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Title: The Power of Alignment : How Great Companies Stay Centered and Accomplish Extraordinary Things by George Labovitz, Victor Rosansky ISBN: 0-471-17790-3 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 19 May, 1997 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.71 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Powerful Organizational Focus
Comment: Quite simply, this book was one of the best business management and leadership books I have ever read. It was well-written and expertly balanced management and leadership concepts with real-world examples of effectively aligned organizations, such as Federal Express and Southwest Airlines. This book should be read and discussed by leaders and managers at all levels, especially by mid- to senior-level executives.
In brief, alignment deals with the relationships among the people, processes, strategy, and customers of an organization relative to that organization's purpose, or what the authors called "the main thing." Alignment is both a noun, a state of being, and a verb, a set of actions. Vertical alignment connects organizational strategy with the people responsible for transforming that strategy into meaningful work. Horizontal alignment deals with understanding your customers' wants and then creating processes to deliver what your customers want, when and how they want it. Effective leadership nurtures the organizational culture that is built around and upon "the main thing," and it is this culture and leadership combination that drives and sustains self-aligning organizations in turbulent times.
The authors' analogy of landing a plane helped me to visualize the dynamics involved with organizational alignment. To land a plane, a pilot must adjust and react to multiple simultaneous factors and conditions (i.e. air speed, altitude, angle of approach, wind speed and direction, etc.) and then understand how a change in one will affect the others. Likewise, to align an organization, a leader must adjust and react to feedback about his people, processes, strategy, and customers, and then understand how a change in one will affect the others.
The authors clearly and thoroughly explained the alignment factors and conditions throughout the book. They followed their explanations with incisive questions for readers to ask about themselves and their organizations to assess their degree of alignment. Those questions were definitely a highlight of the book for they really helped to stimulate my thinking and should help inspire organizational progress to alignment. Another highlight was the appendices that contained examples of actual tools and products used and created by some of the aligned organizations studied by the authors.
The inside back cover jacket sums up why I give the book my highest recommendation: "Essential reading for all managers and executives, "The Power of Alignment" offers a new way to reestablish focus and sustained energy, and is a dynamic approach for staying balanced and achieving extraordinary levels of performance."
Rating: 4
Summary: Alignment is Key Essential Usually Overlooked
Comment: I found this book easy reading, concise, and presented it's basic premise well with specific examples and good suggestions for creation and implementation.
Working as a Director in Managed Care for several pharmaceutical companies, it creates a focus for any organization and a roadmap for the future(physician, health plan, pharmaceutical company) to avoid many of the mistakes and pitfalls that have already been experienced in an attempt to align with the ever changing healthcare landscape.
For those who do account management, it provides a construct and roadmap to use to optimize alignment with internal customers and maximize resources to create value and return with the external customers (....and their customers.) As the authors point, alignment is a continuing process, not a single event in time. Many companies become quickly aligned with the past, and misaligned with the present & future, and can not sustain the competitive edge because they forget this basic premise that the authors reinforce.
The concepts are basic and fundamental, but usually overlooked and forgotten in the day to day business of rapidly growing companies and changing environments.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Power of Alignment: How Great Companies Stay Centered
Comment: The book was required reading in one of my graduate management classes. I found the information immediately usefull and am presently integrating much of the material into my company. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get their company or employer focused on the main thing: Service.
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Title: Leading Change by John P. Kotter ISBN: 0875847471 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 15 January, 1996 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Ram Charan, Charles Burck, Larry Bossidy ISBN: 0609610570 Publisher: Crown Business Pub. Date: 15 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Leadership is an Art by MAX DEPREE ISBN: 0440503248 Publisher: DTP Pub. Date: 10 August, 1990 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Powerful Conversations: How High-Impact Leaders Communicate by Phil Harkins, Philip J. Harkins, Warren G. Bennis ISBN: 0071353216 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade Pub. Date: 07 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry (Thin Book Series) by Sue Annis Hammond ISBN: 0966537319 Publisher: Thin Book Pub Co Pub. Date: November, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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