Less Is More: How Great Companies Use Productivity

by Jason Jennings

From the author of the bestselling It's Not the Big That Eat the Small, It's the Fast That Eat the Slow comes a vital new guide to increasing business productivity without adding employees or other overhead costs Managers and CEOs are always looking for ways to keep productivity high, and recent economic shakiness has only reinforced their need. Now Jason Jennings, a bestselling author and international business consultant, offers a groundbreaking look at how to boost productivity and your bottom line. In Less Is More , Jennings shares tested and successful programs from the leading giants in industry and presents new trends that businesses of all sizes will be able to implement. Inside, you'll learn how Written in the same breezy, informative style of Jennings's previous book, Less Is More is sure to join its predecessor on bestseller lists nationwide.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Productivity, Management, Leadership

272 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2002

About the author

Jason Jennings (b. May 31, 1956, Negaunee, Michigan) is the author of the 2001 Harper Collins NY Times bestseller, It's Not The big That Eat The Small - It's The Fast That Eat The Slow, and his subsequent business bestsellers for Penguin Putnam , Less Is More (2004) and Think Big-Act Small (2006).

He began his career as a broadcast journalist and later owned radio stations in Oklahoma, Washington and Arizona. The consulting firm he founded Jennings-McGlothlin & Company became the largest media consultancy in the world and served clients in the broadcasting and retail industries.

He does between sixty and eighty keynote speeches each year around the world and in 2007, USA Today named him one of the three most in demand business speakers in the nation alongside Tom Peters and Jim Collins.

Reviews

[Robert]

Less Is More: How Great Companies Use Productivity
Jason Jennings
Portfolio/The Penguin Group

As Jennings explains in this volume, he and his research associates examined more than 4,000 companies, settled on a short list of 100, and then reduced it to the top eight outstanding performers. The criteria for evaluation and selection included revenue per employee, return on equity, return on assets, and operating income per employee. Next, questions were posed such as "Has the company been overexposed?" and "Might this company pull an Enron?" Here are the eight: IKEA, Lantech, Nucor, Ryanair, SRC Holdings, World Savings, Yellow Freight, and The Warehouse. When discussing them, Jennings focuses with meticulous on issues such as these:

• Tactics that are most effective when selling "the BIG idea" (strategy) to an organization
• Action steps that will "drive a stake through the heart of bureaucracy"
• How to "systematize everything"
• Principles which highly productive companies employ to achieve continuous improvement
• "Ruthless and strict" criteria by which to evaluate technological initiatives
• Sequential initiatives which to permanently motivate a workforce
• Traits required for a leader of a highly productive enterprise
• "Twelve Rules for Doing More with Less"

Each of these is subjected to a rigorous and eloquent analysis. By this process Jennings reveals the "lessons" referred to earlier. All of these lessons are directly relevant to all organizations (regardless of size and nature) and can effectively applied IF (huge "if") those who read this book select an appropriate course of action from among the four options Jennings identifies. If nothing else, each reader can model herself or himself after the principles and traits of the most productive companies and their leaders. By doing so they will add a “turbocharger” to their professional growth.

[Eric Brosch]

Outstanding! It is nice to see that a company can be successful by following such simple principles!

[Ngoc Nguyen]

i think it good but it same same like "good to great" of Jim Collins ! Better, u should read Jim Collins

[Michael]

In keeping with the title of the book “Less is More.” I will give you my main take away from the book and leave it at that. Before you do something, make sure that you have a good business reason for doing it.

[Brady Stewart]

Applicable to any business in America, in my opinion.

[Guillermo]

truly worth it

[Hoang]

Cliche!

[Israel]

Awesome book on productivity with actionable steps. 👏🏾👏🏾

[Julian Antonio]

El mejor libro de productividad y gerencia que he leído

[Thịnh Phan]

A good compass for companies want to achieve more in the business world, a recommend book for whom "productivity" spin around in your head.

[Rob]

Interesting view of what makes companies successful. However things have not gone well for many of them. Platitudes but some good food for thought. Easier for smaller companies than larger ones as most of it comes down to culture, a single clear mission, and honestly measuring performance (as well as getting rid of those who don't perform).

[Nephi]

Really good business book.

[Author Blog Tours]

Pretty boring read. I didn't even make it all the way through.

[Tom Darrow]

Many modern CEOs would benefit from reading this book. It has a lot of good ideas about making long-term productivity in the economy, not just short term gains through lay-offs.

[Lori Grant]

A should-read book on managing companies for knowledge workers, managers, executives, and entrepreneurs.

[Jack Vinson]

My blogged review:
https://www.jackvinson.com/blog/2014/...

[Zaini Mokhtar]

This book deserve like 6 stars over 5.