Practical advice (supported by extensive case studies) for fixing troubled arts organizations

THE C-LEVEL GUIDE TO SUCCEEDING WITH LEAN "With 30 years of accumulated experience, Art Byrne is one of the rare few people who can speak with authority about the pitfalls of fi nancial measurement systems, the importance of respect for people, the power of Lean in the marketplace, and the leverage from organizing people around value streams. When he writes 'Go to the Gemba and Run Your Kaizen,' we must take heed." -- MASAAKI IMAI, bestselling author of Kaizen and Gemba Kaizen "In this wonderful and important book, Byrne shows us that Lean management, understood and practiced correctly, consistently delivers spectacular results." -- BOB EMILIANI, author, Better Thinking, Better Results, and Professor, Connecticut State University "A compelling picture of how Lean techniques and attitudes enable CEOs and senior executives to create a culture for transforming a company and putting it on a highperformance path." -- JERRY J. JASINOWSKI, former President of the National Association of Manufacturers "Art Byrne provides real-world examples of how he exhibited the wisdom and courage to do the right thing, improving work practices at all levels of the organization to deliver the right results for all stakeholders. Which comes first, the wisdom or the courage? Read The Lean Turnaround to find out." -- JOHN SHOOK, Chairman and CEO, Lean Enterprise Institute "Lean is the closest thing to magic I have experienced in my 40 years in business. I recommend Lean and this book to everyone responsible for the performance of a business, particularly those in private equity like me, where leverage magnifies the importance of cash." -- JOHN CHILDS, founder and CEO, of J. W. Childs Associates L.P. "A must-read for any leader interested in understanding the strategic advantages from focusing on activities that add value to the customer experience." -- GARY S. KAPLAN, MD, Chairman and CEO of the Virginia Mason Health System Lean isn't just for manufacturing anymore . . . Few business leaders in the world have applied Lean strategy as successfully as Art Byrne has--and none has the ability to explain how to do it with such succinctness and clarity. Famous for turning around the wire management company Wiremold, where he rethought every aspect of operations from the customer's standpoint--and got everyone else in the company to do likewise--Byrne has successfully implemented Lean strategies in more than 30 companies in 14 different countries. In The Lean Turnaround, this legendary business leader shares everything he has learned during his remarkable career and shows how anyone can achieve similar results. His primary message is this: Lean strategy isn't just for manufacturing. In fact, Byrne is using this very approach in his present position at a private equity firm. Whatever type of company you run, Lean can be used to improve virtually every aspect of operations, from training and leading employees to accounting and payroll issues. The Lean Turnaround explains all the ins and outs of applying Lean strategy to: Eliminate waste in every value-added operation Deliver consistent value to customers Stimulate growth and add jobs Increase wealth for all your stakeholders Build a company culture of continuous improvement (kaizen) Instead of attempting to get customers to conform to your way of doing things--which is, sadly, what most managers are taught to do--you need to configure your company to be responsive to the customers. This is at the core of Byrne's method--and it always works.

Every successful business needs to have turnaround tactics in its arsenal. When a business is struggling, it's these tactics that will turn the tide. Everyday Turnaround tells the tale of a turnaround CEO of a fictional organization who uses agile tactics such as kaizen and scrum to achieve success. Author Eric Kish developed and tested the Everyday Turnaround concept while executing 12 turnarounds across seven industries and three continents over a period of 18 years. From the introduction: "The guy who hired me to do my first turnaround was very smart. He gave me on average 18 months to complete a turnaround and then, overnight and with no warning, would move me to the next one. And he would not allow me to take any of the people I trained and coached in the previous one. This became a ritual for the next 10 years and resulted in 7 successful turnarounds. "I had very little time, if any, to prepare for the next turnaround. I had to get my bearings on the spot and 'fly the airplane while it was being built'. This meant that while discovering and developing assumptions I needed to act and have the organization follow. And I also knew that the day will come when I will move on overnight and will leave behind a leadership team and an organization that can fly 'the airplane' without me."

Ed Whitacre is credited with taking over the corporate reins at General Motors (GM) when the automotive manufacturer was on the brink of bankruptcy during 2009 and turned the company around in magnificent fashion. In this business memoir, the native Texan explores his unique management style, business acumen and patriotism. It was President Obama who reached out to Ed Whitacre to come out of retirement and take over GM in 2009. A down-to-earth, no-nonsense Texas native with a distinctive Texas twang in his voice, Whitacre was reluctant to come out of retirement to work at GM. But Whitacre is that rare CEO with great charisma and extraordinary management instincts. And when he got to Detroit, he started to whittle down the corporate bureaucracy right away - and got GM back on track in record time. Before being pulled out of retirement to run GM by Obama, Ed Whitacre had spent his entire corporate career in the telecom business, where he ultimately ended up running AT&T.

Practical advice (supported by extensive case studies) for fixing troubled arts organizations

How to steer your business through times of financial distress and achieve sustained profitability Corporate Turnaround Artistry is a complete guide for entrepreneurial companies in times of financial distress—presenting effective strategies and proven methods to revive and rehabilitate your business. Uncertain economic times have significantly altered the financial resources available to struggling businesses. Narrowing margins and mounting internal and external pressure has taken their toll on many companies. Fortunately, most businesses can be repaired while maintaining their existing revenue structure. Offering practical steps that go beyond simple cost-cutting and sales-building advice, this invaluable guide teaches you how to control cash, secure financial relief, and develop a comprehensive turnaround plan that your employees, customers, and creditors will support. Business leaders and entrepreneurs often fall into the trap of assuming new debt when tough times strike. Author and Certified Turnaround Practitioner Jeff Sands shows that to many struggling businesses, more money is no longer the answer to the problem. Expert advice on topics including cashflow stabilization, short and long-term profit sustainability, lean management techniques, and more, provides the framework to timely and efficient corporate turnaround. From identifying the initial cash crisis to meeting with creditors and developing a plan, this essential resource will help you: Stabilize your financial liabilities and re-structure your debt Implement effective turnaround strategies without significant changes to your corporate structure Preserve the positions of your current employees and their community Give yourself a fresh start with a lean and agile business Thousands of businesses fall into financial stress every year—oftentimes in sudden and dramatic fashion—leaving CEOs and owners asking the question “How do I save my business”? Corporate Turnaround Artistry: Fix Any Business in 100 Days provides the answer.

Eric Best's world is changing… not just a piece here or there, really changing. His monotonous day job working for an Internet search engine company leaves him unfulfilled, so he starts writing an exciting screenplay. His wife isn't happy with all of his time being monopolized, and their marriage is already a little rocky, but Eric is determined to finish what he started. He's becoming more and more invested in his work. He's even having lucid dreams of his scripted universe… but more real. Then he notices the changes. Changes in his life that are impossible, wonderful, and even horrific…

How any manager can turn a struggling team into business champs In today’s uncertain economic environment, teams are asked to do more with less. With resources stretched thin, turning around a struggling team has never been harder, and managers must work to identify and maximize whatever potential strengths a team already has. As sports fans already know, behind every great underdog story is a leader who roots out the competitive advantage that will propel the team to victory. In Team Turnarounds, Joe Frontiera and Dan Leidl share how this fine art of the turnaround really works, from how to inspire the team to the actual tools for change. Through interviews with team managers and turnaround masters in the NFL, MLB, and the NCAA, as well as managers at top global firms who have successfully reversed their fortunes, they show the six steps every team takes to make a 180 in their performance. • Presents a six-step model for turnarounds in any organization, based on the authors’ extensive research with owners and general managers of sport franchises in the MLB, NFL, and NBA • Features first-hand accounts of sport turnarounds, from the legendary worst-to-first story of Bill Polian and the Indianapolis Colts to Jeffrey Lurie’s efforts to transform the Philadelphia Eagles • Offers behind-the-scenes accounts of effective turnarounds at major organizations like Dominos Pizza, Juniper Networks, iContact, and the Broadway play, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark No matter how bad the circumstances, how awful the performance, or how far shares have plummeted, Team Turnarounds shows how any organization can make the climb back up to the top.