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Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't
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Sales rank 261,669
Customers rating (based on 40 reviews)
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The new grand theory of leadership by Ram Charan . . . The breakthrough book that links know-how—the skills of people who know what they are doing— with the personal and psychological traits of the successful leader.How often have you heard someone with a commanding presence deliver a bold vision that turned out to be nothing more than rhetoric and hot air? All too often we mistake the appearance of leadership for the real deal. Without a doubt, intelligence, vision, and the ability to communicate are important. But something big is missing: the know-how of running a business—the capacity to take it in the right direction, do the right things, make the right decisions, deliver results, and leave the people and the business better off than they were before.For well over four decades, Ram Charan has been learning in the most visceral way the underlying reasons why leaders succeed and fail. As one of the most influential advisers to top management teams of leading companies around the world, he has had a front-row seat to observe the cause and effect of leadership practices and behaviors.Ram Charan’s insight into the real content of leadership provides you with the eight fundamental skills needed for success in the twenty-first century: • Positioning (and, when necessary, repositioning) your business by zeroing in on the central idea that meets customer needs and makes money• Connecting the dots by pinpointing patterns of external change ahead of others• Shaping the way people work together by leading the social system of your business• Judging people by getting to the truth of a person• Molding high-energy, high-powered, high-ego people into a working team of leaders in which they equal more than the sum of their parts• Knowing the destination where you want to take your business by developing goals that balance what the business can become with what it can realistically achieve• Setting laser-sharp priorities that become the road map for meeting your goals• Dealing creatively and positively with societal pressures that go beyond the economic value creation activities of your businessKnow-How is the missing link of leadership. By showing how the eight know-hows link to, interact with, and reinforce personal and psychological traits, Ram Charan provides a holistic and innovative portrait of successful leaders of the twenty-first century.
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| Publisher | Crown Business | | Release date | 01/2007 | | Availability | | | Edition | Hardcover |
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Practical Leadership Principles
Effective leaders don't have to be charasmatic; they do have to be competent, possess unyielding honesty and integrity, and be able to get people they lead to "buy into" their strategies. That's easier said than done, especially when dealing with a diverse blend of personalities; sometimes, egos get in the way of teamwork. When it's the head-honcho's ego that's getting in the way, an entire organization may suffer as a result from the lack of support. Welcome to corporate America; if only the egos of those pompous CEOs matched the earnings of the corporation.
Dr Ram Charan has compiled an engaging and very pragmatic study into what makes a leader a success, and what makes them a dud. He pinpoints eight skills that are required, but I'm not so sure this needs to be split up eight ways. After all, if the boss knows what he's doing, he possesses good old fashioned common sense most of the time; if the boss is a nit-wit, he doesn't. Chances are, the nit-wit is also a jerk, and that's when the big problems come along for the ride. It's usually quite a mess.
As a guy who spent over a quarter of a century in the micro-managing world of corporate America, I experienced the good, the bad and the ugly, as far as bosses go. From what I witnessed, the farther up the company ladder some of these people went, the less engaging their management style; and the less competent their knowledge of the business appeared to be. With leadership like that proliferating throughout corporate America, is it any wonder we're in the mess we're in today?
Clearly, most of those CEOs have never read this book; nor do they think they need to read this book. That's where the trouble begins; let's hope they get a clue one of these days.
Review submitted by Larry Underwood, author Life Under the Corporate Microscope: A Maverick's Irreverent Perspective
 High aims, not much of the result
I start to suspect, that I have too high expectations for business books I read. Still, if on a back cover you read such reviews as:"revolutionary book", or "hits the bull's eye" it is hard not to pay attention.
When you start reading it, you realise that you're not quite the target audience for the book - it targets CEO's and other top-of-the-top managers, running multi billion companies.
Second thing is that it is mostly dedicated for the US audience - the examples, as well as the skills Charan is talking about are obvious for most European top managers. And those, who are not familiar with them are most probably not going to have a long career.
Finnally, it is one of those "be creative and inspiring" books - talking about things everybody knows are necessary, but does not explaining how to do that.
So if you still want to read this book - chapter takeouts by the end of each one will be enough. I am pretty sure, that after read those, you won't be too surprised.
How to be or judge a great CEO
The book starts out by discussing a frustrating topic "the appearance of leadership." Unfortunately certain traits can lead people to assume someone would make a good (effective) CEO, but these can often be deceptive. A CEO that delivers results over a sustained period will be one who has "know-how". The author describes that as the following eight characteristics:
1. The ability to position and reposition the company to be on the right ends of trends to make money.
2. The ability to pinpoint external changes and their effects on the company and its markets
3. The ability to lead and shape the organizations "social system" or culture
4. The ability to judge people well and determine if and where they fit best
5. The ability to mold teams - to get strong individuals to work well as a team
6. The ability to set goals - specifically the proper goals to ensure success
7. The ability to set priorities - not just the right ones, but also sticking with and reinforcing them
8. The ability to deal with forces beyond the market
The author dedicates a chapter to explore each of these in depth. Most of these were clear and actionable. The only exception was the last one, which I think could have been handled better. The author describes the necessity to "work with" special interest groups, but then admits one can get caught in the crossfire between them (he mentions Ford getting between gay rights and religious fundamentalists). I would have liked to have seen it suggested for businesses to steer clear of endorsing/promoting special interests and clearly communicate that, as the proper course. With the recent commotion for corporations to be "socially responsible", companies need to stand up and say it is WRONG to take money from customers, employees, and/or shareholders (the only sources of fund for companies) and patronize selected causes. There is no way for a company to give to any cause, and please everyone, so individuals should get/keep their money and do with it as each pleases.
Overall, this is a great book for people who want to be, or even judge, a CEO. This book really should be required reading for anyone who sits on a board of directors.
One tip makes this book worth reading
Don't dismiss this entry in Charan's business guru tips because most of it is basic, commonsense. My rule for business reading is that if you get one good guideline that's relevant and reliable, the book is worth whatever you paid for it. The "8 skills" that Charan says separates executive winners and losers popped up a valuable, worth-the-price principle for me: A company exec can't let the company go into an internal holding pattern waiting for clear, definite external patterns. If you need an example, think of the companies that lose out when executives waffle or stay on the sidelines while politicians take charge of the external patterns. Climate change legislation is a case in point. Executives of GE, Wal-Mart, Duke Energy, GM, DuPont and others got into the sociopolitical process to shape the rules that companies must live by as the war on carbon unfolds. Charan correctly observes that "the fruits...will belong to the realists" who see the key variables and act to shape their impact.
Bo Knows Football - Ram Knows Know-How!
Management uber-guru Ram Charan offers a business counterpart to Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" in his book, "Know How." This is an engaging and insightful discussion of eight key skills that comprise business acumen and know how.
"Know How" will be most useful for business executives, especially C-level execs. Nevertheless, those in middle management or those who aspire to a management position cannot help but benefit from the book.
At times, it is tempting to see Charan's recitation as a list of Boy Scout virtues. At other times, it is not easy to discern just how practitioners are to acquire such qualities. Despite his guru and quasi-celeb status, Charan writes in a lucid style that is (relatively) jargon-free.
Reading and heeding "Know How" will turbo-charge your business skill sets.
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