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How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses
Companies make headline news all the time for decisions that make many of us scratch our heads in wonder, even those companies that are smart and successful. Here, New York Times bestselling author Neil Smith, with more than 20 years of experience leading large-scale performance improvements, reveals the hidden barriers that cause excellent companies to do dumb things and cause smart people within companies to act in dumb ways. Drawing on his years of experience working with CEOs and helping transform top global businesses, and insights to CEOs around the world, Smith has identified eight barriers that prevent organizations from both achieving and maintaining sustainable success. Rich with anecdotes and case studies, Smith outlines a fast and proven process in which 12 principles of business transformation can break down the barriers holding companies back.
240 pages, Paperback
First published May 22, 2012
11 people are currently reading
414 people want to read
About the author
Neil Smith
243 books78 followersSeveral different Neils Smiths tend to collect here.
For the linguist, see Neilson Voyne Smith
For the author of Boo, and Bang Crunch, see Neil Smith
For the linguist, see Neilson Voyne Smith
For the author of Boo, and Bang Crunch, see Neil Smith
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
March 27, 2014
I find it would be a helpful premise and guide to businesses. I believe it is lacking in exactly the greatest details to deliver, and like any sales-pitch book, its overly preachy and "my way is perfect"; when nothign is, and most likely not even fantastic.
The fact that he goes to an elaborate way of removing likenesses to companies with his examples, and then gives a list of companies he's done this project with in the back is a bit odd as well.
I definitely felt like there could be a lot more depth to this book, and a lot more could have been packed in there even in the 217 pages of actual text (minus spacer pages and chapter pages, and other break-ups). But for a book about how to deliver huge changes to big companies, it definitely needed a lot more depth and body to it. Possibly more examples, more illumination on how/what ideas worked, why they worked, how the process really works for companies, instead of a few final chapters on how/why you should get him as a client and to do this project/process.
[Written as a review for LibraryThing/GoodReads. Book given away as a 'Early Reviewer' copy.]
[Rated 2 stars on GoodReads and 2 and 1/2 stars on LibraryThing].
The fact that he goes to an elaborate way of removing likenesses to companies with his examples, and then gives a list of companies he's done this project with in the back is a bit odd as well.
I definitely felt like there could be a lot more depth to this book, and a lot more could have been packed in there even in the 217 pages of actual text (minus spacer pages and chapter pages, and other break-ups). But for a book about how to deliver huge changes to big companies, it definitely needed a lot more depth and body to it. Possibly more examples, more illumination on how/what ideas worked, why they worked, how the process really works for companies, instead of a few final chapters on how/why you should get him as a client and to do this project/process.
[Written as a review for LibraryThing/GoodReads. Book given away as a 'Early Reviewer' copy.]
[Rated 2 stars on GoodReads and 2 and 1/2 stars on LibraryThing].
August 13, 2014
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Neil Smith's book, How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses, is a tricky book. Why? Because the author is a consultant who works with companies in performance improvement and thus a good amount of the book is about his personal experiences. Though this can be a good thing (and Smith does an excellent job of illustrating his ideas using real-world examples), it also means the author is constantly selling his services and his company's products. Smith doesn't do a hard sell in the book, but you are reminded in nearly every chapter that his company offers some type of service to counteract the discussed issue.
With that said, I thought the book was both informative and interesting. Smith's main contention is that each company has "hidden gold" in the form of employee ideas to save money or develop new business. For example, he discusses how a UPS driver discovered that if the trucks only made left turns when delivering, which made the route slightly longer, they could actually make their deliveries faster. Though this idea seemed counterintuitive to the UPS driver's managers, it was proven to be correct and was eventually adopted company-wide.
The "dumb things" discussed the book form the acronym APROMISE:
Avoiding controversy
Poor use of time
Reluctance to change
Organizational silos
Management blockers
Incorrect information and bad assumptions
Size matters
Existing processes
And though Smith is adamant these are all different "dumb things" I'm not sure he convincingly makes the argument. There is a lot of overlap in some of these concepts and Smith takes a pedantic approach of differentiating them when most of us might simply group them together (like organizational silos and management blockers). The best part of the book is really this in-depth discussion of how all companies encourage these "dumb things" to occur and how to identify them. The least useful part, though, is the solution (a "100-day process for breaking barriers") that is intimately related to Smith's consulting business.
Overall I think the book is a good read for any high-level manager to understand why certain issues exist in their business and how to identify the core issues. It won't be a guide for resolving the issues, though, unless you are interested in hiring the author's consulting business.
Neil Smith's book, How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses, is a tricky book. Why? Because the author is a consultant who works with companies in performance improvement and thus a good amount of the book is about his personal experiences. Though this can be a good thing (and Smith does an excellent job of illustrating his ideas using real-world examples), it also means the author is constantly selling his services and his company's products. Smith doesn't do a hard sell in the book, but you are reminded in nearly every chapter that his company offers some type of service to counteract the discussed issue.
With that said, I thought the book was both informative and interesting. Smith's main contention is that each company has "hidden gold" in the form of employee ideas to save money or develop new business. For example, he discusses how a UPS driver discovered that if the trucks only made left turns when delivering, which made the route slightly longer, they could actually make their deliveries faster. Though this idea seemed counterintuitive to the UPS driver's managers, it was proven to be correct and was eventually adopted company-wide.
The "dumb things" discussed the book form the acronym APROMISE:
Avoiding controversy
Poor use of time
Reluctance to change
Organizational silos
Management blockers
Incorrect information and bad assumptions
Size matters
Existing processes
And though Smith is adamant these are all different "dumb things" I'm not sure he convincingly makes the argument. There is a lot of overlap in some of these concepts and Smith takes a pedantic approach of differentiating them when most of us might simply group them together (like organizational silos and management blockers). The best part of the book is really this in-depth discussion of how all companies encourage these "dumb things" to occur and how to identify them. The least useful part, though, is the solution (a "100-day process for breaking barriers") that is intimately related to Smith's consulting business.
Overall I think the book is a good read for any high-level manager to understand why certain issues exist in their business and how to identify the core issues. It won't be a guide for resolving the issues, though, unless you are interested in hiring the author's consulting business.
September 8, 2016
Encouraging and implementing ideas in businesses can lead to all kinds of good changes, such as increasing simplicity, efficiency, and profitability or decreasing wastes of time, funds and products. So how come all businesses aren’t constantly churning out ideas for improvements and eagerly implementing these ideas? Neil Smith’s book explores the structural and behavioral barriers that stifle the idea generation and implementation process, leaving businesses to stagnate instead of thrive.
Eight distinct barriers to ideas and change are discussed, with three real life mini case studies used to illustrate each, as well as twelve ways to break down these barriers. Each chapter on the eight barriers ends with a helpful summary and questions businesses should be asking themselves to probe for where change is needed. A 100-day plan for businesses to initiate an overhaul and permanently transform their culture into a dynamic, idea-friendly one is also covered in-depth.
The many examples, clear and detailed writing, and psychology-based explanations for the barriers make this book easy to understand and compelling. It’s inspiring to learn that hundreds to thousands of ideas come up in the businesses Smith has worked with once ideas are requested and a process for making changes is in place.
I’ve seen reviews that complained everything in this book is “obvious.” Well, it’s really easy to complain that something’s obvious *after* you’ve just read it—but could these reviewers have listed the eight barriers and the twelve ways to unblock them *before* reading the book? The “obvious” impression probably comes from the barriers and solutions making so much sense that they seem like they *should* be obvious, but, in reality, it can be hard to identify and fix problems without anything to spur and direct your thinking. This book pushes and guides you to start thinking and scrutinizing business environments in a way to find problems or ways to improve.
Overall an insightful and interesting book. I’m sure I’ll be rereading it, or lending it to a supervisor/manager/coworker in the future. Recommended for anyone who runs or works for an organization, or who manages people.
Eight distinct barriers to ideas and change are discussed, with three real life mini case studies used to illustrate each, as well as twelve ways to break down these barriers. Each chapter on the eight barriers ends with a helpful summary and questions businesses should be asking themselves to probe for where change is needed. A 100-day plan for businesses to initiate an overhaul and permanently transform their culture into a dynamic, idea-friendly one is also covered in-depth.
The many examples, clear and detailed writing, and psychology-based explanations for the barriers make this book easy to understand and compelling. It’s inspiring to learn that hundreds to thousands of ideas come up in the businesses Smith has worked with once ideas are requested and a process for making changes is in place.
I’ve seen reviews that complained everything in this book is “obvious.” Well, it’s really easy to complain that something’s obvious *after* you’ve just read it—but could these reviewers have listed the eight barriers and the twelve ways to unblock them *before* reading the book? The “obvious” impression probably comes from the barriers and solutions making so much sense that they seem like they *should* be obvious, but, in reality, it can be hard to identify and fix problems without anything to spur and direct your thinking. This book pushes and guides you to start thinking and scrutinizing business environments in a way to find problems or ways to improve.
Overall an insightful and interesting book. I’m sure I’ll be rereading it, or lending it to a supervisor/manager/coworker in the future. Recommended for anyone who runs or works for an organization, or who manages people.
March 8, 2014
As usual I received this book for free in exchange for a review. This time it was from LibraryThing but I will give my scrupulously honest review below.
The nutshell view of this book is pretty simple. It outlines 8 ways that companies screw up and cost themselves money. Each of the sections is laid out in more or less this format:
1. Some personal anecdote from the author about this problem as he's seen it in the field.
2. Examples of the problem at companies the author has worked for.
3. Specifics on how to determine if you have this problem
4. What to do about the problem once you find it
5. A summary
The book outlines 8 problems ("barriers") but really they boil down to a handful of core problems
1. Poor communication between managers/managed or between departments
2. Failure to think properly about the scale of problems when coming to a resolution or do proper analysis.
3. Unwillingness to change the status quo, "we've always done it THIS way"
Every "barrier" described is a corollary of one of those three things.
On the positive side, the text is very readable and the author brings things to light in a detailed and relatable way. He doesn't just preach from the hilltop, he gives candid examples of these problems as he's seen them in the field. Having worked in a few companies over the years I've seen every one of them in action and he's spot on with his descriptions.
To the negative, it does seem things are rather padded. As I noted the book numbers '8' barriers but really they're pretty closely related to each other. None of this is ground-breaking new material either. Detractors of this book have claimed all of this 'obvious' and for the most part it is but such problems are always obvious to those on the outside looking in. It's for those on the inside that this book is written.
In summary, this is a good intro-level business book so if this is your first stab at the topic then it'll teach you a lot. However, if you shelf is already full of management books then this book is probably just a rehash.
The nutshell view of this book is pretty simple. It outlines 8 ways that companies screw up and cost themselves money. Each of the sections is laid out in more or less this format:
1. Some personal anecdote from the author about this problem as he's seen it in the field.
2. Examples of the problem at companies the author has worked for.
3. Specifics on how to determine if you have this problem
4. What to do about the problem once you find it
5. A summary
The book outlines 8 problems ("barriers") but really they boil down to a handful of core problems
1. Poor communication between managers/managed or between departments
2. Failure to think properly about the scale of problems when coming to a resolution or do proper analysis.
3. Unwillingness to change the status quo, "we've always done it THIS way"
Every "barrier" described is a corollary of one of those three things.
On the positive side, the text is very readable and the author brings things to light in a detailed and relatable way. He doesn't just preach from the hilltop, he gives candid examples of these problems as he's seen them in the field. Having worked in a few companies over the years I've seen every one of them in action and he's spot on with his descriptions.
To the negative, it does seem things are rather padded. As I noted the book numbers '8' barriers but really they're pretty closely related to each other. None of this is ground-breaking new material either. Detractors of this book have claimed all of this 'obvious' and for the most part it is but such problems are always obvious to those on the outside looking in. It's for those on the inside that this book is written.
In summary, this is a good intro-level business book so if this is your first stab at the topic then it'll teach you a lot. However, if you shelf is already full of management books then this book is probably just a rehash.
April 3, 2014
If you are reading this review there is every chance in the world that you have, either at home or at work, shelves stocked with books that cover every aspect of management; how to do it, how to do it correctly, cost effectiveness, supervising personnel, and the list goes on. Every bookstore has a broad selection of titles on the topic and looking at them can cause glassy-eye syndrome and the need for excessive amounts of caffeine.
But here, in HOW EXCELLENT COMPANIES AVOID DUMB THINGS, there is a simple guide to reviewing where your company is and how to make it better. This applies to any company, any division of that company and any process within that division. From top to bottom, any company can gain from this book, but only if it is implemented throughout and all hands are on board with the changes in thought that must occur.
Neil Smith and Patricia O’Connell have boiled down their work in assisting companies to gain success into 8 chapters describing barriers to greater success, one chapter dedicated to the "Twelve Principles for Breaking Barriers" and they also provide "A 100-Day Process for Breaking Barriers", all within 226 pages. Unlike many other books in this genre, AVOID is very reader friendly, offers examples and anecdotes from the authors history in working with companies of all sizes to improve the bottom line by up to as much as 25%. Not bad when you consider many of these corporations were already leaders in their respective fields.
There is one caveat to worry over. This book only works to the same degree as the effort used to implement the required changes, but with the built in reward system, compliance should be forthcoming at all levels.
I did win this book through Goodreads.
But here, in HOW EXCELLENT COMPANIES AVOID DUMB THINGS, there is a simple guide to reviewing where your company is and how to make it better. This applies to any company, any division of that company and any process within that division. From top to bottom, any company can gain from this book, but only if it is implemented throughout and all hands are on board with the changes in thought that must occur.
Neil Smith and Patricia O’Connell have boiled down their work in assisting companies to gain success into 8 chapters describing barriers to greater success, one chapter dedicated to the "Twelve Principles for Breaking Barriers" and they also provide "A 100-Day Process for Breaking Barriers", all within 226 pages. Unlike many other books in this genre, AVOID is very reader friendly, offers examples and anecdotes from the authors history in working with companies of all sizes to improve the bottom line by up to as much as 25%. Not bad when you consider many of these corporations were already leaders in their respective fields.
There is one caveat to worry over. This book only works to the same degree as the effort used to implement the required changes, but with the built in reward system, compliance should be forthcoming at all levels.
I did win this book through Goodreads.
July 26, 2016
I have to say I liked the authors approach in this book. I have read a lot of safety books that deal with people based safety in the workplace and I found that this approached another subject in the workplace that needs exposing. Hidden barriers, and in lean times like the ones we are experiencing now, it goes to show that we need to be educated on how to help the company as much as possible. I'm not talking about eliminating jobs but there are things we can do as workers to help the company grow. The most recent economic downturn has equated a lot of job loss, and this book helps us identify many things to help build up business. Many companies need to restructure so that they can grow. Breaking those barriers can help avoid some of the disasters some companies have been forced to face. Every person who works for a company is needed to help move toward that success. I liked this book, and I'm going to hand it over to the manager running our Fortune 500 company and see if he likes it. Thanks goodreads for a free read in exchange for a review.
March 10, 2014
I received this book for free from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
In this book the author attempts to explain eight barriers that are keeping companies from succeeding as much as they could. In reading this book I could see a clear pattern. The author would share an anecdote from his life. Next he would talk about examples he has seen in different businesses of the particular barrier. After that there would be a brief section on the psychology behind the barrier and lastly he would show how the different businesses overcame the issue (with his help).
Personally I did not feel that this subject deserved an entire book. It felt like something that should have been a multi-page web article. It was interesting, but not several hundred pages worthy. Also at times it felt like the author was trying too hard to get you to hire his company. It took me out of the reading a bit.
All in all for a business book it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. It rated a solid meh on my radar.
In this book the author attempts to explain eight barriers that are keeping companies from succeeding as much as they could. In reading this book I could see a clear pattern. The author would share an anecdote from his life. Next he would talk about examples he has seen in different businesses of the particular barrier. After that there would be a brief section on the psychology behind the barrier and lastly he would show how the different businesses overcame the issue (with his help).
Personally I did not feel that this subject deserved an entire book. It felt like something that should have been a multi-page web article. It was interesting, but not several hundred pages worthy. Also at times it felt like the author was trying too hard to get you to hire his company. It took me out of the reading a bit.
All in all for a business book it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. It rated a solid meh on my radar.
March 11, 2014
How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things is an excellent book! Smith & O'Connell discuss the eight barriers that prevent companies from executing good ideas and improving performance. These eight barriers include: avoiding controversy, poor use of time, reluctance to change, organizational silos, management blockers, incorrect information and bad assumptions, size matters, and existing processes. This book provides insightful examples to help organizations prevent repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Also, these insights will assist managers by helping them take their organizations to a new level of profitability. This is a must-read management book! Thank you Goodreads and the publisher for sending me a copy of How Excellent Companies Avoid Things: Breaking 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses. I have gained tremendous insight on ways to improve organizational performance.
March 7, 2014
First thing I did when I got the book was quickly skim through it to find the "8 hidden barriers that plague even the best businesses". After finding them I was disappointed. They seemed so obvious, almost felt like a scam, but i had committed to reading the book so I pushed through and did. And it turned out to be a case of something that is right in front of you may be the hardest to see.
I really like the book. The barriers the Smith talks about are insightful. They are presented and supported really well. The way he begins each chapter with a non-business example of the barriers I thought made them much easier to swallow and appreciate.
I am currently studying Finance and Economics preparing for a future career in business. It is insights like the ones in this book that make the difference between theoretically understanding how a company works and realizing what it actually takes to run a "real world" company.
I really like the book. The barriers the Smith talks about are insightful. They are presented and supported really well. The way he begins each chapter with a non-business example of the barriers I thought made them much easier to swallow and appreciate.
I am currently studying Finance and Economics preparing for a future career in business. It is insights like the ones in this book that make the difference between theoretically understanding how a company works and realizing what it actually takes to run a "real world" company.
May 31, 2014
I won this book from goodreads giveaways and I was pleasantly surprised that even though the topics in this book seem pretty basic and it seems that everyone should already know them, we either don't know them or we don't think that it is worth our time to do them. It was a very quick read and gave some really good insights about things we all can do to better our companies and make them more efficient. I recommend this book to anyone who would like to improve their business, job or organization and make it more efficient and a better place to work while being more profitable. I am looking forward to implementing some of these ideas in my business so I can stop wasting money and create ways to be more profitable.
April 10, 2014
This book lays out eight barriers that commonly plague businesses and then proceeds to explain how to bar and to break each barrier. It also includes a 100 day plan for implementing change within companies. The first eight chapters are very interesting and include real examples from work that the author has done with actual companies that achieved positive results. The barriers could occur in companies of any size and the suggested solutions could be modified to fit any organization. Many of these could be adjusted even to make a household run more efficiently. Any company that desires changes that allow for efficiency could benefit from this book. It would be a useful tool as a supplementary text in a college level management class as well.
May 10, 2014
I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
"Business nerds" like me will appreciate this book. It points out some of the most common sources of bureaucracy and bad business practices, shedding light on how these develop. It is easy to understand and gives a lot of case studies and examples from businesses that Neil Smith has worked with as a consultant. He lays out his entire process for transforming businesses, so theoretically executives could follow these steps themselves, but it seems like this kind of complete change would be very difficult in practice without bringing in outside consultants. Regardless, this is an interesting read, and it contains a lot of good business lessons.
"Business nerds" like me will appreciate this book. It points out some of the most common sources of bureaucracy and bad business practices, shedding light on how these develop. It is easy to understand and gives a lot of case studies and examples from businesses that Neil Smith has worked with as a consultant. He lays out his entire process for transforming businesses, so theoretically executives could follow these steps themselves, but it seems like this kind of complete change would be very difficult in practice without bringing in outside consultants. Regardless, this is an interesting read, and it contains a lot of good business lessons.
March 31, 2014
I got this book for free as a Goodreads First reads giveaway...
...and absolutely loved it! I have an MA in Integrated Marketing Communication and have taken a good handful of management classes, and this is the best one of the group. Amazing how simply by changing the way you think and approach things, you can change the way your company - and thus, your employees - perform. Would recommend this to anyone in the field!
...and absolutely loved it! I have an MA in Integrated Marketing Communication and have taken a good handful of management classes, and this is the best one of the group. Amazing how simply by changing the way you think and approach things, you can change the way your company - and thus, your employees - perform. Would recommend this to anyone in the field!
March 15, 2020
Companies want profit; this is the nature of a company. In the book titled How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things author Neil Smith discusses eight barriers to change that he has identified. These barriers are all relatively simple to understand and might make you either laugh or sigh. Perhaps you are a cog in a machine, making money for some manager and you have an idea. This idea is never implemented. There are several reasons, but this book could enlighten you on several things that could be wrong with your organization.
I don’t have a reason to read this book, or at least I don’t think I do. I work as a Janitor and don’t talk to the company bigwigs that I work for since they are at another site. Though we indeed have one of those employee suggestion boxes, I never use it since I can’t think of a better way to do things. Well, not a way that would save money.
The book is organized into chapters that all have the same structure. It starts with the barrier in question, moves on to personal stories that the author has experienced, talks about why the barrier exists with help from a psychologist, talks about the resolutions of those barriers, and sums up all of the information in that chapter.
In any case, I think the book is fine. I haven’t read a lot of management books, so I don’t know if this information is common or not.
I don’t have a reason to read this book, or at least I don’t think I do. I work as a Janitor and don’t talk to the company bigwigs that I work for since they are at another site. Though we indeed have one of those employee suggestion boxes, I never use it since I can’t think of a better way to do things. Well, not a way that would save money.
The book is organized into chapters that all have the same structure. It starts with the barrier in question, moves on to personal stories that the author has experienced, talks about why the barrier exists with help from a psychologist, talks about the resolutions of those barriers, and sums up all of the information in that chapter.
In any case, I think the book is fine. I haven’t read a lot of management books, so I don’t know if this information is common or not.
April 5, 2023
A solid business book from a consultant's point of view with some standard recommendations for breaking down silos, overcoming reluctance to change, etc. The author includes some great real-world situation anecdotes throughout the book to highlight his advice. A good read.
December 2, 2017
Love this book as it always reflect about my thoughts and observation after spending all these years working in small, medium and large size enterprise businesses. Worth to read!
November 22, 2020
A lot of stalling and pretty obvious content. Reads like a self-advertisement.
May 7, 2014
We know that change is good, but it’s not always clear as to how we can successfully implement it. As a result, things continue on as usual, and our businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations – and yes, that includes churches – continue to waste resources, miss grand opportunities, and struggle to build a lasting, effective community. Where do we continually go wrong?
Neil Smith, CEO of Promontory Growth and Innovation (PGI), and Patricia O'Connell, former Management Editor at Bloomberg Businessweek.com, have the answer. In the awkwardly titled How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), they identify reasons why the improvements you want to make never leave the drawing board. These barriers include your management being risk adverse, trying to avoid controversies that will inevitably rock the boat; poor prioritization of activities; and even the way your company’s departments are organized.
But all not hopeless. The “PGI Promise” can help you knock down these 8 Barriers with 12 Principles and successfully institute a change-friendly culture in your business. Smith shows how to get executives involved in a non-threatening way, managers committed to enforcing changes, and employees eager to contribute their revenue-building and cost-saving ideas. Be forewarned though: You might have to weed through some lesser-quality material to get to the helpful parts. In fact, you might just want to scan the Introduction and Chapter 9 and call it read. The book suffers from repetitive content; cheesy personal life examples that take away from the relevant real-life business examples; and a lot of PGI promotions. Worse still, the long quoted passages from clinical psychologist Richard Levak seem to indicate that Smith doesn’t feel entirely confident in his own qualifications. Working with Bank of America, Heinz, and MasterCard isn’t enough. Apparently, he has to rely on someone else to give him credibility.
So, should you read How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses? If you’re having trouble implementing change in your business, then this book might be a great place to start. At the very least, it can help get the conversation going, and that has a lot of value in and of itself.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program. I was not required to write a favorable review.
Neil Smith, CEO of Promontory Growth and Innovation (PGI), and Patricia O'Connell, former Management Editor at Bloomberg Businessweek.com, have the answer. In the awkwardly titled How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), they identify reasons why the improvements you want to make never leave the drawing board. These barriers include your management being risk adverse, trying to avoid controversies that will inevitably rock the boat; poor prioritization of activities; and even the way your company’s departments are organized.
But all not hopeless. The “PGI Promise” can help you knock down these 8 Barriers with 12 Principles and successfully institute a change-friendly culture in your business. Smith shows how to get executives involved in a non-threatening way, managers committed to enforcing changes, and employees eager to contribute their revenue-building and cost-saving ideas. Be forewarned though: You might have to weed through some lesser-quality material to get to the helpful parts. In fact, you might just want to scan the Introduction and Chapter 9 and call it read. The book suffers from repetitive content; cheesy personal life examples that take away from the relevant real-life business examples; and a lot of PGI promotions. Worse still, the long quoted passages from clinical psychologist Richard Levak seem to indicate that Smith doesn’t feel entirely confident in his own qualifications. Working with Bank of America, Heinz, and MasterCard isn’t enough. Apparently, he has to rely on someone else to give him credibility.
So, should you read How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses? If you’re having trouble implementing change in your business, then this book might be a great place to start. At the very least, it can help get the conversation going, and that has a lot of value in and of itself.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program. I was not required to write a favorable review.
August 13, 2016
I got this book in the mail today from Goodreads. Since it's a Friday, I found some time to read it after class.
CONTENT
I've taken several economics and business courses at UC Berkeley, and I like how this book expands what I've already learned in college. While textbooks will only tell you the facts, How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things offers you real advice.
However, that said, maybe a reader would also like to read this book after they've taken an introductory business textbook. While it is unnecessary to have a business background to understand the concepts laid out in How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things, the book's biggest fault is that it lacks the real-life examples from real companies that textbooks include. I want to know about real companies who utilized the techniques laid out in How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things and became successful off of them.
I really appreciate that the advice in this book is given in lists. The list is an organizational tool that a lot of lengthy business textbooks don't utilize enough. Economists, too! As much as economists love graphs, they don't embrace the organizational powers of the list.
STYLE
I love the book's simple, easy-to-read language. However, many of the statements made in the book are repetitive. From the very first chapter, I could see how this short, 223-page book could be shortened even further.
I was left wanting more, but not always in a good way. Again, I really did want to see more real-life examples from real companies.
PRINT FORMAT
There seem to be some printing inconsistencies in terms of the bottom margin. However, this is a very minor issue. The book has great print quality otherwise.
Thank you to Goodreads, Palgrave Macmillan, Neil Smith, and Patricia O'Connell for sending this book my way. I've got some friends and family members who are interested in business administration, and I'll definitely share this book with them.
CONTENT
I've taken several economics and business courses at UC Berkeley, and I like how this book expands what I've already learned in college. While textbooks will only tell you the facts, How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things offers you real advice.
However, that said, maybe a reader would also like to read this book after they've taken an introductory business textbook. While it is unnecessary to have a business background to understand the concepts laid out in How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things, the book's biggest fault is that it lacks the real-life examples from real companies that textbooks include. I want to know about real companies who utilized the techniques laid out in How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things and became successful off of them.
I really appreciate that the advice in this book is given in lists. The list is an organizational tool that a lot of lengthy business textbooks don't utilize enough. Economists, too! As much as economists love graphs, they don't embrace the organizational powers of the list.
STYLE
I love the book's simple, easy-to-read language. However, many of the statements made in the book are repetitive. From the very first chapter, I could see how this short, 223-page book could be shortened even further.
I was left wanting more, but not always in a good way. Again, I really did want to see more real-life examples from real companies.
PRINT FORMAT
There seem to be some printing inconsistencies in terms of the bottom margin. However, this is a very minor issue. The book has great print quality otherwise.
Thank you to Goodreads, Palgrave Macmillan, Neil Smith, and Patricia O'Connell for sending this book my way. I've got some friends and family members who are interested in business administration, and I'll definitely share this book with them.
February 21, 2017
Might want to pick up this later again, it has good advices.
December 25, 2014
I received this book from a Goodreads’ Giveaway Program. As in all of my reviews, I rate a book according to its information, relevancy, and quality for non-fiction and interest, entertainment and quality for fiction, regardless of how I obtained the book. Thank you to the author and Goodreads for giving me this book.
I thought this book could help me in my position at work, since I am in a position that I could be called upon, at any time, to address some of my company’s barriers to further success.
This book lists eight barriers that are commonly seen in many companies such as reluctance to change, poor use of time, and management blockers, and what is the result of these barriers. The author provides 12 principles for breaking the barriers. The author sets up a 100 day process for starting to change the corporate culture to address the barriers.
I liked that the author was experienced in identifying issues and helping them resolve or lessen the affect of the issues in all types of companies. His discussion was not just theoretical but was based upon years of experience working in industry.
I liked that the barriers in a company were clearly defined and there were concrete steps in how to address the barriers. I have seen many of the barriers in my years of working in major and minor semiconductor companies. I would feel better after addressing these issues after reading this book.
At times I felt the author was over simplifying the difficulty of address barriers. If it was easy everybody would be doing it. I also felt that the author was tooting his company’s accomplishments and was a quasi-advertisement for him and his company
I do recommend this book to managers and employees that want to learn about barriers to company improvement and some recommended principles to address the barriers.
I thought this book could help me in my position at work, since I am in a position that I could be called upon, at any time, to address some of my company’s barriers to further success.
This book lists eight barriers that are commonly seen in many companies such as reluctance to change, poor use of time, and management blockers, and what is the result of these barriers. The author provides 12 principles for breaking the barriers. The author sets up a 100 day process for starting to change the corporate culture to address the barriers.
I liked that the author was experienced in identifying issues and helping them resolve or lessen the affect of the issues in all types of companies. His discussion was not just theoretical but was based upon years of experience working in industry.
I liked that the barriers in a company were clearly defined and there were concrete steps in how to address the barriers. I have seen many of the barriers in my years of working in major and minor semiconductor companies. I would feel better after addressing these issues after reading this book.
At times I felt the author was over simplifying the difficulty of address barriers. If it was easy everybody would be doing it. I also felt that the author was tooting his company’s accomplishments and was a quasi-advertisement for him and his company
I do recommend this book to managers and employees that want to learn about barriers to company improvement and some recommended principles to address the barriers.
March 30, 2014
Full Disclosure - I received this book via a First Reads Giveaway.
This book does a good job of pointing out barriers to improvement in companies. However, I feel the benefit ends there for most of us. The tips on how to overcame those barriers are minimal, at best and not extremely helpful.
This book describes a process that can be used to implement the changes recommended. My problem with it is that you need to be an executive (or possibly even the CEO) of a large (thousands of employees) company to put the recommended process into place. The majority of us, who are either underlings, or work for smaller companies, derive minimal, if any, benefit from this detailed roadmap of the process. I think the content of this book would better serve most readers by giving more practical advice on how to overcome the barriers.
My basic impression of this book is that it is a collection of the anecdotes the author has encountered and the process he brings to bear when he comes to provide assistance to a company. This is intermingled with some psychological insights that are somewhat helpful.
Bottom line - unless you are the CEO or executive VP of a major-sized company, your efforts are better spent elsewhere.
This book does a good job of pointing out barriers to improvement in companies. However, I feel the benefit ends there for most of us. The tips on how to overcame those barriers are minimal, at best and not extremely helpful.
This book describes a process that can be used to implement the changes recommended. My problem with it is that you need to be an executive (or possibly even the CEO) of a large (thousands of employees) company to put the recommended process into place. The majority of us, who are either underlings, or work for smaller companies, derive minimal, if any, benefit from this detailed roadmap of the process. I think the content of this book would better serve most readers by giving more practical advice on how to overcome the barriers.
My basic impression of this book is that it is a collection of the anecdotes the author has encountered and the process he brings to bear when he comes to provide assistance to a company. This is intermingled with some psychological insights that are somewhat helpful.
Bottom line - unless you are the CEO or executive VP of a major-sized company, your efforts are better spent elsewhere.
June 15, 2015
I received this book for free via Goodreads First Reads.
I enjoyed this book. Many of the topics discussed I was already familiar with via business school. Everything was simple and easy to understand.
The book would have benefited from including examples to which we can identify the protagonist or company involved. A lot of examples used in the book follow the format of "a company I once worked for" or "a leader in the banking industry." Smith includes a list of all companies to which he has worked with in a list in the back of the book, but adding the companies' names to the examples that litter the novel would have added legitmacy and validity to his antecdotes. Understandbly some companies do not want their name attached to such stories or privacy issues may come into play, however, the lack of visible company names in the book was jarring. I have read many managerial-type books, and the majority of these the names of companies we are either familiar with or not to better illustrate their theories.
I enjoyed this book. Many of the topics discussed I was already familiar with via business school. Everything was simple and easy to understand.
The book would have benefited from including examples to which we can identify the protagonist or company involved. A lot of examples used in the book follow the format of "a company I once worked for" or "a leader in the banking industry." Smith includes a list of all companies to which he has worked with in a list in the back of the book, but adding the companies' names to the examples that litter the novel would have added legitmacy and validity to his antecdotes. Understandbly some companies do not want their name attached to such stories or privacy issues may come into play, however, the lack of visible company names in the book was jarring. I have read many managerial-type books, and the majority of these the names of companies we are either familiar with or not to better illustrate their theories.
August 9, 2014
In a way, this book tells you things that are just common sense, yet business owners make the same mistakes all the time. The difference in this book is that it uses examples of real mistakes companies make, using a real situation. This kind of gives it a gossipy feel, which is good because it makes it more of a fun read instead of feeling like a textbook. The only thing I wonder about is that we know this stuff is true, for instance, that we shouldn't hire somebody because their reputation out-performs their real work, but companies still keep doing it. But, maybe there's a chance that somebody will see their own mistakes when it comes to business and change. For instance, one of the biggest mistakes is wasting time, but I wonder if people will heed this.
I entered this first-reads contest hoping to win because my husband has his own business. I'm going to try to convince him of some of these ideas, because they are good ideas. whether or not they change his mind, well...
I entered this first-reads contest hoping to win because my husband has his own business. I'm going to try to convince him of some of these ideas, because they are good ideas. whether or not they change his mind, well...
March 30, 2014
Based on 20 years of research, the author highlights 8 barriers to progressive change that many companies suffer from. He classifies the barriers as Avoiding controversy, Poor use of time, Reluctance to change, Organizational silos, Management blockers, Incorrect information and bad assumptions, Size matters and Existing processes. He provides examples of these barriers from use cases in addition to psychological explanations for some of these behaviors by Dr Richard Levak.
Identifying barriers is well and good, but the author proceeds to provide his principles for breaking these barriers and provides an outline of processes that companies could put in place, to break these barriers, enabling their organizations to operate more effectively and efficiently.
Identifying barriers is well and good, but the author proceeds to provide his principles for breaking these barriers and provides an outline of processes that companies could put in place, to break these barriers, enabling their organizations to operate more effectively and efficiently.
April 14, 2014
I thought the author's strategy made sense, but it just didn't seem feasible. The strategy seemed like it could only be implemented by top management. As someone far from the top of my organization, the book was almost frustrating because although I agreed with many of the author's points, I could also see that the changes could be very difficult to implement in most organizations, including the one I am a part of.
The book reads like a step-by-step approach to the author's consulting strategy. Although I trust that the author has been successful with this strategy, I still believe that it would be difficult to replicate at many organizations.
The book reads like a step-by-step approach to the author's consulting strategy. Although I trust that the author has been successful with this strategy, I still believe that it would be difficult to replicate at many organizations.
May 15, 2014
This is really two books in one.
The first, as per the title, talks about barriers that exist in all companies. Nothing groundbreaking here, but it's packaged well and sprinkled with some examples.
The second part is about the process that the author uses when he consults with companies. This part was difficult to follow (a lot of abbreviations and jargon) and suffers from being too abstract to understand well. A case study would help here.
Sprinkled throughout are some sidebars by a psychologist, which may be interesting to some but don't really add to the book. (After reading the first one, I skipped the rest.)
The first, as per the title, talks about barriers that exist in all companies. Nothing groundbreaking here, but it's packaged well and sprinkled with some examples.
The second part is about the process that the author uses when he consults with companies. This part was difficult to follow (a lot of abbreviations and jargon) and suffers from being too abstract to understand well. A case study would help here.
Sprinkled throughout are some sidebars by a psychologist, which may be interesting to some but don't really add to the book. (After reading the first one, I skipped the rest.)
April 5, 2014
I won a copy of this book from a Goodreads FirstReads giveaway. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, which talked about barriers that prevent companies from making good decisions and how to break these barriers. I enjoyed the real life examples that were given, but wish they had a little more robustness to them. The second part of the book talked about how to implement the author's process, which seemed like a sales pitch instead of giving enough details of how to implement it at one's own company.
February 13, 2015
I received this book through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
I agree with several of the other reviewers in that this book lacks depth and definitely has a sales pitch quality to it in that the author is also a conultant discussing his change management process he sells to and facilitates for organizations.
However, the book does a good job of spelling out barriers to change. As a leader, I especially enjoyed that the author includes the psychology behind the behavioral barriers and reward/punishment systems.
I agree with several of the other reviewers in that this book lacks depth and definitely has a sales pitch quality to it in that the author is also a conultant discussing his change management process he sells to and facilitates for organizations.
However, the book does a good job of spelling out barriers to change. As a leader, I especially enjoyed that the author includes the psychology behind the behavioral barriers and reward/punishment systems.
March 5, 2014
Having read a fair share of business books required for college credit this one was just slightly better than average. Basically the book takes what you would learn in some intro level classes and presents the material in a slightly more readable format. There are some good real life examples of the principles the book is trying to illustrate. I would say not a stand-out of the crowd for any new or innovative ideas but rather a good tried and true formula that has made businesses successful in the past.
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