I’m barely a third of the way through this book and already want to recommend it. Don’t wait for me to finish – get reading. Porportedly based on habits that Harnish learned from reading about John D. Rockefeller (say what you will about the man’s morals, he did build a large profitable company) the book builds on a whole lot of stuff I’ve already said (so it must be right).
The main habits are:
Priorities:
Have a long term 15-20 year vision and direction. Then have 90 day goals of what you need to accomplish now. And forget the middle time period. Make sure that your 90 day goals consist of 5 (no more no less) top priorities that everyone is working on and that they all know which of the 5 is the top 1 of 5.
Data:
Track the right data daily and weekly so that each person has at least one metric driving their performance.
Rhythm of the Meetings:
Have the right rhythm of daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual meetings for alignment and accountability. Make sure they are well run and useful. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
The X Factor:
Determine the chokepoint in your business model and industry, then gain control of that chokepoint. Rockefeller’s was transportation costs – why he got so in bed with the railroads. But this was so pervasive to him when he started making his own oak barrels, instead of shipping green wood, he had it split and dried in the forest so his shipping costs were halved.
The book is above all – practical. Gives you a lot to do and ways to do it. Reading it feels like boot camp.
