Today we conclude the book review of the Road to Reinvention.
Now that we know a compelling story and storytelling can make a difference for operational changes, let us look into how to overhaul the culture:
The East LA neighborhood of Boyle Heights is a rough place with a history of poverty, crime and prison sentences. Father Gregory Boyle set out to create a radical change by overhauling the culture and giving them a second chance to thrive in the environment. He created a business that expanded from a bakery to many other lines.
The author describes six common threads of cultural brilliance:
1. Fuel passion: Every great invention, breakthrough and advance of humankind began with a passion. The bigger the purpose, the more passion it evokes.
2. Hunt and kill assumptions: assumptions become unwritten rules. To forge new ground, find and remove these.
3. Never stand still : To think that success is permanent is a big trap.
4. Embrace oddball ideas : The creative leaps that ultimately drive biggest gains often sound weird initially
5. Stick it to the man: Disruptive cultures have a healthy sense of irreverence.
6. Fight to win: Competition is a powerful mechanism to rally the team around a common cause and then pursue victory with a vengeance.
Once the operational and cultural changes have been brought about, its time to pay attention to the customer. As Harley Davidson floundered as a company, some of the employees took control and saved the brand by finding a large new set of customers and emotionally charging the existing core.
Accept the death of one size fits all. Savvy businesses attack specific segments. The author gives an example of Bella Donna that opened Europe's first hotel floor designed by and dedicated exclusively to women.Every assumption was challenged to create a new style of room. In other words, if you feel stuck, its time to discover new customers.
Finally the author reminds us that we should focus on our own self. Getting to the next level of career means something different to each of us. The thing all of us have in common, even the best of the best, is the opportunity to break through to a higher level of performance and achievement.
The steps for a personal reinvention plan include:
1) Set a clear vision: Keeping you focused will help fight adversity.
2) Do a gap assessment : As you build your reinvention plan, identify the soft spots
3) Identify costs and sacrifices: All things worth doing require sacrifice and commitment. Make sure you know the parameters going in.
4) Find mentors: Getting inspired by others, can be the difference maker in your reinvention efforts.
5) Conduct a premortem: find out all ways that things can off track.
6) Build accountability markers: Putting a system of penalties and rewards in place will boost your ability to achieve.
7) Track, measure and refine: Tracking weekly performance in specific areas will allow you to keep yourself focused and on track.
Forge your legacy says the author which means that when you rebuild yourself, the more you help the world, the more commercial success you'll likely gain.
Think of the following as important muscles to build:
Empathy: the best business leaders carefully manage the emotional state of those around them
Compassion: Business leaders are quick to pick favorites when admonishing the laggards. Instead use labels to commemorate others' work.
Courage: Let go of the worry demon and develop courage.
Positivity: Replace blame with gratitude
Discipline: Carving out 5 to 10 percent of your time to remain focused will improve your performance.
Creativity: This is your most important sustainable competitive advantage.
Grit: Good old fashioned grit has been statistically linked to being the No.1 indicator of high performance.
Conclusion: Proactive reinvention is a route that leads to success. You are the only one who can make that choice.
Now that we know a compelling story and storytelling can make a difference for operational changes, let us look into how to overhaul the culture:
The East LA neighborhood of Boyle Heights is a rough place with a history of poverty, crime and prison sentences. Father Gregory Boyle set out to create a radical change by overhauling the culture and giving them a second chance to thrive in the environment. He created a business that expanded from a bakery to many other lines.
The author describes six common threads of cultural brilliance:
1. Fuel passion: Every great invention, breakthrough and advance of humankind began with a passion. The bigger the purpose, the more passion it evokes.
2. Hunt and kill assumptions: assumptions become unwritten rules. To forge new ground, find and remove these.
3. Never stand still : To think that success is permanent is a big trap.
4. Embrace oddball ideas : The creative leaps that ultimately drive biggest gains often sound weird initially
5. Stick it to the man: Disruptive cultures have a healthy sense of irreverence.
6. Fight to win: Competition is a powerful mechanism to rally the team around a common cause and then pursue victory with a vengeance.
Once the operational and cultural changes have been brought about, its time to pay attention to the customer. As Harley Davidson floundered as a company, some of the employees took control and saved the brand by finding a large new set of customers and emotionally charging the existing core.
Accept the death of one size fits all. Savvy businesses attack specific segments. The author gives an example of Bella Donna that opened Europe's first hotel floor designed by and dedicated exclusively to women.Every assumption was challenged to create a new style of room. In other words, if you feel stuck, its time to discover new customers.
Finally the author reminds us that we should focus on our own self. Getting to the next level of career means something different to each of us. The thing all of us have in common, even the best of the best, is the opportunity to break through to a higher level of performance and achievement.
The steps for a personal reinvention plan include:
1) Set a clear vision: Keeping you focused will help fight adversity.
2) Do a gap assessment : As you build your reinvention plan, identify the soft spots
3) Identify costs and sacrifices: All things worth doing require sacrifice and commitment. Make sure you know the parameters going in.
4) Find mentors: Getting inspired by others, can be the difference maker in your reinvention efforts.
5) Conduct a premortem: find out all ways that things can off track.
6) Build accountability markers: Putting a system of penalties and rewards in place will boost your ability to achieve.
7) Track, measure and refine: Tracking weekly performance in specific areas will allow you to keep yourself focused and on track.
Forge your legacy says the author which means that when you rebuild yourself, the more you help the world, the more commercial success you'll likely gain.
Think of the following as important muscles to build:
Empathy: the best business leaders carefully manage the emotional state of those around them
Compassion: Business leaders are quick to pick favorites when admonishing the laggards. Instead use labels to commemorate others' work.
Courage: Let go of the worry demon and develop courage.
Positivity: Replace blame with gratitude
Discipline: Carving out 5 to 10 percent of your time to remain focused will improve your performance.
Creativity: This is your most important sustainable competitive advantage.
Grit: Good old fashioned grit has been statistically linked to being the No.1 indicator of high performance.
Conclusion: Proactive reinvention is a route that leads to success. You are the only one who can make that choice.
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