Act Like an Owner

Act Like an Owner PDF Author: Robert M. Blonchek
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9780471322856
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Most workers are conditioned to view themselves as one-dimensional in relation to their company—as a salesperson, or an engineer, or a manager. But imagine the possibilities if everyone in your organization started thinking and acting like entrepreneurs—like owners of the business. Imagine if your employees shared the same beliefs, both in their abilities and in the purpose of your business, and focused all their energies on making that business successful—knowing that they, in turn, would become successful as well. That is the power of an ownership culture, and this book will show you how to mobilize human intellect and ingenuity for competitive advantage. Act Like an Owner is an action guide to building a culture of employee ownership within an organization. Authors Blonchek and O’Neill present their business model, “Act Like an Owner,” which grew out of their experience building information technology service businesses. This model is a roadmap for applying today’s most important management practices in a competitive, rapidly changing environment. The authors use this approach as part of their consulting practice, and are the first to detail how to implement such a program company-wide. Act Like an Owner introduces the internal franchise framework that can be used for unlocking the entrepreneurial spirit in your organization. From this book, you’ll learn how to define your company’s operating model—the way you choose to do business—and then extend the model to your employees. The authors then explain how to link employee behaviors to each element of business performance. They demonstrate how to focus your entire organization on a business goal while addressing employees’ individual needs for opportunity and growth. You’ll learn how to attract and hire people with a positive, entrepreneurial attitude who can create an environment that establishes the values and behaviors you need. At the heart of the internal franchise is the ownership culture, a corporate culture built on principles and values that compel everyone in your organization to think and act like an owner of the business. The authors describe the impact of an ownership culture on an organization, illustrating how you can build equity in that culture and make it part of your company’s brand identity. They explore the power of such a culture to create an environment of shared values and goals. You’ll learn the formula for creating an ownership culture and putting it to work in your organization, and you’ll hear the perspectives of senior executives at companies currently adopting the “Act Like an Owner” program, including those at Aspen Systems, CACI, STAC, PSINet, and ConSonics. In addition, the authors apply the ownership culture model to one of the most pressing problems facing business today: attracting and retaining skilled workers. Filled with examples, anecdotes, and techniques, Act Like an Owner will motivate anyone trying to build a successful business that starts with people.

Act Like an Owner

Act Like an Owner PDF Author: Robert M. Blonchek
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9780471322856
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Most workers are conditioned to view themselves as one-dimensional in relation to their company—as a salesperson, or an engineer, or a manager. But imagine the possibilities if everyone in your organization started thinking and acting like entrepreneurs—like owners of the business. Imagine if your employees shared the same beliefs, both in their abilities and in the purpose of your business, and focused all their energies on making that business successful—knowing that they, in turn, would become successful as well. That is the power of an ownership culture, and this book will show you how to mobilize human intellect and ingenuity for competitive advantage. Act Like an Owner is an action guide to building a culture of employee ownership within an organization. Authors Blonchek and O’Neill present their business model, “Act Like an Owner,” which grew out of their experience building information technology service businesses. This model is a roadmap for applying today’s most important management practices in a competitive, rapidly changing environment. The authors use this approach as part of their consulting practice, and are the first to detail how to implement such a program company-wide. Act Like an Owner introduces the internal franchise framework that can be used for unlocking the entrepreneurial spirit in your organization. From this book, you’ll learn how to define your company’s operating model—the way you choose to do business—and then extend the model to your employees. The authors then explain how to link employee behaviors to each element of business performance. They demonstrate how to focus your entire organization on a business goal while addressing employees’ individual needs for opportunity and growth. You’ll learn how to attract and hire people with a positive, entrepreneurial attitude who can create an environment that establishes the values and behaviors you need. At the heart of the internal franchise is the ownership culture, a corporate culture built on principles and values that compel everyone in your organization to think and act like an owner of the business. The authors describe the impact of an ownership culture on an organization, illustrating how you can build equity in that culture and make it part of your company’s brand identity. They explore the power of such a culture to create an environment of shared values and goals. You’ll learn the formula for creating an ownership culture and putting it to work in your organization, and you’ll hear the perspectives of senior executives at companies currently adopting the “Act Like an Owner” program, including those at Aspen Systems, CACI, STAC, PSINet, and ConSonics. In addition, the authors apply the ownership culture model to one of the most pressing problems facing business today: attracting and retaining skilled workers. Filled with examples, anecdotes, and techniques, Act Like an Owner will motivate anyone trying to build a successful business that starts with people.

What You Really Need to Lead

What You Really Need to Lead PDF Author: Robert Steven Kaplan
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 1633690555
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
As Harvard Business School professor and business executive Robert Steven Kaplan explains in this new book, leadership is accessible to all of us-today-and it starts with an ownership mind-set. You don't need an invitation to lead. Leadership is a dynamic way of thinking and acting that anyone can take on. For Kaplan, acting as a leader is a function of three key questions: 1. Do you work to figure out what you believe as if you were an owner? 2. Do you take action based on those beliefs? 3. Do you focus on adding value to others and take responsibility for the impact of your actions on others-both positive and negative? The book is full of stories taken from the author's own leadership experience as well as from his work helping various types of leaders and organizations. What's revealed is that leadership is not a role reserved for an elite few blessed with the right skills and key positions-it's about a focus on taking ownership and adding value to others. What's more, leadership is a lifelong journey of learning for which you must take responsibility. It's about learning to ask the right questions and learning to understand yourself. As in his earlier books, Kaplan asks probing questions, provides exercises, and suggests follow-up steps that will help you develop your skills, create new habits, and move you toward reaching your unique potential. What You Really Need to Lead is your key to unlocking the power of thinking and acting like an owner"--

Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO

Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO PDF Author: Beverly E. Jones
Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
ISBN: 1632659816
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Education plus experience once guaranteed a successful career, but no more! Today, success depends on your ability to adapt. You must be agile, willing to adjust your professional expectations, and able to respond quickly to opportunities and threats.“br> In Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO you will learn practical ways to handle vexing workplace challenges. Each chapter uses true stories to illustrate the answers to common questions, including: How to leave your old job smoothly and start your new one with confidence and flair. How to gracefully accept praise for your work. How to recover from stress, setbacks, or the upheaval of a major project. How to stay steady in the midst of endless change. It’s not enough to know how to manage common work-life challenges; you must also deal with the uncommon ones. Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO gives you proven, easy, go-to techniques for handling even the biggest career surprises, one step at a time.

The Art of Strategic Leadership

The Art of Strategic Leadership PDF Author: Steven J. Stowell
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119213061
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Develop the qualities of strategic leadership and become an active contributor to the short- and long-term success of your organization Today's organizations face two daunting challenges: 1. How to create new sources of competitive advantage to sustain long-term growth, and 2. How to engage leaders at every level of the organization so that they are more proactive and forward-looking in their area of responsibility. The Art of Strategic Leadership uses a unique approach to examine what it means to be a strategic leader. Instead of focusing on the skills, behaviors, and tools found in typical books on strategic leadership, the authors shed light on the attributes and qualities necessary to lead strategic change and help transform a business. Strategic leadership is what modern leadership is all about. Organizations expect leaders to anticipate and be proactive more than ever before. In this book, the authors draw on their vast experience working directly with leaders at all levels and use an intriguing narrative to explain this inside-out approach to understanding strategic leadership. The narrative follows the journey of how one manager discovered these critically important qualities. You will experience first-hand how these values and attributes manifest in the lives of realistic leaders; how they orchestrate long-term strategic change needed for the organization to compete and survive and actively shape the future while delivering short-term results. The Art of Strategic Leadership provides the content that will help you informally assess and reflect on your own strategic leadership qualities—those that are strengths and those that indicate areas you need to develop. It will guide you as you incorporate these values and qualities into your own leadership style and become a more effective catalyst for change. This book will help you in the following ways: Develop a more proactive, forward-thinking approach to leadership Approach strategy from both short- and long-term perspectives Adopt the core values and principles of a strategic leader Model the qualities exhibited by powerful leaders Strategic leaders serve as powerful examples to others in the organization. Their qualities and traits spread rapidly to those around them, empowering people at every level to take a more active role in meeting the demands of the future. The Art of Strategic Leadership will help you deepen and broaden your understanding of the core qualities of strategic leadership, leaving you better equipped to lead yourself and your team to a better place and create greater value for customers, owners, and employees.

Ask a Manager

Ask a Manager PDF Author: Alison Green
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0399181822
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

Ownership Thinking

Ownership Thinking PDF Author: Brad Hams
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 0071773460
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
It’s an insidious disease that is crippling companies, destroying our economy, and crushing potential. It’s infecting the very roots of business performance, and it’s spreading fast. It isn’t the recession, market volatility, scandal, or greed. It’s entitlement. And it may be killing your business. In myriad ways, entitlement has been cultivated for decades. As a result, too many employees today believe that they are entitled to a paycheck simply because they show up. Brad Hams has proven that we are not doomed to a path of entitlement and dependence. After more than 15 years working with hundreds of companies, he knows that the vast majority of employees addicted to entitlement actually want to engage, want to contribute, and feel much better about themselves when they are in an environment that requires them to do so. Now, with Ownership Thinking, Hams shares his strategy that will increase your company’s productivity, employee retention, and profitability: The Right Education: Teach employees the fundamentals of business and finance, how their company makes money, and how they add—or take away—value. The Right Measures: Identify the organization’s Key Performance Indicators and teach employees to forecast results in an environment of high visibility and accountability. The Right Incentives: Create incentive plans that are self-funding and clearly align employees’ behavior to the organization’s business and financial objectives. Your employees will learn to think and act like owners and will become active participants in the financial performance of the business. They will gain the self-esteem that is only possible through achievement and will reap rewards that are in alignment with the success of their organization. Meanwhile, you will enjoy your role more, sleep better at night, and leave a legacy that is far more inspiring and significant than you dreamed possible. Praise for Ownership Thinking “You would have to read a dozen other books to even come close to Ownership Thinking—a systematic and practical process for getting your employees to give that extra effort and brain power we know they possess.” —Verne Harnish, CEO, Gazelles; author, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits “Brad Hams tells it like it truly is: transparency creates trust; trust creates engagement; engagement creates a healthy enterprise. This thoughtful and practical book shows you how to achieve all of these things and more.” —Chip Conley, founder and executive chair, Joie de Vivre; author, Peak “Comprehensive and marvelously clear, Ownership Thinking’s techniques for creating change are focused, direct, and motivating. This is a wise book, unusually useful, and I recommend it most highly.” —Judith M. Bardwick, Ph.D., author, Danger in the Comfort Zone and The Psychological Recession “Brad Hams is one of the most persuasive and creative thinkers I know. His book is a specific guide you can (and should) implement now.” —Corey Rosen, founder, National Center for Employee Ownership “Hams is masterful at outlining the engagement practices that inspire people to care and to be deeply vested in business results.” —Jim Haudan, CEO, Root Learning; author, The Art of Engagement “Hams’ book is like a candid conversation with a wise friend. . . . A ‘must read’ for any business leader wanting to create a culture of ownership.” —Dean Schroeder, author, Ideas Are Free

The Founder's Mentality

The Founder's Mentality PDF Author: Chris Zook
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
ISBN: 1633691179
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
A Washington Post Bestseller Three Principles for Managing—and Avoiding—the Problems of Growth Why is profitable growth so hard to achieve and sustain? Most executives manage their companies as if the solution to that problem lies in the external environment: find an attractive market, formulate the right strategy, win new customers. But when Bain & Company’s Chris Zook and James Allen, authors of the bestselling Profit from the Core, researched this question, they found that when companies fail to achieve their growth targets, 90 percent of the time the root causes are internal, not external—increasing distance from the front lines, loss of accountability, proliferating processes and bureaucracy, to name only a few. What’s more, companies experience a set of predictable internal crises, at predictable stages, as they grow. Even for healthy companies, these crises, if not managed properly, stifle the ability to grow further—and can actively lead to decline. The key insight from Zook and Allen’s research is that managing these choke points requires a “founder’s mentality”—behaviors typically embodied by a bold, ambitious founder—to restore speed, focus, and connection to customers: • An insurgent’s clear mission and purpose • An unambiguous owner mindset • A relentless obsession with the front line Based on the authors’ decade-long study of companies in more than forty countries, The Founder’s Mentality demonstrates the strong relationship between these three traits in companies of all kinds—not just start-ups—and their ability to sustain performance. Through rich analysis and inspiring examples, this book shows how any leader—not only a founder—can instill and leverage a founder’s mentality throughout their organization and find lasting, profitable growth.

The Enduring Advisory Firm

The Enduring Advisory Firm PDF Author: Mark C. Tibergien
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119108764
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
A guide for financial advisors who are ready to embrace new opportunities The Enduring Advisory Firm is a book for the forward-thinking financial advisor. Financial advisement is traditionally a hands-on field, so few in the industry feel threatened by the shifting social and technological landscape. In this book, Mark Tibergien—routinely named one of the most influential people in the financial services world—and Kim Dellarocca make a compelling case for taking a closer look at technology and other big-deal industry trends in order to move the business of financial advice into the next stage of its evolution. Combining a facts-based approach with case studies and examples from the field, The Enduring Advisory Firm will ignite your imagination by demonstrating practical strategies for attracting clients and streamlining operations. Today's smart practice managers are focusing on emerging topics like the needs and expectations of the Millennial generation, mobile and interactive technologies, and growth planning. Responding thoughtfully to these trends, with the help of this book, could propel your financial advising business toward a more successful future. In-depth discussion of trends and forces that you can harness to reshape your financial advisement business Case studies and examples showing how to navigate the most difficult business decisions Innovative ideas for process improvement, more fruitful client interactions, and sustainable growth Tips and insight for attracting Millennial clients and talent by leveraging new technologies The Enduring Advisory Firm will inspire financial advisors, managers, and executives to branch out in ways that will lead to measurable growth. With a newfound focus on the evolution of your business, you might be surprised at where change takes you. In addition to providing RIAs with guidelines to help them succeed, all of the proceeds from this book will support the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning, a national initiative to create a more diverse and financial planning profession so that every American has access to competent and ethical financial planning advice. The Center brings together CFP® professionals, firms, educators, researchers and experts to address profession-wide challenges in the areas of diversity and workforce development, and to build an academic home that offers opportunities for conducting and publishing new research that adds to the financial planning body of knowledge. Learn more at www.CenterforFinancialPlanning.org.

A Stake in the Outcome

A Stake in the Outcome PDF Author: Jack Stack
Publisher: Crown Currency
ISBN: 0385505094
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
The First Management Classic of the New Millennium! A bold experiment is taking place these days, as leading-edge companies turn upside down the management paradigm that has dominated corporate thinking for more than one hundred years. Southwest Airlines is perhaps the most visible practitioner, soaring through economic downturns while its competitors slash their budgets and order massive layoffs, but you can find other pioneers of the new approach in almost every industry and market niche. Their secret: a culture of ownership that allows them to tap into the most underutilized resource in business today–namely, the enthusiasm, intelligence, and creativity of working people everywhere. No one knows more about building a culture of ownership than CEO Jack Stack, who’s been working on one for the past twenty years with his colleagues at SRC Holdings Corporation (formerly Springfield ReManufacturing Corporation). Along the way, they’ve turned their company into what Business Week has called a “management Mecca,” attracting thousands of people representing hundreds of businesses to SRC’s home in Springfield, Missouri. There the visitors learn how to incorporate the ideals and values of SRC’s remarkable corporate culture into their own organizations–and then they go back and do it. Now, in A Stake in the Outcome, Stack offers a master class on creating a culture of ownership, presenting the hard-won lessons of his own twenty-year journey and explaining what it really takes to build for long-term success. The pioneer of “open-book management” (described in the best-selling classic The Great Game of Business), Stack and twelve other managers began their journey in 1982, when they purchased their factory from its struggling parent company. SRC grew 15 percent a year, while adding almost a thousand new jobs, and the company’s stock price rocketed from 10 cents to $81.60 per share. In the process, Stack discovered that long-term success required constant innovation–and that building a culture of ownership involved much more than paying bonuses, handing out stock options, or setting up an employee stock ownership plan. In a successful ownership culture, every employee had to take the fate of the company as personally as an individual owner would. Achieving that level of commitment was extraordinarily difficult, but Stack realized that the payoff would be enormous: a company that was consistently able to outperform the market. A Stake in the Outcome isn’t about theory–it’s about practice. Stack draws from his own successes and failures at SRC to show how any company can teach its employees to think and act like owners, including how to implement an effective equity-sharing program, how to promote continuous learning at every level of the organization, how to fire up employees’ competitive juices, how to broaden the concept of leadership and delegate responsibility for the business, and how to build a workforce that is fast on its feet and ready to take advantage of every opportunity. You’ll also learn about other companies that have succeeded in building cultures of ownership–and the lessons they can teach the rest of us. Written in Jack Stack’s straightforward, witty, no-beating-around-the-bush style, A Stake in the Outcome is like having a one-on-one session with a master entrepreneur and business innovator. It shows managers and executives of companies both large and small how to build a ferociously motivated workforce that is energized and committed to meeting and overcoming the most daunting challenges a company can face.

Stepping Up

Stepping Up PDF Author: John Izzo
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1609940571
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
A guide to solving problems presents seven principles that enable individuals to be their own agents of change.