The Rudolph Factor Finding the Bright Lights that Drive Innovation in Your Business

by Laurin, Cyndi; Morningstar, Craig

• ISBN13: 9780470451038
• ISBN10: 0470451033
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-07-14
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

The Boeing Company, one of America's oldest and best aircraft manufacturers, has struggled-along with many of its competitors and suppliers-with the cyclical nature of demand for commercial aircraft. Between the difficult integration of the Rockwell and McDonnell Douglas teams into Boeing's culture, increasing competition from Airbus, and heightened market pressure, the company was facing serious financial consequences...until it found its bearings and managed a remarkable turnaround in record-breaking time, putting its competitors on the ropes.The Rudolph Factor explains how Boeing did it. The company's journey back to excellence began a decade ago with the Boeing C-17 Globemaster, the U.S. Air Force's newest, most modern cargo aircraft. Hampered by a toxic culture and struggling to stay alive, Boeing C-17 management and employees partnered with the U.S. Air Force to fix the Program. They-all 10,000 of them-instituted a new set of progressive practices from the top down and from the bottom up. One of their primary focuses was finding and nurturing creativity and innovative thinking among their people and teams.These new practices-including redefining leadership, developing a highly participatory team-based culture, and creating a steadfast organizational constitution as well as an alternative reward structure-successfully reformed the C-17 Program, turning near disaster into stunning success. The C-17 Program continues to be so successful, in fact, that its leadership and employee involvement principles are currently being instituted throughout Boein-contributing to the entire company's future.The Rudolph Factor uses Boeing C-17's successful transformation as a platform for teaching organizations how to elicit and benefit from the creative, revolutionary thinking of current employees. A small percentage of hypercreative, out-of-the-box thinkers can be the catalyst for organization-wide reform-if you can recognize and nurture their special abilities. This book shows you how to find them in your organization, empower them, and build a revolutionary business culture around them.If you want to get the best out of your people, turn your struggling business around, or fix failing projects, The Rudolph Factor will be your guiding light.

Author Biography

Cyndi Laurin, PhD, is an author, international keynote speaker, and founder of Guide to Greatness, LLC. She specializes in process improvement and performance man-agement. She is also the bestselling author of Catch!

Craig Morningstar is an experienced senior-level executive whose background includes positions at Southwest Airlines and Charles Schwab. He is also an entrepreneur who has founded, operated, and sold several companies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Foreword	p. xi
Foreword	p. xv
Preface	p. xix
The Prevailing Form of Business Cultures	p. 1
The Boeing Company and the Impetus for a Cultural Revolution	p. 25
Why Rudolph, You Ask?	p. 41
Nurturing Rudolphs to Maximize Their Innovative Contributions	p. 59
Establishing a Team-Based Rudolph Culture	p. 77
Redefining Leadership	p. 107
Developing a Corporate Constitution	p. 121
Creating an Alternative and Aligned Reward Structure	p. 143
Epilogue Go Forth-Awaken the Rudolph Within	p. 161
Resources	p. 167
Index	p. 169
About the Authors	p. 181
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