The Success Formula

Reviews / Votes

An outstanding contribution to understanding the skills and leadership qualities required for strategy execution. A must read for any manager. -- Rabih Abouchakra * Managing Director, Office of Strategic Affairs, Crown Prince Court, Abu Dhabi * In front of the 'hard' leaders are the smart leaders. A world filled with smart leaders. -- Professor Yvon Pesqueux * Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Paris * Kakabadse never compromises with fashion or the doxa in management; he has taken it upon himself to tell us not that there is no easy way to succeed, but rather that success depends on simple, but solid, concepts and approaches. -- Professor Pierre Kletz * Head of Mandel Social Leadership MBA Program, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel * Success, argues Kakabadse is all about delivering value. And much of this enlightening and entertaining book is about how to create value drawing on interviews with top managers in over 100 organisations across 14 countries. Illustrated with some cleverly selected and revealing real-life case studies, it is essential bedside reading for all senior executives. -- Professor Eric Cornuel * CEO and Director General, EFMD, Brussels * Understanding what makes a successful organisation is vital in today's fast changing environment - The Success Formula explores the relationship between, values, evidence, strategy and engagement. -- Lesley King-Lewis * CEO, Windsor Leadership * Finally we have a book which recognizes that organizations cannot achieve genuine sustainability unless social value is given equal weighting to shareholder, other stakeholder and financial value. If there is a strong values base, diversity of thinking and effective governance, organizations can build long-lasting success. -- Simon Osborne FCIS * Chief Executive ICSA * Andrew Kakabadse's book offers unique insights and practical suggestions. Success, particularly in turbulent and unpredictable environments, is driven by value and decisions anchored to value. A recent parliamentary commission on future of management identified people, purpose, and potential as drivers of success. This book offers practical suggestions in all three areas. -- Professor Abby Ghobadian * Head of School of Leadership, Organisations and Behaviour, Henley Business School * This book contains a multitude of insights concerning success that Andrew has derived from interviews with senior managers from over a 100 organizations in 14 countries. It provides much useful advice as to how to recognize successful organizations and how to determine what is required to make success a reality. -- Dr Chris Pierce * CEO, Global Governance Services Ltd., London * Kakabadse's extensive global research shows how few top companies have a proper engagement with their stakeholders and his evidence reveals the great and sustainable success arise from so doing. A must read for the C suite and the Board. -- John Board * Dean of Henley Business School * Once again, Dr Kakabadse's in depth research draws out governance and dynamic governance insights, helping us to drive value in our companies. -- Yasmin Allen BCom * FAICD and Company Director, IAG, Cochlear and Santos Ltd * The evidence-based account, and unparalleled access, of Professor Kakabadse cuts like a knife to the very heart of this complex and frequently misunderstood subject. This book is a must read for anybody attempting to come to terms with organizational success - or failure. -- Dr Ian Richardson * Director of Executive Education, Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University * With this publication, Andrew Kakabadse achieved the Formula of Success: combining a robust academic research approach with practioners' feedback. He paints a truly global vision of how leadership can deliver outstanding value, thanks to the impressive support of top leaders all over the world! All pieces of the recipe for sustainable corporate success fit together and make the book a must read for all interested in leading business firms. -- Baroness Lutgart Van den Berghe * Executive Director of the Belgian Governance Institute and Extra-Ordinary Professor at the University of Ghent and the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School * I read The Success Formula with great interest, and recommend it to any business manager who seeks to ensure the health and continuity of the enterprise he/she leads. Andrew Kakabadse's guidelines in this book strike me as convincing and eminently practical. -- Andre van Heemstra * Former member of the board of Unilever * This book is about leadership, about sustaining vision and values to deliver consistent quality, about the humility to respect the team and the intellectual rigor to challenge its certainties. This is a manual on how values generate value. -- Dr. Ilia Roubanis * Athens * The Success Formula is a refreshing read for those leaders committed to employee engagement and transformational results. It underlines the role of the leader in building alignment and delivering results based on trust, authenticity and a clear Organisational purpose. -- John Pollaers * Chairman of the Australian Advanced Manufacturing Council and Former CEO of Fosters Group and Pacific Brands * There a few books which combine such outstanding academic knowledge and real world experience on leadership as this one. Government and business leaders in Europe should use it when preparing for the challenge to bring back economic growth and social progress. -- Dr Stefan Schepers * Secretary General of the independent tripartite High Level Group on Innovation Policy Management (2012-2014) * This is a very readable, well-structured and evidence based book. What I liked about The Success Formula was its fit with my own experience of human engagement and its criticality in creating sustainable value. Openness to change, diversity of thinking, inclusion, robust discussion, listening, feedback, teamwork and goodwill work to build productivity, engagement and adaptability. The emphasis is not on a charismatic visionary leader but rather one with humility focused on gathering and using hard and soft evidence to achieve alignment and enduring success. -- Jillian Broadbent * Director, Reserve Bank of Australia * Andrew and David have produced seriously worthwhile insights and a global perspective on success. They focus on reality coupled with sound delivery processes as a basis for successful decisions and that's just the beginning! -- Peter Jollie * Director, Reliance Rail * Kakabadse has produced yet another outstanding work, cutting through the complexity of leadership to the heart of the issue to provide an accessible and actionable formula for success. -- Robert Galavan * Professor of Strategic Management, National University of Ireland Maynooth * An interesting and thought-provoking read. -- Jeremy Tullett * CMI Professional Manager magazine *