Achieving Business Excellence

John Spence, whose mission is “Making the very complex ... awesomely simple” has posted a great manifesto on ChangeThis. ChangeThis spreads important ideas and change minds by giving people access to relevant, thoughtful and constructive information through the vehicle of ”Manifestos.”
(Click the picture to go to the original 0,6 Mb pdf manifesto)

John has

Uncovered the pattern
of business excellence
in an 18 page manifesto.

He has been able to summarize many of the same issues highlighted in two good books I read last year: Winning by Jack Welch, and Good to Great by Jim Collins. I was about to summarize them anytime soon. Thanks John for making my task easier!

Here are the topics of his Manifesto:

A few key elements that form the foundation of any successful business.

1. you must produce a high-quality product or service
   All sustainable business success is built on delivering real value to the customer—period
2. you need to have a solid handle on your financials
   if you aren’t managing cash flow, you won’t be managing much for long!
3. change is inevitable
   Markets shift, consumer preferences change, new competitors appear, technology advances—and so must you

With all of these foundations, following are the six strategies on which all the great companies John studied were relentlessly focused.

1. vivid vision:
   A clear and well-thought-out vision of what you are trying to create that is exceptionally well communicated to everyone involved.
2. best people:
   Superior talents who are also masters of collaboration.
3. a performance-oriented culture:
   One that demands flawless operational execution, encourages constant improvement and innovation, and completely refuses to tolerate mediocrity or lack of accountability.
4. robust communication:
   Open, honest, frank and courageous, both internally and externally.
5. a sense of urgency:
   The strong desire to get the important things done while never wasting time on the trivial.
6. extreme customer focus:
   Owning the voice of the customer and delivering what customers consider truly valuable.

I have discussed a couple of these earlier and will definitely discuss all of them in my future posts. In the mean while, you could read the original manifesto and check what else John Spence has to say at his site.

And, as always, some questions to think about:

How many of these 3 elements of foundation + 6 elements of excellence are in place at your company?

Have you reached business excellence?

Can you see the link between these 3 + 6 elements and your company achieving or not achieving business excellence?




Oops... That was my summary of the Manifesto. But during my morning run I realized, I had not internalized it and could not remember the 3 + 6 elements.

So I created this visual presentation to better internalize and remember the Manifesto - to make it stick.

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