Be A Winner!

Be A Winner!, Life's Handbook for Joy and Success, by Bryan C. Cressey, Post Hill Press/Simon & Schuster, 2021

More Love and Positivity Less Hostility and Hate

      The we-they divided and hateful nature of our U.S. political activities and uncivil behavior are anguishing to most people, including myself...Although there are numerous changes that might help, I believe the single biggest one is the following:  when each of us realizes that our life's happiness exactly matches the amount of love and positivity we feel in our life, we will chose to feel love and positivity  much more of the time and to allow ourselves to feel hostility and hate less of the time.  Bryan C. Cressey

When author Bryan Cressey uses the "j" word - joy - as one of his life objectives, you know that his life, and this book, is about more than the mechanics of becoming a business power.  He has chosen to be more than what the financials tell him to do, and wouldn't we all like to enjoy the freedom to be generous and compassionate - as well as rich?

Along the way Cressey shares some valuable skills, including how to:

*  turn entrepreneurial ideas into reality

*  diagnose the future of a company

*  find joy and fulfilment in life along with success

*  connect more enjoyably and deeply with people

*  eliminate barriers to success

*  invest wisely

*  become creative and utilize the powers generated from ideas

*  assess a company - whether to purchase it or join as an employee

Business readers will especially enjoy Cressey's advice on "How to Diagnose Any Company."  Cressey outlines the six foundations of outstanding firms:

1.  Franchise strength

2.  Human talent and culture

3.  Growth opportunities

4.  Value-creation engines

5.  Information technology advantages

6.  Operational prowess

In consulting, I call these six elements my "fifteen minutes" test because everything one needs to understand is clear in the first 15 minutes of arriving at a manufacturing site - the people, the process, the vibes, and fortunately, Cressey pins these six points down to specifics that anyone as an owner/investor, a future employee, or a executive needs to see.  Cressey's story of Paul Olson, an unusual man tasked with running Mohawk, a troubled wire and cable producer, highlights these key points.  Olson walked into a bad business situation - order problems, declining customer base, lowered trust, bad quality and customer service.  The company was losing money as well as customers.  Olson had many opportunities to attack these problems, but his solutions were unusual and powerful, starting with  putting a hold on all shipments - a shocker.  Next, he ordered quality inspection for each reel of wire scheduled to be shipped.  That allowed him to rework production processes and machinery. After two painful months, Olson started to see results - customer service issues were going away -  but now what Mohawk needed was money, more revenue to survive.  And when a recession hit, Olson's reaction was to grow bigger, to reach out to more marketing targets by hiring experienced sales people, rather than instituting a new round of layoffs.  Everything he did could be interpreted as "counter-intuitive" - but his courage and compassion worked, and Mohawk not only survived,  it grew to be a very attractive investment.

For more inspiring examples, take a careful look at Chapter 12, "How to Rate a Manager," and Chapter 14,"Traps to Avoid."  Cressey's bio shows serious preparation in addition to his unusual spirit:  J.D. from Harvard Law, MBA from Harvard Business School, and a B.S. in economics from the U. of Washington. Cressey's insider stories of acquisitions, of the system he uses to look at companies and leaders, as well as industries, is dead-on. Not every venture, however, Cressey admits, is a glory story - some organizations are unfortunately unfixable, and for that truth we are appreciative because lessons from failure have great value. Overall, the test of Cressey's method,  20 percent returns compounded annually, stands solid beneath his approach.  .    

Patricia E. Moody

FORTUNE magazine  "Pioneering Woman in Mfg" 

IndustryWeek IdeaXchange Xpert

A Mill Girl at Blue Heron Journal, on-line resource for business thought-leaders and decision-makers,  patriciaemoody@gmail.com