Practice What You Preach : What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture [Hardcover]

David H. Maister (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 18, 2001

Firms that are perceived by their employees to actually practice what they preach are more financially successful than their competitors, says consultant David H. Maister, based on a worldwide survey of 139 offices in 29 professional service firms in 15 countries in 15 different lines of business.

Maister asked the simple question: Are employee attitudes correlated with financial success? The answer, he found, was "an unequivocal 'Yes!'" Further, the author shows that high levels of employee commitment and dedication ""cause"(yes, cause) a demonstrable, measurable improvement in financial performance." Maister proves that if your firm doesn't promote enthusiasm and high morale in your employees, your firm will make less money.

So, how can you create a culture in your firm that promotes growth and superior financial returns? Maister discovered that the most successful firms surveyed excelled by doing well on things to which most, if not all, firms pay only lip service: commitment to clients, teamwork, high standards, employee development, and other familiar topics. However, what distinguishes the best from the rest is that the best live up to their own standards.

Digging deeper by conducting in-depth interviews with managers and employees of the firms he surveyed, Maister has found that the key to success is not the systems of the firm, but the character and skills of the individual manager. He explores in detail the central role of the manager (what he or she must be, must do, and must require of others). The reader will find specific action recommendations from the managers and employees of these "superstar" businesses on how to build an energized workplace, enforcestandards of excellence, develop people, and have fun -- all as powerful profit improvement tactics.

"Practice What You Preach" can help any manager increase firm growth and profitability, and will provide proof to firm executives that great financial rewards come from living up to the high standards that most businesses advocate, but few achieve.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

David H. Maister, a specialist in the management of professional service firms, surveyed 29 firms in 15 countries to determine whether positive employee attitudes really correlate to corporate success. In his consultancy and previous books, he has suggested they do, and in Practice hat You Preach he is able to show that in many companies it truly is "attitudes that drive financial results, and not (predominantly) the other way round." On a pragmatic level, this allows him to demonstrate how a energized workforce will provide top-quality client service--the key component in any service-oriented business. Overall, Maister recommends managers instill trust and respect, develop a high morale, and serve as "coaches" rather than "most valuable players." He offers detailed case studies of survey respondents, and amalgamates their replies into an explicit Path to Performance as well as four chapters with specific lessons that should be transferable to other enterprises (i.e., effective managers allow others to get deserved credit, ensure workers believe management is not only out to make a lot of money for itself, and understand employees are looking for help in growing their careers). Practical and accessible, it also includes survey specifics for those who care to analyze them on their own. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly

Maister, a professional service consultant, surveyed 6,500 employees at 50 worldwide companies to evaluate the relationship between company financial performance and employee satisfaction and loyalty. He found a direct and dramatic correlation. Here, he offers detailed commentary from CEOs, managers and staffers, and analysis of the survey results. Bosses in all kinds of companies will benefit from his solid advice, which should be required reading for executives and upper level managers.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1 edition (June 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743211871
• ISBN-13: 978-0743211871
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,359,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David H. Maister, one of the world's leading authorities on the management of professional service firms, is the author of several successful books, including Managing the Professional Service Firm, True Professionalism, and Practice What You Preach, and coauthor of The Trusted Advisor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ROI of Employee Attitudes, June 12, 2001

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Practice What You Preach : What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture (Hardcover)

The dust jacket suggests that David Maister is "widely acknowledged as one of the world's leading authorities on the management of professional service firms." That is indeed true. To me, his intellectual curiosity and reasoning skills resemble those of a highly-skilled anthropologist who has studied hundreds of cultures throughout the world inorder to understand why some are healthy and others are not. The results of his research are obviously of interest and value to professional service firms but also, in my opinion, of greater importance to organizations which are not (as literally defined) professional service firms. I presume to assert, moreover, that precisely the same values and principles which Maister affirms are those which characterize any healthy community. Specifically, one in which trust, respect, and integrity are cherished; in which there is an appropriate combination of fun and discipline; in which there is an uncompromising determination to achieve excellence; and one in which the development of each person is a shared commitment.

In this book, Maister shares the results of his study of 139 offices of 29 firms in 15 countries in 15 different lines of business. To the approximately 6,500 people who participated in this study, he asked "a simple question": Are employees' attitudes correlated with financial success? The answer is an unequivocal "Yes!" Maister already knows that the world's most highly admired companies (e.g. those at which competitors' employees seek employment) are also the most profitable and have the greatest cap value in their respective industries. "What is even more powerful, as the book shows, it is [employee] attitudes that drive financial results, and not (predominantly) the other way around. Why do so many people want to work for Southwest Airlines? The airlines' most frequent fliers know the answer: employee attitudes. It is no coincidence that Southwest Airlines has consistently out-performed all other airlines, financially and operationally, for more than 20 years.

Maister offers what he characterizes as "new evidence to support important, but perhaps familiar, conclusions. (Hence the significance of the book's title: the message is not to preach new things, but to practice what most managers and firms already preach.)...The summary is deferred until the latter portion of the book." As is his style, Maister urges his reader to be alert to "lessons" he (Maister) may have missed or failed to stress. He also urges the reader to judge for herself or himself which "lessons" are most important. For me, the most valuable material is found in Chapter 7 when Maister explains what he calls "The Predictive Package." He identifies and discusses nine key statements such as "Client satisfaction is a top priority in our firm." He suggests that affirmations of these nine statements "represent a great place to get started" and that is true IF everyone involved fully understands what the implications of each "key statement" are, especially insofar as each member of the organization is concerned.

In the last chapter, Maister observes: "People must believe that the manager has the courage to believe in something and, more importantly, the guts to stick with it. There is no greater condemnation of a manager than to say that he or she is expedient, and no greater commendation than to say that he or she truly lives and acts in accordance with what he or she preaches." I am reminded of the fact that Dante reserved the last and worst ring in Hell for those who, in a moral crisis, preserved their neutrality. The manager Maister describes so well in Chapter 20 is also a leader....a moral leader, with or without title or social station...whose values and behavior nourish the lives of others. Although Maister's most recent study has finite evidence to support his affirmations, we need only reflect on our own abundance of experience to appreciate those affirmations and, more to the point, to then live our lives accordingly.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH STARS FOR THIS ONE!, May 29, 2001

By 

Sandra D. Peters "Seagull Books" (Prince Edward Island, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Practice What You Preach : What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture (Hardcover)

David Maister has learned what so many managers have failed to understand. This book should be a staple in every manager's office from the day he enters the management field. As a teacher and counsellor in business management, I can attest first hand that Maister's approach works. Through the author's Path to Performance, he shows the importance of instilling trust and respect. This translates to productive and motivated employees, strong and successful management by objectives (as opposed to management by crises) and satisfied clients/customers. The end results: maximizing a company's full potential, increasing profitability and becoming recognized in the community as a respected corporate entity. I highly encourage anyone in management, whether it is a two or three person operation or a multinational corporation, to read this well-written book. There is always room for a company to grow no matter how successful you think you may be. Even some of the most historic, well-established, successful conglomerates have crashed and burned. Do you and your company justice by reading the book - there is always room to learn and grow!

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Statistical Ignorance, August 19, 2003

By 

James R. Kenny "Tetraheathen" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Practice What You Preach : What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture (Paperback)

Despite having a wide body of experience in business criticism and a credible approach towards analyzing business culture, David Maister exhibits far too many episodes of 'statistical ignorance' in his conclusions and statements to capture my attention or even allow me to finish reading the book.

Perhaps the audience was not engineers, mathmeticians, or anyone else who know their way around 'correlations' and 'significance' -- I frankly don't know. But I can assure you that David could have dealt himself a greater dose of credibility and 'statistical significance' if he'd had more experienced statisticians review his staggered conclusions.

I definitely credit him with opening my eyes to a handful of new 'culture management' techniques. But my eyes still sting from the idea that this gentleman has made a career out of mishandling simple correlational numbers and the science behind them. A simple example is the assertion on page 49 that 'positive' correlation is equivalent to 'significant'.