Hope is not a method Author:Gordon R. Sullivan & Michael V. Harper The U.S Army is one of the world's largest, most complex organizations, with nearly 1.5 million employees and an annual budget of $63 million. Since the end of the Cold War, it has been re-engineered more thoroughly and successfully than any other business. Gordon Sullican, the Army's Chief of Staff from 1991-1995, and Micheal Harper, his strate... more »gic planner, faced tremedous challenges as the leader of this transformation. They brought the Army into the Information Age, got rid of outdated bureaucratic procedures, and took on a whole new set of peacetime missions and responsibilities, all while downsizing and cost-cutting by 40 percent. To improve their effectivness, they had to change their way of thinking and act quickly -the same challenges that IBM, GM, Microsoft, and many other businesses are faced with today.
In Hope Is Not a Method, Sullican and Harper provide an overview of their strategy, complete with anecdotal examples of how it was carried out and thought on the meaning of leadership and commitment to shared values, how to identify objectives and maintain a long-term vision, when to challenge the status quo, and how to invest in and nurture employees. Hope Is Not a Method is a program for change that provides lessons and tactics that all business people can benefit from.« less