Business at the Speed of NOW-Gr8 Read Review & Excerpt

Great Read | Book Review & Excerpt

Business at the Speed of NOW:
Fire Up Your People, Thrill Your Customers,  Crush Your Competitors by John M. Bernard

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | 3Q Leadership™ Blog

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Success demands an evolution of how we think, work and lead forward. Creating value for others (the timeless litmus test of success) means working more effectively in a volatile arena where the greatest constant we know is change.  It means learning to do business at the speed of NOW. What are the seven deadly sins of management?  How can not only awareness of these sins but a new and better way to fire up YOUR people, thrill your customers and crush your competitors do for your organization health?

John M. Bernard teaches about building an agile, cost effective management system at the Speed of NOW
.  A great read, a must read for management and leadership, this book takes the reader on an intrepid journey to enhanced effective, better management and business results  at the speed of NOW.

Practical and purposeful, Business at the Speed of NOW is chock full of real examples, assessments, tools, guidelines, and checklists that enable readers to apply the concepts immediately. What is it?  How do we get it?  How do we write a breakthrough plan for doing business at the speed of NOW? If you have not read this book, go get it! Close the execution gap, enable YOUR organization’s YES-ABILITY-read Business at the Speed of NOW.

Excerpt/Adaptation from Business at the Speed of Now: Fire Up Your People, Thrill Your Customers, and Crush Your Competitors John Wiley and Sons. 2012


Companies must evolve or die.

Once the need for speed burst into the business environment, it changed the game. Today, competitive success demands a new approach to management, one that enables employees at all levels to solve problems and seize opportunities autonomously and instantaneously.

To enable YES-ability, managers must have put these crucial elements in place before the moment of truth arrives in the form of a first-time order or an angry call from an irate customer. The bottom line? Management’s work today should center on enabling immediate action and ensuring that all action aligns with the direction and goals of the business. It requires an about-face just as revolutionary as the one managers made at the dawn of the Era of Mass Production.

The chief indicator of management variation is confusion. The Seven Deadly Sins of Management contribute to that confusion.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Management 1. Lack of Clear Direction If people don’t know the organization’s destination, they can’t spot opportunities to help it get there. 2. No Line of Sight If people can’t see how their work connects to the destination, they won’t make the best possible decisions in their daily work. 3. Unclear Accountability If people don’t know what others count on them to do, they won’t do it. 4. Inconsistent Language If people don’t use a common vocabulary, with clear and simple definitions of each word, they will waste valuable time trying to understand each other. 5. Poor Issue Transparency If people do not feel safe raising issues, they will bury problems that will hinder progress toward their goals. 6. Insufficient Resources If people try to do their work without the right resources, they’ll end up with disappointing results. 7. Inadequate Tools/Skills.  If people lack the skills and the tools they need to get desired results, they won’t get the results.

NOW organizations, on the other hand, develop a new mind-set, one that starts at the top and permeates the entire organization.

The NOW Mindset 1. I use facts to find truth. 2. I serve my customers. 3. I improve my processes. 4. I count on people, people count on me. 5. I keep score to maintain focus.

The agility and efficiency a company needs to flourish in a world of mass customization depends on establishing new systems and embedding them deeply in the organization. It’s not just the people who meet and greet the public, sell them stuff, or provide after-purchase service and care who must operate in the now. Everyone from the board of directors to the fellow who polishes the lobby floors at night must embrace the now mentality and utilize the tools that enable them to improve everything they do. Like any engine, every part plays an essential role. If you want to know which parts might stall your own organization, look for the weakest ones. Wherever you find constraints that inhibit making decisions and doing business, that’s where the system will either slow up or shut down. The new marketplace realities demand the sort of highly agile, waste-free, and cost-effective management system you’ll encounter in the pages ahead.

In today’s business world you must not turn your back on new ideas, even the little ones, even ones that seem a little crazy, because they may propel you ahead of your competitors. You need new ideas, and you need them now. In the world of mass customization, agile competitors who seize and exploit the best new ideas will clobber leaders who cling to the old logic. In our speed-driven world, the new logic insists that every worker make important decisions and take decisive action now.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Founder and Chairman of Mass Ingenuity, John M. Bernard is a trailblazer and rainmaker who  has sat in nearly every seat around the leadership table in high-tech, service, distribution, utilities, banking, insurance, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and government sectors.  Mr. Bernard recently addressed the National Association of State Attorneys General and is a riveting, insightful keynote speaker whose audience resonates profoundly with a message and a unique system for doing better business at the speed of NOW.  John tweets @johnmbernard  www.massingenuity.com

 

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Irene Becker, Just Coach It

Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best. Executive coaching, consulting, keynotes and articles with a 3Q Edge™ for greater reach, resonance and results

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Career, Communication and Leadership Programs & Services with a 3Q Edge™
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 416-671-4726 Skype: beckerirene

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