Books
Boosting business performance
Performance Dashboards and Analysis for Value Creation
Jack Alexander
John Wiley, £45/$70
Many organisations employ performance measurement techniques, but few get the full benefit because such criteria are not ingrained in either the modern manager or their employees, according to author Jack Alexander.
By adopting a more analytical approach, managers can learn how to drive extra value. Using Alexander's own Value Performance Framework, readers can identify value drivers such as sales growth, relative pricing strength and capital effectiveness, and compare this with existing processes, using performance dashboards to push financial improvement.
The book comes with a CD-Rom containing sample dashboards and Excel spreadsheets to help measure performance, while each chapter ends with questions to make the reader think about how to apply the theory to the business in which he or she works.
Pros: combination of text and computer-based learning
Cons: requires at least some mathematical understanding
Firing Back
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward
Harvard Business School Press, £18.99/$29.95
Anyone who has ever gambled on a massive order or failed to examine the provenance of a key supplier must have wondered if they could recover if everything went horribly wrong. But these two academics argue that unless you have actually killed someone, it's possible to salvage both your career and your reputation.
There is no quick fix for restoring lost standing, but by refusing to hide and recruiting others to the cause, even the most damaged executive can begin to repair the damage. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward's book draws on the successful experiences of business leaders, politicians and celebrities (including Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Jimmy Carter and ex-heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman), as well as examples of how not to do it (for example, British politicians Neil Hamilton and Jonathan Aitken) to claim executives can use failure as the starting point of the rest of their career.
Pros: interesting, useful and inspirational
Cons: you have to screw up first!
Know-How
Ram Charan
Random House Business Books, £20/$27.50
The arrival of competitors from emerging economies and those used to the results-driven environment of the internet means leaders must do more than inspire. Business speaker and adviser Ram Charan argues that leaders can, and should, be expected to position the business in the most lucrative revenue streams, detect patterns that could create new opportunities or threats (as Google has in the media) and build teams according to people's talents and the skills required.
Calling on work with executives from companies such as Bank of America, DuPont and KLM, Charan identifies what makes a leader who delivers. His aim is to produce a framework that will judge them not only in financial terms, but also in less tangible measures such as the relative strength of the management team and the leadership pipeline.
Pros: mix of real-life examples and theory
Cons: if only it was that simple
Key Performance Indicators
David Parmenter
John Wiley, £29.99/$45
Balanced scorecards are superb tools but have been done a grave injustice by managers whose lack of understanding has led most attempts at performance monitoring to fail, argues David Parmenter.
Drawing on his experience with global consultancies and running performance measurement company Waymark Solutions, he suggests the main problem is that most key performance indicators (KPIs) are impostors and could never transform a business.
Rather than adding layer upon layer of KPIs, he urges companies to get back to basics to identify the indicators that, correctly implemented, will result in business transformation. A small team should be created to set, at most, 10 KPIs, and should have a direct link to the CEO. Leaders must then follow a 12-step plan to implement and manage those KPIs effectively.
Pros: includes resource kits for facilitators and KPI team
Cons: overly prescriptive (even includes meeting agendas)
