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Table of Contents

Part I - It’s Chaos Out There!

Chapter 1
The Tsunami is Coming!
06
Frolicking in Chaos · The Butterfly Effect · Playmakers · Business Chaos · Finding your Coordinates · Everyone Has Customers · Landing in the Hudson · Becoming a Playmaker

Chapter 2
The Ring of Fire
25
You’re in it, Like it or Not · The Beginners Mind · Business Process Gaps · Sources of Business Chaos · A Common Thread

Chapter 3
Slackers, Heroes, Journeymen and Playmakers
32
Who are you? Slackers · Heroes · Journeymen · Playmakers · Becoming a Playmaker · Recognizing a Hero Culture · The Strategic Inflection Point · Stuck in a Hero Culture · Transformation to a Process Based Culture

Chapter 4
The Axes of Business Chaos
45

The Playmaker’s Ecosystem · The Three Axes of Chaos · Functions and Silos · An Organization in Chaos · Work Activities · Value is Created Horizontally

Chapter 5
Blindsided by Chaos
54
How Organizations Typically Respond · The Blind Side · The Big Hit · Reacting To Chaos · Responding to Chaos

Chapter 6
The Reality Junkies
62

Navy SEALs · Lost In the Wilderness · Sierra Bravo, Are You Declaring A Fuel Emergency? · The Chain of Events · Business Systems Chaos · Chaos is Your Ally; Reality is Your Friend

Chapter 7
Trees Talk; You Just Need To Listen
73

Sunset Canyon · Was Anyone Listening? · A Great Listener · Listening to the Trees

Chapter 8
Creating Customer Value
80
Creating Customer Value · My Cappuccino Epiphany · The Two “E” Words · Effectiveness · Efficiency · Price vs. Cost · Creating Business Value

Chapter 9
Dimensions of Effectiveness
91
Better, Faster, Cheaper · Dimensions of Effectiveness· “Fit for Use” · The George Forman Grill · “The Customer Experience” · The Gravel Pit · Targets and Metrics · Quality vs. Grade

PART II - Embracing Chaos

Chapter 10
Folklore to Reality
106
 The Aboriginal Walkabout · Song Lines and Dream Paths · Moving from Folklore to Reality · Connecting the Dots

Chapter 11
Business Analysis
112

Distilling Reality from Folklore · The Energy Grid · The Rest of the Story · Everyone is a Business Analyst · Taking Ownership of Business Analysis · Going Visual with Business Analysis · The Mechanics of a Process Map

Chapter 12
“Coach – I want to be a Dallas Cowboy”
127

Diamonds in the Rough · Rookie Free Agents · Deep vs. Superficial Analysis · Going Deep; the 7 “W”s

Chapter 13
What’s in a Word?
146
What’s in a Word? · Getting In-Sync · Some Things Never Change · Some Things are Fundamental · Some things are a Crack-up

Chapter 14
Business Rules and Best Practices
154

Friends Fly Free (But Read the Fine Print First) · Mining Tribal Knowledge · Guidance or Directive? · Rules Based Work vs. Knowledge and Judgment Based Work · One-Off Decisions? · “Splitting the Atom” · The Rules Will Set You Free

Chapter 15
Web 2.0 Creates Friends, Business 1.0 Creates Value
169
Technology is Not a Silver Bullet · Mastering Business Chaos · Web 1.0 / 2.0 · Business 1.0 · The Hand-held Device Dilemma · Information Technology, Magical Thinking and Silver Bullets · Busting the Myth of the Silver Bullet

PART III - Leveraging Chaos

Chapter 16
Quantum Critical Thinking
178

The Illusionist · Magical Thinking is Not Critical Thinking · Critical Thinking, Not Order Taking · What is Critical Thinking? · The 5 Essential Business Analysis Questions · Repaving the Cow Paths

Chapter 17
The Secret Sauce of Business Analysis
191
Break-Fix Scenario Analysis · The “Ah-ha” Moment· The Flight Plan · Thinking Out Ahead of the Plane · Anticipating and Active Listening · The Three Paths · Applying the Secret Sauce

Chapter 18
Business Process Improvement
200
Do the Japanese Actually Like Sushi? · Process Improvement or Process Impairment? · Creating Business Value · The Process for Improving Business Processes · Root Cause or Proximate Cause? · Six Sigma · Going Flawless · The Six Sigma Ninjas

Chapter 19
Improvement Tactics
213

The Process Change Continuum · Streamlining Workflow · Managing Cross Functional Hand-Offs · Developing Deep Business Relationships · Customer Self-Service and Work Shifting · Eliminating and Minimizing the “Re” Words · Stopping the Buck · Re-thinking Data Capture · Positive Changes Spread Virally

PART IV - The Playmakers Perfect Storm

Chapter 20
Three Close Encounters with Communism
228
Customers, Comrades and Counterparties · Close Encounter #1 - “A Good Run with Communism” · Close Encounter #2 -The Court Ladies · Close Encounter #3 - Sailing Out of Victoria Harbor · Playmakers Create Value in Any Circumstances

Chapter 21
Thriving Into Future Chaos
239

The Customer Revelation · Own Your Own Monkeys · Optimizing your Role as a Customer · Internal Competition · Compensation and Job Security · External Service Providers · Commercial and Public Sectors · The Playmaker’s Perfect Storm · Playmakers for a New Age

Epilogue
255
The Power of Pattern Recognition · The 12 Secrets · Monday Morning · 10,000 Hours · Gaining Knowledge and Judgment from Experience · Keep Track of Your Experiences · Success Favors the Brave

Appendix 267

Index 269

   


Mastering Business Chaos

12 Secrets to Being Indispensible and Becoming a Playmaker

By: James S. Proctor

CEO, The Inteq Group


Overview



Most mainstream business books are written for senior and executive management. But Mastering Business Chaos is for the other 95%, the people who perform the vital day-to-day work of the organization and their managers.

These 12 Secrets reveal essential critical thinking skills and hands-on tactics that enable you to create substantial customer and business value using the resources readily available to you and within your control.

I believe that anyone, in any organization, can substantially improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the work they do using the critical thinking skills and tactics presented in Mastering Business Chaos.

The 12 Secrets are tools; they enable you to demystify and leverage chaos to your advantage without formal projects, capital investment, changes in information technology or sign-offs from senior management.

This book is for those individuals who want to take their work to the next level and proactively seek out and identify opportunities to take action and to create customer and business value.

These people are indispensable to their organizations. I call these people "Playmakers."

James Proctor
Author, Mastering Business Chaos



About the Author


James Proctor is the CEO and founder of The Inteq Group, Inc. and author of Mastering Business Chaos. He frequently lectures on business strategy, innovation and business process optimization and serves on the board of commercial and non-profit organizations.

In Mastering Business Chaos he reveals secret patterns he has discovered in thousands of client interactions ranging from Fortune 500 to emerging growth companies and government agencies throughout the spectrum of industry.

Proctor has a B.S. in Industrial Management and Operations Research and an MBA in Information Technology from Indiana University. He started his career with the firm of Ernst and Young (then, Ernst and Whinney) with their consulting group in Dallas and specialized in the aerospace, manufacturing and defense industries.

In the mid- 1980’s, Proctor founded the Inteq Group, Inc. Today, Inteq is a team of top industry professionals that serve commercial and governmental organizations worldwide. Inteq has trained over 300,000 business and information technology professionals around the world in his analysis techniques.


10 Advantages from
Mastering Business Chaos



#1: Revolutionary Workplace Edge

The concepts in Mastering Business Chaos are new and original; they are proven and practical. They are born in the unique circumstances of Proctor’s extraordinary access to organizations worldwide. He is invited to go deep inside business in ways most people never see.

This book is destined to become a business classic. The 12 Secrets revealed in Mastering Business Chaos are an unprecedented distillation of Proctor’s decades of experience. Reap this wisdom, apply it and gain an extraordinary edge in your workplace.


#2: Entirely Within Your Control

Today, more than ever, the people that are able to optimize existing resources to create business value, regardless of the economic climate, are recognized as proactive, resourceful and indispensible.

You can apply the concepts in Mastering Business Chaos right now with the resources already available to you and within your control. You do not need sign-off from senior management, formal projects or additional investment in information technology.


#3: Become Indispensible

Being indispensible is job security. Job security is important regardless of the strength or weakness of the economy. Mastering Business Chaos provides the tools, techniques and tactics to become indispensable.

Mastering Business Chaos puts you in control. You are not at the mercy of chaos. While others are mired in chaos you are moving forward and creating real customer and business value.


#4 Become a Playmaker

Mastering Business Chaos is more than being indispensible; it makes you a playmaker. Playmakers objectively assess their strengths and weaknesses and those of their team; they leverage strengths and proactively work to improve weaknesses.

Playmakers optimize resources to create exceptional customer and business value. And, just as in sports, playmakers distinguish themselves from their peers and are exceptionally well compensated for their contributions.


#5: Formidable Personal Skill Set


Mastering Business Chaos will change your personal paradigm. You will develop a formidable personal skill set that applies anywhere in your organization independent of your role or job function, independent of technology and industry.

This skill set is your personal edge. You will continually improve, refine and adapt these skills throughout your career. In addition to optimizing your own work, you will become a valuable mentor to your team.


#6: Breakthrough Communication

Work specifications and mutual expectations are often ambiguous and poorly communicated across workflows and throughout the organizational hierarchy, resulting in operational inefficiency and staff frustration.

With the techniques presented in Mastering Business Chaos you will overcome the problems resulting from others’ poor communication skills. You will communicate clearly, precisely and unambiguously; you will proactively take ownership of communications.


#7: Career Advancement

A key factor in career advancement is the quality and depth of the knowledge and skills that you acquire through experience. Putting out fires and keeping up with the relentless flow of day-to-day tasks does not leave time to advance your skills.

The skills that you acquire from Mastering Business Chaos will enable you to get out in front of the workflow. Then, you can focus on refining these skills through meaningful experiences that result in career advancement.


#8: Reduce Stress

On the surface, chaos in business manifests as disorder and unpredictability, a significant source of stress to many people. Stress consumes productively. Chaos, however, is more apparent than real.

With Mastering Business Chaos you will identify the hidden sources of chaos that impact your work. You will learn to harness chaos to your advantage. Demystifying chaos reduces the stress and puts you in control.


#9: Autonomy and Independence

Autonomy and independence, in most work situations, is empowering, highly productive and personally gratifying. Autonomy and independence is built on confidence that must be earned.

Mastering Business Chaos provides the framework that enables you to increase your level of autonomy and independence. You will learn techniques to inspire confidence and reduce management intensity.


#10: Personal Development

Mastering Business Chaos is not just about success in business. The secrets are transcendent; you will instantly see how they apply to your personal life.

With a clear mind, mastery over chaos and a way forward, you will be on the path to achieving your own personal best.





Mastering Business Chaos is Available at Amazon.com

Order Your Copy Today

 

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© INTEQ GROUP INC. 2012