Earring! By John G. Miller – Book Review
Title and author: Excellent! By John G Miller
Content Synopsis:
Using great illustrations, John G. Miller presents 47 Ways to Make Your Organization Great in his latest book. He’s not likely to discover many truly innovative ideas here. But that’s okay. Miller concisely presents tried-and-true ideas that separate great organizations from mediocre ones. He does it in a way that can be used by just about anyone in any organization, no matter where you are in the hierarchy.
Miller eschews trendy and trendy ideas and concentrates on the fundamentals. It is, after all, getting the fundamental right that makes the difference between great and not so great.
Some of the 47 ways focus on how you should or shouldn’t behave, such as being quick, being humble, speaking up, and doing what you promise. On further reflection, these same traits are just as important to an organization as they are to an individual.
He teaches you how to treat all your “customers” with “360 degree” responsibility: treat suppliers, employees, bosses, and those below you in the organization all as customers. He also explains why this is good for business.
If every employee, manager, and CEO would seriously work to implement these 47 ideas, your organization would become great. This is an excellent but simple model for the attributes of a large organization. It is directed, however, at what we can influence (ourselves) and how we function in that organization.
Miller urges the reader to resist the urge to put this book on a shelf and forget about it. Rather, to get the most out of it, indeed, to get anything of value out of it, she urges the reader to come back to it repeatedly, picking out the chapter or idea that seems most useful today and putting it into practice. He is correct. A quick read will be informative: studying and applying the 47 Ways to Make Your Organization Great will be transformative and make this book that much more valuable.
Readability/Writing Quality:
This book is very readable. The chapters are very short, most do not exceed 5 pages and concisely illustrate the point at hand. The entire book is a gold mine and each chapter is unique in its value.
Notes on the author:
John G. Miller, founder of QBQ, Inc. and author of QBQ, The Question Behind the Question, has worked with hundreds of organizations in the business and nonprofit sectors in training, conferencing, and consulting.
Three great ideas that you can use:
1. Dedicate your efforts to continuous improvement, not only in the slogans, but in daily practice. Do it, go ahead and continue the practice.
2. See everyone as a customer, including your colleagues, bosses, and vendors; all of these people are needed for an organization to function well, and they all need to be treated well.
3. Focus on what matters, whether it’s proper management, being coachable, speaking clearly, and many more important practices that make a difference. Do this instead of wasting time on vision statements that everyone ignores and platitudes that mean nothing to the people who matter.
Release information:
Earring! 47 Ways to Make Your Organization Exceptional by John G. Miller
Copyright 2010 by John G. Miller
Hardcover published by Penguin Group. 206 pages. No index.
Rating of this book:
overall: very good
Writing style: easy to read; concise
Utility: Very useful for a wide range of people.
Difficulty: easy