One Page Management: How to Use Information to Achieve Your Goals

Okay, I bought the book for 50 cents at the local library.

So? I believe this book, combined with the book One Page Business Plan will allow you to lead and manage any size business from 0 to 30,000 people.

Notice how I used the word "Treatment" in the title of this review? Well a treatment is a one to two page document for explaining the plot and timing of a screenplay/tv show--it's peaks/valleys/growth and development. This is a common thing to do in the entertainment industry for a show that's from 30 minutes to 2 1/2 hours long.

How long do you want your business to run? Buy both books. Build a better business. Live more life. ;)

I bought this book many years ago while I was a sales engineer in a small company.. at first I thought this would be helpful when I someday would be part of a major corp.

Now that I do belong to a corp I realice that the principles set here can help you in your personal goals as well.. fun and practical book in the style of a story

A mythical Brian Scott was selected as president and CEO of a struggling company for his unique ability to get to the heart of the problem and implement effective solutions, being given two years of freedom to implement change. As he took up the challenge he planned a short-term strategy of cost controls, inventory reductions, cash flow and firing key people while seeking a long-term solution to ensure the future growth of the company. But he also knew that "If you don't know what's wrong, you can't fix it." Scott was aware that financial statements could not tell him the whole story; he also needed opinions from top management. So he asked everybody open-ended questions such as " Why do you think the company is in trouble?" He found that almost everyone blamed someone else or a different department and it was clear that coordination and cooperation fell well short of the optimum. Lack of communication, finger pointing, refusal to accept responsibility, information overload, and lack of concise relevant data were among the symptoms plaguing the company. Scott was unable to get answers to his basic questions and the fact that he was ten levels removed from his first-line supervisors did not help.

He realized that he had to find the truth for himself and that relying solely on the impressions of others might give him a view that could be far from reality. Scott had two problems - getting to know a new, large company quickly and then keeping abreast of what is going on. The reporting process did not give him the real problems nor did it give him the opportunities being missed. He had a pile of information that had to be screened - a process he did not have time for. He decided to put all key information on three one-page reports:
- Report #1: Focus Report giving key information on what you do
- Report #2: Feedback Report giving the good news and bad news about what you do
- Report #3: Manager Report giving the good news and bad news about what your people do

He then had to answer the question "How do you define success?" This leads to defining success factors such as profitability, market share, debt ratio or a motivated, productive and unified work force and then putting a number to each factor to show where he was now and where he wanted to be within a specified time frame. He finished up with too many factors which required culling to determine the Critical Success Factors. Then he had to relate the Critical Success Factors to the departments providing the information.

The information above was culled from Part I of the book which continues with Part II: One Page Management, Part III: Linking the One Page Reports, Part IV: The Power of One Page Management. In today's competitive environment many companies will go out of business in the next few years or will at least face a tough struggle. The approach in this book is very helpful as it focuses attention on getting key information. It is difficult to see how this book could not make a difference to most people. Few of us have the perfect system in place. When was the last time we asked "Am I getting the information I need to be successful in my job in a speedy, concise and useful form?" The fact that Dennis Scholl, President of Signal Capital Corporation could write "I was so excited by One Page Management that I spent the bulk of my vacation reading it three times. We have now implemented the system for our sales force and it has already made a noticeable difference", suggests that the authors have pinpointed a problem experienced by many companies and that the authors have presented a solution in a readable and readily applicable manner. dwillis@afs.edu.gr

In this informaiton age, how information is collected, managed and used will determine the success of modern organizations. From a slow paper based information system to high speed digital information system the modern business came a long way and now the quantum of information that flows in has been increased multifold. Though informaiton is a must for modern organizations, not all the information is relevant to all the people. For managing modern organizations in this complex boarderless world, one needs greater focus. One page management helps in solving the problem of processing of high volume information and creating focus for managers of all levels to run the business in the right directions. Written in the style of "One Minute" books of Dr. Kenneth Blanchard, this book helps managers of all levels in setting key success areas suitable for their level of responbility and allign their goals with the organization's goals. A must read for all those who is managing in today's complex business and prefer clarity and focus.

This book shows the nowadays problem that most managers have: too much information to review with too little time to do it. The book shows you an effective way to sumarize the key information of your organization into three one page reports. Each report focuses on specific aspects of the organization: the focus report, the feedback report and management report.