The Breakthrough Company by Keith R. McFarland-A great read
Early in the book Keith headlines a chapter with, "Someone Needed to Write this Book." Prior to publishing the book and having been told by the likes of Jim Collins and others that a book of this caliper needed to be written for small businesses, Keith began to scroll the three primary questions he would address. (He admits to pulling an air sick bag out on a flight and writing his initial questions and ideas.)
1. Why do most companies start small and stay that way?
2. What is special about he handful of companies that successfully "break through" the entrepreneurial stage of development?
3. What can a leader do to ensure that his company maximizes its chances for breakthrough?
For business coaches, entrepreneurs, and executives alike, the answers to these questions are clearly detailed as Keith shares his in-depth research of small companies. In fact, this book is quite different from the vast majority of business and management books churned out by publishers and consultants working at giant firms. It's written based on studies of truly small companies in comparison to Fortune 500 companies.
What I liked most about this book is what Keith says about coaching. On page 214 Keith writes "The No. 1 job of a Leader: Coaching." What he goes on to say is it's one thing for leaders to focus on "getting the right people on the bus." Yet, it's quite another for leaders to develop the skill to truly develop the talent they already have on the bus so to speak.
Keith goes on to reference coach John Wooden, the "Wizard of Westwood" who coached the UCLA Bruins to ten national championships, seven of them in a row from 1967 to 1973. Citing Wooden as a master of his trade who, as most people forget, took twenty years for him to win his first championship, McFarland writes, "The best college coaches, regardless of the sport, know that recruiting the right players is critical to winning a championship, but they spend far less time recruiting than coaching." Business leaders would be well served by following this example.
Apparently, one of the common threads of breakthrough companies visited by Keith and his team is they were loaded with great coaches. These are people, leaders, business owners, and executives who became highly skilled at "helping people do their very best."
Reading this book reinforced for me the critical importance of the work we do as professional business coaches. Helping leaders learn the skills of coaching can only complement all the great strategic and tactical work done in small businesses today.
So if you're not learning how to improve your coaching skills and applying this skill set to business, it may not matter how cool your widget is or how good you and your team might be at marketing and selling.
Learn to coach better. Commit to growing your key people. You'll be amazed at how people and companies transform for the better.
Cliff Jones
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