The Six Month Fix: Adventures in Rescuing Failing Companies [Hardcover]

Gary Sutton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0471036269 | ISBN-13: 978-0471036265 | Edition: 1st

"If you're the CEO of a struggling business, let's hope we never meet. I'm Gary Sutton, a turnaround guy. When I arrive you leave. Results usually get better and fast."-from the Introduction to The Six-Month Fix
Lessons on how to save a sick company from a top turnaround CEO
One of the business world's most sought-after "trauma specialists," Gary Sutton has salvaged nearly a dozen failing businesses, including everything from printing, garbage hauling, and burglar alarm companies to aerospace, satellite communications, and software firms. In The Six-Month Fix, Sutton takes readers behind the PR curtain to give them an intimate look at the situations he faced coming into several sick companies and how he fixed what ailed them. Writing in his trademark frank, funny, no-holds-barred style, he shares his war stories and the lessons he learned about what it takes to save a faltering business. Not for the faint of heart, The Six-Month Fix offers honest, straight-from-the-hip advice for managers in training for the business fight of their lives.
Gary Sutton (La Jolla, CA) sits on several private boards, is a Director of WebSense (WSBN-Nasdaq), and is the author of several books.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...it is full of firecrackers that make some valuable points.." (Financial Times, 13 February 2002)

"...but this book is not typical and is well worth reading." (Eurobusiness, April 2002)

"...better than almost any fiction novel I have read...could keep even non-management glued to it for hours..." (M2 Best Books, 30 July 2002)

From the Inside Flap

"If you're the CEO of a struggling business, let's hope we never meet. I'm a turnaround guy. When I arrive, you leave, and profits return. This book shows how we can avoid that unpleasantness."
--Gary Sutton, The Six-Month Fix

Direct, funny, and brutally honest, Gary Sutton addresses executives of faltering businesses and provides proven tactics for stopping negative cash flow, turning a company around, and rebuilding profits in this practical book. His role as "CEO du jour" in eight different industries resulted in remarkable transformations--and now he shares his hard-hitting wisdom and unique perspective so that your company can experience a similar resurrection.

The Six-Month Fix gives you complete access to real-life, no-holds-barred examples, situations, and methods of fixing any company the right way, the first time. Whether your business is paralyzed by steep losses, or just breaking even but still losing ground to competitors, Sutton shows you how to reverse direction immediately and see results in six months!

Mind you, this book is not for the faint of heart--Sutton is frank in outlining the gut-wrenching process of a turnaround, deliberately meant to frighten you into action and help your business avoid bankruptcy. This involves embracing change, defining realistic goals, and becoming smarter about risks you'll need to take once your business is back on its feet. Depending on your situation, Sutton directs you to the sections in the book you need to focus on right away, be it stopping the bleeding and stabilizing your cash, or shifting into the next gear to enhance profits and lift your company to new heights.

Business war stories in The Six-Month Fix guide management. You'll learn:
* The difference between turnaround professionals who negotiate for creditors and those who work for shareholders
* How to identify frauds (the "unemployed CEOs" and those finance firms) and avoid their maneuverings
* How to know your customers better than they know themselves
* Why top turnaround managers always fail to lead a business after it's been fixed
* How to quit gambling with your company (Think you're not? You are.)
* Ways to raise ethics and simultaneously boost profits

This isn't just a battle for survival-- it's the fight of your life. And nowhere will you receive more straightforward, essential advice on winning than in The Six-Month Fix.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (November 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471036269
• ISBN-13: 978-0471036265
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #388,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gary Sutton is a retired CEO, inventor and author. His BS is from Iowa State, he's an OPM alumnus of the Harvard Graduate School of Business and took postgrad work at Christ Church, Oxford.

His wife, Nancy, is a retired teacher with a BS from Iowa State and AA from Mesa College. They live in La Jolla, California, have two daughters, two sons-in-law and four exceptionally bright, athletic, entertaining and beautiful grandchildren.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical, easy to read book on turnarounds, December 9, 2001

By 

John C. Dunbar (Sugar Land, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Six Month Fix: Adventures in Rescuing Failing Companies (Hardcover)

This is a great book on business turnarounds. It is eminently practical, humorous in spots and filled with interesting stories that highlight the advice being given.

The author offers 69 small chapters of advice. There's everything from what to do first on a turnaround... to how to get the best price selling your company. Nearly every page is heavily underlined in my book.

The topics that I particularly found valuable were: "Find the margin, cut all other costs"; "Specialize, do it where the margin lives, stop everything else"; "franchising is more about real estate than the business";his chapter on "make what sells" and the importance of low cost and his abundant advice on how to cut costs; his recommendations on increasing price on certain product types; setting your debt levels at the "10 year flood plain" for your company; demoting IT because it operates with its own agenda; stopping the CFO from gambling; cutting down on consultants and moving them over to more of a performance basis... well the topics go on, but you get the idea.

There's lots of advice. It's blunt and somewhat in your face. The text is easy to read and interesting too. There are lots of small stories that illustrate the points.

Overall I recommend this book most highly, not only for business turnarounds, but for any CEO or CEO wanna-bee. It would make a great book to take on business travel and read on the airplane. It's easy to read with the small chapters, and many topics. This is easily a 5 star book.

John Dunbar

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Turnaround MBA in 290 Pages, March 9, 2002

By 

Henry Oliner (Macon, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Six Month Fix: Adventures in Rescuing Failing Companies (Hardcover)

There is big difference in 20 years of experience and one year of experience twenty times.Sutton?s experience is worth far more than the number of years he has invested. He writes in a lighthearted style for such a serious subject as business turnarounds, that makes this an easy but powerful read.

With success in reversing the dismal fortunes of several companies in a variety of industries, the author gives a sharp insight in how to correct it in your company and better yet how to avoid it altogether. A quick glance at the table of contents will load you with ideas for improvement for any company.

Some ideas are obvious and simplistic- "Eliminate Sex", "Attack Drugs and Alcohol" and "Fight Politics", for example. Most of the examples, however, are valuable and brief. Some ideas challenge the obvious: "Downgrade Education?", "Reverse Discriminate" and "Cash Makes You Stupid."

This is a good book to have on your shelf to scan for ideas to improve your business. A straight read will be a great checklist for weaknesses in your organization that can come back to hurt you later.

For those business rookies fresh with the theories about how business is supposed to work, here is a great source to show you how it really works in the world of obstacles.

A smart man learns from his mistakes, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. There are plenty of blunders here to learn from. But you can also learn how to fix them.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Book on Turnarounds, January 26, 2002

By 

Sharon L. Armao (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Six Month Fix: Adventures in Rescuing Failing Companies (Hardcover)

I have spent a year reading a host of turnaround books and this is the One. Fantastic Book. Easy to Read. Humorous with very clear direction after each chapter of real world implementation plans.

The book gives the precise focus and direction needed in the first 30 days of a turnaround or need to change any current business. Key chapters which focus on the basics of any good turnaround are:

Chapter 6 - Specialize or Die & Slash Costs ( Reduce Burn)
Chapter 11 - Crawl into your Customer's skin ( Customer focus)
Chapter 25 - Tighten the ship ( Profit enhancements)

Great stories and advice on Board management as well as the search for a New CEO.

Great for turnarounds, Start-ups and any exisiting business trying to improve profits.The benchmark for Turnaround Books.