Bob Prosen’s book Kiss Theory Good Bye: Five Proven Ways to Get Extraordinary Results in Any Companyis unique. Yes, we know of balanced scorecards and strategy maps, but Prosen’s book is easy to execute, not requiring corporate -wide buy in to track success. A single manager or C-level can implement any of Prosen’s recommended metrics for success in their respective areas.

It offers practical advice, not academic theories, on execution models with actionable techniques that managers and C-levels can deploy to remove roadblocks that prevent companies from achieving profitability and desired results. As a former C-level, Prosen’s recommended measures for sales effectiveness, financial management, and operational excellence perfectly augmented the measures I was already tracking monthly and quarterly against plan.

What’s In It For Knowledge Workers, Managers & C-levels?
If you’re a knowledge worker, check out this book so you can understand how your performance and results contribute to your company’s success. Be proactive about how you can come up with ways with your team and your manager to help sales or operations. If you’re a manager or C-level, Prosen’s book will help you understand why some of your company’s habits may be restraining your performance. It will enhance your understanding of how superior leadership, sales effectiveness, operational excellence, financial management, and customer loyalty drive profitability, providing you with execution models and measures to achieve desired results.

Five Crippling Habits
In addition to identifying the five attributes highly profitable companies and corresponding execution models, Prosen provides five crippling habits that prevent companies from reaching their goals faster, more efficiently. Below are the crippling habits:

1. Absence of clear directives
2. Lack of accountability
3. Rationalizing inferior performance
4. Planning in lieu of action
5. Aversion to risk and change

Daily Checklist
What can you do on a daily basis to achieve success? Prosen recommends a daily checklist that will help you end indecision, increase productivity, getting the results you need as a knowledge worker, middle manager, or C-level. Here are his 7 steps for every day:

1. Give clear directions. Be short, be definitive, and get to the point.
2. Require accountability. Focus on results, not activity.
3. Never rationalize poor performance.
4. Avoid overplanning. When a plan is in place, execute.
5. Embrace change. Search out opportunities to improve your organization and your results.
6. Help every member on the team win.
7. At the end of the day, ask yourself, “Did my actions today help move the organization closer to meeting its objectives?”

As you can see, I consider Kiss Theory Good Bye: Five Proven Ways to Get Extraordinary Results in Any Company a must-have book for knowledge workers, middle managers, and C-levels. However, it’s especially applicable for startups so you can contain costs, track sales, and protect cash flow.

Recommended Reading List

• Kiss Theory Good Bye: Five Proven Ways to Get Extraordinary Results in Any Company by Bob Prosen
  
• Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean by Karen Berman, Joe Knight, and John Case
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
• CEO Tools: The Nuts-n-Bolts of Business for Every Manager’s Success by Kraig Kramers

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