Managing By Values [Paperback]

On the other hand, if you dislike Blanchard's general approach to business and book-writing, enough said. This one will affect you the same way, and you should skip it.

Most people who think about leadership imagine exercising great power by using moral persuasion and commands to shift an organization into a better direction. Actually, that's harder than turning a supertanker around, and often less useful.

In my experience, and in the views of this book, it works better to find a purpose for the organization that is equally valuable and meaningful to everyone involved (those who work there, customers, suppliers, shareholders, distributors, partners, and the communities you serve). That purpose doesn't come from the CEO, but rather it emerges from conversations with all of the interested parties.

Then, by using that central purpose, and the values to support it, everyone can decide what the right thing to do is in any situation with a minimum of leadership and management from elsewhere. Johnson & Johnson is probably a good example of a company that runs this way. When someone tampered with some Tylenol capsules, the company quickly recalled all Tylenol products as a reflection of its value of providing only helpful, healthful products.

Unlike Ken Blanchard's other books, this one has a lot of process-oriented information about how to go from how you lead today to a mission and value-centered process. I found that very helpful, and the process suggestions seemed sound to me. I have not actually seen a company use the exact process here, but it seems reasonable compared to the examples I have seen in other companies.

As you probably guessed, the book is built around a fable that involves someone (CEO Tom Yeoman of RimCo) having an epiphany that leads to a desire to change his life and improve his company. The epiphany follows his best friend refusing to help start a new business with him, saying, "The trouble with you, Tom, is that you're in a rat race. Remember, even if you win the race, you're still a rat."

Tom meets a change agent (a consultant who specializes in Managing by Values) and several clients of the change agent who share their experiences.

The book goes on to describe how Tom's company implements that advice.

You'll also recognize the familiar summaries, diagrams and short quotes ("The most important thing in life is to decide what's most important.") to emphasize what you have just learned.

This book is also a good reference tool, because it has a lot of detail about how to implement the process.

The main drawback to the reader is that you probably cannot implement this process very well by yourself. You will probably want to hire one of the firms that the coauthors work for if you like the process. Normally, I complain bitterly about this in other business books. I am making an exception here, because my experience has clearly been that an outsider can be essential to establishing personally-meaningful missions, values by consensus, and creating the adjustments needed to live by those values.

The actual content in the book is probably five times greater than in a typical Ken Blanchard book, so you'll definitely get your money's worth.

Live long and prosper by your values!