Synopses & Reviews
Practical, tested, implementable real-world advice for transforming any business and is written by people that have “been there and done that”.
Changing an organization is tough. Transformation is hard work that should not be attempted by the faint of heart or the weak of mind. But transformation is not rocket science either. By taking a realistic, simple and direct view of what is required to transform an enterprise, the authors reduce the noise and nonsense that surrounds much of the discussion of transformation and provide straight forward lessons, examples and thought provoking questions to guide the reader to a more powerful position as an agent of change. Based on the authors' decades of experience dealing with major business transformation, this book provides valuable guidance for any company engaged in large scale change brought on by shifts in the competitive landscape, mergers, acquisitions, or a major restructuring of their business model. Many organizations undergo transformation with lots of enthusiasm, but are frustrated with the results. This book contains a set of lessons gained in the process of working in and with organizations in the process of transformation. The book starts out by framing transformation and explains the overall system the enterprise that is involved in transformation. By doing so, clarity is brought to the question of why change is so difficult and problematic. What you can expect to get by reading this book is:
- A way of looking at transformation that is comprehensive and yet manageable without all the buzzword bingo terminology
- 11 critical lessons taken from the author’s broad experience on a broad range of topics that you can leverage in your situation
- To get some thought provoking insight from 10 key questions for each lesson that you can use to apply the lessons to your organization
- A comprehensive framework for leading transformation that will challenge your thinking and provide a path forward to taking immediate action
With rare insight and candor, the authors provide thoughtful advice backed by examples from their comprehensive experience. If you don’t like transformation, you are going to hate irrelevance. This book is your best bet for getting the insight you need to transform your organization before it becomes irrelevant.
Synopsis
Today's marketplace requires that businesses maintain excellent relationships with their customer base while offering a greater range of optionsoften combining services with traditional product offerings. While many organizations enthusiastically attempt to undergo transformations to accomplish this and other major changes, they are often frustrated with the results.
Executing Your Business Transformation provides valuable guidance for companies contemplating mergers, acquisitions, or major restructurings of their business models. This important resource is based on the expert authors' decades of experience dealing with major business transformations and offers an illustrative set of lessons gained from the authors' wide range of experiences.
Some of the unorthodox and yet highly valuable lessons in the book include Your customers are always right, except when they aren't; What got you here may kill you there; There is no strategy if nobody knows what to do; Consultants are not an excuse for not knowing your business; Yesterday's leadership skills may prevent tomorrow's success; and Transforming strategy requires more than expensive software.
With keen insight and rare candor, Executing Your Business Transformation provides thoughtful advice to any leader who understands that the strengths of today's company will not translate into the results of tomorrow.
Synopsis
Praise for Executing Your Business Transformation
"This book reflects the authors' valuable experience in the trenches of some difficult cases, where egos, politics, and culture get in the way of making substantive, quick organizational change."
Neil Smith, managing partner, SmithO'Brien
"Executing Your Business Transformation identifies the key problems facing every successful business and offers insightful and valuable strategies that not only protect but pave the way for continued success."
Steve Gill, vice president, product marketing and business development, ALLDATA LLC
"Without evolution to respond to changing business conditions, organizations will die. This book really helps to explain this need and the constant requirement to avoid tactical and strategic lethargy. Get the message or go out of businesswhat could be more simple?"
Howard Charney, senior vice president, Cisco Systems, and cofounder, 3Com
"Today everyone should know that organizations must transform. We spent the last decade (or more) learning that and seeing what happens when organizations either don't transform or fail to do it well. Executing Your Business Transformation provides a framework, examples, and questions that lead to the in-depth introspection every organization needs before and during transformation. I think the book may be even more valuable where leaders don't see the need to transform; maybe by reading it, they can see the error of their ways before it's too late."
Sean Morgan, professor, California State University, Chico
"Transformational change is a tall order for any leader. If you are contemplating making sweeping change, you owe it to yourself and your people not only to read but to study this book. The authors make visible, in a holistic fashion, the critical aspects of any business that must be addressed to prevent waste and failure."?
Robert W. Lauridsen, CEO, Strategy Execution Challenge
About the Author
Mark I. Morgan is CEO of StratEx Advisors, Inc., and lead author of Executing Your Strategy. He has thirty?-plus years of industry experience in business start-ups, business development, management, leadership, and project, program, and portfolio management.
Andrew B. Cole is vice president of human resources at A123 Systems. He is former senior vice president and director of human resources at APC and senior vice president of human resources for the CPAC Division of Schneider Electric.
David R. Johnson is senior vice president of home and business at APC. He also served as senior vice president of worldwide sales at APC where he led a team of more than 2,000 people.
Robert J. Johnson is vice president of enterprise solutions at A123 Systems and former CEO and president of North America for APC.
Table of Contents
Introduction.
The transformation challenge.
1 Once Upon a Time In Transformation.
Profiles of selected companies in transformation.
2 What Got You Here May Kill You There.
Letting go of legacy success in order to prosper in the future.
3 Yesterday's Leadership Skills May Prevent Tomorrow's Success.
Aligning leadership with transformation.
4 There Is No Strategy If Nobody Knows What to Do.
Translating strategy into action moving forward.
5 Transforming Strategy Requires More Than Expensive Software.
How to keep from being a fool with a tool.
6 Transform Human Resources into a Strategic Advantage.
How to engage HR at a strategic level.
7 Your Customers Are Always Right, Except When They Aren't.
Doing what is right for customers even when it is not what they asked for.
8 Don't Let Analysts Run Your Business.
Pleasing the street is not always what it's cracked up to be.
9 Merger Is Not a Four-Letter Word.
How to reduce the risk of value loss in merging companies.
10 Who Melted My Cheese?
How to deal with the mixture of two different recipes for success
11 Spin Is Overrated for Creating Value.
Replacing rhetoric with real communication.
12 Consultants Are Not an Excuse for Not Knowing Your Business.
How to engage professional services for maximum return.
Conclusion.
Next steps in creating better models and methods to transform organizations.
Acknowledgments.
About the Authors.
Index.