Why Is Everyone Else Working on the Wrong Things?

Galileo’s Telescope describes how to measure success at the top of the organization, translate down to every level of supervision

Published: Tuesday, January 26, 2021 - 12:00

(The ROI Alliance: Longmont, CO) -- After more than 24 years of consulting, one consultant says he knows why everyone in a business thinks that everyone else is working on the wrong things, and what to do to fix it.

In his new book, Galileo’s Telescope, author Steven Ouellette presents a straightforward process to create a way to measure success at the top of the organization, translate those metrics down to every level of supervision, and align and manage front-line operations. He also shows how to use this integrated set of metrics to create, deploy, and actually accomplish a strategic plan.

In this, his second book, he fleshes out more fully the process briefly outlined in Business Performance Excellence. Ouellette keeps the reader interested by weaving in stories from Galileo’s life as an analogy for the modern world of management and Big Data. To illustrate the process, he builds a futuristic company called Galileo, Inc. With every new topic he explains the basis of the step and then shows how it might look at this business.

“Ever since the beginning of my career, I have been fascinated with how businesses achieve success, and how they don’t. It continues to astonish me that most organizations put little to no thought into what success actually looks like and how to go about achieving it. The people I talk to are working so hard but are doing it with no guidance on what they are working toward. I hope to change that with this book.”

Ouellette presents a process that has been in private use in consulting for over a decade, and has been tried in industries including manufacturing, product design, transactional, service, non-profits, and higher education. “My clients appreciate how logical this process is,” he states, “and I want to bring that logic to a larger audience.”

The book is split into two main parts. The first is how to build a framework for understanding the business or organization itself. This involves setting a long-term vision of where the company is heading, as well as understanding how it creates value for its customers. Notably, Ouellette shows how to use the words that the company itself chooses to create high-level success metrics. But, “It is important to understand that these metrics are not fulfilled by the leader of the organization. The only way a CEO can accomplish these goals is to support those who really create the value – those workers on the front line.” By “cascading” or translating these metrics down through each level of management, an integrated set of metrics is created that guides managers in their daily decision-making.

The second part of the book shows how to use this “decision support system” to manage and lead a company. Ouellette says, “Management is what is done day-to-day to create value for the customer. Every level of management exists to support the workers who create this value. Leadership is envisioning a new destination for the organization, and what needs to happen in the near term to make progress toward that destination.”

Steven Ouellette has a master’s degree in engineering and is a Certified Management Consultant through the Institute for Management Consultants. He has been consulting and teaching for over twenty-four years in a variety of industries and higher education. He wrote the popular “Six Sigma Heretic” articles for Quality Digest and continues to write a blog on various statistical and management topics. His first book, Business Performance Excellence was a compilation of many experts’ thoughts on various management topics related to management best practices, including three of his own contributions.

For more information, visit www.roi-ally.com or www.steveouellette.com.

Galileo’s Telescope: How to create integrated metrics and a realistic strategic plan across a business.

Publisher: Alliance Press

ISBN: 9798677324796

Available from amazon.com in soft cover and ebook.

About The Author

The ROI Alliance

The ROI Alliance partners with their clients to blend their knowledge with our structures and achieve the incredible. We don't lecture you and walk away. We are there with you as you implement practical and powerful new ways of doing business.