Guts!: Companies that Blow the Doors Off Business-As-Usual

by Kevin Freiberg, Jackie Freiberg

Kevin and Jackie Freiberg’s previous book, Nuts!: Southwest Airline’s Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success, described the unconventional leadership that made Southwest an airline industry dynamo. In GUTS!, the Freibergs look at twenty-five gutsy and extraordinarily successful businesses and introduce the chief executives who are creating a new corporate ethos that blows the doors off business-as-usual.

Drawing on five years of research, the Freibergs provide a behind-the-scenes look at these intensely focused, passionate, and unconventional leaders and their companies. Among

• James Blanchard, CEO of Synovus Financial, a financial services giant with more than 16 billion dollars in assets
• Roy Spence, Jr., President of GSD&M Advertising, which AdWeek magazine named Southwest Agency of the Year seven times
• James Goodnight of SAS, a world leader in intelligence software

Although the leaders in the book represent a wide-range of industries, they share a common They see business as a heroic cause and understand that good leadership isn’t a matter of position, but of influence. They reject hierarchical rules, rituals, and expectations, and have replaced in-the-box management with a culture based on passion and innovation. They regard their employees not as “human resources,” but as individuals with unique gifts and talents. And make everyone in the company responsible for the company’s brand and culture.

An exciting follow-up to Nuts! , which has sold nearly 500,000 copies in hardcover and paperback, GUTS! proves that it is possible to have fun, live your values, and still make money.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 20, 2003

About the author

Jackie and Kevin Freiberg are bestselling authors and founders of the San Diego Consulting Group Inc. The Freibergs are dedicated to helping leaders create Best Places where the Best People can do their Best Work to make the world Better. Both have Ph.D.'s and teach part-time at the University of San Diego, School of Leadership and Education Sciences.

Their most recent book, "CAUSE! A Business Strategy for Standing Out in A Sea of Sameness" highlights companies that define themselves as cause oriented, they stand out, have better employee engagement, customer loyalty, stronger profitability and growth. If your company is not cause oriented, "CAUSE!" will show you how.

In their international bestseller "NUTS! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success", Kevin and Jackie uncovered the strategies that created the greatest success story in the history of commercial aviation. "NUTS!" was followed by:

"GUTS! Companies that Blow the Doors Off Business-as-usual";
"BOOM! 7 Companies for Blowing the Doors Off Business-as-usual";

"NANOVATION: How a Little Car Can Teach the World to Think Big"; the inside story of one of the greatest innovations in the auto industry since the Model-T. It's also a roadmap for expanding your capacity to innovate and making innovation part of your cultural DNA; and

"DO SOMETHING NOW", three simple words that will change your organization—change your life. The scarcest resource in organizations right now is not money, talent, ideas or power; it's people who DO, people who add value and get things done. DSN inspires Dreamers to become Doers. Everyone wants to add value and this book shows you how.

"BE A PERSON OF IMPACT: 12 Strategies to be the CEO of Your Future". This book is an unapologetic kick in the butt to proactively manage your brand and reputation. POI will challenge you to reimagine, rethink, refresh, and even completely reengineer your brand. Why? Because your brand is in your control. If you want to be indispensable, stand-out as the best in your business and lead others to do the same this book will show you how.

The Freibergs speak on leadership, innovation and change all over the world. They have a global practice including firms in Europe, Japan, South Africa, India, Central and South America, as well as companies throughout the United States and Canada.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

This business improvement book was okay, but I actually enjoyed two other books by these authors much more - Nuts and Nanovation. Guts is about making "gutsy" decisions in business - although I'm not sure many of these things qualify as truly gutsy (maybe they did back when this was originally written). The authors break being gutsy into six or seven segments but it basically all boiled down to "treat your employees well and give them a reason to come to work besides just providing a paycheck and you'll reap dividends of better customer service, higher productivity and improved morale."

[Dylan Wenke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book over viewing servant leadership and creating a culture that supports its employees.

[Jahna Yamagishi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful and easy to read business and leadership book. I highly recommend

[Suzy Prybell · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, my "big bosses" gave each of us a copy of this book to read. I started reading the first chapters about how important it is for employees to be happy and committed to their work, and that in turn will create better customer satisfaction and "clients for life". Ironically, as I was reading those chapters, I was calling Comcast and Switchfast to start my cable, phone and internet because my "big bosses" didn't pay the bills. That'll bring A+ employee satisfaction.... I finished the book. It was very informative for both people that run corporations as well as employees. I picked up some good interview questions and things to look for in a job that will make me think I'm doing something worthwhile. I did find myself getting rather irritated with the constant use of the word "guts" and "gutsy" and also about love toward the end of the chapter. Things were a little redundant, but it definitely made me think more about the company I work for, and gave me the tools and courage to mention it in the next meeting with my bosses.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers great examples of how businesses and business leaders step outside of the box and do unusual things.

Most of the time with books like these, there will be a chapters related to specific subjects and each subject has a case study to show real world application. This book uses several case studies, but sprinkles them in here and there as they apply to several topics.

It's just a different way than I'm used to in these types of books, and it felt a bit stale toward the end because there didn't seem to be an introduction of new case studies.

Despite that, it's still a book I liked and one I would recommend.

[Kerry Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

GUTS! was a very entertaining and insightful guru. This book explained all the risky ways that good mangers take to keep their employers excited. GUTS taught me that you can follow your heart as a leader but you have to accept the fact that sometimes you may be wrong, but you learn from that and do the best for your company and employers. I would mostly recommend GUTS to managers who need a change or to help their company grow as a whole!!

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly inspirational book. I literally thought of 3 to 5 new ideas for my own business every time I picked it up.

It is a little "self-helpish" and I did have to read it for a class, but it was so worth it. If you're running a business or mulling over whether to start one, you MUST read this book.

[Frank Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book -- though its stories and the proposals it makes applies to all I think this should be read by Management most of all.