The Northbound Train: Finding the Purpose, Setting the Direction, Shaping the Destiny of Your Organization [Paperback]

Karl Albrecht (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 1994

Albrecht argues there is an "identity crisis" epidemic in the business world. Pressured by changes in customers, in technology, in business structures, and in global trade, organisations are struggling to sift through the factors, define themselves, and make a profit in the process. This book presents a thought-stirring process for how to develop a vision and a direction for a company and how to communicate that vision in a compelling way to everyone in the organisation. Readers learn how to develop a "strategic success model" made up of: vision and mission statement; core values; a competitive strategy; a unified concept for creating customer value; and a distillation of these elements to a few critical focus areas. "Who are we? What are our real aims? What value do we create?" This book should help provide the answers.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Give consultant Albrecht credit for an arresting metaphor, but not much else, in his latest excursion into the well-trodden bourns of organizational theory and practice. Using the widely publicized woes of General Motors, IBM, Kodak, Sears, and other corporate leviathans as a departure point, Albrecht (coauthor of Service America, 1985) asserts, reasonably enough, that every enterprise, great or small, should have a clear idea of where it is going and how to get there, i.e., a ``northbound train.'' Having quickly reached the arguable conclusion that an accelerating rate of change in the global marketplace has caused many, if not most, commercial concerns to lose their way, he offers generic advisories on how best to deal with putatively new imperatives. The perplexed are invited to eschew business planning in favor of an advanced (albeit hitherto unheralded) approach dubbed ``futuring'' (which will strike some observers as very like contingency planning). The author goes on to provide slick, largely unexceptionable counsel on the creation of mission statements, leveraging resources, core values, structural options, and strategic success models. He also addresses such previously unidentified (or ignored) phenomena as corporate chastity belts (in-house sanctions that stifle individual initiative), historicizing (examining past accomplishments for clues to any competitive edge they could afford in times to come), bifocal vision (assessment of the longer-range as well as near-term outlook), environmental intelligence (a detailed picture of what's going on in a company's primary outlets), and executive evangelism (leadership that persuades subordinates to work toward common customer-oriented goals). For all its colorful coinages, an essentially conventional, cut-and-paste guide that won't tell management professionals a whole lot they don't already know. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1 edition (June 2, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081440233X
• ISBN-13: 978-0814402337
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A VERY GOOD BOOK TO RETHINK YOUR COMPANY!, January 2, 1998

By 

T SANTOSO (Surabaya, Jatim Indonesia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Northbound Train: Finding the Purpose, Setting the Direction, Shaping the Destiny of Your Organization (Paperback)

This book was recommended to me months ago by the director of MM (similar to MBA) Progam of Univ.Surabaya, Mr.Wibisono. I have searched the books, never found it in this area, but could get it easily at AMAZON. This is a good book about putting the direction of a company and how to achieve that. This is particularly useful as of the crisis that happen in these south east Asia region where bankcrupcy will be a norm in these few months (as our currency plummet from 2450 to 6000+ in a few months). We have to rethink the very existence of the company and put a CLEAR VISION and MISSION, and to be able to clearly view our core-competence and the posisitioning of it. This is a clear and easy to follow book that should give you some clear understanding of business in general. For any CEO, Entrepreneur, or Business Owner, Buy and Read it! jan.98.Tanadi Santoso.