Cover -- Half title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: The Need for a New Definition -- The Beginnings of Operational Excellence -- Redefining Operational Excellence -- Would You Know Operational Excellence If You Tripped Over It? -- Organizations That Exemplify Operational Excellence -- Why Operational Excellence Is Important to Any Organization -- Redefining How We Operate -- Chapter 2: Making Operational Excellence Happen -- The Core Components of Operational Excellence -- Evolving Toward Operational Excellence -- The Four Phases of Operational Excellence -- Creating Gates: Protecting Your Gains -- Four Types of Organizations -- Redefining the Way We Measure Success -- Chapter 3: Attracting and Retaining Top Talent: Don't Settle for Second Best -- The Key Principles of Leadership -- The Four Attributes of a Great Leader -- Attracting the Best People -- A Strategy for Talent Management -- Breathe Life into Your Organization by Letting People Go -- Is Your Turnover Rate Too High? -- Chapter 4: The Innovation Equation: The Importance of Collaboration -- How to Foster Innovation -- The Cycle of Innovation -- A Culture of Innovation: The Interaction of Empowerment and Skill -- How to Become an Innovation Master -- Accelerating the Adoption of Innovation -- Chapter 5: Aligning Strategy and Tactics to Enhance Performance -- Without Execution, There Is No Strategy -- How to Achieve Execution Excellence -- The Difference Between Responsibility and Accountability -- Gaining a Tactical Advantage: Finding Performance Boosts Where You Wouldn't Normally Look -- Performance Boosts: The Do-It-Yourself Version -- A Final Word on Strategy Execution -- Chapter 6: Acquiring and Keeping the Customers You Want -- Why Current Customers Are Your Best Opportunity for Growth -- Stratifying Your Customers.

How to Turn Customers into Great Referral Sources -- Other Strategies to Strengthen Customer Loyalty and Engagement -- The Five Myths of Customer Engagement -- Chapter 7: Optimizing Speed Maximizes Profitability -- Determining Optimal Enterprise Velocity and Responsible Speed -- Slow Down to Improve Results -- How Speed Impacts Profitability -- The Speed-Profitability Correlation and the Four Components of Operational Excellence -- The Myth of the First-Mover Advantage -- Knowing When to Speed Up and When to Slow Down -- Implementing a Culture of Speed Optimization -- Chapter 8: Centers of Excellence: Not So Much -- Why Centers of Excellence Aren't Always Excellent -- Why Create a Centralized Department? -- The Benefits of a Centralized Department -- Centrally Led, Locally Executed -- Ignore the Center and Focus on Excellence -- Chapter 9: Industry Perspectives -- Retail -- Services -- Health Care -- Technology -- Manufacturing -- Chapter 10: Getting Technology Out of Your Way -- Fix the Process, Then Implement the Technology -- Technology and Change Management -- Using Technology to Enhance Operational Excellence -- Operational Excellence and Automation -- Chapter 11: A Bright Future with Operational Excellence -- The Operational Excellence Crystal Ball -- You've Achieved Operational Excellence-Now What? -- Appendix: Are You on the Path to Operational Excellence? -- Index -- About the Author.