This story appears in the
June 2005 issue of
Entrepreneur.
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Jason Jennings sorted through 70,000 American companies to find
nine whose consistent growth in profits and revenue put them in the
top one-hundredth of 1 percent. After studying each in depth,
including interview-ing top leaders, he reports what makes them so
special in Think Big Act Small (Portfolio,
$24.95).
So what's the most striking commonality among the excellent
nine? They all have humble leaders who are willing to get their
hands dirty. Jennings points to CEOs of companies like North
Carolina's SAS Software and Virginia's Strayer Education
Inc., both billion-dollar enterprises where members of the top
brass routinely do grunt-level work.
Other shared traits are similarly unexpected. Few of the firms
embrace long-term goals, focusing on tasks they can complete in a
year or so rather than lock into five-year plans. They quickly and
completely sell or close losing products, markets and businesses.
They also choose rivals as carefully as customers, so that their
own competitive strengths will be leveraged. The best-practices
path is a well-worn one for business authors, but Jennings'
unconventional findings make his work a worthwhile read.
Alphabet Scoop
Robyn Waters, former vice president of trend, design and product
development for Target stores, offers 26 brief trend-spotting
how-tos from A to Z in The Trendmaster's Guide (Port-folio,
$12.95). "C is for Connect the Dots" suggests that
combining myriad small details can reveal future trends. "Yum,
Yuk and Yawn" invokes Sony leader Akio Morita's
gut-reaction approach to evaluating products: short and sharp.
Mark Henricks is Entrepreneur's "Staff
Smarts" columnist.