Outstanding: 47 Ways To Make Your Organization Exceptional
By: John G. Miller
658.401 MILLER, New York : G.P. Putnams Sons, c2010.

This book is a quick, easy read. John Miller, a Colorado author, has fresh yet simple ideas on how to make an organization outstanding and on being a better employee. Essentially he has 47 ideas, which are also chapters, but only a few pages each. The author goes back to the basics even quick to point out that it’s not yet another book on leadership; it’s truly about changing the way we think and the way we do business. Below is a couple of chapter titles and summary’s that I found refreshing and inspiring.
• “See Everyone As a Customer.” The author defines a customer as “anyone who has a legitimate expectation of me.” By viewing everyone as a customer, we realize that our job is really to serve. That may be externally or internally, but the core base is to serve someone.
• “Make Meetings Meaningful.” Miller goes on to describe that often times in companies, we are in so many meetings during the day that we don’t get anything accomplished in our job. He suggests many different ways of handling meetings and here their core topics:
o Have a clear leader
o Use a list or agenda
o Keep your list or agenda small and relevant
o Focus on the right things
o Meet at the right time
o Consider your meeting space
o Invite the right people
o Prepare
o Be punctual
o Control tangents
o Stay Standing! – this was an interesting idea that talked about “no chair” meetings where they are quick, talking about critical information and solving the problems without adding extra pieces. By standing, its sets the ground for the quick meeting.
• “Do What You Promise.” Whatever you say, you do. We build teams and establish collaborations when we build trust by following through on what we said we would do.
• “Listen in All Directions.” The first part of this chapter is about how multitasking can be considered being rude to a customer or coworker. He suggested that we put distractions aside and really listen and communicate. He also went on about listening to the customer and management listening to their people which were excellently fresh. One idea was to never do a survey, unless you are ready for the feedback. Getting defensive or doing nothing with the feedback, shows your intent to not really listen.
• The last chapter, “Be Outstanding.” The author writes, “the message is this: if we want an outstanding organization, then each of us must be personally outstanding.” His message is very clear that we all have a personal accountability to action. We each represent a piece of the puzzle and if we perform outstanding, we better help our organization become that way as well.