Vital Factors: The Secret to Transforming Your Business - And Your Life

As the authors state in their introduction, ""highly succesful companies have not unearthed any magic formulas ... they simply focused tightly on their business fundamentals."" Those fundamentals are Froschheiser's Vital Factors, ""the critical component parts"" of a business and the core idea behind the consulting company he runs, MAP. Success follows when you ""pinpoint your Vital Factors, measure them consistently ... hone them, polish them, and finally perfect them."" The bulk of the book is devoted to richly reported case studies involving MAP clients at companies such as Wells Fargo, Cold Stone Creamery and Insomniac Games. Illuminating their management system's inner workings, the authors demonstrate, at a personal level, how their clients have leveraged the power of Vital Factors into real results; lessons learned are bolstered by bullet-pointed ""Bottom Line"" summaries at the end of each chapter. The techniques they describe aren't groundbreaking and can get lost in business cliche, but generous helpings of common sense (""be flexible""), good intentions (""keep balance in your life"") and old-fashioned elbow grease (""profound change never comes from a quick fix"") make them intuitive and effective. Though it occasionally reads like a long ad for Froschheiser's consulting services (a toll-free number is provided), and the authors' enthusiasm may outstrip their claims, there's enough advice here to make this a valuable read for managers.