Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business Review

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Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business ReviewIn his timely book, Gulati provides CEOS and managers with a wakeup call and a practical tool kit they can use to re-organize their firms to thrive in increasingly turbulent economic conditions. The issues discussed in this book are of importance for small, large and even non-profits. Gulati has done an excellent job of writing in a very readable style that I believe will benefit many firms that are seeking ways to survive and thrive.
The core message of this book is that only those firms attain resilience that are truly able to place their customers at the center of their enterprise. However, implementing this strategy is not easy for most firms. Gulati notes that many of the firms which believe that they are customer centric by virtue of going through the motions of traditional market research may actually be deluding themselves. Even when they do solicit ideas from their customers, they do so through the lens of their products as their focus remains on how the customer experiences their products. Further, most firms get caught up in their day to day operations and processes and forget to keep the customer at the center of their enterprise. Unfortunately, customers "become after thoughts" because firms become distracted and blinded by the rigidity of their internal architecture.
Based on qualitative and quantitative research, Gulati explains that while many firms get locked in self-erected silos and thick internal walls, some firms thrive while embracing brutal competition and demanding customer. What distinguishes these firms?
To answer this critical question, Gulati distills lessons from a broad array of firms. He explains that the key differentiator of these successful firms is not just their curiosity and engagement with their customers and their problems, but the ability to actually turn some of those insights into action.
To achieve this high degree of "customer-centricity" Gulati advises firms to dismantle their rigid "inside-out" organizational architecture and adopt a customer focused "outside-in" mind set with an intense focus on understanding and serving the needs of their customers. Putting the customer in the driver's seat can be accomplished only by radical reorganization. This in turn comes about from their capacity to effectively coordinate the appropriate organizational, human, and social resources for creating products and services that satisfy the real needs of their customers. By becoming nimble and flexible, firms can foster "resilience" to achieve competitive advantage for thriving under adversity.
The book not only provides an answer to the WHY of resilience but also the HOW. Gulati peels away multiple layers to demystify the operative mental models as well as the structural and social architecture of exemplary resilient firms. He explains the features and processes that are related with the five key levers that need to be engaged in reorganization. The five levers are: coordination, cooperation, clout, capability and connection.
I particularly appreciated Gulati's efforts to simultaneously highlight the structural, human, and relationship aspect of each lever. Most important, he provides clear and practical guidance on how to appropriately engage these levers to achieve resilience and customer centricity.
This book is not recommended for leaders who wish to undertake incremental changes. Gulati is blunt in his assessment and advice. While acknowledging that creating resilient organizations is not impossible, he cautions that it is not easy because it requires long term perseverance and consistent effort. He also notes that re-organization can be fraught with heightened concerns and operational chaos. But the eventually rewards can be dramatically positive. Thus, he cautions leadership to be prepared to invest considerable energy in creating companywide commitment.
Since any organizational transformation journey must begin with honest self assessment, I suggest that CEO's and leaders read this book first. After taking a hard look and reorienting their personal mental models, they should require their entire staff to read it. They should then use this book to initiate an honest conversation within their organizations and start preparing their blue prints for achieving "customer-centricity".
Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business OverviewIn an era of raging commoditization and eroding profit margins, survival depends on resilience: staying one step ahead of your customers. Sure, most companies say they re customer-focused, but they don t deliver solutions to customers thorniest problems. Why? Because they re stymied by the rigid silos they re organized around. In Reorganize for Resilience, Ranjay Gulati reveals how resilient companies prosper both in good times and bad, driving growth and increasing profitability by immersing themselves in the lives of their customers. This book shows how resilient organizations cut through internal barriers that impede action, build bridges between warring divisions, and transform former competitors into collaborators.Based on more than a decade of research in a variety of industries, and filled with examples from companies including Cisco Systems, La Farge, Starbucks, Best Buy, and Jones Lang LaSalle, Gulati explores the five levers of resilience: Coordination: Connect, eradicate, or restructure silos to enable swift responses. Cooperation: Foster a culture that aligns all employees around the shared goals of customer solutions. Clout: Redistribute power to bridge builders and customer champions. Capability: Develop employees skills at tackling changing customer needs. Connection: Blend partners offerings with yours to provide unique customer solutions.Authoritative and practical, Reorganize for Resilience helps you walk the walk, not just talk the talk, of customer-centricity jump-starting a virtuous cycle of profits, growth, and competitive advantage.

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Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy Review

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Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy Review
Prior to reading Isadore Sharp's memoir, I checked out the biographical information about Four Seasons' founder, chairman, and CEO at the corporate Web site. Here is a portion of it that provides an excellent introduction to his book. As Sharp explains, "The reason for our success is no secret. It comes down to one single principle that transcends time and geography, religion and culture. It's the Golden Rule - the simple idea that if you treat people well, the way you would like to be treated, they will do the same. There was no vision, there was no grand dream," since the first Four Seasons - a modest motor hotel - opened in downtown Toronto. "But there has always been a consistent thread and it propels us forward today, as we continue to grow globally, and that's service." It may seem obvious that in the hotel business, service is a primary objective, but it is how that service is delivered that sets Four Seasons apart. "One way to characterize Four Seasons service would be to call it an exchange of mutual respect performed with an attitude of kindness." Defining and enforcing the company culture was one of four key strategic decisions made in the formative years of Four Seasons history. "I sat down with our communications experts and wrote down the fundamentals of our culture, which is based on the Golden Rule - to treat others as you wish to be treated...A lot of companies talk about having a culture, but we knew we had to walk the talk if we expected it to thrive in our hotels."
The company that was launched in 1961 with a 125-room motor hotel in Toronto now has arguably the most profitable as well as the highest rated luxury hotels in the world, more than 140 in more than 40 countries. Sharp's leadership deserves much of the credit. What I most appreciate about this book is the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that he has discussed so comprehensively and so specifically the process by which the Four Seasons organization has evolved over the past 46 years. There are so many highlights to cover and no one else is better qualified to do so. Here is a representative selection:
1. In 1963, Four Seasons opened its second hotel, Toronto's Inn on the Park. the sophisticated urban resort-style hotel was an instant success.
2. As indicated, throughout its history thus far, Four Seasons made four strategic decisions that formed the pillars of its business platform. The first was about quality. Small, central and well-appointed, with friendly, personalized 24-hour service, the first London hotel was just what people were seeking in the new age of international jet travel at the dawn of the 1970s. Rather than being all things to all people, Four Seasons would focus on one thing: being the best in each location, with medium-sized hotels of exceptional quality.
3. The second key strategic decision that formed the business platform was about service. True luxury is defined not by architecture or décor, but by service. So Four Seasons must make the quality of our service our distinguishing feature and a competitive advantage. In 1976, Four Seasons entered the US market with its first management contract, for San Francisco's 1913 landmark hotel, The Clift.
4. Then in 1979, the first Four Seasons-branded US hotel opened on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. It was service that made the hotel special - so much so that the new Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC, was featured in the introduction to Tom Peters' In Search of Excellence. The 1980s unveiled flagship hotels in a dozen other US cities, including Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago. Four Seasons as a distinct brand name was coming into its own. Divesting less-strategic properties, the company began to transform itself from a hotel owner-operator into a management company. It also started to manage hotels in mixed-use developments - a new concept at the time - allowing it to extend its expertise into high-quality residential environments.
5. The third of the four strategic decisions that formed the business platform was about culture. Four Seasons had always had an implicit operating philosophy. As the company expanded, Sharp decided to make it explicit. He knew that shared values were essential to the service culture he wanted to create. Therefore, he and his team developed a formal credo, founded on the Golden Rule. This became the cornerstone of Four Seasons culture. 6. The final strategic decision that formed the pillars of the company's business platform was about the brand itself: to grow as a management company and build a brand name synonymous with quality. It began to transform itself from a hotel owner into a management company. This intensified focus freed Four Seasons to concentrate on its greatest strength: serving the luxury traveler.
7. As its fifth decade began, Four Seasons continued to grow - in both size and recognition - around the world. The company now welcomed guests to 50 properties, on every continent except Antarctica. More than ever, Four Seasons Private Residences, Residence Clubs and other branded residential offerings were integrated with urban and resort Four Seasons locations. The strength of the brand remains the same at every location, during each interaction with a guest: a promise of a quality of life.
These are but a few of the highlights throughout a process of Four Seasons' development under Isadore Sharp's leadership as founder, chairman, and CEO. However, as he would be the first to point out, all that has been accomplished thus far is the result of a team effort and he generously (and properly) acknowledges the significant contributions of dozens of his associates throughout the last four decades, including members of his family who shared his dream and also helped to make it a reality: unsurpassed luxury for all seasons.Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy Overview

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