Army of Entrepreneurs: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth

224 Pages·2011·3.49 MB·English

by  Jennifer Prosek

Army of
Entrepreneurs
This page intentionally left blank
Army of
Entrepreneurs
Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce
for Exceptional Business Growth
SUCCESS
Foreword by Darren Hardy, magazine
Jennifer Prosek

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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Prosek,Jennifer.
Armyofentrepreneurs:createanengagedandempoweredworkforceforexceptionalbusiness
growth/JenniferProsek.
p. cm.
Includesindex.
ISBN-13:978-0-8144-1673-0(hardcover)
ISBN-10:0-8144-1673-X(hardcover)
1.Employeemotivation. 2.Management. 3.Open-bookmanagement.
4.Organizationaleffectiveness. I.Title.
HF5549.5.M63P76 2011
658.3(cid:2)14—dc22
2010020482
(cid:2)2011JenniferProsek
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Contents
ForewordbyDarrenHardy,SUCCESSmagazine ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
PART I TAKING A NEW APPROACH TO BUILDING
YOUR BUSINESS 5
Chapter1 CreatingaCommissionforLife 7
HowtheArmyofEntrepreneursStarted 8
AmassingtheArmy 10
IntroducingCommissionforLife 11
What’sNextforYou? 15

SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 16
Chapter2 CreatingaCoreCulture 18
StepOneIsAuthenticity 19
StepTwoIsaCommitmenttoPeople 22
StepThreeIsaCommitmenttotheBusiness 24
StepFourIsContinuousEffort 26
Conclusion:CultureIsn’tOptional 27
CaseStudy:EdwardJones 28
SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 29
v
vi (cid:3) CONTENTS
Chapter3 ThinkingEntrepreneurially—EvenIfYou’rea
BigCompany 31
WhyBigCompaniesNeedEntrepreneurs 32
StrategiesforBigCompanies 35
CaseStudy:TheErnst&YoungBlueprint 42
SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 43
PART II DEVELOPING AN ACTION PLAN 45
Chapter4 TeachingYourEmployeestheBusiness 47
WhyaFormalTrainingProgramforYourEmployees? 48
MyMethod:Finder,Minder,Binder,Grinder 50
WeStartOffwithTheLunch 52
WeTeachMoreThanSkills;WeTeachtheBusiness 54
OurOngoingCommitmenttoTraining 57
CaseStudy:FederalWarehouseCompany 59
SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 60
Chapter5 TrainingtheTroops 62
DevelopaBootCamp 63
WorkshopOne:TeachingtheBusiness 64
WorkshopTwo:HuntingforNewBusiness 70
WorkshopThree:AdvancedHunting 74
WorkshopFour:Intrapreneuring 77

TheEmployee-EyeView 79
SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 81
Chapter6 RecruitingandRetainingTalent 82
CreatingaTalentPipeline 83
TheInterview 86
ThePitch 88
AftertheHire 90
CaseStudy:Randstad 94
SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 96
CONTENTS (cid:3) vii
Chapter7 UsingTechnology 98
TechnologyasaCommunicationsStrategy 99
TechnologyasaBusinessTool 104
TheTechnologyinYourFuture 107
WhereTechnologyDoesn’tWork 108
WhentoTurntheTechnologyOff 109
CaseStudy:IntuitandtheOnlineVideo 110
SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 111
Chapter8 MeasuringSuccess 113
DecidingtoMeasure 114
WhentoMeasure 115
WhattoMeasure 116
ToolsforMeasurement 120
OutsideYardsticks 121
InformalMeasurement 122
AnalyzetheData 125
SharetheData 126
CaseStudy:EmersonElectric 127
SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 128
Chapter9 OfficerTraining 130
HowtoFindGreatManagers 130
WhattoAskofManagers 137

ActasaSponsor 141
CaseStudy:Innovation—It’saManagementDiscipline 142
SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 143
Chapter10 MaintainingMomentum 144
HowtoPaySoPeopleWillStay 145
HowtoPlaySoPeopleWillStay 150
WhattoSaySoPeopleWillStay 154
CaseStudy:FunatWork 157
SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 158
viii (cid:3) CONTENTS
Chapter11 ManagingDisaster 160
HowWeHaveManagedDisasteratCJP 161
HowOtherCompaniesHaveManagedDisaster 166
LearningfromDisasters 169
SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 172
PART III PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 175
Chapter12 AddressingtheNaysayers 177
TypicalDoubts,andWhyThey’reUnfounded 178
ProblemsYou’llEncounter,andHowtoSolveThem 183
RookieMistakes,andHowtoAvoidThem 186
CaseStudy:TheySaidItCouldn’tBeDone:TheIBMTurnaround 188
SixStepsForward:WhattoDoRightAfterYou’veReadThisChapter 189
AppendixA:TenQuestionstoPonder 191
AppendixB:AdditionalResources 193
Index 199
AbouttheAuthor 209
Foreword
W
EARELIVINGINTHEAGEOFENTREPRENEURIALISM.
Every so often the capital market reshuffles the deck. Recently
thefinancialcrisisandeconomicdownturndisruptedthestatusquo
andleftusinasquallofunprecedentedchange.Whileinsunnytimes
it can be difficult for entrepreneurs to punch their way into an exist-
ing market, the playing field has now been leveled and everything is
up for grabs. The new kings of the economic kingdom will be
crowned over the next couple of years. You could be one of them.
I am here to tell you one way to make that happen. In your
hands,youareholdingthevisionofoneentrepreneur—andwhatshe
realized she could do not just for her business, but for other busi-
nesses as well. Army of Entrepreneurs takes what I’ve long said about
thebenefits ofentrepreneurialism andexpands theminto amanage-

ment philosophy for the new millennium.
Here, you will learn how entrepreneur Jennifer Prosek cut
through the mumbo jumbo of management theory and laid out the
blueprintforhersuccesstoday.You’llseehowshelearnedtoembrace
entrepreneurialismandachieveherownsuccess—andthendeveloped
that success into a system that not only built her company, but also
empoweredtheindividualswithinit.You’llseehowsheamassedand
trainedherArmyofEntrepreneurs.Atthesametime,she’llteachyou
how you can do the same for yourself and your employees.
Does thiswork? Yes.I knowthis notjust because Jennifer Prosek
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