Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm [Hardcover]

Verne Harnish (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2010

What are the underlying handful of fundamentals that haven't changed for over a hundred years? From Harnish's famous "Mastering a One Page Strategic Plan" process that has been a best-selling article on the web to his concise outline of eight practical actions you can take to strengthen your culture, this book is a compilation of best practices adapted from some of the best-run firms on the planet. Included is an instructive chapter co-authored by Rich Russakoff, revealing winning tactics to get banks to finance your business. Lastly, there are case studies demonstrating the validity of Harnish's practical approaches.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The undisputed expert in helping entrepreneurs grow their firms [has] now brought you his powerful ideas in book form." -- Ted Leonsis, Vice Chair, AOL Owner, Washington Capitals

From the Publisher

Says SelectBooks President Kenzi Sugihara, "Verne has a proven track record and a stellar reputation with top executives across this country. His new book offers the same rock solid guidance to a wider audience."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Gazelles, Inc.; 1st edition (January 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590790154
• ISBN-13: 978-1590790151
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.8 x 6.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #339,318 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Strategy & Competition

More About the Author

Verne is founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) and chaired for fifteen years EO's premiere CEO program, the "Birthing of Giants," and WEO's "Advanced Business" executive program, both held at MIT. Founder and CEO of Gazelles, a global executive education and coaching company, Verne has spent the past 29 years educating entrepreneurial teams.

The "Growth Guy" syndicated columnist, Verne is also the Venture Columnist for Fortune magazine, author of "Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm," and Co-author of "The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time: How Apple, Ford, IBM, Zappos, and others made radical choices that changed the course of business."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 61 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but misleading January 21, 2012

By J. P. Rogers

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Harnish covers some good points for smaller businesses and entrepreneurs but I honestly don't think he did much research on John D. Rockefeller, his methods and the Standard Oil corporation. I gained MUCH more insight into Rockefeller by reading the superbly researched and detailed biography of Rockefeller, "Titan", than I did reading Harnish's book. Harnish actually spends more time discussing case studies of medium to small business than he does on Rockefeller. The cynical view of Harnish is that he and the publishing company used Rockefeller's name and legend to sell the book, while actually providing little insight into the Rockefeller business system. In this instance, I'm inclined to cynicism.

This is a good book for entrepreneurs, not for understanding Rockefeller, his genius or his habits. I would not recommend this to someone interested in learning more about the business system and principles of Rockefeller.

38 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Bible" for Entreprenuers December 1, 2004

By Danielle Mulvey

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Verne is truly the "entreprenuer's guru" - he knows our strengths and weaknesses to a prefect tee and Mastering the Rockefeller Habits is "the well" of inspiration for entreprenuers at any stage of their businesses.

What makes Verne the true genius is the fact that all of the ideas and concepts he talks about in the book are tangible resources that you can EFFORTLESSLY implement into your organization. Most books are full of ideas and leave the reader to "re-create the wheel" in order to make the ideas come to life, but Verne knows entrepreneurs well and has removed the burden of responsiblity to create the tanglibles he talks about.

I love to read, and have a lot of favorites including Good to Great, Wizard of Ads, Topgrading, The E-Myth and Execution -- but Mastering the Rockefeller Habits is truly the most practical and inspiring book an entreprenuer can read.

23 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Entrepreneur Of The Year winner - This is a Must-Read! November 13, 2002

By Cynthia Driskill

Format:Hardcover

Planning is everything. Our company used to be great at developing plans - we had grand plans, plans we'd worked on for months, and plans for our plans. We were planning experts. But we couldn't implement. Our plans sat in fancy binders and we pulled them out to look at them periodically, felt better because we had them, and couldn't figure out why things weren't happening like we'd planned.

Then we read Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. And we found we could actually implement the plans that we learned how to develop from the methods and techniques defined in the book. We now have plans that work. And our company has matured tremendously as an organization from following the book. I strongly recommend that any company, from young start-up to those more mature, read and implement the strategies in this book. It will change your world.