[.ca] Beat The System: 11 Secrets to Building an ... (ISBN 0470175494)

Perhaps not "secrets" but certainly sensible guidelines:
As I read this book, I was again reminded of a GE annual meeting during which Jack Welch 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." By implication, Welch describes the "system" to which the title of Robert MacDonald's book refers, one whose bureaucracy manifests what James O'Toole has aptly characterized as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Anyone who thinks it is easy to "beat" that system has underestimated the resistance that change initiatives inevitably encounter. For individuals as well as for organizations, MacDonald suggests that it is imperative "to recognize the system for what it is and how it seeks to control and limit your future." He introduces and then devotes a separate chapter to each of eleven "secrets," none of which is a head-snapping revelation and all of which are best revealed within his narrative, in context. With all due respect to the lessons to be learned from the exemplary companies MacDonald discusses, each of those who read this book must decide what is of greatest relevance to his or her own organization. In this context, I presume to offer a head's up: bureaucrats feel personally threatened by entrepreneurs and will do everything they can to undermine their initiatives. In most organizations, bureaucrats \obegin italics\c are \oend italics\c the system. In my opinion, the greatest value of MacDonald's 11 "secrets" lies in the framework they provide for a self-diagnosis, a "reality gut check" if you will, that will enable decision-makers to identify areas in which a bureaucratic mindset is weakening the entrepreneurial spirit that Welch obviously admires. Another substantial benefit of this book is that the information and, more importantly, the counsel that MacDonald provides can help decision-makers to take corrective initiatives. For example, simplify and clarify all policies, procedures, and especially processes; improve communication between and among everyone involved; and meanwhile, do everything possible to nourish and support individual initiative and personal accountability. For example, those whose performance is measured must be directly involved in determining what must be done and how to do it. One of the best indicators of an entrepreneurial culture is the widespread use of first-person plural pronouns, although I concede that over the years I have known a number of knuckle-dragging bureaucrats who frequently used first-person plural pronouns when presuming to suggest that they spoke for the entire (given) organization. Here are two final points. MacDonald makes it quite clear that the entrepreneurial mindset is not determined by the size or nature of an organization. It can be pervasive throughout Southwest Airlines and totally absent in one of its vendors with only seven people on the payroll. When making the second point, I invoke direct address: If you remain trapped and smothered in your current situation, don't blame the bureaucrats. Don't blame Robert MacDonald. Whether or not you develop and then nourish the entrepreneurial mindset is entirely up to you.