Neil Smith (5)

It seemed as if perhaps this book should have been called how to keep your management staff from acting human rather than How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things. The argument for thinking through all procedures company wide and not doing things just because "that's how we do them" was strong, but I just didn't find the examples compelling. The summaries about the brain science behind the reasons people act the way they do were very interesting, but over all this book just didn't stand out show more to me. show less

Really enjoyed this book and appreciate that it is so substantive. I naturally organized reading it into 3 main focus areas: understanding of eight barriers and how they lead to dumb things, instituting cultural change to break the barriers across an entire organization, and a fairly-detailed process of how to implement in a company.

Enjoyed many things about this book. The barriers are clear and they definitely exist! They are in basic language and are easily observable, like Avoiding show more Controversy, Poor Use of Time, or Size Matters. Within my work in higher education I could easily visualize how these occur all around me (especially the 3 I just noted); specific examples of people or projects that are hindered by these barriers easily came to mind. I attribute part of that to Smith & O'Connell's writing style and organization. I found it thorough and useful. Great real world examples that opened a chapter were revisited following explanation of a barrier. Very helpful!

Since "it is 90 percent about psychology" (p. 158) I thought that the additions from Dr. Richard Levak for each of the 8 barriers was a helpful addition. Each barrier chapter- although the order changed-included an opening with personal experience/anecdote, how the barrier makes companies do dumb things, Dr. Levak contributed a human behaviorist perspective on why people hit/create the barrier, "baring the barrier," "breaking the barrier," along with a brief summary with a takeaway & solution as well as a "look at your organization" with a couple of prompts to ask oneself about one's own work environment. My only critique about this section is that I read it being quite satisfied, but thought that Neil Smith might end the book after exploring those, with only a proposed solution to contact his consultancy firm. Was pleasantly surprised to see much more substance follow and I might suggest that the introduction be more instructive on what to expect from the text.

A major pitfall to reading this, through no fault of Smith's, is in implementation. Upon reading, either lower-level employees might read this expecting that they might implement change, or senior-level management will read this and gather all the employees round for their latest fad group project. For the former, Smith makes it quite clear that a number of the barriers "[l]ike the earlier barriers of Avoiding Controversy and Reluctance to Change, this barrier [Management Blockers] has much to do with the behavior of managers, and individual employees have little ability to change it" (p. 87). In other words, a lower/mid-level employee might reach the end of this book feeling fully hopeless for change within the organization and I'm not sure if I would recommend this read to those folks for that reason. Or, I might suggest that the byline specifically note how senior management can break the 8 barriers.
For the latter, Smith is cautionary that "the discipline or influence of an outside process usually is required to begin to change a company's culture" (p. 89), yet I can visualize many senior-level managers feeling emboldened by the simplicity & clarity of this book's message who might easily overlook this advice.
Smith is very clear that cultural change is at the heart of breaking the barriers, which we all know, yet I appreciate that he provided specific examples within different types of companies (banks, food industry, etc.) to demonstrate HOW that actually occurred AND all that it took. A huge example: pulling your top managers away from all of their projects to dedicate 100 days to the process. Without an outside consultant, I am puzzled by how management might organize this on its own.
I can only speak for myself but hope others relate that I'm jaded beyond imagination about the number of "visionaries" we must endure within our organizations who call for cultural change or silo-breaking with no concrete plan of action or reachable goal. I admit to fearing that this book might have been more of the same, but it isn't! For example, I appreciate that Smith clarifies why organizational silos are problematic for businesses BUT also notes why they exist and why they are necessary to a point. I also like that his advice is very concrete. For example, he notes what players need to be involved at all points within the process and notes how much total time a company should devote with some great milestone & timeline suggestions. Overall, the overview process chapter was informative, just wish that some of the visuals were a bit bigger.

Glad that I received for Early Reviewers and will be passing along! show less

I looked forward to reading this work having witnessed the severe erosion of business productivity in the 2000s, and the collapse of the largest financial institutions of America in the summer of 2008. We now bring that perspective to our readings of "business" advice.

I also have my notes from Peter Drucker's lectures, studies of corporate law, my library, and memory of President Bush's campaign chairman, the late Ken Lay, CEO of Enron at the time of its demise, and the harbinger of the show more Economic Collapse caused by the political policies of that era. And we saw the "Investment Banker" takeover of businesses in the 2000s that destroyed businesses all over the world.

The author is clearly not an "investment banker" -- I use that euphemism for the white collar thieves who do not actually invest or lend money. Since the 2000s, financial thieves began using power moves to take control of businesses. They looked at the employees as "expenses" and slashed payroll, sold off assets and liquidated equity to enrich themselves. Often they sold the businesses to "investors" as empty shells with enormous debts used to pay their enormous salaries. For example, most of the businesses taken over by Bain Capital lasted less than 5 years, and either disappeared or declared bankruptcy in the 2000s.

Neil Smith and his team propose almost the opposite approach. Unlike the Bain Capital model for enriching CEOs at the expense of their own companies, he urges the leadership to solve and anticipate barriers to the success of the "business" as a whole. Most of us define "business" as the operation of an entity which produces things or provides valuable services.

This book offers specific techniques for overcoming obstacles to operational success of any business entity. It is not limited to describing a get-rich scheme for a few thieves up-grading their collars. The authors specifically and repeatedly show how the short-term financial success of the CEOs and managers is actually a business blunder. What the Bain Model projects as the CEO "opportunity", is simply a fraud: the imbedded bankers enrich themselves at the expense of the long-term prosperity of the "business".

One of the main reasons why companies often make questionable decisions is they take the Bain Capital "investment banker" route -- ignore the failures and changes happening in business operations and just seize the low-hanging fruit. Here, the authors suggest that instead of "slashing payroll" as the easiest route to holding down expenses, regard employees as the greatest resource of the company.

The authors outline 12 fast-track principles of business transformation that discuss the involvement of CEOs as leaders, not just as parasites who have the power to drain a company of its resources. The authors use the psychology of personal accountability at all levels in a company. The growth model of increasing revenue instead of the banker model of cutting costs is the fundamental principle outlined here.

The authors provide abundant examples and contribute to our business lore. Examples are followed by the psychology explaining the situation. Dr. Richard Levak is the scientific expert providing this insight.

For example, slashing payroll not only destroys a business, it is a psychological disincentive. As a management tool, it instills the mind-killer, fear. The "business" is reduced to a shell, with no memory and no hopes for the future. Once the CEOs and controllers are seen as pirates running the ship for themselves only, the benefits of collaboration are lost. Although poorly-performing workers should be fired, very few company-wide "layoffs" have good long-term effects for business. When a company loses its best along with the dead wood, the whole point of "business" is lost. The remaining shell is left trying to reinvent its wheels. show less

Encouraging and implementing ideas in businesses can lead to all kinds of good changes, such as increasing simplicity, efficiency, and profitability or decreasing wastes of time, funds and products. So how come all businesses aren’t constantly churning out ideas for improvements and eagerly implementing these ideas? Neil Smith’s book explores the structural and behavioral barriers that stifle the idea generation and implementation process, leaving businesses to stagnate instead of show more thrive.

Eight distinct barriers to ideas and change are discussed, with three real life mini case studies used to illustrate each, as well as twelve ways to break down these barriers. Each chapter on the eight barriers ends with a helpful summary and questions businesses should be asking themselves to probe for where change is needed. A 100-day plan for businesses to initiate an overhaul and permanently transform their culture into a dynamic, idea-friendly one is also covered in-depth.

The many examples, clear and detailed writing, and psychology-based explanations for the barriers make this book easy to understand and compelling. It’s inspiring to learn that hundreds to thousands of ideas come up in the businesses Smith has worked with once ideas are requested and a process for making changes is in place.

I’ve seen reviews that complained everything in this book is “obvious.” Well, it’s really easy to complain that something’s obvious *after* you’ve just read it—but could these reviewers have listed the eight barriers and the twelve ways to unblock them *before* reading the book? The “obvious” impression probably comes from the barriers and solutions making so much sense that they seem like they *should* be obvious, but, in reality, it can be hard to identify and fix problems without anything to spur and direct your thinking. This book pushes and guides you to start thinking and scrutinizing business environments in a way to find problems or ways to improve.

Overall an insightful and interesting book. I’m sure I’ll be rereading it, or lending it to a supervisor/manager/coworker in the future. Recommended for anyone who runs or works for an organization, or who manages people. show less