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bits and pieces Management
bits and pieces
42 RS February - March 2013
book reviews
in 10 Words Sir Terry Leahy
In his 14 years as CEO of Tesco, Sir Terry
Leahy not only turned the company into
the largest supermarket chain in the UK but
also transformed it into a global enterprise.
As a result, Sir Terry is now one of the
world’s most admired business leaders,
widely acclaimed for his drive, flair and nononsense
approach.
In Management in 10 Words he draws on his experience and
expertise to pinpoint the 10 vital attributes that make successful
managers and underlie great organisations. He tackles the
challenges that every manager faces, in a series of insights that
are personal, provocative, and down to earth. And he explains:
- Why initial failure often leads to ultimate success.
- Why profits stem from a company’s values, not its day-today
business.
- Why competition should always be welcomed.
- Why simplicity leads to innovation.
- Why trust is the bedrock of effective leadership.
The result is an inspiring, thoughtful and supremely practical
guide that will prove invaluable to all managers in all types of
organisation. The most substantial benefit from this book is
derived from what Sir Terry generously shares from his personal
and professional experiences as Tesco’s former CEO.
His 10 words are; truth, loyalty, courage, values, act, balance,
simple, lean, compete, and trust. Leahy’s key insight is that his
Conscious capitalism
Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business
In this book, WholeFoods’ iconic CEO, John Mackey, and professor
Raj Sisodia show how forward-thinking companies are creating a
movement that’s transforming business.
“We believe that business is good because it creates value, it is
ethical because it is based on voluntary exchange, it is noble because
it can elevate our existence, and it is heroic because it lifts
people out of poverty and creates prosperity. Free-enterprise
capitalism is the most powerful system for social cooperation
and human progress ever conceived. It is one of the most
compelling ideas we humans have ever had. But we can aspire to
something even greater.” says the Conscious Capitalism Credo
The book features some of today’s best-known companies,
they illustrate how these two forces can, and do, work most
powerfully to create value for all stakeholders: including custom-
own behaviour must reflect the values he affirmed, especially
when it came to relationships with his staff. Long ago, Leahy
realised he could not manage others effectively unless he
understood how to manage himself.
He devotes a separate chapter to each of his 10 core values.
In chapter three he writes: “Good strategies need to be bold
and daring. People need to be stretched as they can do more
than they think. Goals have to cause excitement, and perhaps
just a little fear. Above all, they need to inspire, and present an
organisation with a choice: have these great ambitions, or remain
as you are.” And then in chapter seven: “Change in any fastmoving,
fast-growing company is not easy. My solution is quite
simple: to make things simple. Simplicity is the knife that cuts
through the tangled spaghetti of life’s problems.”
Before concluding his book, Leahy shares his thoughts about
the deeply-troubled global business community, one in which
many (too many) business leaders have lost their moral compass
and led their organisations astray. “More than ever before,
organisations need people who are not merely motivated to
work hard, but have the freedom and the encouragement to
innovate, to think for themselves, and take risks,” he writes. “We
need a culture that embraces change, and simple systems that
can easily respond to that change. Above all,” and these points
are his most important, “companies and other organizations
that rely on customer or citizen loyalty must not simply have
common values, but live by those values. They need to confront
the truth head-on, as loyalty and trust cannot be built on the
shifting sand of lies and half-truths.”
ers, employees, suppliers, investors, society, and the environment.
These ‘Conscious Capitalism’ companies include Whole
Foods Market, Southwest Airlines, Costco, Google, Patagonia,
The Container Store, UPS, and dozens of others.
We know them; we buy their products or use their services.
Now it’s time to better understand how these organisations use
four specific tenets – higher purpose, stakeholder integration,
conscious leadership, and conscious culture and management –
to build strong businesses and help advance capitalism further
toward realising its highest potential.
At once a bold defense and reimagining of capitalism and a
blueprint for a new system for doing business grounded in a
more evolved ethical consciousness, this book provides a new
lens for individuals and companies looking to build a more cooperative,
humane, and positive future.