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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Whatever you think this is about, you'll get more, July 21, 2009
This review is from: The Pursuit of Something Better (Paperback)
If you think this is a business book, a work on leadership, a management concept, a "self-help" book, a case study in ethics, a case study in corporate culture change, a business biography, or great story, you'll be pleased as it is all of these and then a bit.
In 2000, Jack Rooney became the CEO of U.S. Cellular. At that time, U.S. Cellular could have been the role model for the employer in Dilbert - The Complete Series. Disaffected employees, clueless self-serving managers, and disconnected profiteering executives; all that was missing was the pointy hair on the managers and a female engineer who punched co-workers (or these were left out of the book?). In 2008, against all expectations of 2000, U.S. Cellular is an aggressive competitor in the cellular industry. Jack Rooney's leadership was the driving force behind the complete transformation of the corporate culture that led to this overwhelming success.
The philosophy behind the change is Dynamic Organization (D.O), a statement of behaviors and values expected of every member of U.S. Cellular. What makes this unusual is that the CEO (Rooney) lived the behaviors and values and expected everyone, executives, managers, and engineers as well as store employees and call center workers. To ensure compliance, leaders are rated by their subordinates, and the subordinates rate their bosses' boss. Talk about heresy in corporate America. Needless to say, there were some rough spots between 2000 and 2008.
The D.O. statement itself is not earthshattering or terribly innovative, but competent, proven, and above all, ethical guidelines for conduct and teamwork. The enablers to make this succede are all communications. A direct line to the CEO open to *any* employee, annual surveys on leadership and corporate culture, the assessments of supervisors by subordinates, and other lines of communication allowed the propagation of the new values and reporting on individuals who failed to comply with the new standards.
Rooney wasn't perfect, and the writers admit his mistakes in more than one instance, but he was persistant and consistent in his drive to raise the ethical climate of U.S. Cellular. What makes this a great story is the presentation of the eight years of effort to effect the culture change, with conflicts and victories at every level of the organization. Striking the balance between the "what" of profitiability and the "how" of the ethical and behavior standards of D.O. was painful, but makes for some great drama. This is not the usual fair for a book on business leadership, ethics, and corporate climate.
There were a number of surprises about this book. The most salient was that this is something of a biography of Jack Rooney. And unlike the self-aggrandizing corporate leadership Americans have come to loathe and expect, he really lives the value of selfless service. Note well that on the back cover blurb, his name is two thirds of the way down rather than in the first line of every paragraph. And if even for the single lesson learned when the first Leadership Forum was held in downtown Chicago (p. 19, second paragraph, last sentence... I can't do it justice without a spoiler), this book is well worth the price and would compliment Leading the Charge: Leadership Lessons from the Battlefield to the Boardroom by General Zinni because of the similarities in issues and approaches.
And a caveat; the authors have been associate with Jack Rooney for more than ten years and were instrumental in the implimentation of the D.O. model. I wouldn't use this as the only source in research on Rooney or U.S. Cellular, despite their candor and willingness to discuss potentially embarassing incidents.
From someone who takes no pleasure in "business" books, this was an excellent read.
E.M. Van Court
This review is based on a copy provided at no cost by the publisher.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great business lessons in a not so great package, September 26, 2009
This review is from: The Pursuit of Something Better (Paperback)
The story that this book should be concentrating on is the story of Jack Rooney and the transformation of US Cellular. But often the writing gets in the way.
Note to consultants who want a book about your successes. Either write the book in the first person or hire someone to write the book about you.
Here, the authors are also characters in their own book. They write about themselves in the third person. When you see a reference to "Kruger," you can be sure of two things. The person referred to is author Myra Kruger, describing herself in a kind of literary out-of-body experience. And she will be doing something wonderful, never something ordinary.
In most cases, that would be reason enough to recommend that you simply pass the book by. But there's a lot of value here, even if you have to slog through the mud of self-aggrandizement and muddled prose to fish it out.
First there is the basic story of Jack Rooney and the transformation of US Cellular. When he took over at US Cellular they were a small, mostly rural cell phone company that made most of their money by charging roaming fees when customers of their larger rivals strayed into their service area.
When Rooney took over at US Cellular in 2000 it could have been a poster child for everything you've ever hated about every cell company you've ever had. He came to the job with a good track record, especially at Ameritech.
Within four years, things had changed. That was when local number portability first allowed cell customers to switch carriers and keep their phone number. The analysts figured that smaller carriers, like US Cellular would suffer the most.
Most of them did. US Cellular was an exception. The new US Cellular, working on Rooney's own concept called the "Dynamic Organization" gained more customers than it lost.
The Dynamic Organization, like many good strategies, is both simple and rooted in common sense. Rooney thinks that customer satisfaction should be the main goal of a business. He thinks that satisfied workers and effective leaders are the way to achieve customer satisfaction.
The company puts it this way: "effective leaders create satisfied associates, who in turn deliver outstanding customer service that produces profitable business results. Leaders provide the tools and training to our front-line associates, who are empowered to make the best decisions on behalf of our customers. We're guided by our core values of customer focus, respect for associates, ethics, pride, empowerment and diversity."
It seems to be working. US Cellular is now the fifth largest mobile phone company is the US. It consistently shows well in both call quality and customer satisfaction surveys.
The story of how Rooney and US Cellular got from there to here has lots of value for any businessperson contemplating or in the midst of a corporate culture change. There's also value in the details about the transformation process, Rooney's own leadership style, communication, rewards, dealing with recalcitrants, and more. You'll get lots of small take-aways, as well as the big picture.
The problem with the book is that it's harder to mine that value than it should be. This is clearly a "we're great, hire us" book published by the authors to grow their business. That's not a problem in itself. There are lots of high value books out there written by consultants who share their triumphs.
But this book is not worthy of the story of US Cellular or even of their part in the triumph. It's slap-dash. Sometimes the authors write about the past in the present tense. Sometimes they use the past tense. Sometimes there's enough consult-speak to gag a goat. Sometimes the story moves right along.
Things like that bother me because I write a lot. They may or may not bother you.
The big problem is that this story should be about US Cellular and Jack Rooney. It's a good story and worth telling. But on far too many occasions it seems like the story of the consultants and their magical powers.
Bottom Line: Buy The Pursuit of Something Better if you want insight into a significant corporate change. Buy it if you want to know more about how supporting your people can improve service and results. Just be prepared to work a little to get the value from your purchase.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
U.S. Cellular's Formula for Corporate and Personal Success, August 4, 2009
This review is from: The Pursuit of Something Better (Paperback)
Business in the twenty- first century hasn't been pretty. Enron, Worldcom, and other large businesses ended up collapsing due to ethics violations charged to the companies' senior leadership. This led to cynicism on the part of the public and greater regulations on businesses as governmental bodies looked for ways to prevent another serious corporate scandal from occurring again. In the middle of all of this turmoil, there still existed some ethical businesses and one of them is the subject of this book. The company is U.S. Cellular and this book is dedicated to this cell phone service provider and its corporate transformation; a change of both culture and business practice that led U.S. Cellular to the success and admiration that it enjoys today.
Business has always been in a state of change, but the information age has increased the speed and need for change to levels never before seen in history. Some companies are mired in their ways, with employees that are resistant to change every step of the way. This was, in a nutshell, the type of company that Jack Rooney inherited when he took over as CEO of U.S. Cellular in 2000. The company was going nowhere fast and its employees were underdeveloped, lacked focus, and didn't necessarily know how they could or should perform. Rooney knew he had a challenge in front of him, and he accepted it with vigor and determination. He helped to change the business from top to bottom, improving not only the bottom- line numbers but also improving the individual lives of employees.
The Pursuit of Something Better, in many ways, reads like a typical business success story. Here, you have a business stuck in the doldrums; anemic at its core and in need of quick resuscitation if it hopes to survive. Then, in walks a corporate knight who helps to change the business one department, one employee at a time. Sales and profits improve, and Rooney receives some much- deserved credit for these improvements. But The Pursuit of Something Better is more than just a numbers game. Changing corporate culture can often prove to be an even more daunting task than strengthening the financial statements and at U.S. Cellular, the corporate culture was changed for the better, in spite of the resistance of some employees. Not only did Rooney successfully change the morale and the way employees felt about U.S. Cellular as a business, he also changed individual lives outside of the workplace. The book includes several examples of U.S. Cellular employees who give Jack Rooney credit for making them better parents, spouses, and friends. They took the U.S. Cellular formula for success and applied it to their own lives outside of the workplace. Before they knew it, their lives had improved in ways they never thought possible.
Companies could all benefit from stronger leadership and The Pursuit of Something Better is one book with a positive story to share about leadership and success. U.S. Cellular was stuck in a corporate rut and had little direction or hope for a better tomorrow until a strong leader by the name of Jack Rooney took over the helm and initiated the necessary changes that led to the success that U.S. Cellular enjoys today. This book is multi- dimensional in that it speaks of more than simply increases in corporate profits. It also talks about ethics, social responsibility, and other important aspects of the modern corporation. It's an inspirational story and most any employee of any business could benefit from reading it and taking its message to heart.
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