The Three Laws of Performance - (J-B Warren Bennis) by Dave Logan & Steve Zaffron

Book Synopsis

A proven system for rallying all of an organizations' employees around a new vision and ideas for making the vision stick

When something at work isn't going smoothly, managers struggle with what part of the problem to tackle first. Do they start with cost reduction? Or should they go for process improvements first? The authors--who have helped hundreds of companies and individuals change and improve--say spend time and money adjusting the systems in which people operate, rather than targeting people and their performance directly. The authors show that it's in fact possible to change everything at once--with a focus on making such transformations permanent and repeatable.

• Brand-new Introduction written for the paperback edition
• Filled with illustrative examples from Northrup Grumman, BHP-Billiton, Reebok, Harvard Business School, and many others
• Two experts in the field show how to make major transformations happen

The book outlines a process for engaging all employees to buy-in to an improved vision of an organization's new and improved future.

From the Back Cover

How did companies, both large and small, in different countries and industries, all achieve breakthrough performance when the odds were stacked against them?

How did an engineer turned CEO transform his New Zealand steelmaking company around in one year and become a leader in the industry? How did a 600-person team, within the largest petroleum company in Brazil, overcome skepticism and dysfunctional dynamics to achieve the biggest process integration success in history? How did a major Japanese housing manufacturer thrive despite the worst economy in a generation? How did a South African platinum mine improve its safety performance by 57 percent in one year?

All of these results were possible because people applied The Three Laws of Performance and rewrote their futures. This book will show you how to do the same in your organization and your life.

Although most of us aren't aware of it, we have a future that's already been written. Our future is written by hopes, fears, dreams, expectations, and decisions made about life. In the same way, organizations have futures written by history, circumstances, culture, aspirations, successes, and failures. These already-written futures determine and shape the level of performance that's possible for individuals and organizations.

In The Three Laws of Performance, Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan crack the code on rewriting the future for people and organizations, elevating performance to unprecedented levels.

As Warren Bennis wrote in his editor's note: "I believe this book may be one of the most important written in many years. The ideas...aren't tips, tools, or steps, but are in fact laws that govern individual, group, and organizational behavior.... This book can be a resource for generations to come."

Review Quotes

"The Three Laws of Performance provides a list of rules (and stories explaining how they work in practice) that promise to help individuals in leadership roles facilitate the group coherence and cohesion that are necessary to bring about transcendent performance. The book is based on a wealth of experience from decades of applying the ideas it explains. If you're interested in this kind of theory, the book is worth a read." (BrokenSymmetry.typepad.com)

"I received an email a few weeks ago asking if I would be interested in reviewing the new book from Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan titled "the three laws of performance". I jumped at the opportunity....free book right?

Well...I'd happily pay twice the list price for this book and so should you....
The full title of the book is The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life and it is called a 'Warren Bennis' book...if you like Bennis, you'll like this book too.

The premise of the book is that there are three laws that will always affect performance...just like the law of gravity will always have an effect on you.
The three laws are:

How people perform correlates to how situations occur to them
How a situation occurs arises in languages
Future based language transforms how situations occur to people

... This is a great book...I think it is one of the best books I've read in the last few years. Grab this book soon as you can and enjoy!" (EricBrown.com)

"Three Laws is about impossible transformations and how systemic change can remake your life or your organization." (Life Insurance Selling)

About the Author

Steve Zaffron is the CEO of the Vanto Group, a global consulting firm that designs and implements large-scale initiatives to elevate organizational performance. Zaffron has directed major corporate initiatives with more than three hundred organizations in twenty countries.

Dave Logan is on the faculty at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and is a former associate dean. He is also senior partner of CultureSync, a management consulting firm. Logan has written three books, including Tribal Leadership.