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Think Big, Act Small: How America¹s Best Performing Companies Keep the Start-up Spirit Alive by Robert Morris

Think Big, Act Small: How America¹s Best Performing Companies Keep the Start-up Spirit Alive
Jason Jennings
Portfolio/The Penguin Group

Jennings is a staunch and eloquent advocate of this principle: Do much more and do it much better, faster, and do it with less. OK, but how? The answer to that question was revealed by rigorous and extensive research which he and his two associates (Brian Solon and Greg Powell) conducted. They began with 70,000 companies as candidates for designation as the best performing companies in the U.S. Among all of them, which have increased their revenue and profits by at least 10% for ten years or longer? Only nine qualified: Cabela¹s. Dot Foods, Koch Industries, Medline Industries, O¹Reilly Automotive, PETCO Animal Supplies, SAS Institute, Sonic Drive-in, and Strayer Education. Back to ³How?² Jennings identifies ten ³Building Blocks² which, in combination, explain why each of those in an obviously mixed bag of companies has been and continues to be a best performer (i.e. among the top one-hundredth of 1% of all U.S. compamies). It would be a disservice to both Jennings and to those who read this brief commentary to list them and then comment on each out of the context within which Jennings so skillfully presents them. Suffice to say that all organizations (regardless of their size or nature) need to have all ten Building Blocks as a core foundation on which to increase their revenue and profits by at least 10% and then continue to do so year after year after year. How revealing that the CEOs whom Jennings and his research associates interviewed seem wholly preoccupied with sticking to their own ³knitting,² focusing on what their companies can do best, how to do it even better, and thereby deliver even greater value to their customers. Also, each seems determined to nourish and enhance the quality of life as well as standard of living of everyone involved in the enterprise. This is precisely what Jennings means when referring to building communities, Building Block #9. Employees, customers, and allies should be viewed as ³partners² and treated as such. One of this book¹s greatest benefits is derived from Section Three, ³The Quad: A Self-Evaluation and Ranking,² in which Jennings ³breaks down the title of the book into four scenarios, each represented by a quadrant²:

TSAS Think Small, Act Small
TSAB Think Small, Act Big
TBAB Think Big, Act Big
TBAS Think Big, Act Small

He applies this template to each of the ten Building Blocks. It remains for each reader to complete the self-evaluation, one which helps to measure her or his own organization¹s current situation. The details of this exercise are best revealed within the text, pages 189-201.