Issue No. 447 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a classic business book—and LOL—I finally read it! Plus, check out the parallels between Citizen Kane and Citizen Trump—a new documentary that is neither a hit piece nor a Trump ad. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and if you missed it, here’s my review of The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life.
I Finally Read the #1 Business Book!
Yikes. File this under “Really, Pearson? You’ve never read this top business book? And you call yourself a book reviewer?”
SUMMER SHORTS NO. 4:
The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel (2017)
by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Dwight Jon Zimmerman (Editor), and Dean Motter (Illustrator).
This past spring here in the bunker, Constantino (Connie) Salios emailed me and asked if I had ever reviewed The Goal by Eli Goldratt. Reviewed it? I’d never even heard about it. (Yikes.) Connie recommended this bestselling business book—and I immediately ordered it. He said it “reads somewhat like a Lencioni novel and is relevant for every organization and leader.” Back in 2007, Salios also recommended the classic 1949 film, Twelve O’Clock High, starring Gregory Peck. It’s a strategy smorgasbord!
But…full confession. I cheated and ordered the business graphic novel of The Goal. Big print and pictures. Just 130 pages. This “Introduction to the Theory of Constraints” will be immediately applicable to anyone with too many moving parts, too many spinning plates, too much or not enough inventory, and keeping the whole team moving in the right direction—at the right pace.
How did I miss this important book? Apparently, others have missed it also. Read the front page story in the Aug. 21, 2020, WSJ, “Why Are There Still Not Enough Paper Towels?” (The answer: blame lean manufacturing.) Maybe P&G didn’t make The Goal required reading. (Jeff Bezos does.)
Verne Harnish, author of my 2018 book-of-the year, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t (Mastering the Rockefeller Habits 2.0), gushes: “The Goal is the #1 business book of all time and the graphic adaptation makes this timeless classic and its powerful ideas even more accessible. If you only read one business book, it should be this one.”
The author, Eliyahu M. Goldratt (1947-2011) is known as the father of the Theory of Constraints (TOC), “a process of ongoing improvement that continuously identifies and leverages a system's constraints in order to achieve its goals.” A bestseller since 1984, the book has sold more than seven million copies worldwide.
The Goal is one of Time Magazine's “25 Most Influential Business Management Books.” (Check out that list here. I’m only half-way done. Yikes, again.)
This is a “Summer Shorts” review—so I’m going to wrap it up without a spoiler. The author’s business novel approach is brilliant. (See also: The New One Minute Manager, Death by Meeting, and The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey). The interesting (and often humorous) story makes TOC understandable.
Here’s a short summary from the Libro.fm website: “Alex Rogo is the manager of a failing manufacturing plant who receives an ultimatum from corporate headquarters: Turn the situation around in three months or the plant will be scrapped. With help from a mysterious mentor, Rogo discovers a revolutionary new way to do business—a way for people in any field of endeavor to increase productivity, profitability, and personal fulfillment.”
Watch for:
• 3 measurements
• Bottlenecks and non-bottlenecks
• Wrong assumptions: “workers must produce 100 percent of the time…”
• Maximum stupidity (the difference between utilizing a resource versus activating a resource): “So running a non-bottleneck machine to its maximum is an act of maximum stupidity.”
• POOGI (Process of OnGoing Improvement): “There is always room for better results.”
• The 5 Focusing Steps of the Theory of Constraints
Technical? Yes. You may not manage an industrial plant, but you might lead a Scout or family hike one day with a dozen campers who hike at different speeds. Insightful? Yes—the real life hiking example turns complexity into a manageable process and cleverly explains The Theory of Constraints.
Did I mention this? “Jeff Bezos has made The Goal required reading for his top executives at Amazon, where it has been called ‘a bible’ for the team behind the company’s fulfillment network.” And Fortune Magazine compared The Goal’s leading character to “Obi-Wan Kenobi instructing Luke Skywalker on the use of the force.”
Hopefully this is enough to inspire you to read the book—or delegate the reading of the book to someone on your team. Here are three reading/listening options:
OPTION #1. BUSINESS GRAPHIC NOVEL (130 pages). The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel (2017) by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Dwight Jon Zimmerman (Editor), and Dean Motter (Illustrator). Click here to order from Amazon.
OPTION#2. BUSINESS NOVEL (362 pages). The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement (30th Anniversary Edition, 2014), by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox. Click here to order from Amazon.
OPTION#3. AUDIO BUSINESS NOVEL (11 hours, 44 minutes). The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement (30th Anniversary Edition, 2014). Are you a listener? Listen to the business novel on Libro.fm, narrated by an Ensemble cast. Perfect for your next road trip! Can you identify with this scene in the opening audio? (Click here to listen to the 3-minute teaser.) The plant manager reveals: “This plant has four ranks of priority when filling orders:
• Hot!
• Very Hot!!
• Red Hot!!!
• DO IT NOW!!!!”
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) In the story of The Goal, the professor notes, “The numbers are wrong because they are determined in isolation.” How effective are our weekly meetings in eliminating silo thinking and decisions made in isolation from other processes and departments?
2) What’s your preferred learning style? Reading or listening? If reading, what do you think of graphic business novels like The Goal and StrategyMan? (Read my review of StrategyMan vs. the Anti-Strategy Squad: Using Strategic Thinking to Defeat Bad Strategy and Save Your Plan, by Rich Horwath.)
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Update! Citizen Trump is now available on Amazon Prime.
Social Styles Research:
Watch Citizen Kane and Citizen Trump
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
The core competency in the People Bucket affirms, “We are diligent about understanding the four social styles—Analyticals, Drivers, Amiables and Expressives—and helping our people find their comfort zones as they grow in their interpersonal versatility skills.”
Whatever people system you use, you likely apply it to help you understand other leaders, perhaps even U.S. presidents and vice presidents. Breaking News: Donald Trump is an expressive! I appreciate the four social styles—because the four words describe the behavior and I can remember the system. (You may prefer Myers-Briggs, DiSC, Enneagram, or other helpful systems.)
So—to enrich your social style savvy, let me encourage you to view the new documentary, Citizen Trump—just released on Sept. 7. Watch the trailer:
Click here to view the Citizen Trump trailer.
Josh Shepherd, who covers culture, faith, and public policy for several media outlets (and previously worked at The Heritage Foundation and Focus on the Family), recently interviewed Robert Orlando, the Citizen Trump filmmaker, for The Federalist.
The headline: “Is Donald Trump Today’s ‘Citizen Kane’? ‘Citizen Trump’ Film Suggests Yes. Through the lens of the 1941 classic 'Citizen Kane,' a documentary filmmaker seeks to understand the life journey of President Trump and his successful venture into politics.”
Shepherd: “Watching the film, I kept waiting for it to shift. I thought, ‘This is where it’s going to become a Trump hit piece.’ Or, ‘Now it’s going to be a Trump ad.’ But it seemed to stick to facts and let the chips fall where they may. Why did you seek to avoid either extreme?
Orlando: “As a filmmaker, I’m just telling a story about a person, warts and all. Why wouldn’t a documentary about real-life events reveal all sides of the narrative? It’s not for me to tell you how to make a political decision about it.”
Note: Robert Orlando is also the filmmaker behind the documentary and co-author of the book, The Divine Plan: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Dramatic End of the Cold War. (Read my review.)
If you’re a U.S. citizen—and whether or not you’re voting for Trump, Biden, or anyone else—you will appreciate watching Citizen Trump. For more social styles research, check out my April review of eight leadership flicks, and if you have time (and who doesn’t?), go way back and watch the 1941 classic, Citizen Kane (1941), considered by many critics, filmmakers, and fans to be the greatest film ever made. What—you haven’t read The Goal or watched Citizen Kane? LOL!
To view Citizen Trump on Vimeo, by filmmaker Robert Orlando:
CLICK HERE.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Are you leveraging the power of the small screen to tell your story? Need help? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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