NEW BOOK
– “The Invisible Employee: Realizing the Hidden Potential in Everyone,” by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, John Wiley & Sons, $19.95
Indifference toward company goals kills businesses. It is a silent killer growing each day within a company’s workforce. Indifference thrives among invisible employees, the underappreciated workers whose contributions go unnoticed or are taken for granted. They just do their jobs but aren’t really invested in the company’s goals.
Who creates invisibility? Management. By ignoring the basic contributions of most of the employees on the bottom two-thirds of the organizational pyramid, they make these employees invisible.
The authors’ solution? Management must learn to see. They must see what must be done. They must see what is being done. They must see their employees.
–Jim Pawlak, BizBooks
NEW BOOK
– “Dealing With Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution,” by Geoffrey Moore, Portfolio, $25.95
The key word in the title is “evolution.” Innovative companies, like successful people, realize that “Success is a journey, not a destination.” They have a “What’s next?” culture.
Innovation creates differentiation, which lengthens the profit life cycle. While this is obvious in growth markets, its impact in mature markets is astounding. In mature markets, the customer base is established. Barring market-busting technology, category risk is nil. The competition is known too. You must fight to keep your customers; new customers come at the expense of your competition. That’s when differentiation makes the difference.
–Jim Pawlak, BizBooks
