Outstanding!: 47 Ways To Make Your Organization Exceptional (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
Outstanding! is a fairly easy read and contains some practical content on how to improve your company or professional organization, but at 47 chapters, albeit short ones, it’s a lot to plow through in one sitting. I found it most useful to peruse the table of contents and read a chapter that had some appeal for me at the time. And although some of the ideas contained in the book have value and seem fairly easy to put into practice, I wonder if most organizations are introducing these principles into their organizational mindset. For example, one of Miller’s points is that good customer service is the foundation of a first-rate company and when everyone makes an effort to please the customer, who is their “real boss,” then customer’s return business is almost assured. No doubt that statement is absolutely correct, but customer service continues to deteriorate in business rather than improve. As I mentioned reading this book in spurts worked best for me. Even so, I felt that Miller occasionally went off on unrelated tangents or used too many examples to prove a point, which made even his short chapters seem long. To be honest, I didn’t find his writing particularly interesting or his presentation especially clever. And parts of the book seemed drawn out so that at 200 pages the cost of the book, $21.95, might seem reasonable to most people. My favorite chapter was entitled “Tend to the Little Things.” He briefly describes one of his children who the family called the town crier; as a toddler she would state the obvious, e.g., “Dad, the sun is shining.” Miller uses this analogy to articulate the importance of stating the obvious, i.e., organizations need to pay attention to “the little things.” He uses the example of a gas station that he prefers to all others and goes out of his way to give them his business. Why? Because it has clean restrooms! The gas station owner understands that everything matters when people have choices where to take their business and a shiny gas station bathroom will bring them back every time. John Miller's book, OUTSTANDING!: 47 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR ORGANIZATION EXCEPTIONAL, is, well, ... OUTSTANDING! The author of QBQ and Flipping the Switch, may have written his best book ever. Quite often authors put out a book that is little more than a regurgitation of their earlier books. Not so, here.Each of Miller's 47 points are given a chapter. Each one is valuable in its' own way. In Chapter 3, I realized why some of my training initiatives fail. I don't always put purpose first. If people don't have a good understanding of why it is necessary for them to do things a certain way, they are much less likely to adopt it as their own. This one little piece of knowledge and understanding on my part will totally change how I develop and delivery new initiatives.In Chapter 5, I learned the true definition of a customer. A customer is anyone who has a legitimate expectation of you. This opens up a whole new realm and an entirely new dynamic on how we view people. Customers are not just people who buy from us, they are our vendors, supervisors, family members, co-workers, etc. If we treat these relationships with the same respect and regard as we give our "paying customers", imagine the results we will see.Chapter 44 is a refresher course in doing the little things that will make a difference for customers. These are just a few things you'll find here. There are tips of doing a better job of coaching, the importance of encouragement, even ways to hire better people.As I read Chapter 12, aptly titled "Value Ideas Over Politics", I kept remembering Ronald Reagan when he said, "It's amazing what can be accomplished when we don't care who gets the credit."This should become required reading for anyone at the corporate level. I'm giving this one my highest recommendation. As always, Miller writes clearly with direct points and succinct summaries. QBQ set a pretty high bar for Miller, but he may have succeeded in surpassing that bar with Outstanding!
What do You think about Outstanding!: 47 Ways To Make Your Organization Exceptional (2010)?
Great format--short anecdotal examples of ways to make an organization outstanding. Easy read!
—tdeshaw
Great book on getting back to the basics of making an organization great.
—kiwasa2
Some good lessons in the book for business.
—Sheila
