Managing the Core

The world has changed and business just got a lot tougher. That's the message author and consultant Chris Driscoll relays in his new book Managing the Core: Business Management in the New Economy. Notes Driscoll, Now that the economy has changed, no one can afford to be haphazard about business operations. No one can afford the waste. No one can afford to run on anything less than all cylinders. Driscoll s comprehensive full-cylinder approach to managing a business focuses on the three core activities that enable organizations to survive during tough times and thrive at other times: using what the author calls a Gameplan approach for strategy deployment, engaging staff so the team can change direction quickly without negatively affecting performance, and integrating lean operating principles so the organization is always running without waste. Driscoll notes that, in the past, companies with a good product, good reputation, or superior quality could falter in one of the other key areas and get away with it, but not anymore. He comments, Today's business climate requires successful companies to focus on managing the core, it s the only way they're going to differentiate themselves from the competition and succeed.