Book review: Kiss Theory Goodbye
Wow. This is a really good book. This is a book that I got from the publisher–I get offered books on a regular basis and I turn down about as many as I accept. I was a little skeptical and almost didn’t accept this one. The marketing materials pitched the book as the logical successor in the lineage of Good to Great
The author is Bob Prosen (bio). He’s got a rich and varied career as an executive who helps turn around companies. This book is mainly practical advice, but also part shill for his consulting company. The shill doesn’t detract from the solid knowledge he shares.
The book is broken into eleven chapter contained in three parts: Part I: The Big Win: Maximum Profitability and Results; Part II: The Five Attributes of Highly Profitable Companies; and Part III: Execute for Results. Each part has a few chapters that are closely related. I found Part II to be my favorite section. The five attributes he writes at length about are Superior Leadership, Sales Effectiveness, Operational Excellence, Financial Management and Customer Loyalty. Each chapter has a hardnosed and generally quantitative approach to its topic. Also, each chapter ends with a section entitled Actions To Take Now, which is a handful of very concrete actions to pursue as you focus on that particular topic.
Some of the sections made me a little sleepy (Financial Management, for example), but all were chock full of solid, actionable information. And overall the book is just laser focused on helping you figure out the most high leverage actions to concentrate on in each discipline (finance, operations, sales, etc…). My copy is marked up, dogeared and sticky-noted. This book will never be far from my desk, since I anticipate returning to it repeatedly.
Prosen writes well and anchors his advice in examples from his own experience–often multiple examples. This book is definitely going on my list of books to recommend. Managers and upwards should get a copy and study it. Recent grads looking to get into management ought to have a read so they can prepare for what’s ahead. An excellent companion read would be Laurence Haughton’s It’s Not What You Say…It’s What You Do (review).
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