From the Blogosphere
October 19, 2007 3:54 PM
From David Maister Blog: Passion, People and Principles
The online reviews of my new book have begun. The pride of place for being
first goes to Ron Baker, the founder of the VeraSage Institute which is
dedicated (among other things) to abolishing the use of billable hour pricing
in professional services.
Ron also has a new book on the way: Mind Over Matter: Why Intellectual Capital
is the Chief Source of Wealth.
If you don’t know Ron’s earlier works, you should. As I have said before on
this blog, I think he is always essential reading.
Anyway, it’s nice to know the feeling is at least partially mutual. This is
what he had to say about my new book on his blog:
***
In the Introduction to David Maister's latest book (available for pre-order
now), The
Fat Smoker Syndrome: Keys to Success for Professionals and Professional Firms,
he writes: "Much of business, I believe, is about things that are obvious,
but not easy."
This reminded me of a line from Ronald Reagan's speech from 1964, "A
Time for Choosing," which launched him on the national political scene.
Incidentally, I know it is one of Ed Kless' favorite quotes:
They say the world has become too complex for simple
answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple
answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right...You and
I have a rendezvous with destiny.
Maister's latest book is full of common sense and simple answers, along with
much insight based on his vast experience working with Professional Knowledge
Firms:
We know what to do, we know why we should do
it and we know how to do it. Yet we don't change, most of us, as
individuals or as businesses.
[Y]ou can't achieve a competitive differentiation through
things you do "reasonably well, most of the time."
The necessary outcome of strategic planning is not analytical
insight but resolve.
I have been told more times than I care to remember that the
reaction to one of my presentations has been "This all makes terrific
sense, but there's no way we'll ever do these things around here."
[On turning away business rather than accepting any customer
simply because they have a checkbook and breathe], Maister says: "Not only
should you do that, but the only way you can achieve any strategic distinction
is to do that. Strategy is deciding whose business you are going to turn
away." [As my colleague Tim Williams likes to say, "A firm is defined
by the customers it doesn't have"].
The book also slaughters some sacred cows, my favorite being the scheduled
performance appraisal process, which Maister says "are doomed to
failure." Amen. For more on this, see the fantastic book, Abolishing
Performance Appraisals: Why They Backfire and What to do Instead, by
Tom Coens and Mary Jenkins.
Of course, I have my disagreements with Maister (such as his contention that
law firms are different, which defies the laws of economics, in my
humble opinion). That said, I always learn from him. You will too.
***
Thanks, Ron!
[ Read the entire post at David Maister Blog: Passion, People and Principles ]
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