Your Company Sucks: It's Time to Declare War on Yourself [Paperback]

Mark Stevens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2011

It's every businessperson's nightmare: his or her company is failing, dysfunctional, stuck in neutral, and/or is disappointing overall, from the finances to the customer feedback.

Put bluntly—but candidly—the company sucks.

That's the bad news. The good news is that it doesn't have to be that way.

Every business can rebound from its lows, regain its momentum, thrill its customers, and be the source of pride and profits its owners and shareholders seek.

This U-turn must begin with you, the owner or senior manager, declaring war on yourself. You must face the fact that the malaise the business suffers from is ultimately your responsibility and your doing, and even more important,that it will not be rectified unless you take the lead. Face the hard truth. Take the difficult actions. Demonstrate determination, creativity and resolve.


This insightful book makes three points clear:

1. The key to long term business success is for the leader to declare war on him/herself so that the company never rests on its laurels.

2. Only four factors lead to business failure/decline/lack of growth/dysfunctionality. Identifying and addressing these plagues is the focus of the war.

3. Customer satisfaction is a curse in disguise. The overwhelming need is to thrill your customers/clients.

Your Company Sucks pulls back the curtain on business performance to reveal the four reasons businesses decline. It identifies your company's red flags, and provides a powerful and innovative methodology to transition from failure to flourish. It's not too late to turn your company around—go from sucking to soaring!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In his latest release, bestselling author Mark Stevens gives business leaders practical strategies for transforming a company that "sucks" into a company that thrills its customers." -Gaebler.com- Resources for Entrepreneurs 

"In "Your Company Sucks" Mark Stevens lays out why all businesses fail and what to do about it, how every business can rebound from its lows and regain its momentum, thrill its customers and once again be a source of pride and profit." -BusinessNewsDaily.com

"Quick read on how to save your biz & thrilling clients...to get you to focus on company problems. Stevens doesn't sugar coat anything- for those that don't have much time to save their business...relevant for those that haven't started or are in what Stevens calls the "Infancy" stage of their business."  -Hearpreneur.com 

“Should make every CEO take the time to stop, to think, to act!”
— Rich Parlontieri, CEO and President, Speedemissions, Inc.

"This is a book that every business owner needs to read. The challenges we face today in the world of commerce are clearly identified with brilliant clarity by Mark Stevens. Reading this is like having Mark personally guide you and your team through the process of identifying exactly where you are in the life of your company, and more importantly, what to do about it."
— Dennis Curtin, Regional Owner, RE/MAX Mid-states & Dixie Region

“Mark Stevens offers a vitamin boost into the blood stream of business; an elixir for newbie entrepreneurs and war-weary tycoons alike.”
—Ben Koether, Chairman and Founder of Kitchen Brains

"Immediately useful, and wildly inspirational (no matter what size business you run). Filled with practical ideas and entertaining stories, Mark Stevens helps you identify how your company sucks and gives you an action plan for doing a U-turn."
—Regis Hadiaris, Creator of the Dot Connector Blog, Director of Internet Marketing for Quicken Loans

"I absolutely love this brutally honest and practical approach to life—and business. Your Company Sucks motivates me to sleep less because I am so excited about working on the many things in the book that ring true to me and need attention in my business. Bravo, Mark Stevens, on your courageous approach to being aware of the obvious and actually coming directly to the point about how to change for the better."
— Joseph Essa, President, Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc.

"Sometimes the simplest explanation is also the best. If your company is struggling you may not have to look further than the mirror to find the cause. Mark Stevens knows that. More importantly, within these pages he tells you what to do to get back on track."
—Paul B. Brown, New York Times financial columnist

“It’s an easy read that can make a middle seat tolerable.”
—Joseph Mancuso, founder of CEO Clubs, Inc.

About the Author

Mark Stevens is a bestselling author, CEO of MSCO, a results-driven management and marketing firm, and a popular media commentator on a host of business matters including marketing, branding, management and sales. Stevens is known for delivering business insights with blunt truth and unconventional wisdom.

Mark Stevens shook the marketing establishment with his BusinessWeek bestseller, Your Marketing Sucks (Random House/Crown Business, 2003), and redefined the rules of sales with God Is A Salesman. He is the author of 24 business-related books, including the bestsellers: The Big Eight; King Icahn; Sudden Death: The Rise and Fall of EF Hutton (a Wall Street Journal bestseller and Library Journal "Business Book of the Year").

Stevens' incisive understanding of critical business issues is geared toward achieving extraordinary growth and success for his clients. His firm, MSCO, represents a stellar roster of clients. Through integrated marketing campaigns, MSCO focuses on achieving financial results for its clients instead of awards that serve egos. Stevens possesses an innovative and iconoclastic view of the business world.

He is an in-demand speaker at organizations from Siemens, Virgin Air, Nike and Oracle to the American Chamber of Commerce Executives. A frequent guest commentator, Stevens lends his insights and opinions on a wide variety of topics, from Carl Icahn’s latest moves (Fox Business Channel) to Tom Cruise's image (Fox News Channel), to "Why Successful Business People Don't Sleep" (The New York Times) and how to "Be a Better Boss in 2007" (Forbes.com).

His wildly successful blog, "Unconventional Thinking," is in the top 1 percent of all published blogs (out of 95 million blogs) and was recently named in the top 10 of all marketing blogs. Stevens is regular guest blogger for Brandweek.com and the Digital PR blogger for PR News Online. More about Mark Stevens can be found at www.MSCO.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: BenBella Books; 1 edition (August 2, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935618547
• ISBN-13: 978-1935618546
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Stevens is a best selling author, CEO of MSCO, a results-driven management and marketing firm, and a popular media commentator on a host of business matters including marketing, branding, management and sales. Mr. Stevens is known for delivering business insights with blunt truths and unconventional wisdom.

Stevens shook the marketing establishment with his Business Week best seller, "Your Marketing Sucks" (Random House/Crown Business), and redefined the rules of management with "Your Management Sucks" (Random House/Crown Business, 2006).

Stevens' latest book, Your Company Sucks: It's Time To Declare War On Yourself (to be published Aug 2, 2011)idetifies the four reasons companies fail or simply get stuck in neutral and how to identify and address them so the business can break through the ice to new levels of success. Stevens also demonstrates that "customer satisfaction" is no longer acceptable: winning companies must Thrill their customers/clients.

Stevens is the author of 24 business-related books including the best sellers: "The Big Eight"; "King Icahn"; "Sudden Death: The Rise and Fall of EF Hutton" (a Wall Street Journal bestseller and Library Journal "Business Book of the Year"); and the enormously popular "Your Marketing Sucks."

Stevens' firm, MSCO--founded in 1995-- has representsed a stellar roster of clients including Nike, Starwood, GE, Guardian Life, Intrawest, Estee Lauder, The MONY group, Environmental Systems Products, Saturday Evening Post , Virgin Atlantic, and many others.. Through integrated marketing campaigns, MSCO focuses on achieving results for its clients instead of awards that serve egos. Mark Stevens possesses an innovative and iconoclastic view of the business world, having served as a journalist and nationally syndicated columnist and having held management positions at several global corporations. His incisive understanding of critical business issues is geared toward achieving extraordinary growth and success for his clients.

Stevens is an in-demand speaker and a frequent guest commentator on Fox Business Channel and a wide range of media from Entrepreneur to Dow Jones.

Stevens writes the wildly successful blog, "Unconventional Thinking."

Books by Mark Stevens have been published in USA, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, China, Germany, Spain, Japan, Russia and Brazil.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Business Owners/Managers/Marketing Professionals January 2, 2012

By Kellene Okonkwo

Format:Paperback

Mark Stevens hit it right on the nose. As a business consultant, I have the opportunity to work with different organizations and I must say that his book is a straight to the point assessment of how owners and managers destroy a business. The third chapter really resonated with my experience in consulting. Chapter 3. Declare War on Complacency. This is the biggest problem for small to medium corporations I work for that are usually run by families and relatives. Mediocrity will finish any company in time.

The only thing I disagree with in his conclusion is that "Kindness can create and enforce balance of power" is delusional. I disagree with that assessment, studies have shown otherwise.

Chapters 7- 10 are very helpful and true. My marketing strategy is similar and the efforts he suggest are usually very successful.

All in all the book is easy to read and straight to the point worth the money.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This man will not be intimidated March 21, 2012

By Mark Sher

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Thanks Yolanda! Yes this man went on national television to defend his rights to choose his own advertisers and not be intimidated by a politically organized and coordinated attack on a radio show he advertises on. Good for him. I just bought the book thanks to you Yolanda and will recommend to as many people as I can. Mark won't be intimidated and neither will the rest of us.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars You know who else burned books? March 22, 2012

By George Eliseo

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Wow, I thought the era of censoring books and speech was long past, in the United States anyway. I hear they still have government censorship in backwards places like China, Saudi Arabia, and Canada. Hey, remember all those movies and vitriolic screeds against black lists and enemies lists and shouts of "McCarthyism"? Guess it just depends on who's in the White House. I'm interested in starting my own company in the near future, but I bought this book mainly to support, ah shoot, what was that thing called again? Oh right, the first amendment. Plus the author's got brass and seems like men with brass are pretty rare these days, so I like to reward that. I'm just saying...