The must-read summary of Gregg Lederman's book: "Engaged! Outbehave Your Competition to Create Customers for Life".
This complete summary of the ideas from Gregg Lederman's book "Engaged!" explains that customers love doing business with companies which have a highly motivated workforce that is enthusiastically dedicated to delivering a great experience. In his book, the author provides three things that must be done in order to reach that goal and how you can achieve them to give your customers the best experience possible and keep them coming back again and again.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Expand your knowledge
To learn more, read "Engaged!" and find out why you should boost the motivation of your workforce to attract more loyal customers.
The must-read summary of Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle's book: "How Google Works: The Rules for Success in the Internet Century".
This complete summary of the ideas from Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle's book "How Google Works" demonstrates how the power has shifted in companies due to the "Internet Century". Individuals known as 'smart creatives' can now have a massive impact by knowing how to use modern tools to get fast results. Google has attracted these 'smart creatives' to get ahead, providing them with the perfect creative environment.
Attracting 'smart creatives' depends on:
1. Culture
2. Strategy
3. Talent pool
4. Decisions
5. Communication
6. Innovation
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Attract 'smart creatives'
- Use modern tools to get fast results
To learn more, read "How Google Works" and find out how Google excels thanks to its individual 'smart creatives'!
The must-read summary of Rusty Rueff and Hank Stringer's book: "Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business".
This complete summary of the ideas from Rusty Rueff and Hank Stringer's book "Talent Force" shows how few businesses make the effort to create a true talent force, rather than a workforce. In their book, the authors explain that the people within an organisation will always be the differentiator, more than marketing, brand recognition or even its products. This summary presents specific strategies and techniques that every good business should use in order to align employees' talents with business processes.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Expand your business knowledge
To learn more, read "Talent Force" to discover why your employees are the biggest asset to your company and how you can benefit from them most.
The must-read summary of Guy Kawasaki's book "The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything".
This complete summary of the ideas from Guy Kawasaki's book "The Art of the Start" shows how starting a business is an art. In his book, the author explains a step-by-step approach for starting any business project, from launching a start-up to creating a new product. He also demonstrates the importance of giving meaning to everything you do to make things happen and achieve success.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand the key concepts
- Expand your business knowledge
To learn more, read "The Art of the Start" and find out everything you need to know about starting a new business and how to make it a success!
The must-read summary of Don Maruska's book: "How Great Decisions Get Made: 10 Easy Steps for Reaching Agreement on Even the Toughest Issues".
This complete summary of the ideas from Don Maruska's book "How Great Decisions Get Made" shows that businesses decisions are often surrounded by fear; employees are scared to express an opinion and they feel threatened by change imposed on them. This summary proposes a different way for businesses to approach decision-making, one that fosters enthusiasm, hope and cohesion. It gives ten steps for achieving this, ones which have been tested in Fortune 500 and high-growth companies over more than a decade. It also provides strategies for overcoming common obstacles you might encounter on the way. "If you've been bogged down in divisive and unproductive debates, just imagine what it would be like if your team member's philosophy was 'We can do this together'". Everyone in the company should be a stakeholder, and as such should be given accurate information about the company and considered a decision-maker. All employees should be aware of the end-goal in any big decision, and the end-goal should be something everyone should have a stake in. Executives should never start a workforce meeting having decided the outcome. This summary explains how to overcome obstacles such as a blame-culture and circular debates.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Increase your business knowledge
To learn more, read "How Great Decisions Get Made" and discover a way for businesses to develop their most valuable resource, their employees.
The must-read summary of Noel Tichy and Nancy Cardwell's book: "The Cycle of Leadership: How Great Leaders Teach Their Companies to Win".
This complete summary of the ideas from Noel Tichy and Nancy Cardwell's book "The Cycle of Leadership" shows how the central commercial challenge today is to not only satisfy customers, but delight them. In their book, the authors explain that the best way to do this is by creating an efficient teaching-and-learning environment, where everyone within the company is both a teacher and learner. This summary provides readers with a technique for applying the approach and why you should take the time to craft development plans for each employee.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Expand your knowledge
To learn more, read "The Cycle of Leadership" and discover the new approach to management that ensures that everyone's voice is heard.
The must-read summary of James Tamm and Ronald Luyet's book: "Radical Collaboration: Five Essential Skills to Overcome Defensiveness and Build Successful Relationships".
This complete summary of the ideas from James Tamm and Ronald Luyet's book "Radical Collaboration" shows that in today's networked world, being able to add value by collaborating effectively with others has become a new business imperative. The collaborative capital of a company is now of equal importance to its intellectual and financial capital. In their book, the authors explain that collaboration must begin with the mind-set of the individual and then work its way into the organisation as a whole. This summary presents the five essential skills of collaboration that you can learn in order to improve your ability to build productive collaborative relationships.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Expand your knowledge
To learn more, read "Radical Collaboration" and discover the key to improving your own collaborative skills.
The must-read summary of Charles J. Pellerin's book: "How NASA Builds Teams: Mission Critical Soft Skills for Scientists, Engineers, and Project Teams".
This complete summary of the ideas from Charles J. Pellerin's book "How NASA Builds Teams" shows that team building must take account of the personalities and expertise of the individual members. Scientists and technical experts often respond to a different type of team building to arts people. Through a great deal of trial and error, NASA has developed the 4-D team building strategy, which has proved very successful. 4-D can also be applied to leadership training. Every team must be Cultivating (so that everyone is feeling appreciated), Including, Visioning (everyone must think about the team's future) and Directing (willing to take action to further the team's success). This summary explains how the system used by NASA (an organisation with massively high stakes, both in terms of human life and money) can be applied to any organisation.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Increase your business knowledge
To learn more, read "How NASA Builds Teams" and discover the key to building the best teams.
The must-read summary of General Stanley McChrystal's book "Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World".
This complete summary of the ideas from General Stanley McChrystal's book "Team of Teams" shows that hierarchies are no longer the most effective way to structure an organisation. Instead, organisations should transform themselves into interconnected and effective networks which are resilient and adaptable. Using the structure of the US army as an example, the author explains exactly how to arrange your organisation to produce the best possible results.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand the key concepts
- Improve your social and communication skills
To learn more, read "Team of Teams" and discover how re-structuring your organisation can yield better results.
The must-read summary of Gino Wickman and Mark Winter's book: "Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business".
This complete summary of the ideas from Gino Wickman and Mark Winter's book "Rocket Fuel" shows that the best way to grow a business is by linking a "Visionary" up with an "Integrator". While visionaries can see the future they are aiming for, integrators know how to get there. Companies can reach their goals faster and more efficiently by following in the footsteps of partnerships such as Walt and Roy Disney, who combined a visionary with an integrator to produce stellar results. The authors explain how you can tell if you are a visionary or an integrator and then how to use this knowledge to excel in your role.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand the key concepts
- Increase your business knowledge
To learn more, read "Rocket Fuel" and discover how you and your company can excel!
The must-read summary of Jason Fried and David Hansson's book: "Remote: Office Not Required".
This complete summary of the ideas from Jason Fried and David Hansson's book "Remote" shows that now is the right time for allowing more workers to do their work remotely, rather than keeping watch over them in a centralised office. Therefore, if you get your mindset right and put in place some robust operating rules for how remote work will happen, you position your organisation to take full advantage of the benefits of the growing remote work phenomena.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Expand your knowledge
To learn more, read "Remote" and find out how you can expand your business all around the globe.
The must-read summary of Brian Tracy's book: "Full Engagement! Inspire, Motivate, and Bring Out the Best in Your People".
This complete summary of the ideas from Brian Tracy's book "Full Engagement!" shows that managers today expect to generate high return on equity but also to maximise the returns on the human capital invested in business. This summary highlights that to bring out the best in people you need to motivate them and influence them on an emotional level.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Expand your knowledge
To learn more, read "Full Engagement!" and unlock the potential of the people around you and harness a top performing team.
The must-read summary of Shep Hyken's book: "The Amazement Revolution: Seven Customer Service Strategies to Create an Amazing Customer (and Employee) Experience".
This complete summary of the ideas from Shep Hyken's book "The Amazement Revolution" shows that customer service isn't a department within a company - it's everything the company does. If you can amaze your customers, they will become addicted to doing business with you or, more specifically, to the quality of the experience they receive from you. In his book, the author presents seven amazement strategies from the best customer service focused organisations in the world, which you can use to bring your customers into a "Cult of Amazement". This summary is a must-read for any manager who wants to learn from the best and become the top service organisation in their industry.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Expand your knowledge
To learn more, read "The Amazement Revolution" and find out how to teach your employees to deliver a superior experience to your customers.
The must-read summary of Jack Stack and Bo Burlingham's book: "A Stake in the Outcome: Building a Culture of Ownership for the Long-Term Success of Your Business".
This complete summary of the ideas from Jack Stack and Bo Burlingham's book "A Stake in the Outcome" shows that to succeed in creating an employee-owned and operated company, employees have to be taught how to think and act like owners. This summary advises business managers to go beyond the traditional ways of rewarding employees, and teaches them how to build a sustainable ownership culture which provides employees with the right tools and attitude to carry out their responsibilities with the goals of the wider company at heart. This summary outlines fourteen rules of 'Employee Ownership' and systematically addresses each point, often illustrated with examples. At the end of this summary you should have a clearer understanding of how to empower your employees with the trust and intelligence they need in order to act in the company's best interests, without necessarily handing out company shares.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand the key concepts
- Increase your business knowledge
To learn more, read "A Stake in the Outcome" and discover the rules of employee ownership.
The must-read summary of Ricardo Semler's book: "The Seven-Day Weekend: Finding The Work/Life Balance".
This complete summary of the ideas from "The Seven-Day Weekend" exposes the origins of ingrained habits in the business world and explains how changing them might be for the better. This useful summary provides you with the tools necessary to identify said habits in your company and to implement changes that will benefit both your business and the people involved, following in the example of the incredibly successful company Semco S.A. Striking the right balance between personal and professional life is now possible.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand the key concepts
- Expand your knowledge of management
To learn more, read "The Seven-Day Weekend" and discover how to organise your company for maximum efficiency!
The must-read summary of Zeynep Ton's book: "The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits".
This complete summary of the ideas from Zeynep Ton's book "The Good Jobs Strategy" tells you how most companies believe that they need to keep costs down and pay employees very little to keep their prices low. According to Zeynep, this is a 'bad jobs strategy'. A 'good jobs strategy' involves investing in people and paying them more. By offering them better pay and more benefits, they will be more motivated to work hard. These companies have an enthusiastic team, strong returns for investors and still offer low prices for customers.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Employ a 'good jobs strategy' in your company
- Offer your employees better benefits to keep them motivated
To learn more, read "The Good Jobs Strategy" and find out how you can get the best out of your employees!
The must-read summary of Terry Bacon and David Pugh's book: "Winning Behavior: What the Smartest, Most Successful Companies Do Differently".
This complete summary of the ideas from Terry Bacon and David Pugh's book "Winning Behavior" shows that winning companies treat their customers better than anyone else. In this way, they earn what can be termed as "behavioural differentiation". In their book, the authors explain that behavioural differentiation has now become the foundation for a sustainable competitive advantage, with the new imperative in business being to organise your firm to consistently out-behave your rivals. This summary will teach you how to improve your leadership, culture, processes, reward systems and infrastructure in order to deliver exceptional behaviour every time.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Expand your knowledge
To learn more, read "Winning Behavior" and discover the key to out-behaving your rivals.
The must-read summary of Dave Anderson's book: "If You Don't Make Waves You'll Drown: 10 Hard-Charging Strategies for Leading in Politically Correct Times".
This complete summary of the ideas from Dave Anderson's book "If You Don't Make Waves You'll Drown" shows that political correctness is draining the health and vitality out of many businesses because it encourages managers to patronise weak performers, thus dis-incentivising employees to achieve more. It also praises conformity rather than innovation. Instead, companies should create an environment where high-performance is celebrated and exceptional results are applauded. This summary puts forward a radical program to get the full potential of every employee. It suggests that executives stop trying to make everyone happy: always treat people with respect, but give them expectations and celebrate those who meet those expectations. Always be honest with people, and be specific in your feedback. Never give across the board bonuses: they should be performance-based. Think about your own role as a thermostat rather than a thermometer - you should be controlling the business environment, not passively standing by. Ideally, business processes should be structured to avoid burnout, so that you don't sacrifice long-term productivity for short-term speed. This summary sets out a manifesto for improving company performance and increasing morale. By following this plan, employees will be motivated to perform better and will reap benefits themselves.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand the key concepts
- Increase your business knowledge
To learn more, read "If You Don't Make Waves You'll Drown" and motivate your employees to increase the performance of your business.
The must-read summary of David Maister's book: "Practice What You Preach: What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture".
This complete summary of the ideas from David Maister's book "Practice What You Preach" asks a fundamental question: "Is there a statistical correlation between employee attitudes and financial success for a business? And if there is, what is the correct sequence - do employee attitudes drive financial success or does financial success itself result in improved employee attitudes?" To answer these questions definitively, a survey was conducted and the data collected formed a convincing proof that if a business first energizes and excites its people, they will then serve clients well with the result that the business will make lots of money. This summary will teach you the importance of personal character in managers who aspire to lead their firms to greatness.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Expand your knowledge
To learn more, read "Practice What You Preach" and discover the research that reveals exactly what makes a business successful.
The must-read summary of Ken Blanchard, Jim Ballard and Fred Finch's book: "Customer Mania: It's Never Too Late to Build a Customer-Focused Company".
This complete summary of the ideas from Ken Blanchard, Jim Ballard and Fred Finch's book "Customer Mania" shows that to succeed in business today, you have to provide consistently great customer service. In other words, unless you have a unified, people-first, customer-oriented culture, it will be difficult to build your business going forward. Fortunately, any company large or small can achieve this. Note that you can't build a customer-focused company by emphasizing the results that you want to achieve. This is the equivalent of putting the cart before the horse. When you focus on results, getting people to do the right thing will be an effort - people will have to be convinced that's the right way to go. A much more effective idea is to concentrate on building your people first, and then they will just naturally take care of the customer in the ways you prefer. Get your people acting with passion and commitment and everything else will just naturally fall into place. With astute management, you'll even be able to create a self-perpetuating cycle where the work feeds the energy of the people involved, which in turn means the work gets done better, leading to increased levels of energy in the future and so on.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand the key concepts
- Increase your business knowledge
To learn more, read "Customer Mania" and discover the key to succeeding in business!
The must-read summary of Tom DeMarco's book: "Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork and the Myth of Total Efficiency".
This complete summary of the ideas from Tom DeMarco's book "Slack" shows that companies who constantly insist on efficiency are actually creating an environment where they limit flexibility, reduce the capacity for creativity and increase burnout in employees. In his book, the author explains that effective managers should be able to identify and introduce exactly the right amount of slack within working practices in order to avoid these outcomes. This summary introduces four key components for implementing this philosophy and the two different types of slack that will create the best working environment with high levels of efficiency.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Expand your knowledge
To learn more, read "Slack" and discover the key to creating a flexible working environment that will get the best out of your employees.
The must-read summary of Stephen M. Covey's book "The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything".
This complete summary of the ideas from Stephen M. Covey's book "The Speed of Trust" shows that trust is a hard-nosed business asset which can deliver quantifiable economic value. This helpful outline will help you to manage this asset, by giving you ways to build and enhance trust, both in and outside your business.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand the key concepts
- Expand your business knowledge
To learn more, read "The Speed of Trust" and discover how to win people's trust for better results!
The must-read summary of Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton's book: "The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance".
This complete summary of the ideas from Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton's book "The Carrot Principle" presents the results of a study on workplace productivity. This study has shown there are tangible and quantifiable financial benefits to be derived from giving people recognition for their achievements that is separate and distinct from what they are paid. Developing a culture of recognition seems to act like an accelerant, taking a team from where it is now to where it can be in the future in terms of performance. In their book, the authors explain that in order to build your own high performance team, company or even personal career, you should learn how to thank the people you work with more effectively.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key concepts
- Expand your knowledge
To learn more, read "The Carrot Principle" and find out why you should follow in the footsteps of the greatest managers and lead with carrots, not sticks.
The must-read summary of Rodd Wagner and James Harter's book: "12: The Elements of Great Managing".
This complete summary of the ideas from Rodd Wagner and James Harter's book "12: The Elements of Great Managing" identifies 12 fundamental requirements which make a good manager based on the responses of over a million employee interviews. Stating clear common objectives, providing sufficient training, giving appropriate feedback, encouraging personal development and providing opportunities for growth are just a few of the key elements which motivate employees, and foster a healthy working environment. What's more, if people feel valued and encouraged by their managers, this results in a greater loyalty to the employer and a more ambitious work ethic. This summary not only provides 12 key principles of management, it also outlines the benefits of good management on a personal and organisational level. Although some of it may seem intuitive, this succinct guide will be truly valuable in bringing together all the elements in your management toolkit in a coherent and synchronised way.
Added-value of this summary:
- Save time
- Understand key principles
- Expand your leadership skills
To learn more, read "12: The Elements of Great Managing" and discover the key features that you need to adopt to become the best manager.
