MAVERICKS AT WORK is a tremendous biz book that rekindles the classic Fast Company vibe of challenging the status quo and expressing the optimism of how making a difference truly makes a difference. I promise you’ll be a lot smarter and a lot more inspired to make great stuff happen at work after reading this book.
The authors, Bill Taylor and Polly LaBarre, are getting a lot of well-deserved digital ink ... such as this worthy interview on TomPeters.com. Some stand-out money quotes from the interview include:
Bill Taylor | “Our notion is that there's been a kind of hidden history in the last five years. A whole generation of companies has quietly and quite effectively been rethinking how some of the basics of business get done.”
“In industry after industry there's been this changing of the guard, where the companies that are now generating all the growth, creating all the jobs, generating all the shareholder wealth, are companies that a decade ago were dismissed as outliers and wild cards. They're now the ones in positions of power, or at the very least the ones that are succeeding and growing in industries where everybody else is consolidating and cutting back.”
Polly LaBarre | ”The four arenas that we spend a lot of time on in the book surround the question of strategy, that having the courage to be different makes all the difference in business today.”
“When we talk about standing for important ideas we mean that these are ideas that shape the future of an industry, that reshape the sense of what's possible among customers, among employees, among investors. That distinctive and disruptive sense of purpose is the hallmark of a maverick. A company with a clear sense of purpose wins. That's the first principle.”
“The second principle concerns relationships with customers. Sharing your values beats selling value. That's the paradox at the heart of the relationship with most companies and their customers today.”
“When everything keeps getting cheaper, better, easier, and faster, offering customers something that's a little cheaper or a little better doesn't win you a place in their hearts or their lives. Companies and organizations increasingly have had to move away from just selling value to striking a genuine relationship on the basis of distinctive values.”
“The fourth principle will not come as a shock to anyone. In this world of disruptive strategy, open source innovation, and psychological contracts of customers, your success as an organization is built upon one very core and perennial reality: The people are the company. You simply cannot have a great company that's filled with people who are of not so great quality. Your organization cannot be better than the quality of the individuals in it.”
Devour the interview on TomPeters.com and then go devour the goodies on the MavericksatWork.com website.
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