What do you think?
Rate this book
By Paul Light The Four Pillars of High Performance (1st First Edition) [Hardcover]
Excellent Book
- GenresBusiness
Hardcover
First published December 14, 2004
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 25, 2008
The Four Pillars of High Performance: How Robust Organizations Achieve Extraordinary Results
Paul C. Light
McGraw-Hill
In this volume, Light suggests how certain “robust organizations have “achieved extraordinary results” and how others can also do so. He concedes that a moribund or demoralized organization can "create a burst of high performance by terrifying [its] workforce or rallying [its] troops" but invariably the results are only temporary. He asserts (and I agree) that the greater challenge is to "build organizations that produce results by hedging against the inevitable surprises and vulnerabilities that lurk in today's environment, while exploiting opportunities to shape the future to their advantage." Hence the importance of having a “stereoscopic perspective” which includes an awareness of possible and at least a sense of probable perils as well as opportunities. Hence the importance of having a design which can accommodate modification in response to "inevitable surprises." Hence the importance, also, of having a foundation which can withstand the impact of adversity while sustaining competitive initiatives.
In 1999, Light was engaged by the RAND Corporation to examine what its researchers had learned about managing public organizations during several previous decades. He eventually decided to focus on what had been learned about how any organization can achieve and then sustain high performance. It is important to note, as does Light, that RAND research is guided by three basic principles embedded in its own organizational culture: "First, RAND has a well-deserved reputation for questioning the questions...Second, RAND has a long history of questioning its own answers through peer review and quality control.... Third, RAND allows the evidence to speak, even when it unsettles the client." I was also interested to learn that RAND had some serious problems of its own during the mid-1990s that are noted within Light's narrative. RAND solved those problems by focusing on the basics of the Four Pillars.
Light shares several lessons about the future revealed by RAND's research after a rigorous analysis of "four critical sources of organizational vulnerability: ignorance, inflexibility, indifference, and inconsistency." However, Light has accomplished far more than examine an immense body of research data and then merely summarize key points. He had more ambitious objectives for this book and he achieved all of them. They include focusing much less attention on broad general principles (albeit sound ones) and far more attention on HOW almost any organization (regardless of size or nature) can apply those principles where perils are greatest, where opportunities are most promising, and where significant change is most likely.
Granted, senior-level executives will find few head-snapping revelations in this book. Light creates for them, however, broad and deep access to a wealth of valuable (previously inaccessible) information from which he helps them to learn how to establish or nourish their own "robust" organization. After a careful reading and then re-reading of his book, they should then review key points in the Conclusion at the end of each chapter. I strongly recommend that his readers regularly review, also, the dozens of (boxed) idea clusters which Light thoughtfully provides throughout the narrative. One final point. As James Q. Wilson notes in the Foreword, Light's work at RAND "did not involve any pre-conditions or post-research clearances. What you will read here is Light's best independent advice." Those who read this book will agree that it is a brilliant achievement.
Paul C. Light
McGraw-Hill
In this volume, Light suggests how certain “robust organizations have “achieved extraordinary results” and how others can also do so. He concedes that a moribund or demoralized organization can "create a burst of high performance by terrifying [its] workforce or rallying [its] troops" but invariably the results are only temporary. He asserts (and I agree) that the greater challenge is to "build organizations that produce results by hedging against the inevitable surprises and vulnerabilities that lurk in today's environment, while exploiting opportunities to shape the future to their advantage." Hence the importance of having a “stereoscopic perspective” which includes an awareness of possible and at least a sense of probable perils as well as opportunities. Hence the importance of having a design which can accommodate modification in response to "inevitable surprises." Hence the importance, also, of having a foundation which can withstand the impact of adversity while sustaining competitive initiatives.
In 1999, Light was engaged by the RAND Corporation to examine what its researchers had learned about managing public organizations during several previous decades. He eventually decided to focus on what had been learned about how any organization can achieve and then sustain high performance. It is important to note, as does Light, that RAND research is guided by three basic principles embedded in its own organizational culture: "First, RAND has a well-deserved reputation for questioning the questions...Second, RAND has a long history of questioning its own answers through peer review and quality control.... Third, RAND allows the evidence to speak, even when it unsettles the client." I was also interested to learn that RAND had some serious problems of its own during the mid-1990s that are noted within Light's narrative. RAND solved those problems by focusing on the basics of the Four Pillars.
Light shares several lessons about the future revealed by RAND's research after a rigorous analysis of "four critical sources of organizational vulnerability: ignorance, inflexibility, indifference, and inconsistency." However, Light has accomplished far more than examine an immense body of research data and then merely summarize key points. He had more ambitious objectives for this book and he achieved all of them. They include focusing much less attention on broad general principles (albeit sound ones) and far more attention on HOW almost any organization (regardless of size or nature) can apply those principles where perils are greatest, where opportunities are most promising, and where significant change is most likely.
Granted, senior-level executives will find few head-snapping revelations in this book. Light creates for them, however, broad and deep access to a wealth of valuable (previously inaccessible) information from which he helps them to learn how to establish or nourish their own "robust" organization. After a careful reading and then re-reading of his book, they should then review key points in the Conclusion at the end of each chapter. I strongly recommend that his readers regularly review, also, the dozens of (boxed) idea clusters which Light thoughtfully provides throughout the narrative. One final point. As James Q. Wilson notes in the Foreword, Light's work at RAND "did not involve any pre-conditions or post-research clearances. What you will read here is Light's best independent advice." Those who read this book will agree that it is a brilliant achievement.
Displaying 1 of 1 review