The Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Think

Finally, an answer to the ultimate business question: How do some companies achieve exceptional performance over the long term?

In every sector, there’s an outlier. How do these exceptional companies deliver superior perfor­mance over the long run despite facing the same constraints as competitors? What are they doing differently? What can we learn from them?

Michael E. Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed have analyzed data on more than … [ Read more ]

Discovering the Soul of Service: The Nine Drivers of Sustainable Business Success

Leonard L. Berry examines some of America’s great service companies and finds “nine drivers of excellence” that are behind them all. Discovering the Soul of Service looks at 14 diverse businesses, including the St. Paul Saints minor-league baseball team, Dial-A-Mattress, Midwest Express Airlines, and two of the world’s fastest-growing service companies–Charles Schwab and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. “The lessons they teach are clear indeed,” writes Berry, a … [ Read more ]

The Breakthrough Company: How Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performers

The vast majority of small businesses stay small – and not by choice. Only the most savvy and persistent – a tiny one tenth of one percent – break through to annual sales above $250 million. In The Breakthrough Company, Keith McFarland pinpoints how everyday companies become extraordinary, showing that luck is a negligible factor. Rather, breakthrough success turns out to be associated with a … [ Read more ]

12: The Elements of Great Managing

12: The Elements of Great Managing is the long-awaited sequel to the 1999 runaway bestseller First, Break All the Rules. Grounded in Gallup’s 10 million employee and manager interviews spanning 114 countries, 12 follows great managers as they harness employee engagement to turn around a failing call center, save a struggling hotel, improve patient care in a hospital, maintain production through power outages, and successfully … [ Read more ]

Benchmarking for Best Practices: Winning Through Innovative Adaptation

Here is a blueprint for innovation and breakthrough performance improvements. This complete benchmarking toolkit provides a thorough roll-up-your-sleeves guide to identifying and adapting the best business practices, operating tactics, and winning strategies that will drive for continuous quality, productivity, cycle time, and cost improvement within your organization. Written by experts with years of successful benchmarking practice, this book addresses all aspects of best practice benchmarking … [ Read more ]

Aligning the Stars

Combining perspectives of “a doer and a teacher” with experiences of two dozen professional service firms representing the ups and downs of the Old and New economies, Aligning the Stars offers detailed analysis of such firms today–and specific suggestions for their future success. Jay W. Lorsch, professor of human relations at Harvard Business School, and Thomas J. Tierney, former chief executive of Bain & Company … [ Read more ]

Hidden Champions: Lessons from 500 of the World’s Best Unknown Companies

German business consultant Simon suggests that there is much to learn from studying the practices of lesser-known companies that have quietly succeeded in unique or specialized market niches. Because Simon is based in Bonn, most–but not all–of his examples are German. They all are, however, relatively unknown, small or midsize, and worldwide leaders in their markets, making mundane products, such as bottle-labeling machines, model railways, … [ Read more ]