Innovation Turned Outside In?
“Think outside the box” is a well-worn business cliché. But, like nearly all clichés, at one time it was a brand spanking new innovative idea. We do anoint ideas as clichés because they work, don’t we? At one time, at least, they made a lot of sense and often still do.
Well, we may be witnessing the birth of a “new” cliché (if that’s possible) that offers new advice for ambitious business owners and executives of growing companies. A just-released book, Think Inside the Box , brings an unusual perspective to growing a company. The apt, though lengthy subtitle, seems to say it all: “Discover the Exceptional Business Inside Your Organization.”
In other words, business owners, CEOs, and presidents can find nearly everything they need to grow their companies inside their companies. They just need to know how and how to distribute their time and attention, the authors say, by applying the tried-and-true 80/20 rule in disciplined ways.
“You have the data and you have the tools,” authors Tim Nelson and Jim McGee tell business owners. “We provide the map and the how to.”
The book not only offers a “regimen” to help owners, CEOs, and presidents identify key growth resources within their companies and the baggage that’s holding them back. It also reveals a surprisingly straightforward, commonsense process that has been applied by some 850 other companies to, in specific cases:
- Shed 80 percent of their suppliers
- Triple revenue per employee
- Reduce the number of products by 25% without reducing gross margin.
Together, the authors–Tim Nelson and Jim McGee–bring significant hands-on experience to the business-growth box as entrepreneurs, owners, and consultants.
Nelson founded and operated an industrial packaging company for 13 years before selling it to Illinois Tool Works (ITW), where he continued to lead the company. McGee founded a management and technology consulting firm, growing it to more than 1,000 consultants from 25 in six years. He also provides an academic’s perspective as a Harvard Business School PhD in organizational design.
Think Inside the Box is available on Amazon or at www.insidethe8020box.com for $15.95 in paperback and $9.95 for Kindle.
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