Excerpts

Praise for BIG Ideas to BIG Results "Short, simple, and to the point. Kanazawa and Miles distill decades of corporate transformation experience down to a few, vital messages. Required reading for CEOs." --Peter Darbee, Chairman, CEO, and President, PG&E Corporation "Mike and Bob have outlined an extensive and highly valuable set of actions and processes that can be implemented by corporate management to drive significant improvement in organizations. Their approach can be of great benefit not only to CEOs and their executive staffs, but also to vice presidents, general managers, and department heads." --Richard Beyer, President and CEO, Intersil Corporation "This book is a must read for CEOs who are looking for time-tested principles and a proven process by which senior teams can realign their organization and its people with their strategic intent. In a fast moving world, nothing is more important." --Michael Beer, Cahners-Raab Professor of Business, Harvard Business School and author, Breaking the Code of Change " BIG Ideas to BIG Results is a must read for CEOs, as well as managers empowered with bringing about meaningful change. Most executives are comfortable with functional change within their own areas of competence and responsibilities, but one of the most challenging realities of the 21stcentury is that competitive advantage and speed of change require complex cross-functional solutions. I am recommending reading this book to all of my C-level clients." --Jerry Black, President and CEO, Kurt Salmon Associates "In the past years as a new General Manager and then as a new CEO, I have had the pleasure of working with Bob and Mike on corporate transformation challenges. They have done an outstanding job of distilling complex corporate turnaround principles into a practical book full of blueprints for CEOs, their executive staffs, and their boards to apply in corporate transformations." --Dr. Bami Bastani, President and CEO, Anadigics, Inc. "ACT: an amalgamation of time-tested wisdom, frameworks, processes, and illustrative cases that provides a must read for both successful companies and those that are in transition. Everything is right here in this Little Red Book, for the CEO down to the managers of companies that need to execute." --Mas Sakamoto, Vice President, Corporate Planning and Marketing, NEC Corporation of America " BIG Ideas to BIG Results is a superb handbook for leaders wanting to transform their organizations. With Bob Miles' expert guidance, our company launched a transformation four years ago, and our Drive for Value business model is now embedded in the way we operate." --Shirley Gaufin, Chief Human Resources Officer, Black & Veatch "For the past ten years, leader-led techniques have helped us transform Delta TechOps from a cost center to the largest maintenance repair and overhaul center in North America. Mike and Bob make it simple and easy to execute." --Anthony Charaf, Senior Vice President, TechOps, Delta Air Lines, Inc. "ACT was employed at the Tour a decade and a half ago to help the new commissioner 'take charge' and most recently to relaunch the Nationwide Tour. It is simple, it gets the job done rapidly, and it can be adapted to any corporate transformation challenge." --Worth W. Calfee, President, Nationwide Tour of the PGA Tour "An important reading for any executive who wants to revitalize his/her company, and do it efficiently!" --Jay W. Lorsch, Louis E. Kirstein Professor of Human Relations, Harvard Business School " BIG Ideas to BIG Results captures a very simple but powerful methodology for transforming ideas into action. Their recipe for leadership really moves the corporate mountain." --John Baker, CEO and President, Florida Rock Industries, Inc. " BIG Ideas to BIG Results shows how to take strategies and connect them with tactics, align an entire organization around a common set of goals, and get everyone bought in. It is the one ingredient most companies miss, and this is the one that helps you win." --Tony Weiss, Vice President/General Manager, Software, Peripherals, Imaging, Displays, and Dell Direct Retail, Dell, Inc. " BIG Ideas to BIG Results is chock full of practical tools to get your strategy and operations in synch and moving faster down the track --a 'do more on less' guidebook for every executive." --Marty Beard, President, Sybase 365 "Want to improve your valuation? Get your ACT in gear. This book is highly recommended reading for executives who understand that higher market values are commanded by those companies that consistently generate big ideas and convert those ideas into big results." --Michael Gardner, Executive Vice President, Wedbush Morgan Securities "Having experienced guidance from Mike on his process for strategic transformation in our business unit, I must confess that I am now reconciled with strategic business consultants! This book is a must-read for any executive willing to engage into a reshaping of its organization for a more ambitious future." --Olivier Le Peuch, President, Schlumberger Information Solutions "Our executive clients consistently ask for tools, rather than theory, that they can immediately implement in order to execute strategy. BIG Ideas to BIG Results offers a uniquely clear and practical format for confronting and transforming reality with proven results." --Whitney Hischier, Assistant Dean, Center of Executive Development, Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley " BIG Ideas to BIG Results describes a powerful yet simple way for leaders to reposition a company in a highly efficient manner, critical in today's fast-paced, ever-changing, 'flat' world. It produces clear measurable results, energizes and aligns everyone in the organization, and is the only methodology I have experienced where everything you do is an integral part of your job--period!" --Javed Patel, CEO, Sierra Monolithics "It's one part strategic focus, one part business operations, one part leadership, and one part employee engagement. Mike and Bob show you the streamlined, simple, and potent recipe for combining these elements to turn your big strategic ideas into real business results." --Pascal Lenoir, CEO, NagraStar " BIG Ideas to BIG Results is a must read for every CEO, offering a practical approach to alignment and engagement that will result in unbelievable transformation. This book is easy reading and is full of great case studies that will inspire every person in a business leadership role." --Carlo Saggese, Vice President of Application Development, Vistage International--The world's leading chief executive organization "Kanazawa and Miles provide an easy to relate account of some often paradoxical issues with large corporations. The authors provide sound advice in a book which can be easily read on a long flight." --Peters Suh, President, Vodafone Asia Pacific Ltd and Vodafone Ventures Ltd "Mike Kanazawa and Bob Miles lay out a powerful, proven process for leaders at all levels. With a focus on alignment and engaging the entire organization, this book is an excellent resource for leaders who want to drive results." --Ann Marie Beasley, Vice President, Office of Strategy Management, Symantec Corporation "This is a must-have handbook for any leader guiding an organization through strategic change. It provides practical insights that ensure the entire organization understands its role in fulfilling the strategic aims of the business. Too many transformational frameworks rely on a top-down approach; this book helps you ensure all the oars are in the water and rowing together." --Matt DiMaria, Chief Marketing Officer, Sonic Solutions "I love the topic the book is addressing. Its approach simplifies the recipe for success for any business, large or small, private or public, from the aspect of making ideas produce results. Too often, we as corporate executives go out of our way to complicate the planning and implementation process. It is obvious that the authors have witnessed this tragedy over and over, as their writing is filled with practical examples of 'how-to' bridge ineffective scenarios to become high-performing environments." --Esther de Wolde, CEO, Phantom Screens "Whether your organization numbers 10 or 10,000, you owe it to yourself and your team to read this book! The proven process will enable you to refocus your organization, implement lasting change, and produce sustained superior results." --Rob Koteskey, airline captain, naval officer, and team performance consultant "Big ideas are the easy part. Getting big results requires the joint efforts of all, and not just going through the motions or going along with the flow. BIG Ideas to BIG Results provides the recipe for combining your big ideas with an inspired and engaged team. Simply put, it just works." --Larry Mondry, CEO, CSK Auto " BIG Ideas to BIG Results strikes a balance that is very difficult to achieve in that it's not so rigid as to seem artificial, yet not so flexible as to lack conviction. This book provides real, sound advice." --Bill Hopkins, Managing Principal, Odyssey Investment Partners " BIG Ideas to BIG Results provides leaders with a solution that instills confidence, purpose, and alignment throughout an entire organization and spikes it with a bias for speed and ACTion. The ACT 'leader-led' process is a dramatic departure from traditional consulting methods in that it unleashes value creators at every level of an organization." --George A. Coll, SVP, New Services, Sears Holdings Corporation (c) Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved. Excerpted from Big Ideas to Big Results: Remake and Recharge Your Company, Fast by Michael T. Kanazawa, Robert H. Miles All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.