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Vital Factors: The Secret to Transforming Your Business - And Your Life

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Praise for Vital Factors "Each story in this book provides a real-world example of the importance of finding ways to continually focus on and perfect your vital factors as a means to be successful in business and in life. Vital Factors brings to life the MAP process to help you figure out what really matters as you seek to enhance your personal life or to transform your business."
— Kerry Killinger , chairman and CEO, Washington Mutual "When I first became CEO I was inundated with constant interruptions and distractions. Then I discovered the MAP process. MAP forces you to focus on those core issues that drive an organization and eliminate the extraneous. Vital Factors shows the reader how to overcome these challenges through the stories of people who succeeded."
— John V. Shields , chairman emeritus, Trader Joe's Company " Vital Factors brings to life the power of concrete concepts that create consistency and results.I entrenched myself in these MAP principles early in my career, and years later I used them to develop my leadership team and transform our organization."
— Joseph V. Haggerty , chief operating officer, United Way of America " Vital Factors captures the winning formula to run any size business or organization. The real-world examples—provide insight that will help you grow as a leader and advance your career. It is mandatory for all of my senior leaders."
— David Berman , vice president of worldwide?sales and service, WebEx Communications, Inc. " Vital Factors is a valuable tool for all leaders and teams. It has provided our organization with a simple disciplined process to transform our business from being 'action focused' to 'results focused.' Vital Factors is now part of our culture and used by every employee; the linkage to results is incredible. Focus, discipline, communication, and accountability are driving positive results!"
— Sharon Stein , senior vice president, Ceridian

283 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2006

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Profile Image for Sarah Greller.
17 reviews1 follower
February 25, 2023
So I finally just finished the book.. and to say I am left frustrated is an understatement.  I am not lucky, I don’t have an amazing back story, I don’t have a windfall from some relative, and I am not a creative mastermind.  I didn’t see “me” anywhere in the book.  I felt it was super repetitive and instead of being a self guided walk through MAP, it felt more like and extended sales pitch where I was going to get a timeshare at the end.


You know the whole structure of:
• Tell em what your gonna tell ‘em
• tell em
• Tell ‘em what you told em

It just felt like we never got out of the first step.
Profile Image for Robert.
187 reviews83 followers
August 25, 2008
Like the human body, each organization has "vital factors" and it is important to know what they are and how to monitor and protect them, especially when attempting to transform any organization from what it is now to what will improve and strengthen it. In this volume, Lee Froschheiser and Paul Chutkow introduce their reader to MAP (Management Action Programs) which they characterize as "a powerful system of business management and personal growth." It consists of six basic functions: Leading, Communication, Planning, Organizing, Staffing, and Controlling. Expect no head-snapping revelations nor do the authors claim to offer any. Rather, the substantial value of their book is derived from understanding and then effectively applying the Vital Factor process that they explain and illustrate with rigorous precision.

The authors assert that the best-run companies share a common set of attributes and virtues. These they list on pages 6-7 and are essentially the same as those identified by others such as Jim Collins, Andrew Hargadon, Jason Jennings, and Alfred Marcus as well as by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman. In this volume, Froschheiser and Chutkow cite research conducted by Eric Gillberg and his associates which reveals that "companies are like people: each was unique, each had its own distinctive DNA, each had its own particular set of defining strengths and weaknesses. Moreover [key point] each company had its own unique - but often hidden - set of vital factors, the critical elements that would either hold that company back or propel it to success."

Credit Froschheiser and Chutkow with providing a brilliant explanation of how and why MAP is such a powerful system of business management and personal growth. With comparable brilliance, Collins has discussed companies that made a “leap” from good to great and he and his research associates also learned a great deal about once great companies that became only good and then mediocre. Obviously, there are significant differences between and among those companies that "leap" as well as between and among those that deteriorate...and especially between the two groups...but all of these companies share at least one factor in common: their "health" as an organization is determined almost entirely by the "health" of their people. The ROI on initiatives that achieve and then sustain the mental, physical, and emotional vitality of everyone involved in a given enterprise is incalculable. What Lee Froschheiser and Paul Chutkow offer in this exceptionally practical book will guide and inform such initiatives.
5 reviews
July 16, 2008
Border States is one of the chapters in the book and our name is used throughout. Just attended the MAP training and what an experience!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews