Whoosh : Business in the Fast Lane

Rating:
Summary: Some Gems are Here
Review: Does the world really need another book on how to re-make and lead high performing companies? If the reaction of many companies to the recent downturn is any indication, then no, not one book, but probably 1,000 more books until the business world "gets it." There are some important concepts in this book that should be fairly easy to take away and implement--once a company generates the corporate will to do so. One is the difference in mindset between running what the author calls a creation company and running the more common type of company, which he calls a compliance company. The second centers on the topic of chapter five--the art of collaboration. While collaboration has received a great deal of lip service in recent years, the author lays out some simple characteristics and a simple process to remind everyone how to do actually do it. Collaboration will become a more important ingredient for survival over the next decade, regardless of which way the economy turns. Brian Gillooly of Information Week thinks it's so important that he's chosen it as the theme of their annual conference this September. The third important concept is the chapter on models. Senge popularized the idea of mental models, but McGehee has some nice insights to add.

The book is not a substitute for an MBA, but an MBA is not a substitute for insight, either. We're all in the process now of watching a whole new generation of businesses and business leaders analyse themselves into the ground and demonstrate a failure to focus on their ability--and the ability of their people--to create something good and powerful out of adversity.

Rating:
Summary: Creative and Intensive Collaboration in "The Fast Lane"
Review: In the Introduction, McGehee suggests the need for 'new methods' for leaders and managers in today's workplace. 'As I see it, organizations face two choices. The first option is to remain the same, emphasizing current methods of compliance, by which I mean consistently focusing on what the company has done, not on what it can do. That method calls for constantly measuring past performance, focusing on problem solving to regain what you've lost, rigidly holding onto past models of success, and creating experts in various specialties.' McGehee thinks he has a much better idea and I wholeheartedly agree. 'Or, an organization can become a Creation Company. Creation Companies see the changing nature of work as one of the greatest opportunities of our time, and they understand that the opportunity can only be seized by unleashing the individuals within the organization. What this means is allowing individuals the freedom to explore, discover, and take action on the organization's behalf, in real time.' In his thought-provoking book, McGehee explains HOW.

He examines three trends (cultural, technological, and structural) which will eventually determine whether or not a given organization survives. He characterizes the first as the 'Death of the Corporate Myth': there are no jobs for life, no careers even, not in the traditional sense. The second is manifest in the rapid rise of portals for real time, instant information sharing, and Internet communities. As for the third trend, organizations (willingly or not) are being changed from stand-alone hierarchies to interconnected webs of alliances, partnerships, and outsourcing relationships. Unlike Compliance Companies, Creation Companies have leaders who emphasize freedom, not control;, an understanding that success means creating the new, not replicating the old; and finally, have a work style that values individual expression and collaborative work, rather than a work style that values group conformity and individual effort which ensures that conformity. Two other recently published books address many of the same issues: Hamel's Leading the Revolution and The Cluetrain Manifesto co-authored by Locke, Levine, Searls, and Weinburger.

The 'whoosh' to which the title refers what can happen in a Creation Company when, as one executive explained, 'We were all working hard. We were heading in the right direction and the next thing you know, things were just falling our way and we were running and gunning and boom, we were there. That's what [italics] whoosh feels like.' In other words, those involved are in active, indeed intensive collaboration. Together, they enter what has been referred to in competitive athletics as 'the zone.' The basketball touches only the bottom of the net. For a batter, each baseball thrown by the pitcher seems to be the size of a melon. For collaborators such as those described in Bennis' Organizing Genius, there is a moment when they finally realize how to create the first nuclear weapon (The Manhattan Project) or the first feature-length animated film (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) or the first personal computer (Xerox PARC). All of the hard work, countless failures, and personal sacrifices have finally made this shared moment possible. There is a collective adrenaline 'rush.'

Such a moment is obviously rare but virtually (no pun intended) impossible in Compliance Companies which, in terms of their culture and structure, are antithetical to a whoosh. McGehee correctly stresses the importance of rigorous and constant 'conversations' about what an ortganization really values most. What are its non-negotiable values? Do these values nourish and enrich what are the dominant components of a Creation Company? Specifically, leaders who emphasize freedom, not control, an understanding that success means creating the new, not replicating the old; and finally, have a work style that values individual expression and collaborative work, rather than a work style that values group conformity and individual effort which ensures that conformity.

If you believe in the values of a Creation Company and are currently involved in a Compliance Company, you have two choices: either do everything possible to help it become a Creation Company or leave it and become involved with one which is. Keep in mind that anyone who is totally committed to those values is viewed as dangerous to those who don't. For me, one of this brilliant book's most important points is that Creation Companies are (by nature) a serious threat to Compliance Companies. They have unleashed, nourished, and sustained a creative spirit which achieves for them a decisive competitive advantage. McGehee urges his reader to challenge and test the examples and models he provides. 'Use them to change yourself and your organization. Use them to develop creative possibility, and to unleash your own [italics] whoosh.' If you accept the challenge, through this book, McGehee will accompany you each step of the way. The decision is yours.

Rating:
Summary: Smae old Stuff
Review: This whole book is based on the work of so many others and doesn't really offer any new ideas. Group think, fast business, keep up with the times, all of these ideas have been floating around for at least a decade if not longer. I suggest reading books on the subject that are ten years old. You'll get the same basic stuff.