Not A Staid Business Tome: Public Hangings Are Included As A Management Tool

books:

	• Less Is More: How Great Companies Use Productivity Jason Jennings Portfolio Hardcover, 2002 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 41 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Well Done

Stories of successful businesses fill this book. The author got "down and dirty" and did in-the-trenches research to find the best performing companies in the world. Then he spoke with the CEO's to find out what makes them and their businesses tick.

Insightful !

This is not just another book about the secrets of famous companies. It is, instead, a book about the secrets of somewhat obscure but great companies. The principles that author Jason Jennings propounds are familiar enough, but most of his examples will not be familiar to the general reader. That is no drawback. Although some of these companies are less well known, they have all achieved great business success (if not fame) by applying some of the most tried, true and proven axioms of management. Treat people with respect, pay them for performance, focus on one clear and understandable mission - there is nothing new about these principles, except that they keep proving their efficacy even in the unlikeliest places. Do not look for a deep examination of management here. The book provides frustratingly scant background information about the companies themselves. But we assure those seeking a handbook of solid if venerable management advice that you will not go wrong with this interesting little book.

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On the lean culture of cost leadership firms

This spring, I had a night-flight from Houston to Europe. I never got any sleep due to this book. It reads like a fiction novel while the focus is very much on the softer issues of productivity businesses. The well-written behind-the-wall stories and interviews with successful top executives give us insight to many issues that usual case stories do not explain.

Business magazines often glorify top executives by telling about the grand strategic plan behind the success. This little book shows us a different story. It provides insight to the many seemingly small traits of the lean culture that only works because they taken serious by the organization and used in combination. These are the 11 traits required for the leader of a highly productive enterprise: attention to detail, high moral fiber, embracing simplicity, competitiveness, long-term focus, disdain for waste, coach leadership, humility, rejection of bureaucracy, belief in others, and trust.

I'm sure you're really not impressed of this list. Neither am I. But try challenging some of the advice. Humility? When was the last time you saw a big company using this as a standard. When you hear the story of many head offices visited in this book, you'll understand humility. Often you'll find a very simple and humble office building for a huge company. No art on the walls! No lavish entrance hall! In these companies, you don't find huge corporate staff creating immense bureaucracy and all sorts of information requirements from their operating companies or business units. These organizations do actually "walk-the-talk" on lean - unlike many fad-driven major firms who's paying lip service to a lean culture.

PERSISTENCE is a word missing from the 11 traits, though attention to detail and long-term focus do include some of it. They never lose sight of their BIG idea or focus. It includes their performance measurement. "Everyone who works for SRC gathers once a week in their respective lunchrooms and takes part in a review of the business's financial performance for the previous week. By DOING IT WEEK IN WEEK-OUT FOR MANY YEARS the exercise has also become a system".

Okay, I'm sure that the book's research on productivity could have been better. And some of the firms reported on may experience difficulties, though most are still flourishing. But don't read this book for the hard stuff. Read the soft issues that over time usually turn out to be the hardest to beat.

I agree that it resembles "In Search of Excellence" to some degree, but remember that this book is on the lean culture of Cost Leadership firms (my interpretation, not the author's).

Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business

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Not A Staid Business Tome: Public Hangings Are Included As A Management Tool

The subtitle of Jason Jennings' Less is More is: How Great Companies Use Productivity as a COMPETITIVE TOOL in business. That sounds like this book will be about efficiency techniques and competitor case studies. I almost didn't read the book because I wasn't in the mood for a straightforward business text. But the book is actually much more comprehensive than the title and certainly the subtitle suggest. It's also a breezier read than expected: any book that espouses the value of public hangings in a chapter about weeding out bad management is not going to be a staid business tome.

There is a big focus on the culture of these productive companies and how committed they are at all levels to sound business practices. It was refreshing to see examples of big, established companies that calculated the value proposition of their ideas using simple but powerful financial metrics, implemented systems that worked, weeded out bureaucracy, and built a culture of respect and integrity at all levels. We have all seen too many big companies allow bad practices to seep in at all levels. WTGBRFDT, an acronym used by one of Jennings ' case studies, is not the norm even though it should be. (WTGBRFDT = What's the good business reason for doing this? and it's a central theme of the book.)

Less is More has convinced me to look at my own business practices with a more watchful eye. It will also help those who consult to companies. Focusing on the right culture, systems and metrics is critical for any business and especially in this economy.

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Must Read not just for Executives

I picked this book up out of sheer curiosity and read it to its entirety in one sitting. Jenning's presentation style and narration are excellent - the book flows perfectly and many of the points brought up can be taken and applied.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

From the author of the bestselling It's Not the Big That Eat the Small,It's the Fast That Eat the Slow comes a vital new guide to increasing business productivity without adding employees or other overhead costs

Managers and CEOs are always looking for ways to keep productivity high, and recent economic shakiness has only reinforced their need. Now Jason Jennings, a bestselling author and international business consultant, offers a groundbreaking look at how to boost productivity and your bottom line.

In Less Is More, Jennings shares tested and successful programs from the leading giants in industry and presents new trends that businesses of all sizes will be able to implement. Inside, you'll learn how to:

* increase sales 300 percent without increasing head count
* become 10 times more efficient
* keep track of every penny
* use technology and automation in your favor

Written in the same breezy, informative style of Jennings's previous book, Less Is More is sure to join its predecessor on bestseller lists nationwide.

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