Less Is More

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 16. SEPT. 2002

One might imagine that with this title, Jennings (It's Not the Big That Eat the Small, It's the Fast That Eat the Slow) is setting out to proclaim the joys of downsizing and outsourcing. Fortunately, that's far from the case, as the author has instead assembled a lively and intelligent reminder of how businesses can cut out waste from the top to the bottom (e.g., if companies don't pay executives $80 million a year, they might not have to lay off 1,000 workers to improve the bottom line). Along with his research team of recent Princeton and Stanford grads, Jennings, who founded the media consulting firm Jennings-McGlothlin & Co., writes about a handful of organizations e.g., Ryanair, IKEA, Lantech, Nucor that seem to defy reality with their unbelievably impressive profits, productivity and employee loyalty. The book is written as efficiently as its subject companies operate, and Jennings conclusively proves a number of truisms: nothing improves worker loyalty and productivity like telling them the truth; don't hire people you'll have to lay off in a year; and don't lose focus. This plea for sanity in the post-Enron era will be a boon to managers struggling with inefficiency in their organizations.