CEO Tools: A book review by Bob Morris

CEO Tools: The Nuts-n-Bolts of Business for Every Manager’s Success
Kraig Kramers
Gandy Dancer Press Llc (2002)

Welcome to the Kramers Hardware Store where results-driven executives find the tools they need to outperform their competition

I first met Kraig Kramers about 20 years ago when he conducted workshops for owner/CEOs of small companies who were members of what was then The Executive Committee (TEC). I chaired two of its local chapters in the DFW area.  The members of my TEC groups voted him and Jim Collins the best of all the dozens of prominent thought leaders who had interacted with them while conducting a four-hour workshop. Kraig introduced many of the same tools that he later discusses in this book, tools that are indispensable to “the nuts-n-bolts of business for every manager’s success.”  He also shares additional tools as well as all that he had learned from those C-level executives (including TEC members) who had applied the tools in real-world situations, diagnosing and then solving especially difficult problems. It should also be noted that he was the CEO of eight quite different companies and thus has a wealth of personal, “in the trenches,” “dirt under his nails” experience.

The material in this book will be of incalculable value to anyone in any organization who needs to expedite development of leadership and management skills.  Kraig Kramers is best viewed as a personal mentor, a world-class pragmatist who has an instable curiosity to understand what works, what doesn’t, and why…then share what he has learned with as many people as possible. I know of no other single source that offers more and better information, insights, and wisdom about achieving and then sustaining business success than does this book.  If you haven’t as yet read it and then frequently consulted it, say a little prayer that your competition hasn’t either.

Narcissism: The Difference Between High Achievers and Leaders

Here is an excerpt from an article written by Justin Menkes for the Harvard Business Review blog. To read the complete article, check out the wealth of free resources, and sign up for a subscription to HBR email alerts, please click here.

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A chief executive had a dilemma. After working in a fast-growing company as COO, he accepted an offer from venture capitalists to start his own company. Within five years he had built a new enterprise generating revenues over $300 million and profit margins so high that his company had compiled a substantial cash reserve with which it was poised to go on an acquisition run. His passion, strategic and analytical brilliance, and relentless focus on practical results made him a rare, virtually unstoppable force in industry

So what was his problem? He was irreplaceable, at least according to his board. It was the board’s fundamental responsibility to protect the shareholders’ interests with a viable succession plan, and for this they simply had no acceptable answer. They demanded that he find a solution

He asked me for counsel.

“Justin, I have two people on my team that I think can grow into my role. But my board vehemently disagrees and thinks I vastly overestimate their long-term potential to actually run a company. They’re both superstars. How do I know which one — or if either one — can make the leap, or whether this is just a pipe dream that’s going to waste a lot of time, money, and focus?

It’s a good question, one I’m often asked. How do you know when someone can make the leap from high performer to CEO? There is one driving factor that determines the answer: narcissism

Those selected for development have one universal trait in common: They are by definition high achievers. But there is a difference between those superstar achievers that can make the leap to CEO and those that will implode: To what degree do they feel invigorated by the success and talent of others, and to what degree does the success of others cause an involuntary pinch of insecurity about their own personal inadequacies? Only an individual who feels genuinely invigorated by the growth, development, and success of others can become an effective leader of an enterprise. And it remains the most common obstacle of success for those trying to make that leap

There is powerful evidence (download pdf) that narcissists have difficulty forging long-term relationships. Because narcissists are continuously seeking recognition from others to reinforce their own self-worth, they tend to form new relationships where they can see a positive reflection of themselves in the other person’s eye. However, because of their obsession with analyzing events around them to see what they suggest about their own identities, they also exhaust those relationships. In leadership positions, this leaves colleagues feeling like collective efforts are being used to increase a single narcissist leader’s ego, rather than a team’s shared goal

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To read the complete article, please click here.

Justin Menkes is a leader in C-suite talent evaluation, a consultant at Spencer Stuart, and the author of Better Under Pressure (Harvard Business Review Press).

 

These Times Call For “Big Citizenship” – (Insight from the Book by Alan Khazei, Founder of City Year)

As I have written frequently, I live in (more than) a couple of different worlds.  I read, and present synopses of business books.  But I also speak monthly at the Urban Engagement Book Club for CitySquare.  I present synopses of books dealing with social justice, racism, poverty – issues of human need.

Sometimes, I feel a little whiplash…

This month, after lunch today, I will have presented two books for two different Urban Engagement Book Club sessions.  On the first Thursday of the month, I presented my synopsis of the book Lifeblood:  How to Change the World One Dead Mosquito at a Time by Alex Perry.  It had a very real parallel to a section in Abundance:  The Future is Better Than You Think by David Diamandis (which I presented at the July First Friday Book Synopsis).  Abundance profiles some technophilanthropists.  And Lifeblood focused a great deal on the work of Ray Chambers.  Maybe not a “technophilanthropist,” but certainly a wealthy philanthropist who made/is making a whopping difference.  He served as the first ever UN Special Envoy for Malaria.  His goal was to get rid of malaria in the poorest countries of Africa.  Here’s a quote from the book: 

“Perfection is the enemy of good,” he said. “Will we cover every single person with a bed net? Honestly, I doubt it. Will we have a bigger impact than any other campaign ever? Yes, I think we will. You set lofty goals, and if you get 90 percent, that’s a great achievement, and you focus on getting the remaining 10 percent done as quickly as you can.”

Today, I am presenting my synopsis of the book Big Citizenship:  How Pragmatic Idealism Can Bring Out the Best in America by Alan Khazei.  Mr. Khanzei is the founder of City Year, which ultimately played the pivotal role in the establishment of AmeriCorps.  The book is filled with great stories, but it boils down to this:

What is the problem, and how do we tackle solving it?

I will say this today:

In fact:  all solutions boil down to Individual, Face-to-face, Compassionate, Competent, Attention. 

Here are a couple of key quotes from this book:

Big Citizens are not household names. They are not the elected officials or prominent leaders. They are regular, good hearted people blessed with a loving heart and an open mind. Anyone can be a Big Citizen and join with others in common purpose. You just need to listen to that voice inside that says: “I, too, want to be part of making my neighborhood, my school, my community, my country, my world, a better place for all of us.”

At times of great crisis, we often want to find that one great leader to bring us to a better day, but what we need to recognize is that throughout our history, it has been the willingness of regular people looking in the mirror and committing to causes larger than themselves that has been the key to making progress. At the end of the day, it is up to all of us.

And he includes this famous quote from Robert Kennedy:

 “It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

In Dallas, Larry James, Gerald Britt, and the full team at CitySquare work with dogged determination to meet human need, to help people establish a more solid foundation; they actually find homes for homeless people… the list of ways they tackle human need is long, and impressive.  And Gerald Britt works tirelessly on public policy issues (payday lending is one of his recent targets – payday lending is an absolute drain on people in poverty).

I encourage you to add a social justice/poverty book to your reading stack.  There are many good ones.  If you ask me where to start, my current “best suggestion” is The Working Poor by David Shipler.  But, it almost does not matter – read any book that helps you see, and remember, the very real human needs of others.  And then, do something about it!  (CtySquare is a pretty good place to start).

And in you are in the DFW area, I invite you to come join us at the Urban Engagement Book Club.  We meet twice a month.  Check it out.