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Book Review
Six Disciplines For Excellence
Six Disciplines Leadership Center - 2004
(287 pages in paperback)
Author
Gary Harpst
ISBN: 0-9748587
Most new jobs created in the United States today are the result of
small businesses forming or expanding. Gone are the days when large
manufacturers rapidly created hundreds or thousands of jobs to support their
growing requirements. However, small businesses have special needs, not only to
survive the early years but to sustain their foundational growth. Author Gary Harpst actively taps into these critical
needs in Six Disciplines For Excellence.
As Harpst mentions in the Introduction,
"figuring out the right things to do isn't nearly as difficult as
continuing to do them over the long term". He continues by commenting why
this book was written, "That passion is directed toward helping small
businesses not only achieve excellence, but sustain it". Throughout the
remainder of the book, Six Disciplines For
Excellence integrates the best practices to grow a small business and
unifies them into a interconnected plan. Furthermore, unlike most business
books, Harpst cleverly focuses on implementation (how
to) rather than simply principles. He states that this "book's content is
focused 20% on principles and 80% on implementation".
Six Disciplines For Excellence is composed of 10 chapters and an
Epilogue. The first three chapters introduce the book and discuss the
challenges of being a small business. The next six chapters each discuss one of
the six disciplines. For example, chapter eight analyzes the fifth discipline
entitled Innovate Purposely. In this invigorating chapter Harpst
demonstrates how innovation works in concert with the other disciplines and how
it should permeate the daily culture of a small business.
This is a book that should be read by everyone who leads a small
business. Six Disciplines For Excellence has
the clever ability to connect solid principles together with proven strategies
to create a workable plan. It makes sense of the seemingly complex and
fragmented problems facing any organization in a book that is colorful, easy to
comprehend and well written. If you own, manage or lead a small business, this
book will make you and your organization better!
weLEAD rating – highly recommended
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