This book will inspire all people within a company, not just senior leadership. It provides a launching pad for insight, discussion, and action.
The purpose of 100 Insights is to grow businesses and promote sustainability. The book covers six areas that are key to achieving this purpose:
Contents
1. Business Does Not Have To Be Complicated
2. Winning During Market Transitions
3. It’s All About Your Customer
4. Continuous Improvement Is A Differentiator
5. Your Business Through Your Customers’ Eyes
6. Eliminate Organization Gridlock
7. Are You Perfecting Mediocrity?
8. Relentless Focus on Details Positions A Company for Success
9. Work Ethic Is A Critical Component of Success
10. You Can’t Set It and Forget It
11. Be Alert Today; Be Alive Tomorrow
12. Do You Only Have One Strategy for Success?
13. Stuck Qi Harms People and Businesses
14. Why Enterprise I.T. Systems Are Needed
15. The Captain Needs Feedback
16. Are You Addressing Ineffective Processes?
17. How We Are Rewarded
18. What Process Improvement Initiatives Should You Focus On?
19. You Can’t Just Show Up To Thrive
20. Proactive Action Is A Differentiator
21. Let Go Of What’s Holding You Back
22. Embrace The Status Quo At Your Own Peril
23. Being Purposeful Will Help You Thrive
24. FEAR: False Evidence That Appears Real
25. Business Must Collaborate with I.T.
26. Current Growth Doesn’t Portend Future Growth
27. Breaking From The Status Quo
28. A Desk Is A Dangerous Place
29. Focus On Performance
30. Threats To Your Security?
31. Tenacity And Focus: Key Success Factors
32. Delighting And Exciting Customers
33. Being Intentional
34. Turbocharging Your Business Execution
35. Want To Stay In Global 1000?
36. 3 Things The General Electric CEO Learned In Military
37. The Unlived Life
38. Hunkering Down Is A Failed Strategy
39. Lessons Learned From Costa Concordia
40. Growing Pains
41. Do Headcount Reductions Make A Company More Competitive?
42. Changing How Work Gets Done
43. Being A Customizer Does Not Create Efficiencies
44. It’s All About Your Customer
45. Are Your Customers In The Driver’s Seat
46. How Social Media Can Improve Customer Experience
47. Stop Saying, “I’m Sorry”
48. This Business Never Connected With Marketplace
49. Get Rid Of Gatekeepers
50. Earning Customers—Customer Choice
51. The Yum/Yuck Test
52. When Customer Experience Is Not What It Should Be
53. Customer Experience Is Viewed Holistically By Customers
54. Customer Service Is A Mindset, Not A Department
55. Never Pretend You Care About Customers
56. Customer Service Trends You Need To Be Aware Of
57. Customer Service Technical Support Best Practices
58. Does Your Company Have Big Ears?
59. You Never Step Into The Same River Twice
60. Fall In Love With Your Customer, Not Your Technology
61. The U.S. Needs To Rekindle Its Mojo
62. How Entrepreneurs Thrive
63. Your Customers Are Intolerant of “One-Size-Fits-All” Solutions
64. Eliminating Friction in Configurable Products And Services
65. Are Your Customers Getting What They Want and Need?
66. What Are You Doing To Become The Tallest Tree?
67. Avoid Follow-Ship
68. Innovating Business Processes Creates Value
69. Making The Complex Simple
70. Steve Jobs & Perfecting Solutions
71. The Global Impact of Innovation
72. Eschewing Big Company Syndrome
73. Error Correction Versus Innovation
74. Simplifying Complexity Is Innovation At Its Best
75. Avoiding Death By Incrementalism
76. Delighting And Exciting Customers Via Innovation
77. Value Versus Cost
78. Strategy Versus Execution
79. The Role of Excitement In Business
80. A Leader Must Lead
81. Keys To Implementing Change
82. Be Intolerant Of A Bad Status Quo
83. Are There Really Unforeseen Circumstances In Business?
84. You Decide How And When Your Business Evolves
85. What Leaders Can Learn From Jesuits
86. Teams Can Become Too Comfortable
87. Leaders Go To Where The Work Is
88. Business Evolution Is A Continuous Journey
89. Leaders Are Honest With Their Teams
90. You Can’t Be Too Close to Customers
91. Dwell On Possibility
92. You Are Either Growing Or Dying
93. The First U.S. Chief Information Officer Challenged Status Quo
94. Carrot or Stick?
95. The Need To Delegate Trust
96. Fixing The Culture Of A Company
97. Believing In Your Value-Add
98. Dealing With A Chronic, Disruptive Influence
99. Leading In A Turbulent Environment
100. What’s More Important? Strategy Or Execution?
The foundation of 100 Insights is “Thank God It’s Monday”, a weekly article Dave’s been delivering to business leaders for over a decade.
With a little nudging from some of his colleagues and readers, Dave gathered a selection of articles that can be used by individuals and groups alike.
Each page has a section for notes, that you’ll undoubtedly need, when you put your business through the lens of these insights.
What People Are Saying…
“I look forward to Thank God Its Monday each week. Sometimes I cringe, sometimes I laugh and I always learn something.”– Joyce Mullen, President, Global Channel, OEM and IOT Solutions at Dell EMC
“I look forward to “Thank God Its Monday” to kick off my work week with keen industry insights and perspective that tap into Dave Gardner’s vast expertise.”– Bobbi (Salata) Dangerfield, Retired Dell SVP, Global Business Services
“Dave Gardner’s post is the one Monday email I can count on to help me think differently about the week ahead. An easy read that I often share with my team and colleagues to remind us about the bigger picture!”– Amanda Hodges, Senior Vice President North American Marketing Dell EMC
“There are very few things I can honestly say I look forward to on Monday mornings, however, receiving my copy of “Thank God It’s Monday “over the last 5 years, is definitely one of them. I find myself captivated and inspired with the content and how it relates to real life, every time, without fail. #CustomerExperience”– Lisa Grimes, Chief Listening Officer | Customer Advocacy | Social Listening Intelligence | Strategist | Dell
“Thank God’s It’s Monday … because lazy Sundays are overrated and get boring. I always need to get back to my Bring It On Mode … whew, It’s Monday!”– Sue Chen, CEO, NOVA Medical Products, Shark Advocate, Hazelnut Farmer
“Mondays are better with ‘Dave.’ Always look forward to a new and enlightening, thought provoking, why didn’t I think of that topic. Over the years, Dave has always gone, where for some never will…A straight-shooting, organized, thought-provoking topic in a chaotic business world.”– Daniel Howard, President, DJ’s Scuba Locker Inc.
“Dave Gardner has a unique ability to take real-life examples from businesses large and small, from his own experiences in life, and from news stories, and then turn them into insightful observations that help people excel in business and in life. Several times, his insights have changed how I’m approaching specific challenges in my business.”– David Motto, Creator of the Ten Minute Virtuoso Method
“At a time when our inboxes are invariably clogged up with irrelevant, often useless “content” from a never-ending stream of experts, Dave Gardner’s Thank God It’s Monday is one of the few weekly mailings I read, respond to, and look to apply in my own business. Now Dave has compiled 100 of these short and insightful posts in book form. Ideal for those of us who want to have Dave’s wit and wisdom at our fingertips across the five highly relevant business challenges in which he excels. If anyone can make the complex simple, he can. Here’s the evidence.”– Dr. Liz Alexander, Thinker, Writer, Adventurer
“Honestly, I don’t look forward to reading my email on Monday morning. But there is one exception, Dave Gardner’s ‘Thank God It’s Monday’ emails. I love his perspective and it makes me stop and think a bit versus just reacting.”– Greg Davoll, Senior Product Leader—Software Industry