Review of Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win (Hardcover)

It's often hard to tell, when reading a book like this one, whether the authors have really hit on an important insight grounded in solid evidence and research, or instead invented a marketable idea and cherry-picked instances and examples that "prove" their point. Although perhaps the passage of time is the only way to tell for sure, I argue "Mavericks at Work" really has seized on something important. That makes this a valuable read, not only for current and wannabe-future business leaders, but for anyone who ... well ... works for a living.

William Taylor and Polly LaBarre argue that the real head-to-head competition in business today isn't process versus process, or even idea versus idea, but rather "values system versus values system." The business leaders who inspire them and who, they argue, are leading the way into the future, are the ones who have rethought the very idea of business, the market, and both internal and external collaboration. A big part of their book applies the model of open-source software and technology-development to the business, and describes how various corporations have harnessed technology and the world's intellectual resources to solve business problems.

But the technological angle is only part of what makes someone a "maverick at work." Another major focus of the book is on companies that have created an energetic and innovative corporate culture that truly inspires employees and delights customers. Herb Kelleher's Southwest Airlines is always the darling of this sort of analysis, but Taylor and LaBarre also introduce us to Commerce Bank in New York, Anthropologie, the GSD&M advertising agency, and others. These places, the authors argue, are changing what "work" means, and so creating not only customer and employee loyalty, but also (and therefore) business success.

The word *maverick* derives from Texan rancher and politician Sam Maverick, who allowed his unbranded cattle to roam semi-wild instead of branding them and penning them in fenced-in ranges. That sort of independent spirit describes the companies and business leaders profiled in this book. It remains to be seen whether theirs is the way of the future, but Taylor and LaBarre have made a solid (and energizing!) case that it is.



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Review of Change to Strange: Create a Great Organization by Building a Strange Workforce (Hardcover)

How many times have you heard a CEO count his or her work force as a "competitive advantage?"Yet a trip to that CEO's store or office reveals nothing special.

Daniel M. Cable argues an organization needs to do something special to create something special.You cannot be great if your organization does what everyone else does.You have to be unique.You have to be out of the ordinary.If you want to stand above your competitors, you cannot be normal.To deliver a unique experience to your customers, your workforce must be unusual or striking. This out-of-the-ordinary experience, Cable defines as strange.

Even though too man organizations claim their workforces as a competitive advantage, most do not differ from their competitors.They treat their workforce the same way their competitors do.They compare their people practices to industry averages.As a result, nothing the organization produces is particularly noteworthy from a customer's point of view.

Cable, a management professor at the University of North Carolina, argues that if your organization hopes to achieve extraordinary results, your work force cannot be normal.The author offers four undeniable observations:

1.A great organization develops a sustained competitive advantage.
2.They get it by creating and delivering something to the market that is valuable, rare and hard to imitate.
3.Creating and delivering this value demands the disciplined obsession of a strange workforce.
4.A strange workforce is built by using unique metrics and strange workforce architecture.

Make sure you do not quit reading before the last chapter on measurement.The book's processes rely heavily on measurement and metrics.Creating a strange workforce, the author states, relies on a process for measuring fuzzy concepts.In the last chapter, he provides it.

The challenge leaders face is not developing a strategy, but translating it into reality through their workforces.Cable, whose consulting and teaching focus on bringing human systems in line with company strategy, weaves a healthy dose of practicality with inspiration to help them build a strange workforce.





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Review of MEGACHANGE: How Today's Leading Companies Have Transformed Their Workforces (Hardcover)

The title of this book could have been "putting people into the heart of the organizational change equation." In its well written pages, the author shows how to engage, liberate and develop an organizations's humanpotential.

MegaChange describes a process of transformation based onassumptions of human capability, rather than limitations. The approachfocuses on people (below the top) and assumes that they have valid input,can be trusted, and can play a vital role in the change process. Key themesare: greater emphasis on human values, goals, capabilties, and efficacy;placing people at the center of strategy, structure and systems;approaching change from a top-down-bottom-up sequence of developmentactivities, involving two parallel, synergistic efforts: (1)strategy-driven, organization-wide transition in systems and structures and(2) a transformation in culture, beginning with the workforce.

The mainbody of the book is devoted to explaining this change process. This workprovides an excellent perspective on the nature of organizational changeand presents an approach to change that, based on my own consultingexperience in this area,should be read-and given thoughtfulconsideration-by top executives. Highly recommended. Reviewed by GerryStern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder: TheMaster Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources,Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and Stern's Compensation and BenefitsSourceFinder.



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