Army of Entrepreneurs: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth [Hardcover]

Jennifer Prosek (Author), Darrren Hardy (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2, 2011

Imagine the benefits to be gained from a pool of employees who act as though they own the business: greater motivation, increased productivity, and a supercharged desire to succeed. As a young entrepreneur who turned a small PR business into a highly successful, international communications firm, Jennifer Prosek has experienced firsthand the power of instilling an 'owner's mind-set' in every employee. In "Army of Entrepreneurs", Prosek presents an easy-to-follow action plan any company large or small can use to build a workforce dedicated to generating new business, creating new products and services, and sustaining growth. Filled with inspiring examples, the book shows readers how to: motivate, train, and reward their employees; provide everyone from interns to executives with the skills and support they need; and refresh and evaluate the program over time for continuous results. Great businesses aren't built by a single leader or rainmaker. This book shows how to transform any workforce into a profit-generating army and reap the rewards.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Small-business owners will find much of value in public relations consultant Prosek's claim that employers should harness the energy and initiative of their workforce to drive new business rather than being strapped with sole responsibility. Prosek recounts how she successfully transformed her company into an environment that empowered, motivated, and rewarded employees to pitch business and pursue clients themselves. Using case studies from such companies as Edward Jones and Harley Davidson/Buell, she maintains that in both large and small businesses, employees can be empowered to become an "army of entrepreneurs." The theory, and even application, of employee-based growth is credible when applied to small businesses, but may be less feasible in larger organizations. While the opening chapters advance her argument by concentrating on the potential of employees as rainmakers and use her business as a template, she drops the thread in subsequent chapters, which drift to broad cultural and structural issues faced by larger companies, including how to create a formal training program and recruit and retain talent. (Feb.)
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Review

“Small-business owners will find much of value.” -- Publishers Weekly

"Jennifer Prosek not only takes a fresh look at business as usual, but gives the reader immediate tools to create a true partnership between employees and management." - eBABM (Bay Area Business Magazine, FL)

“Prosek has extracted the essence of entrepreneurialism and turned it in to a management system for the new economy….It’s a must read for small businesses.” - New Age Retailer

“Army of Entrepreneurs: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Growth…lives up to—and exceeds the expectations—of its title.” - Heather R. Huhman, BusinessInsider.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (February 2, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081441673X
• ISBN-13: 978-0814416730
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #389,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jennifer Prosek is the founder and CEO of CJP Communications, a leading international public relations and financial communications consultancy with offices in New York, Connecticut and London. Prosek built the firm using a management strategy she developed called an "Army of Entrepreneurs." The "Army" model is the subject of her first book, Army of Entrepreneurs: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth, which will be published in February 2011.

CJP and Prosek have won numerous honors. CJP was named an Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing company, has been recognized as one of the "Top Places to Work in PR" by PR News, and was named "Small Agency of the Year" by The Holmes Report.

Prosek was a finalist for the 2010 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. She was also named an "Emerging Power Player" by PR Week magazine, which lauded her for "combining an MBA education and instinct." She is a member of the Arthur Page Society, which includes chief communications officers from major corporation and CEOs of leading public relations agencies.

Prosek lectures frequently at leading business schools, including Columbia, and entrepreneurial and business groups, such as the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute.

She is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio and the Columbia Business School. She lives in New York City and Westport, Connecticut with her husband and daughter.


For more information visit http://armyofentrepreneurs.com or follow @EmployeeArmy on Twitter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to grow great gardeners, March 22, 2011

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Army of Entrepreneurs: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth (Hardcover)

The title of my review refers to what I believe is Jennifer Prosek's key point in this book: To paraphrase, Think like a gardener and decide what you want to grow, when and where to plant it, prepare the soil, plant, and then nourish the soil and protect the garden. In the business world, the gardeners are supervisors and what they must grow is what Prosek describes as an Army of Entrepreneurs (AOE), high-potential leaders with an entrepreneurial temperament and worldview. Prosek offers what many of these supervisors need to develop that potential: "An easy-to-follow, replicable [key word] plan of action that can be instituted [two more key words] quickly and inexpensively."

Organizations reflect those who lead them and that is especially true of the largest organizations, such as General Electric. Consider what Jack Welch said years ago at one of the company's annual meetings. He responded to a question: Why do you admire entrepreneurial companies so much that you want GE to become more like one?

"For one, they communicate better. Without the din and prattle of bureaucracy, people listen as well as talk; and since there are fewer of them they generally know and understand each other. Second, small companies move faster. They know the penalties for hesitation in the marketplace. Third, in small companies, with fewer layers and less camouflage, the leaders show up very clearly on the screen. Their performance and its impact are clear to everyone. And, finally, smaller companies waste less. They spend less time in endless reviews and approvals and politics and paper drills. They have fewer people; therefore they can only do the important things. Their people are free to direct their energy and attention toward the marketplace rather than fighting bureaucracy."

In addition to the aforementioned "game plan," Prosek also offers anecdotes and case studies that illustrate the AOE model in real-world circumstances as well as statistics, research, and commentary from various experts in the business community. Years ago, Thomas Edison observed, "Vision without execution is hallucination." That is why Prosek places such great emphasis on explaining or at least suggesting how to create, lead, deploy, and support an AOE. At the conclusion of each of 12 chapters, she inserts a "Six Steps Forward" section that lists what to do right after reading the material in the given chapter.

In Chapter 3, she shares her own thoughts about why big companies need entrepreneurs (i.e. to support innovation, keep in touch with customers, retain the most valued workers, move faster, and expand globally) and then recommends seven specific strategies for larger organizations (Pages 35-42). The case studies include those of Edward Jones, Emerson Electric, Ernst & Young, IBM, and Intuit. Again, the focus is on what works, what doesn't, and why. Other material within her narrative that caught my eye include "boot camp" (Pages 59-60), conducting training "workshops" (Hunting for Business, Advanced Hunting, Intrapreneurship, Planning and Organizing, and Teaching the Business), creating a talent pipeline (six steps, Pages 83-85), measuring success (formal and informal, Pages 113-129), managing disaster (Pages 172 and 189-190), and "Ten Questions to Ponder" in Appendix A (Pages 191-192).

Throughout her lively and eloquent narrative, Jennifer Prosek skillfully invokes a variety of military metaphors as she explains how to create "an engaged and empowered workforce for exceptional business growth." She rigorously covers each step of the process: recruiting, hiring, orientation, training, deployment, and performance measurement. There is no shortage of metaphors to call upon when describing this difficult but nonetheless essential process. I congratulate her on this brilliant achievement.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Brian Carney and Isaac Getz's Freedom, Inc.: Free Your Employees and Let Them Lead Your Business to Higher Productivity, Profits and Growth, Erika Andersen's Growing Great Employees, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement and Enterprise Architecture as Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Insights and Tips on Growing Your Business While Motivating and Empowering Your Employees, February 24, 2011

By 

CynInCali - See all my reviews

This review is from: Army of Entrepreneurs: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth (Hardcover)

Army of Entrepreneurs is a great book for any entrepreneur, business owner, senior executive, or manager.

The idea that every employee can contribute to building the business, no matter what their level of experience, seems obvious. Employees have a lot to offer. And, helping them understand the business, by having an open environment where the CEO or top people communicate and let people know how the business operates, makes sense. Often employees don't feel ownership in a company, don't feel appreciated, and do not even realize how integral they can be to the success of the company. This book shows how you can "show the love" to your employees, by investing in them, playing to their strengths, and engaging them in your business or department.

Companies are finding that old management models do not work well in this newly competitive and fast moving world. They realize that it takes more than just money to motivate and retain employees. Prosek shares not only her own experiences, but brings in stories from other companies. She details what worked for her company and others--during a major downturn (!)--and shares her recipe for success.

Prosek's advice and "action plan" are not complicated...she uses a lot of common sense and articulates WHY to "do" it, HOW to "do" it, WHAT to expect. She takes you by the hand and gives you a roadmap that you can customize to your company. No expensive consultants or complicated plans needed.

Even if you do not own your own business, but manage a team of people, Prosek's takeaways are spot on--there are things you can do right now! They make sense...

I read the book in one sitting. Well done!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! As a CMO, I found the content vital for our economy!, January 19, 2011

By 

LOVE "TRUTH-Seeker" (Kirkland, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Army of Entrepreneurs: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth (Hardcover)

Jennifer Prosek, CEO of CJP communications is brilliant! The "commissions for life" program hits it out of the park. She granted her employees commissions for life, just for introducing a client to her company! They did not even have to close the sale, and the employee received financial benefits for thinking out of the box and opening doors to a new client! No wonder her company grew in a recession!

With this idea alone, employees are inspired to do what it takes to help their employers grow in good times and hard times. As this inspiring author revealed from Frank Luntz book: Latest poll shows a transformational culture change in America since now 80% of employees would be proud to own a small business but only 14% want to be CEO of a large corporation.

As one who has led with major breakthrough in 9 large corporations and many smaller companies, and one who achieved my first 100 million dollar year in a division of a large company that had stalled for two years, I have to applaud Jennifer's ideas! Large corporations better wake up and implement her ideas right now or they will be left behind in the cultural revolution in America now!

I suffered through trying to hire top talent for the largest software company in the world as they were lured to go to work for a startup company called "google". We made large mistakes when we started hiring based on large corporation experience and just ivy league degrees. Had to laugh, cause Jennifer reveals that now google is losing employees to facebook :-), cause their culture is stifling.

As a former Business Intelligence Consultant for the largest business consulting company in the world, I have to agree with Jennifer about the problems at some large corporations. When political divisions in a large corporation cause decisions that should be made in a day, to take 1-2 years instead, it's hard for the tough smart hard inspiring entrepreneur minded employees to continue to spin their wheels at a company that is not opening doors for that important mindset. If your company is stalled, better pick up her book and have all your executives on board with her plan. Hire her if she will come and have her motivate your company! It's not about how large her company is, but about how powerful and realistic her ideas are for this moment in time!

I also loved the fact that one of the qualifications Jennifer's company is looking for is someone who has worked in a tough work environment in the past. From bagging groceries to working in tough weather in a steel mill, many of her employees know what it's like to work in a tough "dirty" job. She is brilliant in changing her criteria from looking for the normal corporate qualifications to purposefully searching for fresh entrepreneur mindset in her new hires!

Jennifer also has some great ideas for employees having a tough time in the job market. When interviewing for a job, offer the employer to share the risk. Tell them to hire you for 90 days and measure your results. If your employer is not satisfied with your performance, you will leave, no questions asked. Brilliant! Too many employees have a wrong mindset during an interview!

The executives I coach would definitely be highly motivated when a candidate is willing to put their neck on the line with the employer. Some are wise to offer to work for the lowest pay and the highest incentives based on performance alone! Dave Ramsey has also successfully implemented this in his company, why not learn something from these powerful entrepreneurs now!

So many employees have no idea how much they could benefit by sharing risks and rewards with an employer. Ask all those who started at Microsoft years ago, how many hours they had to work every day for low pay, until their stocks grew to make them multi-millionaires. But it's not just about money. A fulfilling life using one's talents to the max is its own reward! When Bill Gates opened the door for equity investments and shared the benefits of his company's success with tough hard working smart brilliant entrepreneur minded workers, Microsoft was born! When Steve Jobs build his company with this mindset, Apple was born! Look hard and wide to find company owners like Jennifer who are hiring with these same mindset!

Darren Hardy, publisher of success magazine, gives the introduction to this book. He is one who went from earning 100k while working part time in college to running a 50 Million dollar company by the time he was 27.

The world could learn a lot from smart CEOs like Jennifer Prosek and Darren Hardy! While buying this book, I would highly recommend picking up a copy of Darren Hardy's book "The compound effect" and recharge yourself now, so when an opportunity comes along, you will recognize it and jump on board full force!

To your success in 2011 and beyond!

Anthony Davar