portfolios of growth initiatives. In Double-Digit Growth, Treacy writes that corporate America's systemic growth problem is a result of constant denial, and it does not have to be that way.

Treacy writes that the goal of his book is to provide a simple, practical map that will help companies navigate their way toward substantial, sustainable growth. They need a guide, he explains, because his research has shown him that most senior managers do not have the skills or resources they need to meet the ample challenges that block their way toward healthy growth.
But some do have what it takes. Numerous companies have been able to sustain growth in the slow economy that has loomed for the past several years, including Harley Davidson, Starbucks, and Wal-Mart. Even much smaller companies, such as Paychex, Oshkosh Truck, and the 120-year-old carpet manufacturer Mohawk Industries have been able to achieve double-digit gains in revenues, gross profits and net income for many years. By looking at these and many other companies that have been able to sustain growth strategies even while the market has stopped growing, Treacy has been able to identify a single characteristic that has set them apart: a solid portfolio of growth initiatives that is built on at least a few of the five distinct disciplines he describes throughout Double-Digit Growth.

Five Disciplines of Sustained Growth

The five disciplines that Treacy recommends are:

1. Retain your customer base. Keep the growth you have already earned by enticing customers into complex relationships that make it a hassle for them to switch to a competitor. Tailoring your products or services using the data you have gathered from your customers can also give you an advantage over those who aim to steal your customers away from you. Proactively managing customer defections can help you anticipate and pre-empt them. Bonding with customers wherever emotion is involved with an interaction is another great way to retain customers who might seek value elsewhere.

2. Gain market share at the expense of your rivals. Give customers a reason to abandon another product or service for yours. Do what it takes to lower the switching costs. Treacy writes that pulling customers away from a competitor can be very difficult, so you must devote many resources to raiding its customer base. Blunting a competitor's incumbent advantages is one way to go, so higher value and quality are crucial. Buying a competitor is another way to do this.

3. Exploit market position. Show up where growth is going to happen by spotting it early. This can be done by watching the industry for shifts in buying criteria, product or service innovations pulling new customers into a long-dormant segment, and population trends that produce more potential customers. You must be able to spot positioning opportunities to make the most of them. Continually using a systematic approach to managing the process can help.

4. Invade adjacent markets. Before moving into a nearby market, decide whether it offers significant opportunities for long-term growth and profitability, determine whether you have an advantage over a competitor, and ensure you can match its standards of quality and value.

5. Invest in new lines of business. Treacy writes that businesses taking this approach must never overpay for a new line of business, must find simple strategies instead of complex ones, and must partner with the new business by assessing its leadership team and its balance sheet.

Although a successful growth portfolio might not include all five of the disciplines Treacy describes, he writes that it must contain more than one - because only a balanced growth portfolio can keep an organization growing when the market shifts dramatically.

Why We Like This Book

Michael Treacy presents a multifront strategy for steady growth in simple and easy-to-follow terms, allowing business leaders to see how each principle can be applied to specific types of organizations or economic situations. His expertise shines as he clearly states his goal and backs it up with relevant case studies, experiences and numbers that illustrate the benefits of his plan. Double-Digit Growth presents bold explanations of what is troubling many companies, and without mincing words, points out the flaws of some with one hand while pointing the way toward sustained growth with the other. Copyright © 2003 Soundview Executive Book Summaries

About the Author (2004)

Michael Treacy is an internationally recognized speaker and consultant. A former professor at MIT, he has consulted for industry leaders such as AT&T, Citibank, and RJR Nabisco. He is the founder of Treacy & Co. and served as its managing director until its merger with Gen3 Partners, which he cofounded.

The Dollarization Discipline: How Smart Companies Create Customer Value...and Profit from It by Jeffrey J. Fox and Richard C. Gregory (Hardcover - Sep 3, 2004)

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (September 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471659509
• ISBN-13: 978-0471659501

Product Description

How companies turn value-added into real profits
The Dollarization Discipline shows organizations and marketers how to effectively communicate the economic value created by their products and services. Too often, when companies compete using conventional sales and marketing approaches, they force customers to make financial decisions (how much to spend), based on non-financial arguments (product features and benefits). On this playing field, the company that can show true financial advantage in real dollars and cents wins every time. This book offers a step-by-step strategy for doing just that.
Every day, good companies suffer because they create value for customers but aren't able to keep their fair share. This is because most marketers can't fully explain the value customers get from their products, and the argument falls to the lowest common denominator-price. The solution is an approach to sales and marketing that goes beyond articulating features and benefits, but calculates the monetary value a customer receives from a product or service. This enables the seller to price the product as a true reflection of its value-and also let's the seller prove it to the customer!
With real case studies and detailed, step-by-step guidance on effective dollarization, The Dollarization Discipline finally offers a practical, straightforward way for marketers and business leaders to prove the value of their "value-added."
Jeffrey J. Fox (Gilford, New Hampshire) is the founder and President of Fox & Company, Inc., a marketing consulting firm. Fox is also the author of the bestsellers How to Become a CEO, How to Become a Rainmaker, and How to Become a Great Boss. Richard C. Gregory (Farmington, Connecticut) is a Senior Consultant with Fox & Company.

From the Inside Flap

Jeffrey Fox introduced the concept of Dollarization in his bestselling books How to Become a Rainmaker and How to Become a Marketing Superstar. Now, he and Rick Gregory present this compelling,effective principle in full detail so you can apply it to your business.The Dollarization Discipline shows organizations how to effectively communicate the economic value created by their products and services. Every day, good companies suffer because they create financial value for customers but aren’t able to keep their fair share. This is because most marketers cannot fully articulate the value customers get from their products, and the argument falls to the lowest common denominator--price. The solution is an approach to sales and marketing that goes beyond articulating features and benefits, but calculates the monetary gain a customer receives in exchange for the price paid. This book offers step-by-step strategies for doing just that.
Dollarization is simple in theory but complicated in practice. Authors Fox and Gregory include helpful charts, how-to steps, and dozens of real-life examples featuring leading companies that illustrate important techniques and help you shape an effective marketing and selling strategy.
This book offers strategies and techniques that will interest CEOs, marketing VPs, field salespeople, and everyone in between. Salespeople will learn how to handle price objections, shorten sales cycles, protect business from competition, get appointments, and more. Marketing professionals will learn to apply Dollarization to new product pricing, market segmentation, even advertising and communications.
Successful companies prosper by discovering how their customers make money and then aligning resources to help those customers make more money. Dollarization is a core discipline that enables firms to put this strategy into practice. With this book, Fox and Gregory include the step-by-step guidance you need to make Dollarization the foundation of your business strategy.
If you believe your company is under-compensated for the real value it delivers to customers, this book will help. Packed with practical advice and real-world wisdom, The Dollarization Discipline presents all the tools and techniques businesses need to turn their value-added into real money.

From the Back Cover

"GE people realize that our job is to help our customers make money. Dollarization thinking helps us do that."
--Damian A. Thomas, General Manager and Corporate Sales Leader
General Electric Company"THE DOLLARIZATION DISCIPLINE demystifies the often misused term ‘value,’ and shows how to become a thought partner and sell the true worth of your offering. This book will pay for itself many times over."
--Anthony Parinello, Author, Selling to Vito and Getting the Second Appointment
"Strategic marketing begins with an understanding of how a business creates economic value for its customers. This is a core focus for PPG businesses, and THE DOLLARIZATION DISCIPLINE creatively demonstrates how this thinking can be applied to all aspects of sales and marketing."
--Dennis A. Kovalsky, Vice President, Automotive Coatings PPG Industries
"Read this book and do what it says. Your customers, and your employer, will thank you for it."
--John Chickosky, Vice President, FTS Systems
"A must-read for any business looking to improve sales growth, profitability, and customer retention."
--Dean Graham, Managing Director, CapitalSource Inc.
"THE DOLLARIZATION DISCIPLINE presents powerful concepts with practical implementation ideas. Businesses large and small will benefit from putting Dollarization to work."
--John Vander Vort, Director, Private Markets Group
DuPont Capital Management

About the Author

JEFFREY J. FOX is the author of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestseller How to Become a CEO. He is also the founder and President of Fox & Company, Inc., a management consulting firm that specializes in marketing strategy development and sales effectiveness.RICHARD C. GREGORY is a Senior Consultant with Fox & Company. He leads Fox’s Dollarization Consulting and Training practice, which helps clients develop innovative approaches to articulating and quantifying the value they deliver to their customers.

A Globalizing World?: Culture, Economics, Politics (Understanding Social Change) by David Held

A Globalizing World?: Culture, Economics, Politics (Understanding Social Change) by David Held (Paperback - Nov 4, 2004)

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (November 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415329744
• ISBN-13: 978-041532974

Product Description

Today's news media is full of references to 'globalization' - a buzz word that is quickly becoming ubiquitous. But what exactly is globalization? What are its main driving forces? Does it truly embrace all aspects of our lives, from economics to cultural developments?
A Globalizing World? examines these and other key questions in a highly accessible fashion, offering a clear and intelligent guide to the big ideas and debates of our time. In doing so, it does not take one particular stance for or against globalizaton; rather, it examines the arguments and evidence about its nature, form and impact.
After introducing the main theoretical positions of those who have studied the subject, key chapters look at the changing form of modern communication and cultural industries, trade patterns and financial flows of the world economy, and whether or not the 'new political world order' is qualitatively different from the old state system. This is essential reading for all students of politics, economics and international relations.

How to Make Big Money In Your Own Small Business: Unexpected Rules Every Small Business Owner Needs to Know by Jeffrey J. Fox (Hardcover - May 19, 2004)

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (May 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786868252
• ASIN: B000S6NBS4

From Booklist

Once again, Fox gets his business expressed just right. After equally succinct books on becoming a great boss and a CEO--among other career aspirations--he addresses the more than 25 million small business owners in the U.S with a few homilies, some practicums, and many direct commandments, such as "selling is job number one" or "pick up paper clips . . . but overspend on customers." And this one as well, "work on the business, not just in the business." Smart remarks notwithstanding, this prolific, no-nonsense writer gets readers' attention with short snappy chapters and down-to-earth advice, covering funding (sources for loans) and sitting on nonprofit boards ("give, get, or get off") as well as marketing and running a business. Even seasoned pros can benefit from his words. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Review

Out "fox" the competition by using Jeff Fox’s signature counter-intuitive style with this appealing book for anyone who wishes to start and maintain their own successful business. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Description

With only about half of small businesses still trading after the first three years, setting up and surviving as an entrepreneur can be a tough game. Bestselling author Jeffrey Fox has come up with a winning formula for small-business owners to guarantee themselves commercial success and, what is more, how to make big money in the process. This book offers simple, practical and unique advice on every aspect of running a small business, from how to get start-up money to staying in profit. Fox also provides more creative and quirky insights into how to be successful such as why you should: not to work from home; hire an ex-paperboy instead of a Harvard graduate; pick up paperclips but overspend on your customers. Whether you're already a small-business owner or are simply contemplating becoming one, this guide is essential reading. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jeffrey J Fox is the bestselling author of How to Become CEO and How to Become a Rainmaker. He is a Harvard MBA and founder of Fox and Co. Inc, a premier marketing consulting company in Connecticut. His success has made him the subject of a Harvard case study that is rated one of the top 100 case studies, and is thought to be one of the most widely taught marketing case studies in the world. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From AudioFile

A street-smart marketing expert, Harvard MBA, and author of bestselling business books gives the ultimate lesson on starting a business from the ground up. It's grounded in the habits and attitudes that get in the way of doing business right, but it's not a psychological lesson. It's practical advice that is put on the table in knock-your-socks-off directness and that makes sense right away in your gut. Pay attention to the Cs --cash, customers, commitment; work harder and provide more for your customers than everyone else; and keep in touch with what's important by having regular meetings on value, pricing, and collections. Don't start a business without hearing this essential lesson! T.W. 

Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business (J-B Lencioni Series) by Patrick Lencioni (Hardcover - Mar 4, 2004)

• Hardcover: 260 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (March 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787968056
• ISBN-13: 978-0787968052

From Publishers Weekly

The business meeting—a necessary evil or a vital and invigorating component of running an organization? According to management consultant Lencioni (The Five Temptations of a CEO), meetings should fit the latter description, but more often than not, he says, they don't. In this lackluster audio fable, Lencioni offers practical advice on how to revitalize your business by energizing your business meetings, but his pallid, passive prose would challenge the most skilled narrator, and Arthur is no exception. The voice Arthur lends Will, the young hero of this tale, resembles that of Sesame Street's Ernie on downers, and the various inflections he gives business owner Casey McDaniel and his management team don't make up for the characters' lack of character. Nevertheless, Lencioni's message comes across loud and clear—meetings should be interactive, not passive, and they should be structured (i.e., issues of immediate importance should be discussed in "weekly tactical" meetings, and issues that will fundamentally affect the business should be addressed in "monthly strategic" meetings). Although managers will find this advice worthwhile, they would gather just as much if they skipped the sluggish fable and listened to the last few tracks.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Review

“…a work of fiction with important messages for management” (Leadership & Organisational Development Journal)“The author is something of a master of the modern fable….” (Professional Manager, Vol.13, No.6, November 2004)
“…pitches his theory neatly at busy readers by opening with an executive summary.” (Supply Management, 8 July 2004)
"Highly recommended: you could even take it to your next meeting." (On Target, September 2007)

Review

"Finally, a real solution to an age old problem. Meetings may never be the same."
—Kris Hagerman, executive vice president, Strategic Operations, VERITAS Software Corporation"Death By Meeting is about much more than meetings; it's about an entire management philosophy. I read a lot of books on management, and Lencioni's are among the very best. They form the basis for our approach at Silicon Valley Bank."
—Ken Wilcox, CEO, Silicon Valley Bank
"Lencioni has done it again! Insightful. Practical. Ready-to-implement solutions. If you lead people, you can’t afford to miss this book. It’s an absolute must-read."
—Jim Mellado, president, Willow Creek Association
"We've put Pat's theories into practice and they work.  Our meetings are more productive, our communication is clearer, and the team’s commitment to decisions is much greater."
—Curt Nonomaque, president and CEO, VHA Inc.
"Meetings are such a cr itical element of effective organizational communication.  Lencioni has provided a concise, entertaining, and inventive guide to improving meeting structure, participation, and results.  Thumbs up for this insightful tale."
—Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of operations, Major League Baseball

Product Description

Casey McDaniel had never been so nervous in his life.  In just ten minutes, The Meeting, as it would forever be known, would begin.  Casey had every reason to believe that his performance over the next two hours would determine the fate of his career, his financial future, and the company he had built from scratch.
 “How could my life have unraveled so quickly?” he wondered.
 In his latest page-turning work of business fiction, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni provides readers with another powerful and thought-provoking book, this one centered around a cure for the most painful yet underestimated problem of modern business: bad meetings.  And what he suggests is both simple and revolutionary.
 Casey McDaniel, the founder and CEO of Yip Software, is in the midst of a problem he created, but one he doesn’t know how to solve.  And he doesn’t know where or who to turn to for advice.  His staff can’t help him; they’re as dumbfounded as he is by their tortuous meetings.
Then an unlikely advisor, Will Peterson, enters Casey’s world.  When he proposes an unconventional, even radical, approach to solving the meeting problem, Casey is just desperate enough to listen.
 As in his other books, Lencioni provides a framework for his groundbreaking model, and makes it applicable to the real world.  Death by Meeting is nothing short of a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams, and create environments of engagement and passion.

From the Inside Flap

Casey McDaniel had never been so nervous in his life.In just ten minutes, The Meeting, as it would forever be known, would begin. Casey had every reason to believe that his performance over the next two hours would determine the fate of his career, his financial future, and the company he had built from scratch.
"How could my life have unraveled so quickly?" he wondered.
In his latest page-turning work of business fiction, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni provides readers with another powerful and thought-provoking book, this one centered on a cure for the most painful yet underestimated problem of modern business: bad meetings. And what he suggests is both simple and revolutionary.
Casey McDaniel, the founder and CEO of Yip Software, is in the midst of a problem he created, but one he doesn’t know how to solve. And he doesn’t know where or whom to turn to for advice. His staff can’t help him; they’re as dumbfounded as he is by their torturous meetings.
Then an unlikely advisor, Will Petersen, enters Casey’s world. When he proposes an unconventional, even radical, approach to solving the meeting problem, Casey is just desperate enough to listen.
As in his other books, Lencioni provides a framework for his groundbreaking model, and makes it applicable to the real world. Death by Meeting is nothing short of a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams, and create environments of engagement and passion.

From the Back Cover

PRAISE FOR PATRICK LENCIONI"Finally, a real solution to an age-old problem. Meetings may never be the same."
--;Kris Hagerman, executive vice president, strategic operations, VERITAS Software Corporation
"Death by Meeting is about much more than meetings; it's about an entire management philosophy. I read a lot of books on management, and Lencioni's are among the very best. They form the basis for our approach at Silicon Valley Bank."
--;Ken Wilcox, CEO, Silicon Valley Bank
"Lencioni has done it again! Insightful. Practical. Ready-to-implement solutions. If you lead people, you can’t afford to miss this book. It’s an absolute must-read."
--;Jim Mellado, president, Willow Creek Association
"We've put Pat's theories into practice and they work. Our meetings are more productive, our communication is clearer, and the team’s commitment to decisions is much greater."
--;Curt Nonomaque, president and CEO, VHA Inc.
"Meetings are such a critical element of effective organizational communication. Lencioni has provided a concise, entertaining, and inventive guide to improving meeting structure, participation, and results. Thumbs up for this insightful tale."
--;Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of operations, Major League Baseball

About the Author

Patrick Lencioni is president of The Table Group, a San Francisco Bay Area management consulting firm, and the author of several best-selling books. In addition to his work as an executive coach and consultant, Pat is a sought-after speaker. Prior to founding The Table Group, he worked at the management consulting firm Bain & Company, Oracle Corporation, and Sybase, where he was vice president of organizational development.
Pat lives with his wife, Laura, and their boys, Matthew, Connor, and Casey, in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can reach him at The Table Group’s web site, tablegroup.com, or at patricklencioni@tablegroup.com.

From AudioFile

The author of THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM, Lencioni is an experienced West Coast business consultant with a good grasp of team functioning. In a slow-moving audio production, he uses a parable to frame his advice on how to get value from time spent in meetings. He says meetings are like movies in that they need conflict and resolution to hold people's attention. They also require seriousness of purpose, diligent preparation, and a persistent focus on stated goals. After the parable finally concludes, explicit advice is given about providing drama and structure, but it's not elaborated soon enough to offer the kind of pointed lesson most business listeners want. T.W.

Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry by Michael Dell and Catherine Fredman

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (January 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060845724
• ISBN-13: 978-0060845728

Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry by Michael Dell and Catherine Fredman (Paperback - Jan 3, 1999)

Amazon.com Review

The PC business is full of rags-to-riches stories. But perhaps none is as dramatic as the rise of Dell Computer. In Direct from Dell, founder and CEO Michael Dell tells how he started his company from a dorm room at the University of Texas with less than $1,000 and built it into an industry powerhouse with a market capitalization of well over $100 billion. What makes Dell Computer unique is not what it sells, but rather how it sells it. Dell was first in the PC industry to pioneer the direct-selling model, a method that competitors such as Compaq and Apple Computer are only now starting to embrace. By cutting out the intermediary and creating a direct link between manufacturer and customer, Dell was able to provide customers with computers that cost less and that were more apt to meet customer needs.Direct from Dell is organized into two parts. The first recounts the history and the enormous growth of Dell Computer. The second part focuses on Dell's management approach, from developing customer focus to creating alliances with suppliers. The book manages to avoid most of the promotional and self-congratulatory air that seem to plague so many first-person CEO tomes. Anyone who has followed the PC industry or would like insight into Dell Computer's success should enjoy reading this book. Well written and easy to read. Recommended. --Harry C. Edwards --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The results are impressive: a 19 year-old with $1000 starts a company, remains at the helm and on top of changes in the industry for 10 years, and watches the stock rise 36,000% over another decade as his company becomes the second largest maker of PCs in the world, and the largest in the U.S. The founder of the Dell Computer Corporation uses anecdotes from his entrepreneurial life and his company's history to illustrate the "direct model" he developed to do itAone that eliminates the middleman via a host of direct-marketing media and incorporates a full-blown philosophy of doing business. While most of that philosophy's components are familiar (internally, "Reward Success by Narrowing Responsibility"; externally, "Teach Innovative Thinking"; "Retail: First in, First out"; "Hyperlink to the Future"), seeing how Dell put these theories into practice will sustain a reader's interest. Rightly, the custom-built and directly shipped computers that are the company's signature product get the most airtime. While the book, like nearly all in its CEO-authored subgenre, is heavy on self-congratulatory propaganda ("The spirit of the company that remains today was beginning to take hold"), Dell makes an agreeable maverick.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The chair and CEO of Dell, the world's largest direct computer company, explains his success.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Review

"Dell Computer is perhaps the purest example of the efficiencies made possible by information technology." -- -- New York Times

"Virtual integration.may well become a new organizational model for the information age." -- -- Harvard Business Review 

"I've long admired Dell's pioneering use of the World Wide Web. In Direct from Dell, you'll find strategies for using the Web to enhance your sales and empower information throughout your business. If you want to capitalize on cyberspace, you should read this book." -- -- Bill Gates, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft Corporation 

"Dell Computer is perhaps the purest example of the efficiencies made possible by information technology." -- -- New York Times

"Dell's story is the stuff high-tech legends are made of." -- -- Forbes ASAP 

"Dell, the company, seems to have been born and evolved with an anticipation of the Internet age. Michael Dell walks us through how he turned his prescience into a powerful reality--and an outstanding example of the companies of the future." -- -- Andrew S. Grove, Chairman, Intel Corporation 

"Michael Dell has become the poster boy of the new economy..The closest person we have to Henry Ford is Michael Dell." -- -- Fortune 

"Michael Dell is clearly a genius in the computer world, but his revolutionary insights into business processes provide invaluable lessons for many other industries as well." -- -- Frederick W. Smith, Chairman and CEO, FedEX Corporation

"Michael Dell's book illustrates the history of the company's success and vision for the future in a concise and powerful way. It is a great book that will serve as a reference to all executives, and we certainly have a lot to learn from it at Sony." -- -- Idei Nobuyuki, CEO, Sony Corporation 

"Occasionally, rarely, history is made when a gifted new leader, who has a vision of new processes and technologies, produces a brilliant new business model. Henry Ford did it in automobiles, Michael Dell has done the same in PC's - the parallels are remarkable. His book provides the insight into his drive for improvement, his business logic and the learning from his mistakes, so we can aspire to emulate his successes." -- -- Jacques A. Nasser, President and CEO, Ford Motor Company

"Virtual integration.may well become a new organizational model for the information age." -- -- Harvard Business Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

At nineteen, Michael Dell started his company as a freshman at the University of Texas with $1,000 and has since built an industry powerhouse. As Dell journeys through his childhood adventures, ups and downs, and mistakes made along the way, he reflects on invaluable lessons learned.
Michael Dell's revolutionary insight has allowed him to persevere against all odds, and Direct from Dell contains valuable information for any business leader. His strategies will show you effective ways to grow your business and will help you save time on costly mistakes by following his direct model for success.

About the Author

Michael Dell is the chairman of the board of directors of Dell Inc., the world's largest computer-systems company. In 1992, he became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. Mr. Dell serves on the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, the executive committee of the International Business Council, and is a member of the U.S. Business Council. He also serves on the U.S. President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the governing board of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India.

The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership by Steve Farber

The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership by Steve Farber (Hardcover - 2004)

Hardcover
Publisher: Dearborn Trade (2004)
ASIN: B0029PVCXS
Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces

Review

"The Radical Leap, a cut above most of its shelf mates, is written with verve, humor, and convincing candor" -- American Way magazine, 5/15/04

Awesome! I am an unabashed Farber fan! -- Tom Peters

Every leader needs to hear this message and take it to heart. This is a terrific book. -- Patrick Lencioni; Author, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team; President, The Table Group

This is one of the coooolest books I’ve read in recent years on the subject of Leadership. -- Tim Sanders, Author of Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

The business world is ready for an entirely new approach to leadership. Steve Farber has written the perfect book to energize business leaders and help them make the leap into extreme leadership. In fact, taking a giant ""L.E.A.P."" forward is exactly what Farber prescribes. What exactly is an extreme leader? One who cultivates love, generates energy, inspires audacity, and provides proof.In his exciting and innovative business parable, The Radical Leap, Farber explores an entirely new leadership model, one in which leaders are not afraid to take risks, make mistakes in front of employees, or actively solicit employee feedback. His book dispenses with the typical, tired notions of what it means to be a leader.
Farber, former Vice President and Official Mouthpiece of the Tom Peters Company, has written a business parable like no other, filled with vivid, fully realized, and eccentric characters, crazy plot twists, honest and believable conversations about leadership, and most importantly, an innovative program for leaders to inspire and engage their companies.
In The Radical Leap, we meet Steve, a leadership consultant who is intrigued and challenged by an enigmatic man named Edg, from whom he learns the concept of L.E.A.P. Steve is then asked to help a friend, Janice, overcome conflicts at the biotech company where she works and bring back the company's inspiring former CEO. The company is revitalized, having undergone a radical and successful transformation.
Farber's book reveals the questions leaders must ask themselves in order to truly become extreme leaders, including:

• Why do I love my business, my employees, and my customers, and how can I show them how I feel?
• What effect do my actions have on the energy of the people around me? (OR, what are the unnecessary, time-consuming, bureaucratic policies and procedures that suck our energy?)
• How are we going to change the world of our company, our employees, customers, marketplace, and industry?
• What have I done today to show my commitment to my colleagues and customers?

About the Author

Steve Farber is the former Vice President and Official Mouthpiece of the Tom Peters Company and is currently President of Extreme Leadership, Inc., an organization devoted to changing the world through the cultivation and development of Extreme Leaders in the business community. In this capacity, he has coached hundreds of clients at such companies as Sun Microsystems, Charles Schwab, Clorox, Intel, Kraft Foods, American Medical Association, Wells Fargo, and Disney. Steve lives in San Diego.