Here is your opportunity to have a quick preview of my new book, 'The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win - Lessons Learned for Reaching the next Level of Performance'. I hope you enjoy your short read and that it 'wets your appetite' for the full story!

1. Book Summary
The Wisdom Chronicles:
Competing to Win
Lessons Learned for Reaching the Next
Level of Organizational Performance
Dr. Ted Marra
December 2014
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2. Achieving your full potential for success as an organization comes
down to relentless focus on doing the right things for the
business in a ‘vital few’ areas. Find out what they are by taking a
quick look at the following book summary!
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3. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
As senior executives you always have many areas where you can focus your attention – paths along which you can guide your organization to enable it to
ultimately reach its full competitive potential or remain just an ‘also ran’. Whether you like it or not, you are competing for the future and a place in that
future. The challenge, as Arnold Glasow so aptly put it, is that ‘The only problem with the future is that it is usually here before we are ready’.
What can you learn from this small book? I think you can learn a great deal. As I have lived and worked in 37 countries over the past 40 years helping some
155 organizations from virtually every industry and sector as well as SME’s and global organizations, I have applied my powers of ‘observation’. You can
imagine that in the past 40 years many fads and fancies have come and gone and while a few remain they have often morphed into something different than
when they began. I have ‘observed’ with a keen eye what works best and what does not when it comes to (1) addressing the challenging issues organizations
face which, if left to fester, often result in some form of crisis situation occurring and (2) how to realize the full potential of an organization – getting it to that
next level of performance.
This book is really about ‘focus’. Forget all the latest theories. To a large extent, the ‘secrets’ to success have never really been secrets – it’s often about
getting back to basics – doing the right things for the business and doing them right. This is the essence of what Peter Drucker considers ‘leadership’. In
addition to my hands-on experiences, I have read all the thought leaders – Hamel, Porter, Kotter, Sadler, Collins, Covey and more. I have been in
conferences all over the world interacting with the likes of Juran and Welch as well as many other thought leaders. Taking all of that plus my own reflection
and distilling it down has been a lifetime pursuit. Forgive me if I sound arrogant as that is not the intent when I say, I think ‘I got it – eureka’! You can let me
know if you don’t agree. But, for better or worse, here is a distillation of my ‘observations’ of what are truly the ‘vital few’ keys to long-term organizational
success and higher performance.
So, the above being said, let’s now ‘cut to the chase’ shall we? The chart below, in my humble estimation really says it all. These, in my opinion are ‘what
count most’ in terms of building organizations that stand the test of time and turbulence while through it all lead by example, produce consistently superior
results and focus on the importance of creating and delivering value to all key stakeholders including society.
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4. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
First up is the ‘business model’, which I will define differently than you have seen it anywhere else. It is not only the soul or spirit of an organization but it’s
the heart from which passion, energy and inspiration flow to all who are in the organization as well as to all key stakeholders linked to your organization.
The business model must be defined, refined and ‘driven’ by the leadership team. There are certain characteristics of a leadership team which I have
observed can make more of a positive difference than others. These are discussed in Chapter One of my book. Quite frankly, if there is one place I see
leadership teams more consistently going wrong in their thinking and approach, it’s in getting the business model right.
The components of the business model are actually straight forward except for one, which I shall elaborate on in a bit more detail below. Again, much more
is found in Chapter One of the book which you should be able to read in about 2.5 hours gaining a number of ‘nuggets’ of wisdom in the process. The
components of the business model are, in my opinion,
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5. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
 The Shared Purpose of the organization – its reason for being. This acts as an anchor to keep your organization from ‘drifting’ or from incurring ‘scope
creep’. It needs to be part of the regular monthly ‘litmus test’ to assess if what you are doing as a leadership team is really supportive of and aligned with
the reason your organization exists.
 The culture of the organization – particularly its values/beliefs which should influence behaviours and practices at all levels of the organization. There are
two critical issues. First, every member of the leadership MUST act as an exemplar, leading by example and the leadership team MUST be a true ‘team’.
Second, know that the culture of an organization is ultimately the biggest enabler or inhibitor to its performance – so craft it well.
 Renewal – while touched upon by a few thought leaders, it has never really been defined properly in my opinion. However, if you get this right, it will
keep your business model from ever reaching it’s ‘buy/sell’ date – keep it forever ‘young’. Organizations like Johnson and Johnson or Proctor and Gamble
have lasted 100 years or more, but they are not the same organizations today that they were 100 years ago except for their purpose and some of their
values/beliefs. They, as organizations have changed 5, 10 or even 25 times throughout their illustrious journey to the present. If they had not done so,
they would have become extinct as Kodak did after 120 years. Renewal is the seamless integration of innovation, adaptability and learning in an
organization. It is what keeps organizational change from often becoming a ‘crisis’ because renewal ensures that change is continuous. I would be
surprised if more than 1-2% of organizations have consciously integrated this concept into their business model.
 The Principles of Engagement represent the unique combination of thinking and doing which results in how the organization presents itself to society –
its ‘societal footprint’ so to speak. In this area you find such components as sustainability/environmental approaches, corporate social responsibility,
governance and more as appropriate to the organizational context. Probably some of the world’s ‘most admired’ organizations would be a good place to
look to identify key factors. Apple’s massive data center, by the way, is 100% operated with electricity generated from solar power showing concern for
the environment and society at large.
 The vision of the organization is the final element. In addition to being inspiring and truly ‘visionary’ it must be well communicated and continuously
reinforced by management. People at all levels must be empowered, understand it, know how they can contribute to achieving it, have the capability to
do so and have proper performance expectations being set and understood by them. To me the ‘vision’ is the ‘destination’ the organization, on its journey
through time, wants to reach more than any other. It should, however, be reviewed annually. It should also contain some reference to a timeframe for
accomplishment such as 3 years, 5 years or again whatever is most appropriate in the your organization’s context. Think of it this way. If you were the
pilot of a commercial aircraft, would you consider pulling away from the gate and taking off from the airport if you did not know your destination? 5
Of
course not.

6. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
To me, the business model represents the ‘foundation’ of an organization. Everything is either built on a solid foundation, or the ‘building’ – your
organization will ultimately crumble.
You may think of the ‘vision’ as being the key output from the business model. However, the most critical issue is, “How do we make the vision a reality?”
This is where the concept of ‘aligning the organization’ around the vision comes in.
Sure, you remember that alignment is not a new concept. Again, in my opinion, it was never perceived by senior management as one of the most powerful
approaches possible for achieving organizational success when defined and implemented properly. In Chapter Two of my book you will see more details on
this approach. In Volume II, there will be yet a more detailed discussion of Alignment as it is just that important for an organization! It is also the ideal
approach for creating the balanced scorecard you need and the approach guides you in doing it the right way. I believe the statistics are painfully sad in that
some 50% or more of balanced scorecard approaches never are fully executed or do not work as originally thought. Following this alignment process will
guarantee results in this area.
It begins by a relatively simple process of identifying your organization’s critical success factors – those things which you and the leadership team believe are
the keys to future organizational success – the areas you must focus on, invest in and emphasize to achieve the vision. These might be such things as
‘provide innovative solutions’, ‘build exceptional relationships’ with certain key stakeholders and so on. From that point you work down ultimately to a set
of proper and balanced KPI’s. Again, Chapter Two in the book provides the needed overview of the approach – done right.
In simplest terms I suppose, aligning the organization is a little like trying to get all the arrows heading in the same direction – instead of allowing them to
point in different directions. It results in harnessing the full power – the full potential of the organization in helping you reach that destination you want
most – your vision.
Getting alignment right will greatly facilitate the flawless execution of your plans which are formulated as an integral part of the alignment process.
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7. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
The ‘s represent any or all of the following in your organization: teams, departments, functions, divisions or business units
and the key business objectives and strategies they plan to achieve.
So, in closing, alignment will result in key business objectives being set as well as the strategies to achieve them – all linked to
your critical success factors and therefore supportive/aligned with the vision. Alignment is the process which ‘facilitate s’
planning and execution. The following diagram tells the full story – a story, which again is discussed in the book, Chapter Two
and then continues briefly in Chapter Six:
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8. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
The ‘rewards matrix’ by the way is one which ensures that for an individual or team to gain the maximum rewards, they need to engage in ‘role model’
behaviours and practices. In other words, hitting the targets/achieving the key business objectives is NOT enough. It is ‘how’ it is done that counts just as
much – namely by exhibiting the right behaviours consistent with the values/beliefs of the organizations and engaging in the right practices – ones which are
aligned with these same values/beliefs.
If all we have done (e.g., execution) as an organization up to this point is to have meaning then it must be that all of our efforts have enabled us to ‘realize’
the creation and delivery of value for all our key stakeholders. The fact of the matter is that ‘value’, when defined properly, is one of the most significant
strategic concepts developed in the past 15+ years. It is truly the foundation of secure relationships with your stakeholders but it is, without a doubt, the
most significant source of competitive advantage.
While Peter Drucker once said that ‘The purpose of a business (organization) is to create a customer’, I would extend that further to say that it must be the
right customers – the ones you really want most not just ‘any warm body with a pulse’ and that you must then keep those customers by building and
maintaining a secure relationship through providing an appropriate value proposition. Even simpler than this is the following:
“The fundamental purpose of any business or organization is the creation and delivery of value”
If, as an organization you are not creating and delivering value continuously by all you do, you will, no doubt, eventually become extinct. How do I define
‘value’? As follows:
“Value is the sum of all the tangible and intangible benefits which the customer or stakeholder perceives they receive from doing business with your
organization”
As such, value is an immediate source of competitive advantage or differentiation. It is what truly will distinguish your organization from others in your
sector or industry.
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9. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
Over the years, I have discovered some nine (9) sources of value which an organization can utilize to achieve competitive advantage and build exceptional
relationships with key stakeholders. Unfortunately, my experience has shown me that the vast majority of organizations utilize only 2-3 sources and do not
do a particularly effective job with them. These are described in detail in Chapters Three and Four of the book. Here is quick look at the nine (9) sources:
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10. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
Suffice it to say that integral to the discussion on value you will find such issues as:
 The eight (8) sources of innovation – especially, but not only, in your products, services and support
 The eight (8) pillars of service excellence
 Understanding of the two costs every customer or other key stakeholder has in doing business with your organization – the economic cost and the
emotional cost. By far, the emotional cost can damage relationships even faster and easier than the economic one and is longer lasting (leading to a
continuing stream of negative references in the market). In other words, you could quite possibly have the highest quality product or service at the
lowest possible price on the planet and still lose customers because the ‘pain’ they experience in doing business with you is beyond their acceptable pain
threshold.
The next critical area of attention or focus should be your organization’s ‘sensing system’ which I sometimes affectionately refer to as the ‘whiskers of a cat’.
While not all of us have had a cat for a pet, I think we all realize the value which its ‘whiskers’ provide. If your cat were to wake up one morning to find that
its whiskers had fallen off during the night, how would it behave? Probably it would appear hesitant, somewhat erratic – bottomline, its judgment would be
noticeably impaired. So it is with an organization that does not have good ‘whiskers’ to sense what is going on in its operating environment – internal and
external.
Information is the life-blood of any organization. But having too much data and not enough actionable information (the case for this made in Chapter Five) is
like the human body having too many white blood cells and not enough red blood cells. Having the right Information at the right time is a strategic asset!
It is a key to gaining and maintaining competitive advantage, to agility and to optimal decision-making.
Yet far too many organizations live by the mantra that if a little data is good then a lot of data is even better! The unfortuate fact is that 'data is like sand'.
The true value of the data is not unlocked unless you transform it by means of analysis (applying the right and advanced analytical techniques) and
interpretation into actionable information – the basis for effective and effcient decision making. In the case of sand, of course, heating it to extreme
temperatures with a few additives allows you to transform it into a glass - something which has value.
When it comes to data, less is more. Collecting the right data – the vital few, the right way (e.g., using the right methodolgies) and applying the right
analytical tools and techniques is the key to success and transforms the data into actionable information, thus unlocking its true value.
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11. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
Many organizations tend to build their 'sensing systems' around their core organizational strengths. Here is an example from AT&T Universal Card Services
from some years ago (more on this in my book Chapter Five). Their strength was customer relationship mastery. Have a look:
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12. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
However, as organizations are faced with ever increasingly dynamic, turbulent and competitive operating environments fueled by changing customer
requirements and expectations as well as technological advances such as digital, crowd sourcing, social networking and many more, they need a more
comprehensive system. This is also discussed in more detail in Chapter Five.
Just as a note, more and more organizations struggle with timely and effective decision making. The goal should be what I call ‘Hyper-Decision Making’
which is discussed in Chapter Five along with the concepts of ‘optimal decisions’, the ‘costs of lost opportunity’ associated with decision making and the eight
(8) factors that will determine your organization’s ‘decision intelligence quotient’ or, in other words, how systematic, integrated and comprehensive your
organization’s decision making process is or isn’t. Does it even have one? If so is it consistently followed? What percentage of your decisions are less than
optimal? What is that costing you in terms of lost opportunity?
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13. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
Some valuable resources which I have found include: (1) Quantellia, the global leader in Decision Intelligence, and their leading edge ‘World-Modeler’
technique to help with complex decisions; (2) Enterprise Architecture Made Simple, by Håken Edvinsson of Informed Decisions – learn how EA can drive
competitiveness, value creation and agility (it was Nokia’s secret weapon for many years); (3) Ontonix of Switzerland has approaches for dealing with
complexity and big data issues.
Finally, we come to the issue of developing a performance measurement system which is both balanced and represents the ‘vital few’ key measures an
organization should focus on. Notice that ‘shareholder value’ or ‘financial’ results are not explicitly identified. Reasons for this are discussed through
Chapters Six and Seven.
Also discussed at length is what this author believes to be the new generation of performance categories that are evolving which organizations need to take
note of. Chief among these are the ones identified in the diagram at the beginning of this summary, namely,
Agility/resiliency
Exceptional Stakeholder Relationships
Competitiveness
Societal Benefits
While performance measures such as ‘competitiveness’ are not new, the drivers of competitiveness are changing in this author’s opinion. This is why, as you
have heard many thought leaders say, ‘what has led to your success today, will not be what guarantees success tomorrow’ or to paraphrase Einstein, ‘Trying
to get different results by using the same approaches you have always used is madness’. It just won’t work and you will be doomed to failure in the end. You
must shift your own paradigms – leave your comfort zone and stop hanging on to the past.
Just so you are aware, this author defines ‘agility’ as follows:
“The capability of an organization to identify, assess and act on an opportunity (or threat) better and faster than the competitors“
You see, to quote General Patton, 'In life there are NO guarantees, ONLY opportunities'. And so it is. Agility depends on your organization's sensing system
and your capability to achieve hyper-decision making!
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14. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
Here then is what I see as the balanced scorecard of the future:
Each leadership team should evaluate the importance of each of these categories to the understanding of its health today, in 18 months and 3 years from
now.
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15. ‘The Wisdom Chronicles: Competing to Win
A Book Summary
In Chapter Seven, there is discussion about each of these performance categories. In Volume II, there will be an attempt to develop at least some first order
KPI’s within each of these categories.
In the meantime, enjoy your journey ‘back to the future’!
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You can reach Ted on doctorted47@gmail.com or by telephone on +385 95 890 2456 in Zagreb, Croatia.