March 31st, 2009
Explore what goes into a company’s transformation from
mediocre to excellent. Based on hard evidence and volumes of
data, the book author (Jim Collins) and his team uncover
timeless principles on how the good-to-great companies like
Abbott, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberly-Clark,
Kroger, Nucor, Philip Morris, Pitney Bowes, Walgreens, and
Wells Fargo produced sustained great results and achieved
enduring greatness, evolving into companies that were indeed
‘Built to Last’.
The Collins team selected 2 sets of comparison companies:
a. Direct comparisons - Companies in the same industry with the same resources and opportunities as the good-to-great group but showed no leap in performance, which were: Upjohn, Silo, Great Western, Warner-Lambert, Scott Paper, A&P, Bethlehem Steel, RJ Reynolds, Addressograph, Eckerd, and Bank of America.
b. Unsustained comparisons - Companies that made a short-term shift from good to great but failed to maintain the trajectory, namely: Burroughs, Chrysler, Harris, Hasbro, Rubbermaid, and Teledyne
Wisdom In A Nutshell:
a. Ten out of eleven good-to-great company leaders or CEOs came from the inside. They were not outsiders hired in to ’save’ the company. They were either people who worked many years at the company or were members of the family that owned the company.
b. Strategy per se did not separate the good to great companies from the comparison groups.
c. Good-to-great companies focus on what Not to do and what they should stop doing.
d. Technology has nothing to do with the transformation from good to great. It may help accelerate it but is not the cause of it.
e. Mergers and acquisitions do not cause a transformation from good to great.
f. Good-to-great companies paid little attention to managing change or motivating people. Under the right conditions, these problems naturally go away.
g. Good-to-great transformations did not need any new name, tagline, or launch program. The leap was in the performance results, not a revolutionary process.
h. Greatness is not a function of circumstance; it is clearly a matter of conscious choice.
i. Every good-to-great company had “Level 5″ leadership during pivotal transition years, where Level 1 is a Highly Capable Individual, Level 2 is a Contributing Team Member, Level 3 is the Competent Manager, Level 4 is an Effective Leader, and Level 5 is the Executive who builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.
j. Level 5 leaders display a compelling modesty, are self-effacing and understated. In contrast, two thirds of the comparison companies had leaders with gargantuan personal egos that contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company.
k. Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained results. They are resolved to do whatever it takes to make the company great, no matter how big or hard the decisions.
l. One of the most damaging trends in recent history is the tendency (especially of boards of directors) to select dazzling, celebrity leaders and to de-select potential Level 5 leaders.
m. Potential Level 5 leaders exist all around us, we just have to know what to look for.
n. The research team was not looking for Level 5 leadership, but the data was overwhelming and convincing. The Level 5 discovery is an empirical, not ideological, finding.
o. Before answering the “what” questions of vision and strategy, ask first “who” are the right people for the team.
p. Comparison companies used layoffs much more than the good-to-great companies. Although rigorous, the good-to-great companies were never ruthless and did not rely on layoffs or restructuring to improve performance.
q. Good-to-great management teams consist of people who debate vigorously in search of the best answers, yet who unify behind decisions, regardless of parochial interests.
r. There is no link between executive compensation and the shift from good to great. The purpose of compensation is not to ‘motivate’ the right behaviors from the wrong people, but to get and keep the right people in the first place.
s. The old adage “People are your most important asset” is wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are.
t. Whether someone is the right person has more to do with character and innate capabilities than specific knowledge, skills or experience.
u. The Hedgehog Concept is a concept that flows from the deep understanding about the intersection of the following three circles:
1.What you can be best in the world at, realistically, and what you cannot be best in the world at
2.What drives your economic engine
3.What you are deeply passionate about
v. Discover your core values and purpose beyond simply making money and combine this with the dynamic of preserve the core values - stimulate progress, as shown for example by Disney. They have evolved from making short animated films, to feature length films, to theme parks, to cruises, but their core values of providing happiness to young and old, and not succumbing to cynicism remains strong.
w. Enduring great companies don’t exist merely to deliver returns to shareholders. In a truly great company, profits and cash flow are absolutely essential for life, but they are not the very point of life.
“IF YOU’RE DOING SOMETHING YOU CARE DEEPLY ABOUT AND IF YOU BELIEVE IN IT, IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO IMAGINE NOT TRYING TO MAKE IT GREAT.”
By: Regine P. Azurin and Yvette Pantilla
http://www.bizsum.com
“A Lot Of Great Books….Too Little Time To Read”
Free Book Summaries Of Latest Bestsellers and More!
mailto:freenewsletter@bizsum.com
BusinessSummaries is a BusinessSummaries.com service.
(c) Copyright 2001-2005, BusinessSummaries.com
Regine Azurin is the President of a company that provides business book summaries of the latest bestsellers for busy executives and entrepreneurs.
Comments Off
March 30th, 2009
Jack Welsh, the recently retired CEO of General Electric, presents a rare glimpse into how to build a successful organization in his book, “Straight from the Gut.” His honesty and openness is refreshing and reaffirms that success is sometimes built from failure, but more often from calculated planning and the willingness to take risks.
From explaining “false kindness” to developing a high performing workplace, Welsh demonstrates that good business behavior and high values separate the successful companies from the not so successful ones.
Many business experts such as Noel Tichey cite Welsh for his leadership skills. However, this book transcends leadership and is really about performance for both individuals and organizations. Without fancy performance models, Welsh knew from “his gut” what individuals needed to continually strive to reach their potential. He shared these simple strategies and how GE translated potential into performance.
When Jack Welsh was asked what business he was in, he simply replied “the people business.” The greatest resource for any company is their people. However, in today’s fast paced global workplace usually the people are the most under utilized resource. For those CEO’s, managers, business owners and even educators who wish to improve their outcomes, this book is a must read.
Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. President of ADVANCED SYSTEMS, is the Process Specialist. With over 25 years of business and education experience, she builds peace and abundance by connecting the 3P’s of Passion, Purpose and Performance through process improvement. Her ROI driven process solutions affect sustainable change in 4 key areas: financials, leadership, relationships and growth & innovation with a variety of industries. She aligns the strategies, systems and people to develop loyal internal customers that lead to external customers. As co-author of M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential:Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement due for June 2005 release, Leanne speaks nationally to a variety of audiences. Please call Leanne a call at 219.759.5601 or leanne@processspecialist.com if you are seeking amazing results.
Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, http://www.processspecialist.com
Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).
Comments Off
March 30th, 2009
Unlike other office furniture, filing cabinets come in very few styles. The two main types of file cabinets offered by most office supplies companies in the UK are:
1. Vertical file cabinet:
This is the traditional filing cabinet designed with two to ten drawers for storing letter or legal sized files. Here, the files are stored facing the front of the drawers. The drawers have depths ranging from 12 to 30 inches, while the width is usually 18 inches. For offices with little space, vertical filing cabinets are a better choice as they take less floor and wall space.
2. Lateral file cabinet
These filing cabinets come with much wider drawers as compared to the vertical ones, up to 42 inches. Here, files can be stored from front to back or side-to-side depending upon the filing structure. In a lateral filing cabinet, one can store files of both legal and letter size in the same drawer.
A rolling cabinet has sturdy castors providing you with the option to move your files to wherever they are required. This is very useful if yours files are required in more than one location, or you wish to easily change your workspace.
On the other hand, open shelving systems have open shelves placed side by side and on top of one another. These open front shelves are simple in design and less expensive.
Things to consider before buying a filing cabinet
Before buying an appropriate filing cabinet for your office, it is essential to know a few essential things like:
- The number of drawers of the cabinet and their width and depth.
- The floor space where you want to place the file cabinet.
- The overall size of the cabinet, you don’t want to buy something that might look lot out of place.
- Enquire about the maximum weight capacity per drawer before selecting the cabinet.
- Check the internal drawer width to ensure that it meets your storage requirements.
- If buying for security reason, look for a fire or impact-resistant filing cabinet.
- Buy a filing system with quality suspension mechanism so that you can open and close the drawers without any hassle.
- Look for filing cabinets with counterweighted drawers to ensure that the cabinet never tips over while accessing the top drawers.
- While buying a filing cabinet, it is essential to give importance to the material used in manufacturing it, as that will give a good indication as to its durability.
- Last but not the least, buy a cabinet that blends well with the rest of your office furniture.
Keep this checklist in mind while placing your order for a high quality filing cabinet from an office supplies company in the UK, the USA or any other country in the world. For top quality filing cabinets you can rely on Bisley Filing Cabinets and Triumph Filing Cabinets, which are amongst the best on the market.
Comments Off
March 29th, 2009
The Time Has Come is the first book of a mystical and spiritual trilogy written by Barbara Oleynick, a highly educated nurse who’s life work is to help make the world a more peaceful place in any way that she can. Barbara is an English instructor, a faculty member of a community college and an accomplished musical theater director and producer.
This book is like a combination of the movie the Golden Child (with Eddie Murphy), Micheal Scallion’s land change predictions through his spirit guide, and vibration-frequency theories which are currently being studied in both traditional and alternative sciences - all rolled up in one fiction story.
A 13-year-old child, Rachel, has a baby girl named Grace who is sent to bring peace to the world. I cried huge crocodile tears at Grace’s birth, again at the love in Albert and Henna’s home and yet again found myself sobbing when their drug-crazed mother murders Rachel’s sister.
In the beginning, The Time Has Come is only religious in that the Creator is thought to reside in every molecule and that there is purpose to our lives. The author briefly discusses historical religious events at various points in the story. The aspect that appealed to me the most was the main focus of each person having a legacy to leave behind and that it is up to each one of us to find a way to perform the tasks set before us.
I found on the whole, the story line was interesting and yet shocking to my nerves at the same time. Despite this, I felt the author became too heavy with spiritual ideas and the depressing negative world news during the final chapters.
ISBN#: 0975592254
Author: Barbara Oleynick
Publisher: Synergy Books
192 Pages
~ Lillian Brummet - Book Reviewer - Co-author of the book Trash Talk, a guide for anyone concerned about his or her impact on the environment - Author of Towards Understanding, a collection of poetry. (www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit)
Comments Off
March 28th, 2009
Choosing the right images for your ebook is important to convey the message you want. Stock photography is an effective tool for your ebook covers.
Here are some tips to help you find and choose stock photos.
1. Photography agencies have many selections. Stock photography is more cost effective than custom photography and will work for most ebook covers.
2. Be flexible. Don’t expect to find the exact image you want. For example, if you provide information about home schooling, you may want to find an image of a women with a child. The images you’ll find may not be the size, color, or position you’re looking for and the child may not be the right age for your topic. Determine what message you want to convey. Then search for an image that conveys that message. If you don’t find the right image, you may want to take your own pictures with a digital camera or hire a photographer.
3. Use a free comp image to try out the image. Most stock agencies offer a free comp image for position only so that you can try it and see if it’s going to work for your purpose.
4. Buy the size and resolution you need. Don’t pay more than you need to. So don’t pay for 300 dpi resolution when you only need 72 dpi resolution for an ebook cover image.
5. If you don’t find what you need, contact the web site. They may have images that are not featured on the site.
6. Know how to search. Try different keywords. If you are looking for a women in the woods, try keywords like “women woods, women trees, women forest.”
7. Consider combining two or more images. Sometimes you have to put two or more images on top of each other to create the image you want. You can use a graphic program to do this.
In the example above, you may find a great image of a forest without a women. You may want to put a picture of a women on top of the forest image.
8. Check the “Terms of Use.” Some sites only allow you to use their images for personal use, while others allow commercial use (which is what you will want for your ebook that you are selling). Other sites let each contributor of the images determine what kinds of usage will be allowed. If you’re using the image for an extended period of time, you may have to pay every year.
Adding a quality ebook image representing your book or software topic is one of the easiest ways to instantly increase your credibility and sales.
Boost your ebook sales with quality 3D ebook covers!
FREE 34+ clipart and photo resources.
Quality custom design of web graphics
http://www.QualityEbookCovers.com
Comments Off
March 28th, 2009
A Barrister’s bookcase is a unreformed bookcase that is believed to have originated in Britain. Its distinguishing feature is a flawless glass front. This glass front end is hinged at the upper lip allowing someone to easily access books and other collectibles simply by opening the glass door. The barrister bookcase is perfect for many things. A barrister bookcase was used by a attorneys since it was often necessary for them to move. Today, they are also very handy, particularly if one is perpetually moving. This is because of the doors. This precludes them from having to be voided on moving
More about these great bookcases
Barrister bookcases have the benefit of protecting things from junkand other foreign impurities. They offer excellant protective cover. Apart from dust, it is also possible to provide protection from sunlight by affixinga film of UV protection. This will reduce the impact of sun impacting the books This will maintain the books colour from fading
This special kind of shelves, despite their many merits, can be rather costly. Luckily, their many rewards have moved some producers to start making replica editions and some in modern versions at very small prices. Many editions have simple appearances and can be made to fit a particular decor. They can also be trimmed and made into customized storage units.They can be stacked together allowing them to be easily used to create very interesting unit placements. Some can be used to create sofa tables, breakfronts or even dinning tables.
Check out twitter bookshelves
Comments Off
March 26th, 2009
Even though I’ve never met you, I know one thing about you. You are an expert.
Don’t shake your head and smile that shy, self-deprecating smile. Modesty is not the name of the game here. This is about identifying your expertise, owning it, and parlaying it into money.
How can I be so sure you’re an expert? Easy. Everyone is.
Think about it. It’s impossible for any of us to go through life without developing a high level of competence in at least one area, and probably more than one. What is yours?
Maybe you cook amazing Mexican food. Maybe you convinced your two-year-old to sleep in his own bed. Maybe you make your own clothes, and could show someone else how to do it, too.
Maybe you recently bought a sound system, but first you spent months comparing products and features. Maybe you can do ten basic repairs on your car, or your bike. Maybe you know everything there is to know about Pink Floyd.
No matter what your area of expertise, there are people out there who want to learn what you already know. And tens of thousands of them are surfing the Internet, right now, looking for you.
Despite early belief that the Internet was going to be all about shopping, recent marketing reports show that most people go online for one reason: information. Information products are the hottest products on the Internet today. Increasingly, this information is delivered in the form of e-books.
All right, I saw you wince. Writing a book takes years, doesn’t it? Well, writing the Great American Novel might take a while, but writing an e-book is very different. Electronic books are a form unto themselves, written with a different goal than printed books.
With e-books, the sole objective is to transmit information. Visitors to the Internet want to locate information, get access to it, read it and absorb it - quickly. They don’t care about a beautiful cover, or the heft and feel of the paper and binding, or how a book looks on a shelf. They want information, succinctly presented.
An e-book must be only as long as it needs to be, to transmit the information. Many e-books are thirty pages of 16-point type, but each page is packed with the information the reader wants, and nothing else. A good e-book is a quick, enjoyable read.
After you write your e-book, publishing and selling it are much simpler than you may imagine. The Internet marketplace is responding to the demand for information with an array of resources for the e-book publisher.
You can take the text from your word processing program and put it into a PDF file such as Adobe Acrobat, or you can use one of the web-based publishing programs. The whole process can be completed in less than half an hour.
You don’t need your own website to sell your e-book. There are a number of sites that, in return for a percentage of the sales price, will display your e-book and allow buyers to pay by credit card and download their purchase immediately. Some of these sites have affiliate programs, so that website owners who believe your book might be of interest to their visitors can also offer it for sale. In those cases, you share a percentage of the sales price with the affiliate.
What you do need is a good sales letter. In fact, I’d suggest that you learn the basics of writing a good sales letter and put as much effort into that as you do into writing the e-book. The sales letter introduces the potential buyer to the book, and is displayed on the sales site.
You can also develop affiliate sellers yourself, by offering your book through websites you identify. For example, if you are an expert golfer, and you’ve written a book describing your techniques, approach the owner of golf or sports-related sites. Many of these sites offer a newsletter to their visitors, and might want to feature your book in their e-zine.
So there you have it. Identify your area of expertise, spend a week or two putting it down on paper, format it, write your sales letter, and put it up for sale. Then spend five or ten hours each week marketing it. When those monthly checks start rolling in, you might decide to get to work on book number two!
2003 - 2005 (c) Jillian Coleman Wheeler
Jillian Coleman Wheeler is a Grants and Business Consultant. Her website, http://www.GrantMeRich.com, is a resource site for entrepreneurs, grant writers and consultants, and offers online training for grants consultants. She is also author of The New American Land Rush: How to Buy Real Estate with Government Money. For information: http://www.NewAmericanLandRush.com You may reprint this article, if you credit the author and include this
resource box. Please notify the author of publication information: jillian@grantmerich.com
Comments Off
March 26th, 2009
Pimsleur Angle - English for Haitian Speakers I Part 3 by Dr. Paul Pimsleur might be an entertaining book, but today’s busy life-styles could make finding time difficult to achieve. Extended journeys to the office and day-to-day activities might eat up huge chunks of your time everyday. A demanding career, dealing with children or even looking after your home all reduce the time you have to persue your hobbies. If you really love reading and find it challenging to find any time, your journey time might be an opportunity to enjoy an audio book. Using modern media files, it’s simple to spoil yourself with Little Big Horn by Jerry Robbins by Download Audio Book Online, or audible books brought to life by James Reasoner without even lifting a book. Multitasking has become a way-of-life these days. Audio-books like Herzog by Saul Bellow by Download Audio Book Online make greater use of of the wasted minutes in our lives, it could be waiting time at the physician’s surgery or driving the children to music lessons. Numerous audio books are available to download in mp3 format including Science Of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles, and if you’ve got an iPod or another mp3 player and earphones and get ready to listen to a best seller or a wonderful novel, like audiobooks by Ian Kerner without hauling cumbersome books with you.
An added advantage of audiobooks is the opportunity to rent or buy educational books and listen to them at your own pace. How about learning Arabic? Try audio books! It’s easy to review the latest business practises, or you can enjoy studying modern thoughts about religion or modern spirituality. An enormous selection of writing styles and titles are obtainable. It doesn’t matter if you enjoy history, or if you are crazy about biographies or even if your interests lie in personal development, you can access most titles immediately. Various options are available; it’s simple to subscribe to a program and rent or make a purchase. Reading will invariably be a necessary skill, but the thousands of audio titles available offer convenience. A author or celebrity can intensify the enjoyment of numerous books. Simply reading a title isn’t the same as listening to audio titles recounted by Glenn Harrold, including nuances presented during a rendidtion. Enjoying audio titles recounted by James Otis can supply something special to the story and often will mean a great deal more to you than the words on a page. So the next time in future when you consider buying the hard copy of a book you might never get around to reading, don’t forget about an audio book as a different alternative.
If you need additional advice, we suggest you visit this great page for “Pimsleur German Plus”" Lessons 91-100 by Dr. Paul Pimsleur “”" clues.
Comments Off
March 22nd, 2009
Obtaining the correct fishing equipment is a very key thing to remember when your are considering your next fishing excursion. You need to allow yourself the correct tools to get into the “mind set” & get the best benefits of fishing. Procuring the proper supplies will support you in various ways. As you may well know, the more tools you own the more exciting fishing will become. One of the important questions you must ask yourself is, do you have all that you require prior to you heading out on your excursion? To be victorious you ought to ensure that your fishing excursion commences with purchasing the correct fishing equipment. There are lots of sorts of fishing supplies and it normally depends on kind of location you will be fishing in, what kind of fish you are looking for and the form of fishing that you long for.
There are more than a few types & styles of fishing reels that carry a range of prices. If you are wanting to take part in professional fishing you ought to guarantee that your fishing gear is designed for that sort of use. Commercial fishing requires lots more robust supplies. Because professional fishing items has 2 to three times the use they fatigue much quicker. This definitely makes it much more reasonable to pay put the extra money up front. There are a selection of items so that you can make a selection based on wishes on top of what you can actually realistically afford.
The specific sort of fishing rod is another important part of the tackle that you will require. You might want to think what type of rod that you will need for your fishing excursion. Just as there are many different reels there is a variety of fishing rods to buy. It is recommended to select your conclusion on the sort of fish that you are planning to catch. Find great offers on skiing equipment online today.
Comments Off
March 20th, 2009
Searching for alternative methods such as school bursaries to pay for a college education can be time-consuming and frustrating. School scholarships are unlike a student loan because they are a grant for a college education, so it doesn’t need to be paid back. While searching ways to fund your degree, suss out afew of of the special choices, for instance financing for left-handed scholars. Funding for Lefthanders
Please inspect this splendid webpage for scholarships for black students hints
A lefty bursary may seem out of the ordinary, but it’s worth looking at this: Bill Gates is a lefthander, as is Barack Obama. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Bob Dylan not to mention Winston Churchill were also left-handed. An estimated 11% of the population are left-handed. Regrettably in the past lefthanders have gone through considerable discrimination, in modern times they are often believed to be more intelligent and more artistic. Stigmatisation is not an issue any longer and lefties are no longer believed to be odd, and may even have many things in common with the exceptional individuals noted above. There are numerous scholarships accessible for lefty scholars if you look carefully. A Frederick and Mary F. Beckley Scholarship for funding up to $1000$1k is presently available at Juniata College stuated in Huntington, PA. Presented to scholars of Juniata College and it was established in the seventies, this grant has aided over forty southpaws in their quest for a college degree. Whilst you are looking for scholarships, do be aware that some scholarships have requirements or limitations. These can be minimum grades and financial needs, but not in every case. Multiple applications may give you a better probabilty of backing a university education with a minimal level of debt. You might also look at local organizations, clubs and even groups related to hobbies. Scholarships for southpaw scholars aren’t a unique case; grants are accessible in other instances such as the individuals from military families or if you are disabled in some way. Many individuals have to spend some time exploring scholarships, of course the return will always be worth it. Any debt accrued by a university degree can be cut back by these scholarships employed alongside a normal student loan. Leave no stone unturned in exploring all accessible scholarships. Left-handed funding is not the only choice — and do be imaginative! Go for everything you may possibly qualify for, you may keep your student costs minimal, and you will look forward to a more positive economic outlook on leaving university.
Comments Off
« Previous Entries
|
|
