Less Is More: How Great Companies Use Productivity As a Competitive Tool in Business
Author: Jason Jennings
List Price: $24.95
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ISBN: 1591840015
Publisher: Portfolio (11 November, 2002)
Sales Rank: 97,136
Average Customer Rating: 4.77 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Required Reading
When Fast Company Magazine reviewed this book and called it the new In Search Of Excellence I bought it immediately and I agree with their review. Jennings has taken eight of the most productive companies in the world - newly discovered companies that haven't been written about to death - and shares their operating secrets. For me the three most important lessons were: the role of systems in every aspect of every business, the negative role that lay-offs play in businesses trying to be more productive and the way that productive businesses use 'drivers' to manage their businesses not financial statements. The examples he uses are compelling and the book is a page-turner. His stories about Ryanair, World Savings and IKEA are priceless. I'd recommend this book to anyone who owns a business, manages a business or aspires to own or manage. It's a must read. Jennings just keeps churning out one hit after another.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Less Is More Is More Than You Might Think
My preconception about this book was that it would be the usual stuff of cutbacks and running lean operations. I found to my delight a very entertaining, quite well written account of a number of real world success stories, companies that far exceed their respective industries' performance standards by staying focused on what is really important. The example companies apply the most striking logic and simplicity in the tests and standards they apply to themselves and their businesses. And as for cutbacks, the book makes clear that cutbacks are just not part and parcel of companies that have shown over time they know what they are doing and where they are going. These top performers ask what resources they need and then execute flawlessly in ways, as recounted by Jason Jennings, that increase your awareness as to what is truly important in business today. Read for yourself and draw your own conclusions, but I can assure you it will make you think about what passes for conventional business wisdom. Thumbs up from this reviewer.
Rating: 5 out of 5
You Can Successfully Be a Corproate Leader
This book is an excellent example of the types of practices and procedures almost any company can follow to be successful both financially and ethically.
Jennings cites numerous companies who have carved out success while still remaining true to their customers, their employees and their values.
Not surprisingly, few of these companies are ones that so called pundits regularly review.
As the other reviews have noted, these companies are very successful financially, but they get there by asking the really pertinent business questions, and not by hiding behind an air of executive invulnerability. The leaders are real leaders, more focused on growing the company, serving customers, and doing right by employees.
What vividly differentiates these companies from the "name brands," is that in the "name" companies, executives are more concerned with their own compensation, preserving their own existence, and with profits at all costs, than long term success.
The questions you should ask yourself after reading this book are, "Where have all the leaders gone?" and "Why don't all companies follow many of Jennings' researched best practices?
After that, I would run, not walk, to one of these companies and see if you can start at the bottom and learn what it's like to work in a real company. Similar Products
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