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Good to Great Book Review - book cover

Book Review: “Good to Great” by Jim Collins

Jim Collins classic study of the companies that greatly exceeded the stock market and their nearest competitor over a 15 year period is an excellent study on how to take average/good organizations and get them on a more focused and discipline path to profitable growth. Although the case studies are with exchange listed/traded companies, the concepts are absolutely critical to businesses of any size looking to achieve greater results.

What We Love About this Book

Collins really brings the examples to life, relaying real life stories from the people who were making it all happen. The concepts are put into sequential process really well, as he takes us from getting the “Who” in place, to recognizing brutal facts, deciding a “Hedgehog Concept” and creating a culture of discipline before getting everything to really take off. Seeing the financial results of the focus companies versus the competition brings credibility to the process – it’s not just “who I admire”. The “Hedgehog Concept” in particular is one that we’ve driven home to “do everything” entrepreneurs in our Fractional CFO/COO work.

Any criticisms?

At this point, most of the studied companies have stood the test of time really well. Nucor, Walgreens, Kroger and Abbott in particular continue to shine in the 20+ years since the original publication. Circuit City and Philip Morris – not quite as much. It does start to feel a bit academic as the book goes on, which can be a little off-putting if you don’t have a deep love of business books.

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It's the Manager Book Review - book cover

Book Review: “It’s The Manager” by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter

If you’re looking for the key ingredients to get an engaged workforce, this is a great cookbook. To be clear, the key word is “engaged”. Employees sometimes stay because they feel comfortable, because they’re creatures of habit, because they like the owner, or because it’s just too scary to think about doing anything else. The best organizations have employees that are engaged. These are the employees that come to work because they really want to be there, and they walk in the door ready to make an impact every day. Gallup did a fine job, as they often do, of investigating the organizations and people who are most engaged. They boil it down to 12 essential ingredients that these organizations, and more importantly, the managers within those organizations have. If you’re looking to understand the health of your organization, a survey on those 12 ingredients is a great start.

What’s great about this book?

The advice is solid and straightforward. The study behind it is scientific and not just one person’s opinion. The chapters are short and the print is big, making it extremely readable. It’s a great playbook on helping people move from “boss to coach.”

Any Criticisms

As Jim Clifton often does, the book circles back to the StrengthsFinders assessment towards the end. To be clear, we’re fans of the assessment and the previous books dedicated to it. In this book in particular, the tie in feels forced, and adds about 100 pages of Appendix to the book.

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Traction Book Review - book cover

Book Review: “Traction” by Gino Wickman

Why We Love This Book

It’s as if Gino Wickman took 20 good business books, translated them into non-business MBA speak, and wrote an instruction manual on how to operate a business. We suggest this book for every client who hasn’t already read it. Easy to read, lots of drawings and pictures, and filled with valuable pieces of business advice.

The EOS system described in the book puts key business concepts into a written code for business owners to implement and follow. The core concepts of Vision, Data, Process, People (how you coach and evaluate them), Issues (how you identify and resolve them) and Traction (aka goal setting and meeting rhythm) are things which, if implemented well, are absolutely sure to bring clarity to your employees and structure to your business’s day-to-day, week-to-week life. As the book says, you need a good operating system to run your business on, and EOS has given you the entire template to just plug and play.

Any Criticisms

EOS has become like a religion for some companies. The language of “Rocks”, “Level 10 Meetings”, and “VT/O” is certainly specific to Traction/EOS readers and followers. If you’re using the terminology around those people who have yet to be introduced to Traction/EOS, those people will be lost. The Visionary-Implementer org structure can, in my opinion, also be a little off-putting if your organization has matured to the level where you have a management team that wants equal footing and reporting to ownership. It also feels a little like a sales pitch by the end, as many books written by people who have a service to sell often do. Still, for business people who are great at their craft but can use some ideas of how to structure communication and management of their business, this book is well worth the time.

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Peak Business Navigation is based in Madison, WI, serving clients in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.

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ryan.knaack@peakcfocoo.com

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