Customer Reviews

Performance Without Compromise: How Emerson Consistently Achieves Winning Results

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Aloha,

I worked at Emerson and knew most of the people that Chuck mention in the book and just their names show that this man was a great leader in he knew the most important part of leadership, selecting talent, leading them on the right path and getting out of the way.

I would recommend this book to anyone thinking of going into business or in business. I think coaches of sports teams would benefit from reading this book.

I was in several companies in my career but none that I respected more than Emerson. Chuck and his leaders are firm but fair. I came away from Emerson a better manager.

I was specially moved by the words Chuck had for Bill Rutledge as this showed the Chuck we all knew even when he was chewing us out for what we most of the time deserved. He cared.

This book clearly lays out the Emerson business planning model, which is the process used to run the business. I work at Emerson, so i aready know a lot about this planning cycle. I think the average reader will not find this book that interesting, but it will useful to know the great information inside it. I wish that Mr. Knight would have shared some more stories about inside the board room and some of the more exciting history of his career. It would also have been interesting to get more about what he personally went through at Emerson and before. Finally, he should have included more about management and the HR side of developing the people.

This book is a clear exposition of why Charles Knight is one of the great CEO's of the last fifty years. Emerson is a focussed, consistently profitable company. Any manager, or person who wants to be a manager, deserves to read this book and learn how it's done.

Charles Knight clearly has an enviable track record - he and his predecessor achieved 43 consecutive annual increases in Earnings Per Share and Dividends Per Share at Emerson Electric (St. Louis, MO.) During Knight's tenure the firm grew from 12 divisions with less than $1 billion in annual revenues to over 60 divisions exceeding $15 billion. Getting there involved over 200 acquisitions, and an executive turnover rate of less than 4%.

The bad news is that reading this book will not make you into another Charles Knight. Some pointers are there, but far more is needed - Larry Bossidy's "Execution," and "Confronting Reality" provide much greater detail and operational advice.

The good news is that if you follow the points provided (eg. identifying growth areas to meet targets, rather than simply accepting the growth in existing markets; setting a goal of becoming the best cost producer - worldwide - also leads to best quality, if done correctly; summarizing plans in writing, and providing regular follow-up) - your firm WILL improve (unless is already is doing quite well).

Overall a very good book on the process of planning and business management used at Emerson.

What prevents me from giving the book four stars (it's not close to deserving 5), is Knight's internal focus. About two third of the book are excellent, but in the balance, he spends too much time detailing Emerson and its industries rather than rising a level and talking about the impact on business in general. [Chuck: leave the internal focus for a privately published book for staff.]

What Knight propounds is a disciplined process, but in my view few companies and managers will have the fortitude to keep this up. Those who do will improve and succeed, but the process is not for non-courageous or lazy, superficial managers looking for a quick fix. He doesn't, however, explain how to avoid this process from slowing down business and becoming a bureaucratic quicksand (such as Cisco has recently experienced).

If you are prepared to follow-through using this process, you'll get a lot out of this book.

Provides insight into the mindset and energy (no pun intended) into the Emerson organization. Anybody engaged in business decisions and management would benefit from the thought process presented in the book.

Performance without Compromise gets right down to business and exposes the cultural underpinnings and successful management process that has made Emerson an unparalleled success story of American and now global business. This is not a how-to book; there are plenty of those. When you look beyond the mechanics of the process, the levels of planning meetings and relentless follow-up, you will see how they foster a business climate of trust, accountability and effective communication at every level of the organization. If you don't see Management as a PROCESS for today's fast-paced, globalized world of business, you will, and within the first few chapters.

For 43 years, global electronic giant Emerson delivered consecutive annual increases in earnings and dividends per share. The end of this winning streak in July 2001 hardly tarnished the reputation of one the world's most admired corporations. Charles F. Knight, the second of only three CEOs since 1954 in the company's history, explains in detail how Emerson built its success by meticulously planning and executing its management system. Few companies can match Emerson's accomplishments, yet you can apply the fundamentals of the company's system to most organizations. getAbstract recommends this book to managers looking for successful models and others who enjoy reading about big winners.

excellent book to be as a motivation tool to get creative juices flowing. don't necessarily agree with the all of the principals but the book is a quick read and has lot's of excellent ideas that can be massaged for your own uses as needed.