Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't | 
|  | | | Title: | Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't | | Author: | Ram Charan | | Publisher: | Crown Business | | Type: | Book / Hardcover | | Publication Date: | 02 January, 2007 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0307341518 / 9780307341518 | | List Price: | $27.50 | | You Save: | $9.35 | | Amazon Price: | $18.15 | |
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Product Description
The new grand theory of leadership by Ram Charan . . . The breakthrough book that links know-how—the skills of people who know what they are doing— with the personal and psychological traits of the successful leader.
How often have you heard someone with a commanding presence deliver a bold vision that turned out to be nothing more than rhetoric and hot air? All too often we mistake the appearance of leadership for the real deal. Without a doubt, intelligence, vision, and the ability to communicate are important. But something big is missing: the know-how of running a business—the capacity to take it in the right direction, do the right things, make the right decisions, deliver results, and leave the people and the business better off than they were before.
For well over four decades, Ram Charan has been learning in the most visceral way the underlying reasons why leaders succeed and fail. As one of the most influential advisers to top management teams of leading companies around the world, he has had a front-row seat to observe the cause and effect of leadership practices and behaviors.
Ram Charan’s insight into the real content of leadership provides you with the eight fundamental skills needed for success in the twenty-first century:
• Positioning (and, when necessary, repositioning) your business by zeroing in on the central idea that meets customer needs and makes money
• Connecting the dots by pinpointing patterns of external change ahead of others
• Shaping the way people work together by leading the social system of your business
• Judging people by getting to the truth of a person
• Molding high-energy, high-powered, high-ego people into a working team of leaders in which they equal more than the sum of their parts
• Knowing the destination where you want to take your business by developing goals that balance what the business can become with what it can realistically achieve
• Setting laser-sharp priorities that become the road map for meeting your goals
• Dealing creatively and positively with societal pressures that go beyond the economic value creation activities of your business
Know-How is the missing link of leadership. By showing how the eight know-hows link to, interact with, and reinforce personal and psychological traits, Ram Charan provides a holistic and innovative portrait of successful leaders of the twenty-first century.
Amazon.com Review
In Know-How, Ram Charan, coauthor of the bestseller Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, gives readers a bold new approach to understanding leadership. Charan suggests that when it comes to choosing our business leaders, we don't recognize the crucial difference between the appearance of leadership and the actual ability to run a business. We focus too much on superficial things, like raw intelligence or a commanding presence, and don't pay near enough attention to the skills leaders need. In his new book, Charan identifies the eight skills leaders must develop and refine, and explains how personal traits factor in. Curious readers can learn more about Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't in our brief Q & A with author Ram Charan, and sneak a peek at the first chapter, below. --Daphne Durham
Q&A with Ram Charan
Q: You identify 8 know-hows. Can you take us through one of them?
A: In this time of continual change, money making or business models are becoming obsolete more frequently than ever before. It wasn't that long ago when AOL was king of the hill. That leadership was taken over by Yahoo. Now Yahoo is at a crossroads and the leadership has been taken over by Google. So far Google is ahead. It has the central recipe to increase its revenues via advertising because it knows how to measure advertising effectiveness better than anybody else. Leaders at both AOL and Yahoo must be scratching their heads trying to figure out how to reposition the company to make money in the new context. Repositioning is a know-how. It's hard work, and it requires imagination. We will have an opportunity to see about the decision made by Time Warner top brass to summarily replace Jim Miller with Randy Falco of NBC Universal. Randy has a distinguished record. He will have to demonstrate one of the most crucial know-hows in this book: Can he reposition AOL for the new game, and in time? Cost cutting is not the answer.
Q: How can you build your know-how, or help others develop theirs?
A: No talented athlete ever became a champion without consistent regular practice in the right way, along with feedback and hard work. There are no short cuts.That's why you should start practicing early in your career by taking assignments that will help you cultivate the know-hows and seeking out bosses you can learn from.
Q: Many people think of leaders as having innate traits that set them apart from the rest of us. Are you saying we should be looking at skills instead of personality?
A: At the time somebody enters the work force, a great deal of his or her personality has been formed. Most people who talk about leadership today talk about personality, personality, personality. Personality traits, presence, charisma--they will experience attrition if you don't practice them in the context of know-hows. Personality traits and know-hows reinforce each other. In the 21st century, the transparency of results is immediate. Failure is detected very early. Dependence on personality traits without the mastery of the know-hows is a recipe for disaster.
Q: What do you think about the future?
A: The future is very bright. The global economy will continue to expand. There will be more demand for leaders than ever before. Master the know-hows. Hone your personality traits while you're mastering the know-hows. Don't forget that your success must come in the context of global competition. Take the opportunity to win.
Read the First Chapter of Know-How The Substance of Successful Leaders Know-how is what separates leaders who perform--who deliver results--from those who don't. It is the hallmark of people who know what they are doing, those who build longterm intrinsic value and hit short-term targets. What gets in the way of finding people who can perform is the appearance of leadership. All too often I see people being chosen for leadership jobs on the basis of superficial personal traits and characteristics, such as: • The seduction of raw intelligence: "He's extremely bright, incisive, and very analytical. I just feel in my gut he can do the job." • A commanding presence and great communication skills: "That presentation was awesome. How she ever boiled down all that data onto the PowerPoints is beyond me. Shecertainly had the committee in the palm of her hand. Mark my words, she's going to the top." • The power of a bold vision: "What a picture he painted of where we are going, moving forward." • The notion of a born leader: "The people in the unit love her. Such a morale builder and motivator!" Certainly intelligence, self-confidence, presence, the ability to communicate, and having a vision are important. But being highly intelligent doesn't mean that a person has the knack for making good business judgments. How many times have you seen people confidently making decisions that turn out to be disastrous? How often have you heard a vision that turned out to be nothing more than rhetoric and hot air? Read more from Chapter 1...
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Customer Reviews:
• Good Solid Common Sense Nicely Arranged 09 April, 2008
This book by Ram Charan has all the hallmarks of a smart business book -- a truly rare thing. I would reccomend it simply because it puts a lot of common sense ideas in print for managers and would be managers to see. In a world where true thirst for knowledge is lacking -- few managers read history, science, or social theory or even good classical literature -- this book is a good shorthand reminder to managers that they need to exhibit the tenets of wisdom even if they do not necessarily possess them.
Therefore the essential points -- basical arbitrary but nonetheless germane -- are as follows.
1. Positioning and Repositioning. Keep asking questions -- ignorance is your friend -- not your enemy -- keep leaning and asking questions.
2. Pinpointing External Change. Do not be static... regard change as part of business
3. Leading the Social System. Viewing your company as an organic part of society and treating it in similar fashion. Business is different -- but it ain't that different. You need combine human traits with business acuman -- the two are not mutually exclusive and people who treat them as such set themselves up for a downfall.
4. Judging People. Match people with positions.
5. Molding a Team. Bringing together good teams and making allowances for their idiosyncracies and not pounding them into theory.
6. Setting Goals. Basically being realistic -- forget about Wallstreet.
7. Setting Priorities. Again realistically .
8. Dealing with Forces beyond the Market. A particularly notable section on dealing with social forces such as human rights and environmental movements and how they impact upon decision making -- the lesson -- never ever ignore them.
There is the regular stories in this book - a late night drink under a starry sky with a recalcitrant manager, a moment of clarity with a person who realises their true worth in a company that values them as an individual and does not try to pound them into a corporate mold. It's there... some intercultural allusions as well.
Of course the common sense attributes of tenacity, and ambition and self-confidence are the defining attributes, but Charan does not succumb to the idea that management is infallible -- in fact Charan propounds an organic philosophy of doubt as the road to enlightenment and also good management practises. But you need to be open, realistic and have a real idea to learn everything posssible and this in Charan's way of thinking encompasses a notion of the broad liberal arts individual with open-mindedness and a passion for life outside the boardroom.
There is not much revolutionary here, but the thoughts are clearly outlined and serve as a nice antidote to notions of corporate excess, greed and the know-nothingness exhibited far too often by business people big and small.
Good work!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1BZOAM350RM6T
• Bo Knows Football - Ram Knows Know-how! 10 May, 2008
Management uber-guru Ram Charan offers a business counterpart to Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" in his book, "Know How." This is an engaging and insightful discussion of eight key skills that comprise business acumen and know how.
"Know How" will be most useful for business executives, especially C-level execs. Nevertheless, those in middle management or those who aspire to a management position cannot help but benefit from the book.
At times, it is tempting to see Charan's recitation as a list of Boy Scout virtues. At other times, it is not easy to discern just how practitioners are to acquire such qualities. Despite his guru and quasi-celeb status, Charan writes in a lucid style that is (relatively) jargon-free.
Reading and heeding "Know How" will turbo-charge your business skill sets.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A56AA52NMMKYQ
• One Tip Makes This Book Worth Reading 05 September, 2008
Don't dismiss this entry in Charan's business guru tips because most of it is basic, commonsense. My rule for business reading is that if you get one good guideline that's relevant and reliable, the book is worth whatever you paid for it. The "8 skills" that Charan says separates executive winners and losers popped up a valuable, worth-the-price principle for me: A company exec can't let the company go into an internal holding pattern waiting for clear, definite external patterns. If you need an example, think of the companies that lose out when executives waffle or stay on the sidelines while politicians take charge of the external patterns. Climate change legislation is a case in point. Executives of GE, Wal-Mart, Duke Energy, GM, DuPont and others got into the sociopolitical process to shape the rules that companies must live by as the war on carbon unfolds. Charan correctly observes that "the fruits...will belong to the realists" who see the key variables and act to shape their impact.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2NGIL5DNSZUP9
• How To Be Or Judge A Great Ceo 30 October, 2008
The book starts out by discussing a frustrating topic "the appearance of leadership." Unfortunately certain traits can lead people to assume someone would make a good (effective) CEO, but these can often be deceptive. A CEO that delivers results over a sustained period will be one who has "know-how". The author describes that as the following eight characteristics:
1. The ability to position and reposition the company to be on the right ends of trends to make money.
2. The ability to pinpoint external changes and their effects on the company and its markets
3. The ability to lead and shape the organizations "social system" or culture
4. The ability to judge people well and determine if and where they fit best
5. The ability to mold teams - to get strong individuals to work well as a team
6. The ability to set goals - specifically the proper goals to ensure success
7. The ability to set priorities - not just the right ones, but also sticking with and reinforcing them
8. The ability to deal with forces beyond the market
The author dedicates a chapter to explore each of these in depth. Most of these were clear and actionable. The only exception was the last one, which I think could have been handled better. The author describes the necessity to "work with" special interest groups, but then admits one can get caught in the crossfire between them (he mentions Ford getting between gay rights and religious fundamentalists). I would have liked to have seen it suggested for businesses to steer clear of endorsing/promoting special interests and clearly communicate that, as the proper course. With the recent commotion for corporations to be "socially responsible", companies need to stand up and say it is WRONG to take money from customers, employees, and/or shareholders (the only sources of fund for companies) and patronize selected causes. There is no way for a company to give to any cause, and please everyone, so individuals should get/keep their money and do with it as each pleases.
Overall, this is a great book for people who want to be, or even judge, a CEO. This book really should be required reading for anyone who sits on a board of directors.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3S9FDZSHZW79Y
• As Usual Solid Advice From Ram Charan 22 February, 2008
Ram Charan has once again showed that doing business is a lot about hard work and less about lofty speeches and buzz words. He teaches the middle manager to think about thier job in the context of the industry they work in. He advises senior managers to have the courage to get into the messy details and make sense of them when defining strategy, laying out execution plans and hiring and firing people. Most business books have a problem - the central idea is exhausted in the first few pages and the author just keeps saying the same things in different ways. Ram Charan's books are very different. Every point is well thought out and is explained vividly. Each chapter adds to the know-how. I wish there was a forum to have a Q&A with him about the points he makes in his books.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A64D1D9TK0YEV
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