Strategy & Execution Books

The Premise: In 1998, two Ph.D. students set out to change the world with a small start-up company; a company we now know as Google. Planet Google is a history and insight into the rapid rise of the global juggernaut, and the various challenges founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have faced along the way. “Mastering the entire Web interested them not because it offered the greatest likelihood of future profits, which did not seem to be the case at all in 1998, but because it was an absorbing technical challenge.” In his landmark text, Built to Last, Jim Collin’s coined the phrase “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals” (or BHAGs, for short), suggesting that no company achieved greatness without first striving for greatness; pursuing that which was laughable to the outside world. Google’s goal of “organizing all the world’s information” is possibly the most audacious corporate objective to date. To most the mission was laughable, especially in 1998 at the company’s creation. And yet, it is this single purpose, this passion-driven objective, that has spawned the growth of every new asset of the Google empire.

The Bottom-line: You’ve got to admire the audacity of Google’s goals. Imagine Brin and Page pitching venture capitalists for funding with the mission statement “to organize the world’s information”. It sounds ludicrous. And perhaps, in 1998, it was. But it had passion behind it, and two brilliant men who believed in their goal above all else. As it turns out, passion goes a long way.

It’s easy to get distracted by “reasonable”, “realistic” and the host of other limiting ideals that those outside your business can place on you and your aspirations. Big or small, it’s important to stay connected to goals that are important to you. Goals that make you want to get out of bed in the morning, and keep you motivated through the hurdles that are bound to come up.

By all means, be reasonable. Just make sure that that “reasonable” is still exciting for you, and that you haven’t sacrificed passion in the pursuit of acceptable.

The Premise: This easy-to-follow handbook turns the annual planning process into something that is – dare we say – enjoyable. Self-directed worksheets and exercises that you can do individually or (more powerfully) with you team or an executive coach, break the sometimes daunting task of business planning into manageable pieces. And, the end result – a one page plan – makes it easy to convey your vision and direction quickly in our time-starved workplaces. Although aimed at entrepreneurs (who are notorious for having short attention spans when it comes to formalizing their visions onto paper), the majority of the exercises in the book are easily adaptable for the corporate set.

The Bottom-line: As a corporate executive, I often found business/strategic planning retreats and the process itself to be unnecessarily excruciating. Too many personal opinions, too little process and don’t even get me started on the differences between goals, objectives, strategies and tactics! Don’t be put off by the fact that this book is languaged for entrepreneurs. If you’re currently tasked with formalizing a team vision and set of annual objectives, then it’s worth a look. The tools in the workbook are easy to use and lend themselves well to team discussions. The book also comes with a CD-ROM packed with worksheets that can be shared with others in advance. And, even if you don’t have to present a formal division or department plan to higher-ups, the thinking process required to complete the exercises are definitely useful tools to create alignment and shared vision within any team.

The Premise: Canadian author, speaker and consultant, Shelle Rose Charvet follows up on her bestselling book Words That Change Minds with this offering designed to take customer interactions to the next level and help you “change attitudes, improve results and grow your bottom-line.” An appealing message to anyone trying to thrive in the current economy! As in her first book, Shelle draws on her expertise in neurolinguistic programming (NLP) to show a deep understanding of what motivates people on a “below conscious” level. As a “customer service” book, the essentials are all covered – from defining your service philosophy to how to handle upset customers right through to recruiting the right team. However, what sets it apart is the deeper dive into the underlying motivations of both the customer and the service provider. This isn’t “lite” customer service. Rather, The Customer is Bothering Me is an in-depth look at why people do what they do and what you can do to create a better experience for everyone involved.

The Bottom-line: Having designed and delivered provincial customer service programs in a previous career life, I was interested to see how Shelle could take what I perceive as a subject that’s been “done to death” and put a new spin on it. And that she did. By layering in her experience in learning, predicting and influencing behaviours, I definitely walked away with some new awareness about my own style and it’s applicability in working with others. Probably one of the biggest “a-ha” moments I had was this: we could ALL use customer service training. Although a lot of the examples in the book relate to groups that face external clients, there is typically a big gap in how we treat internal customers and, in this regard, any leader could benefit from reading this book and bring the practices into their teams. Depending on your interest level in the area of NLP, you may find the front end of the book a little “heavy” as it sets the stage for the later chapters. However, it did leave me thinking that tooling yourself up in neuro-linguistic programming isn’t a bad thing in a workplace where the ability to influence and persuade seem to be the most crucial core competency for any leader today.

The Premise: In an honest and candid ride-along, Tony Hseih describes his journey from enterprising & optimistic youngster surviving several failed attempts at entrepreneurship before arguably achieving the ultimate in financial success in 1998, at the age of 24, by selling the company he co-founded to Microsoft for $265million. However, the story really begins with the realisation by this CEO that financial success alone fails to satisfy the human spirit for growth, challenge and accomplishment. Ultimately, this book is about finding personal and professional success beyond the dollars of business through culture, values, relationships and life-long learning. We are all human at the core, and it can be so easy to lose sight of that in a world ruled by business, politics and social status – Tony Hseih

The Bottom-line: Sharing the good, the bad and the ugly of his experience, Tony Hseih shows that there are no shortcuts to true success. Passion,faith, nerves of steel and total accountability for your actions are what make Tony Hseih such an inspiring role-model. He’s even shared the darker side of his journey, through gut wrenching anxiety, cash flow crises and heartbreaking layoffs. Far from being a journal of events rewound and reframed with hindsight, this book is a call to action to learn from the people you meet and the events that unfold to take more and give more from life. This book describes the unique culture of Zappos in detail, and provides great examples of the lengths they will go to achieve customer satisfaction and the wow factor. My one wish would have been that Hseih include more examples of how the customer service ethic and core values are embedded in new members of the team, and how the culture is nurtured and allowed freedom to evolve as required.

The Premise: Have you ever wondered why some organizations manage to not just survive market turbulence but seem to perpetually dominate their space? Think about Apple, Southwest Airlines, the Virgin group of companies…how is it that they inspire their customers to buy even when they may not be the cheapest or most convenient or most available? The reason, asserts Sinek, is their inspirational message. “People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.” The book walks you through Sinek’s argument for starting with “why” and how organizations often lose focus on the elements that made them successful in the first place by overemphasizing “what.” Sharing examples from companies like Apple and Southwest plus leaders like Martin Luther King, Sinek breaks down what it takes to inspire followers to follow.

The Bottom-line: Several of our members likely saw Simon Sinek present at last year’s Art of Management conference and could attest that his talk and topic is a thought provoker and a crowd pleaser. As a business owner, I certainly found the book of high value as I think about our own “why’s” for The Executive Roundtable. As a leader, the “stickability” of starting with why and inspiring followership is compelling. That being said, the majority of the examples used in the book tend to focus on business leaders (Steve Jobs, Herb Kelleher, etc) and the potential may be there to dismiss the lessons in here as something that only business owners or entrepreneurs should be thinking about. This would be a big mistake. Inspiring followership is a critical skill for leaders at all levels and the techniques discussed in Start with Why are absolutely relevant to anyone wanting to make an impact. My main criticism of this book is the limited examples used to reinforce the main message. Beyond Apple and Southwest Airlines (with Apple getting about 80% of the mentions), there are very few examples to reinforce Sinek’s point of view. And, personally, given Steve Job’s reputation as being a chronic a**hole (see April’s book review), it’s a sad reminder that the ability to inspire can be leveraged by jerks as well as well intentioned leaders. *Sigh*.

The Premise: In 2007, after years of recording record growth and profits, Starbucks Coffee Company started to take a rapid and brutal nose dive. With analysts and critics pronouncing the death of the coffee juggernaut, entrepreneur and founder, Howard Schultz stepped back into the business after moving away from the ceo role in 2000 to hand over the reins first to a former colleague, and then to former Wal-Mart exec, Jim Donald. Onward charts the steps Schultz took – along with his leadership team and a veritable army of advisors – to defy analysts’ predictions of the company’s demise and chart a new course to put Starbucks back on top. Schultz takes readers through his early vision for Starbucks and is candid about where he feels he (and his leadership team) lost their way. With passion and conviction, Schultz shares his lessons learned, personal biases, blindspots and offers a rare window into the mind of, arguably, one of the past centuries most accomplished entrepreneurs.

The Bottom-line: As I read this book, I was reminded of Simon Sinek’s book “Start with Why”. For leaders who consider values the “fluffy stuff” and think only solid strategy and bullet-proof business plans are what makes a business succeed, Onward might not be your cup of tea (or, should I say, java). From the opening chapters of Onward, you can feel Schultz’s passion for why he wanted to launch Starbucks and the core values that drove the business. As expansion grew, Schultz talks about how the company lost sight of what was really important and how it affected the bottomline. Onward is a fascinating book that gives you an up close look at high stakes decision-making and the tough choices that leaders need to confront when they’ve allowed things to go off the rails. From time to time, I found Schultz justifying some of his own poor behaviour (and did wonder how some of it aligned with the values he espouses), but overall, I found myself wrapped up in the passion he has for his business. The lessons in this book are plentiful for leaders at any level and anyone aspiring to entrepreneurship. It did leave me wondering if professional managers can ever truly and successfully take over for founders. Passion and commitment like that can’t really be taught in a classroom.