This story appears in the
April 2004 issue of
Entrepreneur.
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"Back to basics" is the theme of Profitable Growth Is Everyone's Business: 10
Tools You Can Use Monday Morning (Crown Business, $22) by
management consultant Ram Charan. His latest offering since
co-writing 2002's Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things
Done (Crown Business, $27.50), Charan shows entrepreneurs
how to grow within their current business framework-using
fundamental approaches to developing new products and services,
creating an effective sales force, gathering knowledge about
customer needs, carefully segmenting markets and so on.
Charan downplays the value of big, audacious goals. Many
ambitious entrepreneurs consider it pointless to set moderate
goals, even for the interim, Charan notes. But small gains add up
to big ones.
And stretching day in and day out for small growth gains can
really help build a growth mentality in your business. So set
modest growth goals, and reach them. That way, when a big growth
opportunity does come along, your organization will already be
tuned in to grow and ready to exploit it.
All Fired Up
Few leaders expect to guide their people into a burning
building, but it's all in a day's work for John Salka. In
First In, Last Out: Leadership Lessons From the
New York Fire Department (Portfolio, $25.95), the 25-year
veteran of the New York City Fire Department explains how you can
inspire similar loyalty and trust.
First, you must commit yourself to reality, relentlessly seeking
the truth about any situation confronting you. Next, treat your
people as valuable assets to be empowered rather than as annoying
necessities that must be controlled. Finally, develop leaders at
all levels. These three elements are like heat, oxygen and fuel,
explains Salka. Supply them, and your company's performance
could really catch fire.
Mark Henricks is Entrepreneur's "Smart
Moves" columnist.