Vital Factors Book Receives 5 Star Review by Robert Morris, Amazon Reviewer

By Robert Morris, Dallas Texas

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 which 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. For example, personal as well as organizational goals are clear, specific, and measurable; people, strategy, operations, and competitive marketplace are in proper alignment; continuous improvement at all levels and in all areas of operation; and decisions are based on "outside-in," customer-centric perspectives. 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."

In this instance, in terms of alignment, the challenge is recognize the strengths of each individual and then apply them to tasks appropriate to those strengths. In fact, Marcus Buckingham is among those who support this leveraging of talents and skills against work to be done while suggesting, also, that managers should concentrate on increasing strengths rather than wasting time struggling to eliminate weaknesses. Specifically, how to do that successfully? Froschheiser and Chutkow offer the MAP system whose foundation consists of Vital Factors and business fundamentals, "the daily blocking and tackling that winning companies do better than their competitors. MAP is an ongoing process that, when implemented well, produces all those attributes and virtues that [Gillberg's] team found in the best-run companies."

As I read this book, I appreciated learning much more about how the transformation of an organization (regardless of size or nature) must occur - and indeed, can only occur -- simultaneously with the transformation of those who are involved in it. Credit Froschheiser and Chutkow with 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 which made a "leap" from good to great and he and his research associates also learned a great deal about once great companies which 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 which 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.