Mastering the Rockefeller Habits

He also established and popularized an internally understood Critical Number—a proprietary measurement of plant productivity he borrowed from another industry and modified to fit McKinney Lumber’s business. The Critical Number tells the entire corporation, day to day, whether there’s profit headed for the bottom line. “The idea of always measuring

The Sell circle splits into separate sales and marketing functions, requiring different personalities to head up each. (As a side note, the key measurable for marketing or business development is lead generation.) The Make or Buy circle splits into separate operations and

Obviously, a key to The Container Store’s success is that they have the Right People.

Executive summary: The bigger your company gets, and the faster it’s growing, the harder it is to get everybody on the same page. The problem, of course, is that there isn’t a single page around which to align. Instead, there are likely more than a dozen pages, actual and imaginary, along with memos and e-mails, each purporting to describe your com

Executive summary: Having a few rules, repeating yourself a lot, and acting in ways that are consistent with the rules—these are the three keys whether you’re providing your children with a good moral foundation or providing a company with a strong cultural foundation. And the evidence is irrefutable that a strong culture leads to superior performa

Between start-up and the first million or two in revenue, the key driver is revenue.

took him up on the proposition. “In 20 minutes,” he told Schwab, “I’ll show you how to get your organization doing at least 50 percent more.” He started by having Schwab write down and prioritize his six most important tasks to complete in the next business day. Then he told Schwab, “Put the list in your pocket and take it out tomorrow and start wo

run the business for you, then all you have is a job, not a business.

role of the functional leader is one of coaching and bringing best practices into the organization.