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Title: Contented Cows Give Better Milk by Bill Catlette, Richard Hadden ISBN: 1-890651-10-9 Publisher: Saltillo Press Pub. Date: 15 November, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 (20 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: UDDERLY IRRESISTABLE
Comment: This book is great... It reminds me of the days I used to get up at 2 am and wake up the cows for milking.
I LOVE MILKING COWS!
Rating: 5
Summary: Facts vs. "Flavor of the Month"
Comment: Having spent eleven years in one of the winning companies profiled in Contented Cows, I can personally vouch that the strategies and methods recommended by the authors will truly produce a world-class, highly-motivated workforce that will in turn produce exceptional customer service and financial results. Not occasionally, but every time! What is so impressive about the authors approach is that they first thouroughly researched the "people" practices of truly great companies, then show how those practices in turn naturally and inevitably lead to great bottom-line performance. Too many business authors first create a "neat" model or premise, then go out and find examples to validate what they hope will be the next management "magic pill," establishing correlations that in reality, if they exist at all, are quite tenuous. These guys have done their work the old fashioned way, and you can (and will) take their recommendations to the bank!
Rating: 5
Summary: Who's Milking Whom?
Comment: Don't be deterred by the title (initially I was) because it is appropriate to the authors' purposes in their essentially serious analysis of why only some companies sustain market supremacy and profitability...and why the others don't. Years ago, Jack Welch (then CEO of GE, one of the six companies featured in this book) explained why he admires entrepreneurial companies:
"For one, they communicate better. Without the din and prattle of bureaucracy, people listen as well as talk; and since there are fewer of them they generally know and understand each other. Second, small companies move faster. They know the penalties for hesitation in the marketplace. Third, in small companies, with fewer layers and less camouflage, the leaders show up very clearly on the screen. Their performance and its impact are clear to everyone. And, finally, smaller companies waste less. They spend less time in endless reviews and approvals and politics and paper drills. They have fewer people; therefore they can only do the important things. Their people are free to direct their energy and attention toward the marketplace rather than fighting bureaucracy."
These remarks are directly relevant to the key points which Catlette and Hadden make in this book. It is no coincidence that the most highly admired companies (i.e. those for whom employees of their competitor companies prefer to work) are also the most profitable as they dominant their respective marketplaces. They include FedEx, GE, Hewlett-Packard, Southwest Airlines, 3M, and Wal-Mart. Revealingly, each of these six was founded by entrepreneurs and each has since retained its entrepreneurial spirit. They are among the "Contented Cows" which have outgrown the "Common Cows" (e.g. Consolidated Freightways, General Motors, Texas Instruments, United Airlines, Xerox, and Sears) by a margin of roughly four to one. Catlette and Hadden explain why.
At one point in their book, they assert that "just as productive employees are not always satisfied, satisfied employees are not always productive." A "Contented Cow" company offers generous employee benefits, including those which address personal needs. For example, EDS has a car repair facility, bank, store, day care center, and dry cleaners on-site. However, a "Contented Cow" company also has leaders (at all levels) who recognize the importance to their employees of meaningful work to do, high standards to which everyone is held accountable (a "level playing field"), a clear sense of purpose and direction, feeling appreciated, and finally, meaningful opportunities for professional growth.
There is a "Summary" at the conclusion of each of the 14 chapters. These lists of key points will be invaluable to those who may wish to re-read the book (all or in part) as they attempt to formulate strategies and tactics to transform their own organization into a "Contented Cow." I hasten to add that these key points are relevant to ALL organizations regardless of their size or nature. "To become Contented Cows. companies must realize that just as they have choices, their employees (particularly the better, more skilled ones) do so. The new rules of the game have been set, and now it's only a matter of time before everyone learns how to play, and play it to their advantage." Quite true. Contented employees should never become complacent employees. I am among those who believe that great leaders inspire rather than motivate others: they activate in them what is, in fact, self-motivation. Davenport and Beck address this in The Attention Economy, correctly suggesting that there is a form of ADD in the business world which has serious, indeed profound implications for managers at the executive level.
Decision-makers in "Contented Cow" companies understand full well what will attract the attention of those for whom they are responsible. The challenge is to involve and then engage them productively and enthusiastically, indeed passionately in the given enterprise. Only if and when they are can the nature and extent of relationships with customers ensure sustainable profitability. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out David Maister's Practice What You Preach. His key point, with which Catlette and Hadden obviously agree, is that individuals as well as organizations must have impeccable integrity. "Contented Cow" companies are nothing more and nothing less than human communities within which such values are constantly affirmed, not merely in word but in deed.
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Title: Love 'Em or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay by Beverly L. Kaye, Sharon Jordan-Evans ISBN: 1576751406 Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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Title: The HR Scorecard: Linking People, Strategy, and Performance by Brian E. Becker, Mark A. Huselid, Dave Ulrich ISBN: 1578511364 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: 1001 Ways to Reward Employees by Bob Nelson, Kenneth H. Blanchard ISBN: 156305339X Publisher: Workman Publishing Company Pub. Date: 15 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: The War for Talent by Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, Beth Axelrod ISBN: 1578514592 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: October, 2001 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, John Christensen ISBN: 0786866020 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 08 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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