Business Management Habits of John D Rockefeller

Mastering the Rockefeller Habits (a book by Verne Harnish)

You may have noticed this business management book floating around our Office during a recent visit (there is a Signed copy available for visitors to read on the bookshelf in our Reception).
But I suspect few have actually taken up the opportunity.
The full title is “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What you must do to increase the value of your growing firm” and it was written by my friend Verne Harnish, otherwise known as “The Growth Guy” (I use the term loosely 😉 but I was luck enough to meet Verne over breakfast at a Conference on Hamilton Island in 2012, as you can see above).
Verne studied the habits of John D Rockefeller the American business magnate, philanthropist and founder of Standard Oil Company and used his findings as the basis for this, now classic, business management book.
At its core is the idea of a disciplined approach to the ongoing management of a business rather than jumping from one spot fire to another.

Better Business Management

Verne identifies three underlying habits that Rockefeller enjoyed and that form the basis of successful business management, being –

• Having sufficient and timely “Data” upon which management can base their decisions and consistently monitor the performance of their business (and by timely he means daily and weekly performance data),
• Setting “Priorities” for the business and its staff including a top five (5) key objectives each quarter and year (Verne has since suggested perhaps this should even be cut to a top 3 or in some cases just a top 1 priority),
• Establishing a “Rhythm” of (well run) meetings to ensure alignment and accountability throughout the organisation.

We have worked hard to implement many of Verne’s ideas to continually improve our own business management, and we are working closely with a number of clients to also assist them gain value from Verne and his findings.
I highly recommend you take the time to check it out (either by grabbing your own copy or by having a look through one of ours next time you are here, we have lots of copies as it is compulsory reading for all my staff).
If you would like to learn more, keep tabs on our Blog, or give us a call, we look forward to having an opportunity to help you improve the management of your business and get you on track for growth.
(If you would like to buy a copy we recommend supporting local businesses so think about contacting your local book store before just navigating to Amazon.  It might be a little more expensive (it might not), but it keeps your money  in Australia and keeps small businesses open which helps to maintain vibrant communities.  We love Beaufort Street Books and Planet Books as two great examples of local small businesses that make our local community better.)