800-CEO-READ Blog

Jack Covert Selects - Hire With Your Head

Hire with Your Head: Using POWER Hiring to Build Great Companies by Lou Adler; John Wiley & Sons; Pages 334; $29.95; Hardcover; November 2002; 0471223298

If Impending Crisis helps you and your company identify how close you are to a hiring crisis and how to strategize a plan of attack, Hire with Your Head, now in a revised 2nd edition, will show you how to source, attract and select those hard-to-find best people. Adler advises us to take a systematic approach based on reason, not instinct, gut reaction, deadlines or impulsiveness (which, come on and admit, lots of companies, probably even yours, have done).

The first thing is to change your philosophy. Don’t hire to fill a position; hire to bring the best person into your company. All of this starts with the correct interviewing techniques and assessment strategies. This person will not always be the candidate with the best resume. In Chapter 2, Adler tells us to look for “success” in a resume, not “skills”. Sound easy? Actually, according to Adler, it is. A good interview need only include 4 questions (4?!?). I won’t spoil you by listing them here, but this entire book, in my opinion, is worth those 4 questions. And, even if you aren’t hiring now (but maybe you are thinking about streamlining your organization), this book can really help you determine the talent that you currently have in your organization. In other words, would you hire them each again? Very valuable stuff.

While interviewing has its own challenges, it is often assessing the candidate after her or she has left your office that is the toughest part. Adler offers ten factors that can help you process everything you heard and saw during an interview. Instead of choosing a candidate based on personality (will he or she fit into my organization) or schooling and experience, these ten factors will force you to step away from an impulsive decision, and instead, open the door to objectivity.

The terrific thing about this book is that it offers solutions to all different kinds of scenarios, including when you are hiring someone for a job that is newly created and you don’t actually know what you’ll be requiring the person to do. Or, perhaps you need go back all the way to the beginning – forget interviewing and assessing – you need to figure out how to source the talent from the get-go. Adler will tell you that also. Really, there is fantastic information throughout this book, no matter which stage you are at in your search for talent. The layout is easy-to-read, concise, and can be processed in steps.

My advise (completely altruistic, of course)? Pick up a copy of Impending Crisis and Hire with your Head – your company’s future depends on it.

Jack Covert Selects - New Law of Demand and Supply

New Law of Demand and Supply: The Revolutionary New Demand Strategy for Faster Growth and Higher Profits by Rick Kash; Currency Doubleday; 256 Pages; $27.50; Hardcover; September 2002; 0385504322

The gist of this book is right there in the title. Turning the old saw, “Supply and Demand” on its head, Kash suggests that organizations do the inverse: first, identify demand, then…create the supply. While this may sound like a fairly basic theory, even common sense, the implementation, Kash tells us, is the hard part – kind of like relearning how to walk. What the author does for us then is teach us how to reorient ourselves, step by step. And this is a man who knows what he is talking about! CEO of The Cambridge Group, a strategy-consulting firm, Kash has worked with companies from Merrill-Lynch to Gillette.

Why is this change in strategy so important? “For a host of reasons–from the reduced life cycles of products and services, to deregulation, to increased competition as a result of globalization, to the ability of customers to compare prices and values at a keystroke–the market, Kash argues, has fundamentally and permanently changed from one that is driven by supply to one that is driven by demand. Kash then illustrates the Demand strategy with examples of companies that have used it successfully. While most companies have learned to listen to customer needs through market research, Kash offers an extended method. In addition to customer data, the Demand strategy includes Forces and Factors which “involve analyzing the causal elements that are responsible for changes in demand, such as legislative, technological, political and demographics”. Sounds smart to me. This is good advice for all types of organizations, big or small, and in fact, can benefit even the small company since small businesses are really searching for that toehold or springboard.

The Demand strategy is given six phases, of which, I really enjoyed “Select your most profitable demand segment” which encouraged me to look at my company, divide our services up by demand, and choose one of those sections which I thought we really excelled at and whose needs have not yet been totally met. To bring out another old saw: you can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. Really, it is not a matter of offering EVERY item or service you can think of to an audience of millions, instead, it is about figuring out what a specific section of that audience needs, and then tailoring our services to fit. Wow, what a relief. From that point, Kash helps us progress through the following phases to execution. And this really is the strength of the book – Kash’s ability to take a simple theory that may be crucial to the future financial success of your company – and makes it do-able.

Jack Covert Selects - New Law of Demand and Supply

New Law of Demand and Supply: The Revolutionary New Demand Strategy for Faster Growth and Higher Profits by Rick Kash; Currency Doubleday; 256 Pages; $27.50; Hardcover; September 2002; 0385504322

The gist of this book is right there in the title. Turning the old saw, “Supply and Demand” on its head, Kash suggests that organizations do the inverse: first, identify demand, then…create the supply. While this may sound like a fairly basic theory, even common sense, the implementation, Kash tells us, is the hard part – kind of like relearning how to walk. What the author does for us then is teach us how to reorient ourselves, step by step. And this is a man who knows what he is talking about! CEO of The Cambridge Group, a strategy-consulting firm, Kash has worked with companies from Merrill-Lynch to Gillette.

Why is this change in strategy so important? “For a host of reasons–from the reduced life cycles of products and services, to deregulation, to increased competition as a result of globalization, to the ability of customers to compare prices and values at a keystroke–the market, Kash argues, has fundamentally and permanently changed from one that is driven by supply to one that is driven by demand. Kash then illustrates the Demand strategy with examples of companies that have used it successfully. While most companies have learned to listen to customer needs through market research, Kash offers an extended method. In addition to customer data, the Demand strategy includes Forces and Factors which “involve analyzing the causal elements that are responsible for changes in demand, such as legislative, technological, political and demographics”. Sounds smart to me. This is good advice for all types of organizations, big or small, and in fact, can benefit even the small company since small businesses are really searching for that toehold or springboard.

The Demand strategy is given six phases, of which, I really enjoyed “Select your most profitable demand segment” which encouraged me to look at my company, divide our services up by demand, and choose one of those sections which I thought we really excelled at and whose needs have not yet been totally met. To bring out another old saw: you can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. Really, it is not a matter of offering EVERY item or service you can think of to an audience of millions, instead, it is about figuring out what a specific section of that audience needs, and then tailoring our services to fit. Wow, what a relief. From that point, Kash helps us progress through the following phases to execution. And this really is the strength of the book – Kash’s ability to take a simple theory that may be crucial to the future financial success of your company – and makes it do-able.

Jack Covert Selects - Less is More

Less is More: How Great Companies Use Productivity as a Competitive Tool in Business by Jason Jennings, Portfolio, 260 Pages, $24.95 Hardcover, October 2002, ISBN 1591840015

The last time I spoke with Jason Jennings, we talked frankly about the amount of research and time it took for him to write this book. Well, the end result is definitely worth the effort he made, as this is a beautifully documented tome. Don’t let the idea of documentation discourage you from buying this book, however. Jennings’ fine writing has a conversational tone that demands your attention and keeps you reading. On top of that, nearly every sentence has value and is loaded with content (and while this may seem like a given, try telling that to many of the business book authors out there – perhaps they need a lesson in less-is-more). Folks, trust me, this is a great book that reads as easily as some of the best fiction.

Jennings’ first book It’s Not the Big That Eat the Small, It’s the Fast That Eat the Slow, co-written with Larry Haughton, appeared in the 6th edition of Jack Covert Selects and was a huge bestseller. I described that book in my review as “one of the most fun, loaded with innovative thoughts and ideas that make perfect sense.” Less is More follows well within the footprints of It’s Not the Big and was also as difficult to synthesize – not because it is too complex a book, but because it is so good, you can’t help but share what you just read with someone else.

In this new book, Jennings tackles company productivity—getting more with less. First, he and a team of researchers created a set of criteria with which to judge a productive company. As the research went forward, they adjusted the guidelines to match their preliminary findings, ending up with: Revenue per Employee; Return on Equity and Return on Assets; and Operating Income per Employee. Then, they filtered the companies that made that first cut through the questions: Is this company overexposed? – e.g. Southwest Airlines, Harley, Nokia—, and Might this company pull an Enron?. After the companies that passed the test were determined, the CEOs were interviewed. Those interviews are incorporated into the book and offer much insight. Ultimately, Jennings concludes that productive companies have one unifying factor:

Productive companies have a different definition of the words ‘strategy’ and ‘tactics’ than most people in business. That difference is the foundation that allows them to stay focused and build remarkably productive companies. They have institutionalized their strategy.
What is so refreshing is that the selected companies are not the usual cast of characters. Jennings does include IKEA and Nucor, but also tells us about a discount chain in New Zealand that puts twice as much profit per sales dollar to the bottom line as Wal-Mart and nearly doubles Wal-Mart’s Return on Equity.

I am not saying that this book is as groundbreaking as, say, a new Michael Porter or Peter Drucker, but I am suggesting that this book is on par with the very successful Good to Great in showing you successful organizations that have implemented and applied cutting edge concepts. Jason Jennings has really done a terrific job in giving us this opportunity to learn from those companies’ successes and failures.

Jack Covert Selects - Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?

Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance: Inside IBM’s Historic Turnaround by Louis V. Gerstner, HarperBusiness, 380 Pages, $27.95 Hardcover, November 2002, ISBN 0060523794

Some of the constant readers of my monthly missive have asked why I didn’t write a Jack Covert Selects on the Jack Welch book. Well, I always try to follow my mother’s advice, “If you can’t say something nice…”, when choosing the books I review, so…you get the picture. In a nutshell, Mr. Welch’s book was good, but it could have been much better. Despite the mostly lukewarm reviews of the Welch book, and the credibility knocks the “cult of the CEO” has taken this year by way of Enron, Worldcom and Adventis, two of the best books of this year come from retiring or retired CEO’s. In June, Larry Bossidy, formerly of Honeywell and Allied Signal, introduced Execution (see June’s JCS reviews), a terrific book that is taking the business world by storm. And now, Lou Gerstner, the man credited with IBM’s turnaround, presents his memoirs from his time at IBM. I enjoyed these two books so much that I would love to package a tour that offers tickets to see Lou Gerstner and Larry Bossidy sitting on stage and just telling war stories. Fascinating stuff.

When Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance was first brought to my attention, I asked who the ghostwriter of the book was, since who that person is directly affects the quality of the book no matter how famous the subject. The answer was: no one. Needless to say, I was surprised – and skeptical. Gerstner addresses this decision in his introduction, saying, “I wrote this book without the aid of a co-author or a ghostwriter (which is why it’s a good bet this is going to be my last book; I had no idea it would be so hard to do.) I am responsible for any mistakes or confusion the reader may endure”. He also admits that he never planned to write a book, nor did he ever do much business book reading of his own. So, ever the pessimist, I drew the conclusion that this was going to be an unreadable book. It is anything but! I was immediately engaged by Gerstner’s conversational writing style and his ability to tell a good story. Not only does he generously offer up his thoughts and lay bare his emotions during the incredible personal and professional challenge he took on, Gerstner grounds the tale solidly by sharing his meeting notes, recounting conversations verbatim, and giving clear portraits of the heavy-hitters involved in the struggle.

In addition to Gerstner’s writing style, the mystery inherent in the company’s turn-around keeps the pages turning. Really, for Gerstner to succeed in keeping the company together when it was “hemorrhaging cash” was completely unexpected. Pundits, as well has most of the IBM exectutives, believed Gerstner’s first step as CEO would be to split up Big Blue into “Baby Blues”. It didn’t happen and we get to witness the decision-making process and the company’s subsequent salvation within these pages. Gerstner tells his story linearly, beginning with “Grabbing Hold” (of the reins, of the problem, of a slipping behemoth), then “Strategy” (the section titled Reflections on Strategy is one of the best in the book), “Culture”, “Lessons Learned”, and “Observations” (which concludes with a “Farewell”). The pages fly by and you’ll not only be surprised by how entertained you are, but also how much you learned -- about change, about strategy, about management, about Lou Gerstner. This book is so good that I want to offer you a money back guarantee. Buy it and if you don’t find it valuable, return it and we will credit you for the book, PLUS shipping.

Jack Covert Selects - Impending Crisis

Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People by Roger E. Herman and Tom Olivo, Oakhill Press, $30.00 Hardcover, UNK Pages, August 2002, ISBN 1886939535

In the late 90’s, there was a shortage of qualified people in the labor force and many jobs went unfilled. Putting an ad in the paper garnered little response, and those folks who did respond and were subsequently hired were little more than compromises. The authors of this book refer to that ugly time as a warm-up for what they predict will happen to the job market in the next eight years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that our economy will support 167,754,000 jobs by the end of the decade, but we will only have 157,721,000 people in the labor force to fill those jobs. That is a shortfall of 10,033,000 people. However, the problem isn’t just a matter of finding warm bodies to fill the seats, it’s about finding qualified people – and keeping them.

The first half of this volume discusses how we got to this crisis point and offers much in the way of supporting statistics. The second half of the book offers up possible solutions – not easy ones, but solutions none-the-less. Take, for example, the inadequate schooling of the emerging labor force. The American Management Association reveals that over 38% of 1999 job applicants lacked the literacy and numeracy skills required to perform the jobs they applied for. The authors make the point that the business community can not sit and blame the school system for this problem. Instead, the business community needs to work with the schools to improve the quality of those schools’ offerings.

This book is so inventive and dynamic that I found myself stopping mid paragraph to tell somebody about a gem trapped within its pages. This is a “Gee Whiz” book, for lack of a better description. In Impending Crisis, every page has either a statistic or a highlighted nugget of information (aka “Words of Wisdom”) interspersed throughout the book that really made me say, “huh” or “wow”. Here’s one of my favorite “Gee Whiz’s”: A “cold chair”, or vacant position on your staff, is a bad thing; however, even worse is to have a “warm chair”, a position filled by a person who isn’t motivated and is taking the spot that could be filled by a “superstar”. Yeah, that makes sense, and why should we, as employers, settle for anything but superstardom?

Not to be taken lightly, Impending Crisis, is a book essential to the future of your company. I have known Roger Herman for a long time and it is safe to say that he has terrific vision. And because he has been so far in front of the curve with his other books, such as Keeping Good People in 1990, I’d even say he’s a bit the clairvoyant. Now, he and Tom Olivo warn: “Employers, particularly in the United States, are in serious trouble…and few realize it” and I’d advise you to take them seriously and buy this book to learn how to stave off the crisis.