Customer Reviews

Never by Chance: Aligning People and Strategy Through Intentional Leadership

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Never by Chance by Calloway, Feltz, and Young is an excellent leadership book that balances theory and practice. Its core themes; Vision, Culture, Relevance, and Customer Experience, are masterfully portrayed as the key ingredients of exemplary organizations where employees are engaged and customers are loyal. Further, the authors demonstrate that the power of these four themes is magnified when they operate in unison. The authors share their impressive "know how" and speak to their practical experiences of leading and/or consulting for large and impressive organizations. They truly know how to align people and strategy through intentional leadership. They provide the reader with key practices that are essential to creating an organization that aspires to thrive in a competitive world. Not only have they clearly and concisely written about how to create and nurture exemplary organizations, they have done it! And, they emphasize the book's key points with specific examples of success! I read a good number of leadership books each year and consider this to be one of the very best. Any leader from the corporate world, the field of education, the health and social services sector, or any other type of organization will immediately be able to implement practical action steps from what they learn by reading this book. Never by Chance is one of the definite "essential reads" in 2010 and beyond!

Joe Calloway, Chuck Feltz and Kris Young have joined forces to write the book that senior management at companies large and small have been waiting for. Highly readable, loaded with innovative ideas and filled with seminal insights from both a consulting and CEO perspective. Never By Chance lays out a plan for aligning people and strategy to dramatically improve market share and ROI. If you're going to read one businesss book this year, this is it!

This book is a must read - not a nice to read, but a must read. Calloway , Feltz and Young have written a book that tackles the fundamental challenge of using your culture to drive business strategy and stay relevant with your customers. Buy it and apply its wisdom today before your competition has a chance to get ahead of you.
-Randy Pennington
Author, Results Rule! Build a Culture that Blows the Competition Away

The role of a leader of any organization is to create a shared vision; everyone knows what is expected of them, and everyone feels like they're a part of something special. They clearly understand "what the deal is".

The three authors of this book - Joe Calloway, Chuck Feltz & Kris Young - also know what the deal is, and they clearly communicate that message to the reader in this wonderfully concise bundle of information. The ability of an organization to allign people to strategy is critical to its long-term success; unfortunately, many organizations are falling short of this objective. In short, they need to read and heed the message delivered in this pragmatic guide.

It could be the most significant book any CEO will read this year, or any year, for that matter.

Reading Never By Chance is like spending time with a terrific mentor. The book is filled with
the kind of information you can only learn from effective C-level leaders (Feltz is one of these) and
unlike so many business materials--it is very readable. The stories and experiences make the advice immediately
practical and demonstrates that consistent and intentional leadership drives concrete results.
My advice: Read this! Then share it with the other executives at your company.

If you are bright enough to be looking for advice on how to improve your leadership skills, then my advice is to use those brains to both buy, and then really use, this book.
Getting your hands on a road map always makes the journey more successful; that's what Feltz, Young, and Calloway provide, a clear set of directions for learning how to be a top leader. Why take the chance of getting, or staying, lost?

"Never By Chance" successfully delivers in 143 clear and concisely written pages a critical primer illustrating the core tenets required to cultivate sustainable success within any organization. Calloway, Feltz and Young prove through personal examples that an organization's ability to lead in the marketplace lies in its ability to tap into the intellect, drive and enthusiasm of its people...from top down. Never By Chance is an immediately relevant read...destined to become a senior manager's desktop companion.

"Never by Chance" by Calloway, Feltz and Young is a remarkable management text, so clearly written by experienced leaders who have taken the trouble to think their craft through and articulate it with compelling skill. Much of the management literature covers (rather speculatively) aspects of teamwork and managing people but in a naive way, failing to recognize these people are adults. "Never by Chance" exudes hard fought marketplace experience and expresses core beliefs about how people should be led. In this, the authors avoid a set of tactics that someone might copy before moving on to try something else. Instead they offer powerful examples and implore the reader to think through their own organization. The importance of culture is stressed and the role of leaders in creating it, in a way that conveys both nuance and practicality. Rather than deal with these ideas as "soft" or peripheral to the business, Calloway, Feltz and Young make it clear that this is the business. A simple and inspiring read on a complex and difficult subject that few address. The best management work I've read since re-reading Drucker last year. And the only one that sits in my bookshelf at work (along with Drucker).

A Page-Turner Full of Information, August 1, 2010
This review is from: Never by Chance: Aligning People and Strategy Through Intentional Leadership (Hardcover)
I guess my head has been in the strategic clouds because I couldn't put this book down! This is a short page-turner chock full of stories and personal experience to align your people to the company strategy--and getting measurable results.

As a professional meeting facilitator, I particularly enjoyed their conversation on "Events as Strategy." Their thinking is that every event should advance the corporate strategy and be outcome driven. When you design around outcomes, the agenda shifts, expectations rise, and the event is much more productive.

Kris Young shares this story, which serves all of us well in the team environment:

"I have had the opportunity to contribute to extremely successful events in which everyone on the planning team clearly comprehended the vision and intended outcome. All partners (executives, meeting planners, the production company, outside speakers) were included in strategy and communication planning discussions from the beginning. Everyone on the team could answer the question, 'What's the point?' When working with a focused team like this, creative ideas flow and are on target, and conversations don't go in circles. Every idea is clearly focused on one specific goal. Every decision is aligned to a specific outcome. Planned messages are clear, and every part of the event is aligned to these messages. All elements--such as executive presentations, videos, outside speakers, set designs, presentation graphics, the look of the room, even entertainment options--are meant to create an experience that will deliver the company's intended result. Working as part of a team like this and producing a truly successful event is incredibly satisfying and fulfilling work."

I love this question: "What's the point?" and firmly believe that everyone on your team should be able to answer it. Now you can see why I devoured this book--and you will, too!

Never by Chance does a great job of explaining what a vision is, how it interacts with values, and how both working together determine what is going to happen later. This includes everything from employee engagement through customer loyalty.

The books main points are:
* Create a vision that's clear, in plain english, and connects emotionally
* Be consistent in living that vision
* A strong culture is the glue that holds it all together

I recommend this book because of it's approach to business, but also because the topics are presented clearly and directly and are backed up with stories that illustrate the concepts.

Karen L. Jett, CMA
Author Grow Your People, Grow Your Business
Facilitator of Strategic Plan-ting(tm) Workshops