The John Deere Way: Performance that Endures [Hardcover]

David Magee (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471706442 | ISBN-13: 978-0471706441 | Publication Date: March 25, 2005 | Edition: 1

The John Deere Way presents timeless business lessons from one of America’s top brands. Even as many American manufacturers struggle with low-cost foreign competition, John Deere has not only prevailed, but increased its market share by offering superior quality products built tough and in accordance with time-tested business values. This book shares the company’s management principles and corporate values and shows how those values guide the company to increasingly greater success. For business owners and leaders who want to know what real long-term success constitutes—and how to achieve it—The John Deere Way is the only way.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

As many former giants of the American industrial heartland fall prey to low-cost foreign competition and high domestic manufacturing costs, one U.S. company stands out as a shining example of growth, brand recognition, and phenomenal success in a globalized world. John Deere has done more than prevail in its primary market: With $19.9 billion in annual sales and 46,000 employees, this global powerhouse has expanded its highly respected brand name beyond agricultural equipment to become the world leader in forestry harvesting equipment and a major supplier of equipment for construction, lawn and turf care, and golf course maintenance, as well as financial services and managed health care.

How can a company founded in the early nineteenth century maintain such a high level of vitality in the constantly changing business climate of the twenty-first century? Can other organizations crack the secrets of this enduring firm's success and use them to enhance their own growth and profitability? In The John Deere Way, celebrated business author David Magee takes you behind the scenes to discover the timeless underlying principles and innovative practices that have enabled John Deere to continue to leap ahead of the competition for nearly 170 years.

Given unfettered access to the company, its archives, and its CEO Robert Lane, Magee soon discovered that the driving force behind this dynamic organization is a set of values and principles instilled at its inception by John Deere himself. From the day Deere developed the world's first commercially successful self-scouring steel plow in 1837 through to a remarkable series of innovations spearheaded by Robert Lane today, these principles have guided the company through good times and bad, helping it survive depressions and wars while making the most of prosperous times.

From "I will not put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me," to "You cannot have enduring performance without trust," The John Deere Way shares each of these secrets for the first time. Then, it examines how Deere employees, from the CEO on down, strive to express each principle through their actions in the workplace every day. This close examination translates each of Deere's values into useable and proven leadership lessons that can invigorate any company of any size in any industry.

Complete with an insightful introduction from Deere & Company Chairman and CEO Robert Lane, The John Deere Way offers compelling and important reading for anyone interested in industrial history; cutting-edge business practices; or a good, old-fashioned American success story.

From the Back Cover

Timeless business lessons from an American giant

Few companies have stood the test of time like John Deere, one of the world's most beloved and trusted brands. Since blacksmith John Deere developed the first commercially successful self-scouring steel plow in 1837, the company has provided customers the right products at the right time. From its trademark green and yellow tractors of all sizes to the popular Gator™ utility vehicle, the company is the leading provider of equipment and services for those who love and work the land, from farms and fields to golf courses to suburban backyards.

The secrets to John Deere's enduring success go far beyond its well-known popular products, however. The John Deere Way examines the qualities that have led to the company's enduring performance, providing useful lessons for business managers and people in their everyday lives. These include:

• The importance of integrity
• All relationships must be win-win
• Grow on the strength of your roots
• Put your brand to work (and protect it at all costs)
• Create change through innovation

This straightforward insight into one of the world's greatest companies is a must-read for anyone who loves John Deere or is interested in learning how its commitment to simple-but-timeless values has led to more than a century-and-a-half of serving customers.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471706442
• ISBN-13: 978-0471706441
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #542,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Magee is a non-fiction author, radio and television personality, and motivational speaker. He is the former host of the national television program The David Magee Show.

The author of 12 books, including MoonPie: Biography of an Out-of-This-World Snack; The John Deere Way; Jeff Immelt and the New GE Way; The Education of Mr. Mayfield, named best non-fiction book in the South in the 2010 IPPY Awards; and How Toyota Became #1 (Penguin), named by the American Library Association's Booklist as a Top Ten Business Book of the year in 2008. David hosted The David Magee Show in 2010 that aired in 21 million homes.

A frequent guest on national news programs over the years, Magee began his media career at a commercial radio station at the age of 18 and became a daily newspaper news editor at the age of 24. He began writing books in 2002 and has since made more than 200 media appearances, including NPR, the BBC, the Korean Broadcasting Network, Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business, The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek.com.

As a speaker, he's addressed audiences from Quebec to Japan to Dallas, Texas.

Previously, David was a city council member in the college town of Oxford, Mississippi, a small business owner named to Mississippi Business Journal Top 40 Under 40 at the age of 29, and the vice president of a national advertising and public relations company.

A journalism graduate of the University of Mississippi, he and his wife live on Lookout Mountain, Tennessee and are the parents of three children, including two sons who are students at the University of Mississippi and a daughter who is a junior at Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learning Why a Legendary Company is Legendary, January 17, 2006

By 

Kevin Eikenberry "Remarkable Leader" (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The John Deere Way: Performance that Endures (Hardcover)

I'll admit it, I grew up on and around John Deere equipment. As an adult I have become a collector of antique tractors and become a student of this truly historic and great American company. John Deere is also a Client of ours.

So when I received this book as a birthday gift it was a slam dunk - it went near the top of my reading stack. Given all of that, this review doesn't come from my obviously biased point of view - this is a book worth reading.

The book does tell parts of the history of this company, but it isn't a book about products or history. Written by experienced business author David Magee, it is an exploration of the key factors that have led to John Deere to growing and thriving over the last 150+ years.

The chapter titles tip off the business practices and attitudes that have guided the company and serve as the thesis for the book. Selected titles include:

Embrace the Culture
Quality Comes First
Always Maintain Integrity
Build a Business as Great as Your Products
Grow on the Strength of Your Roots

If you are interested in looking for keys that lead companies to be successful over the long haul, you will find some in this book. Written in a very readable style and interspersed with anecdotes and stories from Customers, Senior Managers and 4th generation employees, it deserves to be on your reading list.

Besides, how can any book go wrong when its dedication readsit is dedicated "For the Farmer"?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Primer on the Company, August 10, 2005

By 

J. Iyengar "JDDeere" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The John Deere Way: Performance that Endures (Hardcover)

The John Deere Way is an excellent way to learn about the basics of what make John Deere a legendary organization. From the history to the operational strategies and values, it covers all of the important information needed to understand Deere. It would have been nice, however, if the book was a little less repetitive at times and did not contain glaring vernacular errors such as "you can take the country out of the boy but you can't take the boy out of the country". But overall, an excellent primer on Deere & Co.

4.0 out of 5 stars A Deere Corporate Bio, January 9, 2006

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The John Deere Way: Performance that Endures (Hardcover)

This sincerely earnest book is a good example of why corporate biography remains, perhaps, the most problematic business-book genre. While the book is well researched, author David Magee apparently found it hard to avoid the trap of laudatory language about current management. To write a book like this, you need corporate help and access. Most employees won't even talk to an author without a go-ahead from the top. This means that, even without Deere & Company's roots date to 1836, when a blacksmith named John Deere moved from Vermont to the frontier settlement of Grand Detour, Illinois. Deere set up a shop that could provide stout hayforks, horseshoes and wagon parts. He talked with farmers, who complained that it was very difficult to plow the dense Midwestern turf. Plows made in the Northeast didn't work in the rich heavy soil. In 1837, Deere decided to devise a plow that would scrape off the topsoil, turn it over and let it glide off the plow. Even without an explicit quid pro quo, corporate biographies tend to become trapped in a sort of literary Stockholm syndrome, dependent on their sources for their own survival. That cautionary flag raised, this book provides a worthwhile portrait of one of America's stalwart agricultural companies. Deere & Company's values are as plain and honest as the face of a farmer atop his Deere tractor. Although the book would have been more engrossing if it offered pictures and sharper anecdotes, particularly from times when things didn't go well, we recommend it to those interested in agriculture, corporate histories or values-driven management.