Customer Reviews

Kiss Theory Good Bye: Five Proven Ways to Get Extraordinary Results in Any Company

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I'm action oriented and view theory as a necessary evil. When consulting a business management book I want to know what I can do to IMMEDIATELY impact my business. Kiss Theory Good Bye was written expressly for me.

It's not enough to know the basics - and theoretical constructs are of limited help when you're in the trenches. This book is the bare knuckle fist fight of business books; true hand-to-hand combat. It's a virtual blueprint that can be customized and followed to propel your organization to excellence. Although the book itself is a short 218 pages, no space is wasted on needless chatter on unproven concepts. It gives you the tools needed to implement practical management techniques that generate results.

The broad strokes are pretty obvious. For example, his "five attributes of highly profitable companies" that include 1) Superior Leadership, 2) Sales Effectiveness, 3) Operational Excellence, 4) Financial Management, and 5) Customer Loyalty are fairly well-known concepts. But how do you implement them? That's where Bob Prosen makes the rubber meet the road. Step-by-step he gives you a roadmap to follow that helps you put concepts and theories into practice.

Be prepared to do your homework! While the author provides the blueprint, YOU must provide the details. It's your business. If you don't thoroughly understand how your business operates (or should operate) then no book is going to help, theoretical or not. Fill in the blanks and follow the plan and you should see dramatic results in your organization.

Perhaps the most popular professor at the Edgewood College MBA program is Joe Hahn, who teaches a Strategic Management course, and is also the VP of a $13 billion company. Students love Joe because he's a no-nonsense kind of guy who focuses on making decisions, getting results, and not pondering theories and possibilities until the end of time. Well, Kiss Theory Goodbye is a book that Joe would love! Here's why:
Bob Prosen has managed to put together an action-oriented how-to manual that will make anyone a better decision maker. It's a surprisingly compelling, readable volume (most books of this type are neither) with specific ideas and real-world examples of how a business leader can obtain results in virtually every area of an organization!

Prosen's direct, disarmingly straightforward style addresses such key issues as the "victim mentality" or the office politics that can slow down an organization and keep it from moving forward. He emphasizes in no uncertain terms the critical need to measure customer satisfaction (and, indeed, anything that a company values) and focus on forging ahead rather than perpetually having ineffective, time-wasting meetings that focus on talk instead of solutions. What's the alternative to taking home countless pages of essential financial reports that ultimately never get read? How should compensation issues be addressed effectively? These are just some of the important issues this book covers.

Of course this is a handbook more than a comprehensive analysis--as it would probably take several volumes to address such a vast array of issues: But perhaps therein lies its value. It's a starting point; a spring board that can generate action-oriented thinking--and most business leaders could use precisely that kind of tool!

Bob Prosen dispenses with management theories and nostrums, and focuses closely on the practical facts of business life. In a blunt, concise style, he addresses five subject areas: leadership, sales, operations, finance and customers. Most of what he says has been said before, however, he provides a solid and straightforward handbook to remind managers of what is essential and what is not. Each chapter provides a list of action steps and a summary of "very important lessons" that we think busy business readers will find convenient and helpful.

I met Bob Prosen through a colleague. After a few minutes I was impressed. After an hour I wished I could kidnap Prosen, lock him in our office until he taught us everything he knew.

The next best thing... read his book. The strories and examples are vividly useful. My favorite parts are the Action Steps. You know you're holding a special book when you instinctively go... "I need to do that. I can start that idea today. This will work wonders for our bottom line, efficiency, effectiveness, etc."

For less than $20, your investment in Kiss Theory Goodbye will multiply 1000's upon 1000's of times!!!!

I think it would be a serious mistake to "kiss theory good bye" if the given theory is both verifiably sound and in all respects appropriate. This is precisely what Peter Drucker had in mind (in 1963) when he observed, "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all." A sound theory guides and informs the selection and implementation of strategies and tactics which will achieve the given objectives. Presumably Bob Prosen agrees.

In this volume he provides a remarkably cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective action plan by which to achieve desired results, whatever they may be. His specific recommendations will be of substantial value to all organizations, regardless of size or nature. He carefully organizes his material within three Parts which consist of 11 individual chapters. Prosen addresses issues which seem to be of greatest interest to decision-makers. For example, avoiding or breaking what he calls "crippling habits," prudent management of resources, and accurate measurement of "what matters." Prosen offers no head-snapping revelations. He does include a few irritating claims such as knowing "the secret formula for extraordinary results." The importance of operational excellence is neither a secret nor a formula.

Such claims are unnecessary. The substantial value of the content in this book will be derived from three factors. First, Prosen focuses almost all of his and his reader's attention on what to do and how to do it, rather than on delineation of theories, hypotheses, etc. Especially for owners/CEOs of small businesses, this "meat and potatoes" approach will be especially appreciated. Also, his recommendations are sound, albeit obvious, and explained with commendable clarity. Finally, Prosen immediately establishes and then sustains a direct rapport with his reader. The tone of his remarks is conversational, or more accurately tutorial.

In E-Myth Mastery, Michael Gerber observes that "Of the 1 million U.S. small businesses started this year [2005], more than 80% of them will be out of business within 5 years and 96% will have closed their doors before their 10th birthday." Chilling statistics indeed. Many of these business failures demonstrate one or (probably) several of the five "crippling habits" which Prosen identifies. I certainly have no quarrel with any of the "five attributes of highly profitable companies" which he affirms. I do think he makes a strategic mistake by not introducing core principles of operational excellence first. Having a thorough understanding of a company's cost structure and the use of continuous improvement are absolutely essential to survival. The ten-step plan for effective use of root-cause analysis (RCA) and irreversible corrective action (ICA) probably should have been included in the next chapter on financial management but it does offer an excellent example of operational excellence insofar as problem solving (in this instance, an accounts-receivable problem) is concerned.

Almost everything Prosen recommends is immediately or imminently do-able. However, as Drucker suggests, whatever is done should not only be done "with great efficiency" but also done because it is absolutely necessary. Despite this book's title, its contents are really based on a theory - a very sound theory - which can be summarized as follows: All organizations which achieve and then sustain success have effective leadership in all areas and at all levels; manage resources prudently; offer substantial value to each client or customer; accomplish more and better results in less time and at a lower cost; constantly improve; and treat their people so well that those who work for competitors would much prefer to work for them. If you are looking for a formula for success, that may suffice. Read Prosen's book and you'll learn how to apply it properly.

If you are in business or running an organization of any kind, this book is for you. Finally someone has written a "how to" manual that advises what actions one can take to maximize business results. So many `best selling' business tomes are either worship-me memoirs of ruthless corporate titans, or high-level academic analyses told by college professors who have never worked in or run a real business, or feel-good New Age mantras, or gimmicky tie ins to historical figures like Sun Tzu or Hannibal. This practical book, written by a veteran executive of many well known corporations, cuts straight through all of that.

This book is not afraid to be a tactical handbook for corporate (and government) leaders. Most business books are big on strategy, which seems sexier, but no strategy can be successful if the sub-parts of it, the tactics, cannot be executed effectively. This is what Prosen shows you how to do.

The Publisher's Weekly review critically mentioned that Prosen's advices seem "utterly familiar". Well, it may seem that way, but take the time to put your organization to the test and see how much of this "familiar" stuff is actually in practice at your firm. For example, I wasn't out of chapter one and Bob's `gut check' list of things companies do wrong was true of virtually every place I've ever worked! I was literally laughing at how on-target he was:

* Clear directions understood by all. Go and ask your employees at all levels what are the clear goals of the company. See what answers you get. Sure you'll get obvious vagaries like "to make money" or "do well for the shareholders", but at each level, I'll bet the answers are all over the place. And a general understanding of organizational goals doesn't translate well into specific actions.

* Lack of accountability. Does this sound familiar? Does your organization suffer from this? Do you sit in meetings where under-achieving blowhards rant on and on about why they didn't achieve pre-established goals--and get away with it? If you're frustrated by this, Bob is speaking to you.

* Planning in Lieu of Action. Ask yourself what actionable events occur out of all the meetings you sit in? Do you get tired of planning this, meeting about that, etc and yet nothing ever seems to happen?

* Aversion to Risk and Change. Have you ever had a new idea about how to accomplish something only to be stymied by instructions to "do it the way we've always done it"? Multiply that mindset by most of the people in your company and you'll understand why most organizations suffer from crippling inertia.

* Measure What Matters (later chapter). Sounds simple enough, right? Yet, how many of you work somewhere where endless useless reports are produced that no one looks at? Maybe there's relevant data somewhere in the paper mound, but you'd need Indiana Jones to find it.

This book is a brick through the window pain of these status quo problems. Its stuff that may sound familiar when you read it, but very likely, the place you run, manage or work at is guilty of many of these ills. This book will force you to look in the mirror, organizationally, take stock, and start making changes. I imagine it doing for business and organizational leaders what Machiavelli's "The Prince" did for Italian Renaissance rulers!

I take exception with the Publisher's Weekly review on other fronts as well. The reviewer seems to begrudge Prosen the accolades he received from many corporate executives who have read the book. To me, who better to judge its merits?! Also, the reviewer chides the author for addressing a full spectrum of skills and management areas. What good would it be to arm you with one set of skills and leave off the others?! Does this reviewer really think readers would be better served if Prosen shared his wisdom on, say, customer loyalty and retention, and left off discussion of how this links up with operational, financial and sales effectiveness?!

Bob shows you how to achieve gestalt: the condition where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. He can only do that by addressing all 5 Key Attributes as he does.

In fact, while each of the author's 5 Key Attributes is excellently described and delineated--if your organization needed help in one or two of the areas you could read only those chapters and still benefit tremendously--the real valuable lesson of this book is that you have to do all 5 Attributes well to be successful. A car with three new tires and one flat tire won't go very far. Mastering all of these attributes concurrently is the in-between-the-lines message of this book. At a lean but dense 200+ pages, busy executives and leaders can carry this book around, read it and re-read it. Then, buy copies for your staff and have them pass it around. A groundswell of this author's ideas and recommendations in your company will inject lasting adrenaline throughout your organization that will translate into superior performance.

I was fortunate enough to see Bob speak at a local SMEI event several months back which prompted me to purchase the book there in person. His practical, real-life examples and principles are a must for the successful GM and sales leader. Thanks Bob for a book we can all apply right away!

Mike Merrill
Account Executive
Dell, Inc.
Plano, TX

Bob Prosen's book should be taught in every business school in the country. He gives direct advice from what he learned in the trenches of running large corporations. I run a small business but I discovered something in every chapter of the book applied to me and what I'm trying to accomplish. I really liked the idea about having a "one page report" you can reference that tells you everything you need to know about how your business is operating. This report should have every important aspect of your business measured as a number and should alert you when one of the numbers isn't within the range you want it to be.

Bob Prosen is a great speaker as well as author. If you get a chance to attend one of his presentations, I guarantee you will take something away that will fundamentally change the way you look at your business.

Mark Morris
Dental Salon

I read with interest the 'Publishers Weekly' comments on Mr. Prosen's book. Although I agree with their opinion that all business leaders should know everything that is in 'Kiss Theory Good Bye', reality says they (we) don't. Or if they do, they're struggling with how to implement it all. I am in the sales training and consulting business and everyday I see companies who can't seem to implement those things they should (and do) already know. Mr. Prosen's book is the best book I've read on how to take what you do/should know, and with his simple list of 'ACTIONS TO TAKE NOW' at the end of each chapter, run a business - large or small. Sorry Publishers Weekly, this is a GREAT book.

KISS THEORY GOOD BYE erased many of my preconceived notions about leadership and business growth. As a sole proprietor, I was expecting KISS THEORY GOOD BYE to speak to issues that would be exclusive to big corporations. However, I was captivated by the ins-and-outs of straight forward practices implemented by highly successful companies.

No magic potions or theories. Just great practices I found I could immediately start using in my own life and business.