Faster Company Building the World's Nuttiest, Turn-on-a-Dime, Home-Grown, Billion-Dollar Business

by Kelly, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9780471242116
• ISBN10: 047124211X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-04-06
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Praise for Faster Company "What a ride! Pat Kelly's story is amazing and his business lessons are invaluable. If you want to build a great company, read this book! If you want to inspire a youngster, give him or her this book. It could change their life." --Alen "Ace" Greenberg, Chairman of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. "Faster Company is a quick and easy read full of simple but sound advice about the real basics of business. Few business books have much to say about how to ‘run the store'; Pat Kelly knows and Faster Company delivers." --Robert L. Crandall, Chairman and CEO, AMR Corp./American Airlines "As someone who has built companies from the ground up, I believe this book offers a formula that really words...trusting in good people, giving them equity in the business, outworking the competition and having fun on the road to meeting your goals. An excellent book by an outstanding individual." --H. Wayne Huizenga, Chairman, Republic Industries "Faster company is fast-paced, fun, entertaining, inspiring, and incredibly insightful....You won't put this book down!" --William Farley, Chairman and CEO, Fruit of the Loom, Inc. All of the author's proceeds from this book will be donated to the Boys Home Foundation.

Author Biography

PATRICK KELLY is founder, Chairman, and CEO of PSS/World Medical, Inc., one of the fastest-growing companies in the history of the medical-supply industry. In 1997, Kelly received the Horatio Alger Award, an annual award given to dedicated community leaders who are committed to excellence—as exemplified by remarkable achievements accomplished through honesty, hard work, self-reliance, and perseverance. JOHN CASE is president of The Open-Book Press and an editor-at-large for Inc. magazine. A veteran reporter and analyst of the business world, he worked as a senior writer for Inc. from 1983 to 1996 during which time he wrote numerous cover stories and columns for the magazine. He is also the author of five other business books, including The Open-Book Experience.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD	11	(2)
Dave Thomas
PREFACE	13	(2)
INTRODUCTION: The Meaning of Speed	15	(8)
PART ONE The World's Nuttiest Billion-Dollar Company	23	(30)
CHAPTER 1. "A Cross between the U.S. Marines and Animal House"	23	(10)
CHAPTER 2. Starting Out	33	(20)
PART TWO Four Building Blocks of a Faster Company	53	(68)
CHAPTER 3. Gutsy Goals	53	(14)
CHAPTER 4. A Competitive Edge	67	(18)
CHAPTER 5. A Company of CEOs	85	(20)
CHAPTER 6. Values	105	(16)
PART THREE Getting It Done: Eleven Commandments for Building a Faster Company	121	(96)
CHAPTER 7. Commandment I: Hire Great People	121	(10)
CHAPTER 8. Commandment II: Nonstop Teaching and Learning	131	(10)
CHAPTER 9. Commandment III: Grow Your Own Leaders	141	(8)
CHAPTER 10. Commandment IV: Grow Your Organization	149	(8)
CHAPTER 11. Commandment V: Open the Books (and Everything Else)	157	(10)
CHAPTER 12. Commandment VI: Commit to Performance	167	(8)
CHAPTER 13. Commandment VII: Pour It On!	175	(12)
CHAPTER 14. Commandment VIII: Let Employees Fire the Boss	187	(6)
CHAPTER 15. Commandment IX: Make a Lot of Millionaires	193	(10)
CHAPTER 16. Commandment X: Out with Bureaucracy!	203	(8)
CHAPTER 17. Commandment XI: Have Fun	211	(6)
CONCLUSION: The Paradoxes of the Marketplace	217	(10)
EPILOGUE: What Really Matters	227	(4)
INDEX	231