Follow this Path: How the World's Greatest Organizations Drive Growth by Unleashing Human Potential

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Philip G. Trent

interesting theory

Subtitled "Hire Gallup"

Manifesto for a Revolution

I agree, it's a great book

Follow this Path: How the World's Greatest Organizations Drive Growth by Unleashing Human Potential
Curt Coffman , and Gabriel Gonzalez-Molina
Manufacturer: Business Plus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

When it comes to getting ahead in business, The Gallup Organization has led the way with two landmark books: the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers First, Break all the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths. In its latest guide the world's hottest management consulting firm reveals your company's most valuable asset-and, with groundbreaking new findings and methods, shows you how developing that asset can lead to a quantum leap in cost efficiencies and profits.FOLLOW THIS PATHWhat do the world's greatest organizations have in common? They know that their most valuable resource is human-their employees and customers. And the best companies understand two important facts: people are emotional first and rational second, and because of that, employees and customers must be emotionally engaged in order for the organization to reach its full potential. Gallup research not only bears that out, but has uncovered the secrets of creating and managing an "emotional economy" that will provide boom possibilities for your company.FOLLOW THIS PATH shows you how the traditional ways to engage people no longer apply in today's world. Instead, it offers a system it calls The Gallup Path, based on the proven, revolutionary strategies of the most successful businesses. You'll learn the prerequisites of an effective workplace, forge unbreakable bonds between employees and customers with the book's 34 Routes to Superior Performance, know the three crucial links that drive productivity and growth, discover the best employee and customer motivators, and much more.Ignore the emotional economy-and miss out on financial performance. Helping you build relationships one customer and one employee at a time, this important book offers a unique new path for your organization to follow. All you have to do is value and develop human relationships all around you to transform your business-starting today.

Customer Reviews:

Philip G. Trent.......2007-09-11

What a great book! Simple, straight-forward, and relevant to sales managers today. Follow This Path was recommended to me by a friend and fellow manager. Like most managers, I've read dozens of books on management and leadership so I didn't expect any new revelations. However, this one surprised me. It gets right to the heart of what makes a great organization and why its people are key to any competitive advantage. Much of this book has been described as plain common sense, but the authors incorporate extensive research from the Gallup Organization to support their conclusions. If an organization isn't as productive as it should be - according to Gallup approximately 75% of employees in most companies are not engaged - then the number one goal is to get people engaged. The challenge is to figure out what people are good at, align those skill sets with company objectives, and focus more on outcomes instead of the process. That's where Follow This Path can help. The book offers a practical, sensible guide to maximizing individual strengths and talents in order to gain a competitive advantage - focusing more on heads and hearts and less on hands and feet! When you're working with people who are engaged and truly enjoy their work, managing them can be very rewarding. I highly recommend this book to managers who need a simple, yet proven approach to motivating employees and helping them reach their potential.

interesting theory.......2006-12-18

Like most management theory books this theory will probably be replaced by yet another but it does provide an interesting thought for human resources and management alike. The idea that you can unlock human potential by helping your employees maximize their work experience should be common sense. This book gives some great suggestions on how to start out along that path but like most business you will have to find your own. If you are interested in academic management this is probably a book that you will enjoy otherwise I would not waste your time.

Subtitled "Hire Gallup".......2005-03-15

We use Gallup at my workplace. Gallup is an excellent organization and we're better for working with them. However, this was too much. It's not a book. It's a brochure. Their Engagement Index is brilliant, but you can skim the other 260 pages without missing anything important.

Manifesto for a Revolution.......2003-08-16

Review of "Follow This Path"

The central thesis of this valuable and highly readable work can be summed up in three words: Feelings drive actions.

This book from The Gallup Organization focuses on applying that briefest but most fundamental truth to business success. The authors' conclusion can be simply stated: The feelings of your employees influence the feelings of your customers, and that drives their buying behavior and your profits.

It works like this: Understand your employees so that they are assigned to do work for which they're really best suited at the deepest personal level ('cuz they'll do that work better than any other). And treat your employees in ways that encourage them to be fully engaged in their work ('cuz that gets you more loyalty and productivity at no extra cost). And then, in turn, your employees will treat your customers in a way that makes your customers feel good about your company ('cuz that leads them to spend more with your firm for a longer time). And, voila!, your company makes more money with less effort.

At this point you might feel compelled to release a loud exclamation of, "Well, duh!"

But hold on.

The premise of "Follow This Path" seems deceptively simple for two reasons:
1) It contrasts markedly with the "rational" model that still shapes most interactions with both employees and customers in most organizations; and
2) It stands in direct opposition to the assumptions underlying most business initiatives that are supposed to improve quality, productivity, or even customer satisfaction. Most, if not all, of those projects are aimed at mechanistically tweaking operational processes. And they don't positively affect the people on either side of the transaction: employees or customers. And so they have little to no effect on fundamentally improving the business. (But they sure do suck up a lot of time, create many distractions, and generate healthy fees for consultants.)

MORE THAN A REHASH
While tempting, it is misguided to characterize this book as a mere rehash of its predecessors from the Gallup Organization, "First, Break All the Rules" and "Now, Discover Your Strengths." Candidly, when first flipping through the book, "rehash" was my impression, too.

However, "Follow This Path" is a significant contribution in its own right. It integrates and extends Gallup's two previous works. This book's insights derive from an expanded data set supplied by Gallup's massive survey-based research, and the book also (as is all the rage in business tomes these days) draws on much of the historical and current research into the origins of behavior from both psychological and biological underpinnings. A smattering of readable anecdotes from real people help to bring the principles to life. (The end notes also are worth reading as the text there is written as a narrative and adds worthwhile insights. In addition, this work contains an appendix of what likely will strike most readers as mind-numbing statistical mumbo-jumbo, aimed, no doubt, at quieting critics who question the validity of the data underpinning Gallup's claims and conclusions.)

The effect is to validate sound, albeit somewhat non-traditional, perspectives on what really lies behind the elusive, mercantile holy grail of successfully competing in today's crazy, cut-throat marketplace.

THE UPSHOT
The good news is that these principles are easy to grasp and make intuitive sense (after reconsidering traditional biases).

The bad news is that for organizations to take advantage of these simple truths, they must unlearn much of what their managers "know" about how business works. The challenge is to move managers from the realm of the rational, definable, and controllable --- the hallmark characteristic of virtually every manager in virtually every corporation (perhaps with the exception of those strange and intrepid folks populating the marketing communications department).

The new reality: To compete effectively, managers must migrate to the still largely uncharted domain of the emotional, psychological, and personal in order to affect both employees and customers. In a gross understatement, this imperative represents a frighteningly major shift and no easy undertaking.

Making such a dramatic and fundamental change in both mindset and behaviors implies considerable adaptations at two levels: In the minds and hearts of individual managers, and in the policies and systems of their employing organizations.

All exaggeration aside, we're talking social revolution here. Undoubtedly, it will keep Gallup's consulting organization, and firms such as my own, very busy for many years to come.

But what if your boss or CEO is a Neanderthal and "doesn't get it"? Press on. Start with yourself and your very own work group. As the research from Gallup and many others makes clear, that's the only level at which real change actually occurs anyway.

Get the book and read it with a scientific mind, skeptical but open. Then get busy charting your own course through the new frontier of what Gallup aptly terms The Emotional Economy.

Chances are, you'll feel better...with rising productivity and profits...because customers feel better...because your employees feel better.

I agree, it's a great book.......2003-08-08

I really didn't want to like this book. It just sounded too much like some new age, pop psychology dribble on how to feel good. I couldn't have been further from the truth. Although this isn't a great book, it is a very valuable book, not only for the businessman, but for leaders of nonprofits as well.

The premise of the book is simple. In an age where prices have been cut to razor thin margins, and businesses have become commodities, the only way to profitably survive is to unleash the human potential among your employees and customers. The authors ask this simple, but profound question: Why would a customer drive past your competition and pay a higher price to purchase your product? The answer: You have an emotionally engaged customer.

The authors demonstrate the world's greatest organizations connect with their customers on an emotional level. When this happens customers return because of the way they feel- they become emotional engaged. The businesses manta for the last century has been based on reason- if you build a better mousetrap, offer it at the lowest price, people will buy. Studies have shown that people are more driven by their emotions when it comes to purchase and repurchase than they are by reason. The same holds true for employees. The Gallop organization also has shown that emotionally engaged employees produce more, stay longer, have less accidents, etc.

Any problems? Maybe one. When hiring, the authors tell us again and again to commit to talent above education, experience, willingness to work hard, and the usual resume items. Inborn talent produces engaged employees; but what they did not address was the integrity issue. Jack Welch points out that the most dangerous employee is not the rude, insensitive, actively disengaged employee; but the one with the talent who does not hold to the values of the corporation. The actively disengaged employee will hurt the company, and yes, if you have enough of them they will destroy the company, but the real danger lies with talented, engaged employees who love their work but who do not hold to the company's values. These are the ones Welch would immediately get rid of.

All in all, it's a valuable book. For a pastor of a small church, or a midlevel manager, the Q-12 (Questions developed by the Gallop organization which identify the conditions of a great work space) are invaluable. By unleashing the human potential in staff, volunteers and members the leader of a nonprofit can build a great organization.

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Follow this Path: How the World's Greatest Organizations Drive Growth by Unleashing Human Potential
Gonzales-Molina, Curt, Gabriel Coffman
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
ASIN: B00007EIDV

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Follow This Path: How the World's Greatest Organizations Drive Growth By Unleashing Human Potential (Simplified Chinese) (Paperback)

Manufacturer: China Machine Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 7111126289

Product Description

This is the Chinese Version. Simplified Characters. Follow This Path: How the world's greatest orginizations drive growth by unleashing human potential.

Book Description

Getting to the real value of a business and assessing what are its shares really worth suddenly looks less clear cut. In an investment environment that is extremely challenging even for experienced City professionals, doing your homework has never been more important. And with the current accounting scandals rocking confidence and the markets being able to accurately value companies, stock has just taken on a whole new dimension. The book goes beyond investment ratios to explore what these ratios tell us about the company as an investment or what the ratios tell us about the stock market's assessment of the company and its prospects

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Resources for Feminist Research, published by O.I.S.E. on September 22, 2003. The length of the article is 1062 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Punishment in Disguise: Penal Governance and Federal Imprisonment of Women in Canada.(Book Review)
Author: Dorothy Chunn
Publication: Resources for Feminist Research (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2003
Publisher: O.I.S.E.
Volume: 30 Issue: 1-2 Page: 155(4)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

This volume provides an introduction to the texture analysis of deformed materials and explores methods of determining and interpreting the preferred orientation of crystals in deformed polycrystalline aggregates.**The book reviews: 1) the techniques, procedures, and theoretical basis for the accumulation and analysis of orientation data; 2)the processes by which polycrystals deform and the microstructural mechanisms responsible for the development of the preferred orientation; 3) the textures in specific systems and application of principles to the solution of specific problems.**With a combination of metallurgic and geologic applications, Preferred Orientation in Deformed Metals and Rocks: An Introduction to Modern Texture Analysis will be an important source book for students and researchers in materials science, solid state physics, structural geology, and geophysics.**FROM THE PREFACE: Determination and interpretation of the preferred orientation of crystals in deformed polycrystalline aggregates (in this volume also referred to as texture) has been of longstanding concern to both materials scientists and geologists. A similar theoretical background--such as the dislocation theory of crystal plasticity--has been the basis of understanding flow in metals and rocks; and similar determinative techniques--including microscopy and x-ray diffraction--have been used to study textures and microstructures. Whereas many of the fundamental principles have been established early this century by scientists such as Jeffery, Sachs, Sander, Schmid, Schmidt, and Taylor, only in recent years has knowledge reached a level that provides a quantitative framework which has replaced a largely phenomenological approach. This is expressed in the sudden new emphasis on textural studies, as documented by the large number of recent publications.**This volume contains material to serve as an introduction for those who wish to enter this field as well as reviews for those who are already engaged in advanced research....**The book is divided into three parts. The first (Chapters 2*b17) deals with techniques, procedures, and theoretical bases for the accumulation and analysis of orientation data. The second (Chapters 8*b112) introduces processes by which polycrystals deform and the microstructural mechanisms responsible for the development of the preferred orientation. All those chapters emphasize basic principles and apply to metals as well as to minerals. The third part (Chapters 13*b126) illustrates textures in specific systems and the application of the principles set out in the earlier chapters to the solution of specific problems. Readers of these chapters will quickly become aware that metals have been more exhaustively studied than minerals; but they will also realize that, because of their structural symmetry, metals are in general much simpler than rocks and that the intepretation of metal textures is less involved. An extensive list of relevant references provides access to much of the original literature on textures....

Customer Reviews:

Fundamental book for fabric analysis.......2000-06-15

That's a very good write book with all the basic, and advanced, information for fabric and texture analysis of natural materials, namely granitic rocks. The methods for quantification and interpretation of the fabric analysis are still in use now a days.

Book Description

One of the latest volumes of recorded lectures by the world's greatest physics teacher

Perseus Books is proud to announce the latest volumes in its series of recorded lectures by the late Richard P. Feynman, lectures originally delivered to his physics students at Caltech and later fashioned by the author into his classic textbook Lectures on Physics.

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Exaggerated, but true, particularly a few years ago

I couldn't put it down

Now more than ever

Second read

Interesting look inside medicine...

The House of God: The Classic Novel of Life and Death in an American Hospital
Samuel Shem
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Release Date: 2003-07-01

Book Description

Now a classic! The hilarious novel of the healing arts that reveals everything your doctor never wanted you to know. Six eager interns -- they saw themselves as modern saviors-to-be. They came from the top of their medical school class to the bottom of the hospital staff to serve a year in the time-honored tradition, racing to answer the flash of on-duty call lights and nubile nurses. But only the Fat Man --the Clam, all-knowing resident -- could sustain them in their struggle to survive, to stay sane, to love-and even to be doctors when their harrowing year was done.

From the Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Exaggerated, but true, particularly a few years ago.......2007-08-20

I did my residency in the 1990s and I can assure you that it wasn't all that different than that depicted in Shem's book. The unbelievable workload, chronic lack of sleep, exposure to illness and death, all mixed with the constant pressure to be brilliant, hardworking, and efficient to impress pompous and seemingly callous superiors is a recipe for warping a person into an automaton. I just counted down the days until it was over. But the experience leaves you changed, hopefully not scarred, and now as an attending in a large BMS, I am glad that the schedules are more humane for our residents and interns, yet I somehow feel that they are soft and coddled because they can't work more than 80 hours/wk. Anyway, this experience is depicted well in HOG, and I think it would be hard for someone who hasn't experienced this to appreciate this book. If a layperson finds it horrifying, then maybe they will experience a little of what it was like for those of us who had to live it. The dark humor is extremely real, the sexual escapades were enjoyed by some, but not all of us, in the trenches. "Buff" and "turf" are terms I hear on a regular basis. I didn't care for the ending of the book; Roy's career choice seemed unlikely, but I'm guessing that's what happened to the author. Overall, the book brings to light some of the horrors of medical training, but sensationalizes it to a degree. The humor is at times adolescent, but still I had to laugh out loud at some parts. I'm sure I wouldn't give the book five stars if I hadn't gone through a fairly grueling internship myself though.

I couldn't put it down.......2007-08-14

This book deserves praise. The characters and events in the book are just amazing. 1984 used to be my absolute favorite book. I'm glad to say the torch has been passed (sorry George). The sexuality of the first chapter will captivate, the stories throughout will horrify, Jo will piss you off, you will love The Fat Man. Anyone looking for a great read will not be disappointed.

Now more than ever.......2007-08-09

As a current internal medicine resident, I can say with a good deal of certainty that this book contains nothing but the truth. Some aspects, notably the vividly exaggerated sexual escapades, are of course dated, but really not much at all has changed since the time this book was written. While anybody who has been through a residency can probably relate, this book is best appreciated by those in internal medicine.
There may not be any easy answers, especially as so many people are now aging in the developed world. However, many other nations, with national insurance, government price controls on pharmaceuticals, etc., have a much more balanced approach to healthcare, and the statistics speak for themselves. Here, we let people get deathly sick, throw them from an ER into a hospital at the mercy of trainees, then pat ourselves on the back when we increase the pain for everybody involved. It's absurd, perhaps even disgusting, but it's true.
Remember, one day it will be your family member, and the next time, it will be you. Your wallet, psyche, and ultimately your life will not escape the hospital.

Second read.......2007-08-02

I first picked up this book in 1982; I read it for a second time this week. There is little character development as the book evolves through this one resident's personal experience. Aside from the drum beat style the author uses to describe residency training, the reader gets a sense of cynicism toward medical education, the health care system, and the human condition. All of which are sadly real. I feel badly for residents. They are abused. It's true the endless stream of patients with their various needs & agendas can wear literally one out, but within the text, I looked for a sense of purpose in the main character's decision to become a doctor in the first place; I never found it. The main character would have been more interesting given a sense of direction after residency. With all due respect, I found the book superficial; I will likely not read it again. Thank you.

Interesting look inside medicine..........2007-07-19

A fascinating look inside a doctor's year as an intern. This semi-autobiographical tale does come off as a bit dated at times, but it's influence can be felt whenever you watch an episode of St. Elsewhere, Scrubs, or even Grey's Anatomy. An interesting read that I highly recomend to anyone doing any kind of internship.

House of God: The Classic Novel of Life and Death in an American Hospital

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House of God: The Classic Novel of Life and Death in an American Hospital
Samuel Shem
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000U2LZ8E

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