BIG Ideas to BIG Results: Remake and Recharge Your Company, Fast (Hardcover)

~ Michael T. Kanazawa (Author), Robert H. Miles (Author)
Key Phrases: power curve, execution phase, quarterly checkpoints, Michael Kanazawa, Office Depot, San Francisco (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It takes more than a vision to launch a successful corporate strategy. It takes engagement on the part of employees at all levels. Establishing such engagement is at the heart of this punchy, dynamic book by Kanazawa and Miles—the CEO and chairman, respectively, of Dissero Partners, a strategic advisory firm. Fewer than half of employees, according to a quoted poll, understand their company's strategic goals and only 43% think there is ever any follow-through on planned strategy shifts. This is why, the authors assert, so many corporate initiatives fail. After seeing the process break down countless times, Kanazawa and Miles developed a step-by-step guide to harnessing the energy that companies usually waste when introducing initiatives. By creating more of a buy-in throughout the organization and ensuring execution through accountability, employees become committed to company goals, they claim. Their clear and hands-on approach is useful for anyone whose livelihood is tied to the successful execution of business initiatives. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“A recently released book, titled BIG Ideas to BIG Results: Remake and Recharge Your Company, Fast, states that the reason corporate initiatives fail is because they are too complex and instead promotes a simple, practical approach.”

                                                        - Chief Learning Officer Magazine, March 31, 2008

 

“The authors also caution leaders about what to avoid when launching a new initiative. One typical half-hearted commitment is the dreaded “pilot” project–a feel-good initiative that allows individuals or departments resistant to change to delay their participation in a new initiative. Executives must root out lingering opposition early and demand that any nonurgent work that could compete with the new project be shelved temporarily.” 

                                                                - T+D Magazine, April 2008

 

“Michael Kanazawa, CEO of Dissero Partners and Robert Miles, chairman of Dissero, outline a step-by-step approach to driving business transformation and performance. The solution? In a word, simplify.”

                                                - Consulting Magazine, March/April 2008

 

“Michael Kanazawa knows a thing or two about dysfunctional companies. After all, he used to work in a cubicle down the hall from Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip "Dilbert." This book shares the technique they teach for corporate change. It's called ACT, or Accelerated Corporate Transformation.”

                                                - Triangle Business Journal, March 7, 2008

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (February 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132344785
• ISBN-13: 978-0132344784
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #106,487 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Vision without execution is hallucination." (Thomas Edison), March 18, 2008

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

First some background. More than 25 years ago, C-level executives from major corporations (individuals as well as members of a management team) gathered for two weeks at the Harvard Business School, met with members of its faculty, and helped each other to formulate a game plan to respond effectively to their respective organization's most formidable business challenge. Within a year, they reconvened to share what happened, after the game plan had been implemented. What worked? What didn't? Why? How could the game plan be improved? During the years that followed, as other C-level executives convened at Harvard, "a clear pattern emerged. The biggest and most common problem facing executives was in leading different types of corporate transformations. They had trouble getting their organizations to execute on their stated strategies quickly." Co-author Robert H. Miles, who chaired the Harvard. "Managing Organizational Effectiveness" Program, distilled a wealth of real-world information and began to devise what he eventually called the Accelerated Corporate Transformation, or ACT process."



What we have in this single volume is a rigorous and comprehensive explanation of what the ACT process is...and isn't. Co-authors Michael Kanazawa and Miles briefly examine the typical stages of a cycle of failure, then shift their attention to the ten stages of a business success cycle and devote a separate chapter to each, providing at its conclusion a checklist of "Tips" that summarize key points. Keep in mind that ACT is a process rather than a project, best viewed as a journey rather than a destination. However, for a variety of compelling reasons that Kanazawa and Miles acknowledge, ACT requires a timeframe if the desired results (whatever they may be) are to be achieved. Appropriately, they share this caveat with their reader: "Unfortunately, there is not one `silver bullet' that will unlock success. There are a lot of moving parts. However, [ACT] is a surprisingly simple architecture and process that you can put in place to bring all of the critical principles into play."

In this context, change agents would be well-advised to keep in mind advice from two other sources. Charles Darwin's made three basic declarations: Species always breed beyond available resources; those with favorable variations have a greater chance of survival and pass along their variations to their offspring; and, adapted species force out weaker ones, producing whole new species. In other words, given the process of natural selection in the business world, companies must adapt or perish. Peter Ducker is the other source, stressing the importance of knowing where you are, where you want to go, and how to get there. In 1963, Ducker also observed "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

Presumably at least a few of those who read this review would appreciate having a representative selection of brief excerpts. I have selected three:

"In the ACT process map in [Figure 3.2], you see the steps of Confront Reality, Focus, Align and Engage, and Execute in the streamlined process architecture. These items are essential design elements, which characterize the significant difference between cookie-cutter, fixed processes that either serve as an overlay to the existing business or seek to change everything being done already just to fit the new process. The right approach to process architecture is to leverage all of the best existing elements of the management process that are currently working well, make adjustments for any missing elements, adjust the sequence of steps for impact, and then streamline the full process for speed, simplicity, and high engagement. Fixed cookie-cutter processes often require changing too much at once (even things that were working) and are rightly rejected by organizations in most cases." (Page 31)

"A word of caution on going overboard with sparking innovation across a large system is to be careful about maintaining focus. Some people have misinterpreted and misapplied the concepts around full-system change. Their concept is to `light 1,000 fires' all around the lower levels of the organization and let all of that energy boil up to the top. In their eyes, isn't that `real' full engagement? Actually, it is just anarchy. Like a wildfire, this process is out of control, lacks direction, and ultimately just creates havoc." (Page 110)

"If the organization is under-powered [i.e. `the top leaders tell their underlings what to do and make all the decisions'], the challenge is then to shift the Power Curve `up' to look more like the High-Powered curve. In this case, the senior executives engage the full organization by releasing accountability of day-to-day tactics to middle managers to create time for strategic thinking at the top, and structure time and forums to effectively vet their strategic plans with lower levels in the organization. This results in a cascading of power to all levels, which leads to breakthrough results." (Pages 137-138)

Kanazawa and Miles duly acknowledge "nobody really ever learned how to lead a transformation by reading about it." What they offer is a complete set of tools and explain how to use each. It remains for those who read this book to determine (as Ducker suggests) where their organization is now, where it wants to be, and how to get there. They can then collaborate with their associates on the selection of the tools needed to complete accurate measurements, chart a proper course, and then communicate effectively once embarked on their shared journey to transform not only their organization but also themselves.

Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out Jim Champy's Outsmart! How to Do What Your Competitors Can't as well as Jason Jennings' Think Big, Act Small: How America's Best Performing Companies Keep the Start-Up Spirit Alive, two books by Henry Cherbourg (Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating And Profiting from Technology and his more recent Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape), and Corporate Agility: A Revolutionary Model for Competing in a Flat World co-authored by Charles E. Grantham, James P. Ware, and Cory Williamson. Also Kevan Hall's Speed Lead: Faster, Simpler Ways to Manage People, Projects and Teams in Complex Companies, Dean R. Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement: Rethinking the Way We Measure and Drive Organizational Success, and Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Well, and David Robertson.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An innovative organizational process that produces results year after year, February 23, 2008

By	Michael Lee Stallard (Greenwich, CT) - See all my reviews

Leaders of organizations would be wise to follow the advice of Michael Kanazawa and Robert Miles in their excellent new book entitled Big Ideas to Big Results. The book lays out their ACT process for organizations that want to implement three to four major initiatives each year. The authors developed the process to combat corporate ADD and employee disengagement when it comes to executing organizational initiatives.

Based on my more than 25 years experience in business as well as my expertise in employee engagement, I completely agree that these are major problems in organizations today and the solution the authors propose will go a long way toward solving them. The ACT process is also entirely consistent with the employee engagement research we have conducted at E Pluribus Partners and presented in Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team's Passion, Creativity, and Productivity. Kanazawa and Mile's ACT process works in part because it helps meet universal human needs for respect, recognition, belonging, autonomy, personal growth and meaning. When these needs are met, people thrive, individually and collectively.

Strong leaders will recognize many of the best practice steps that are a part of ACT. What makes this book valuable is the way the authors integrate the best practices into a step-by-step process and add ideas of their own. I especially liked their descriptions of annual high employee engagement cascades with tablework and quarterly mini-cascades. It's worth buying the book just to learn more about these practices alone.

Big Ideas to Big Results will be popular with corporate leaders. It's a quick and easy read with a process that is practical to implement and will help move organizations from identifying big ideas to producing big results. Congratulations to Kanazawa and Miles for developing an important new contribution to process innovation and describing it in an accessible way.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical Advice for Business Alignment, August 20, 2008

By	That Dwayne "www.genuinecuriosity.com" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This book had a unique attraction for me, since I worked with Mike and Bob on one of the transformations they discuss in the book (it was called "Taking Charge" and is referred to at various points throughout the book, but specifically summarized on page 118 & 119).

Mike and Bob have worked together on a number of corporate transformations, and they share their experiences to help us minimize the chances that we'll run the "typical" course: some lame, corporate feelgood program that achieves nothing. I've been there and it is not a fun fate.

Beware of zombies

The authors do a nice job of keeping things interesting by telling colorful stories to illustrate their points. One I enjoyed is Michael Kanazawa's discussion of "Zombie Projects" which he encountered, ironically, while working in the same area as Dilbert's creator Scott Adams.

"Zombie projects" are those projects that refuse to admit they're dead - which means they suck resources and motivation from the rest of the organization, causing "drag" on the business. The authors discuss the reasons these projects are allowed to exist and most of the book deals with how to ferret out and get rid of these kinds of useless activities.

Set the right drumbeat

Another interesting topic covered in the book deals with how leaders can make or break their team's success through the "drumbeat" they establish. Examples of leaders who to force too much "sense of urgency," which often has the opposite effect; rather than getting people to work harder or faster, their "urgency" shuts down debate and makes people feel anxious or frustrated.

They offer some powerful tips for how to manage your team's "sense of time" so that people use their times productively, without panic, and without feeling like they'll slow down progress by injecting their opinions or challenging things that are happening.

Engage the masses

One of the things that comes out strongly in the book (and one of the most memorable aspects of the Taking Charge project I was part of) is that the authors have developed a true methodology for engaging people across a company and focusing them on a specific set of outcomes. Their construct called "Tablework" is a big part of encouraging innovative thinking and microcollaboration among small teams, which is then reconnected back into the company's larger objectives.

Perhaps the most powerful aspect of their approach is the drive to create "leaders at all levels" - crucial in creating a self-sustaining, effective business that can scale. A big part of that is letting people throughout the organization own various aspects of strategy and execution - and holding them accountable.

But one other vital aspect of this is making sure people feel recognized for their part in the company's success, and helping them discern the difference between things they must do and things they must strive for. They present the latter using a concept I really love - the distinction between "promises" (absolute goals) and "declarations" (a statement of intent when the means to get there are unknown).

Get big

This book is jam packed with information and techniques, but is fun to read. I also believe it can be a handy recipe book to help managers and leaders deal with specific problem areas, even if you don't go through the whole transformation process form end-to-end.

If you're a leader looking to drive your business out of the "same old same old" then I highly recommend Big Ideas to Big Results.

-- Dwayne Melancon, genuinecuriosity.com