The Most Effective Organization in the U.S.: Leadership Secrets of the Salvation Army - Hardcover

Watson, Robert; Brown, James Benjamin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 060960869X ISBN 13: 9780609608692

Publisher: Crown Business, 2001

Synopsis

The book about not just business but the meaning of life ... a guide for being the best at what you do and doing it with a sense of purpose that connects with something larger than yourself ...

For many people, The Salvation Army is most visible between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's when its officers, soldiers and volunteers, in the ubiquitous Kettle Campaign, make music and collect money for good works. Few realize, however, that the Army is much, much more than this one effort and is in fact a powerhouse of an organization. None other than Peter Drucker called it "the most effective organization in the U.S." Not the most effective nonprofit, but "the most effective organization." Quite a compliment from the world's most preeminent management thinker, especially when you consider that he is comparing The Salvation Army to world-class corporations like General Electric, IBM and Johnson &Johnson.

Now, Robert Watson, the Army's recently retired national commander, is ready to share the Army's secrets about organization, strategy, and acting with a sense of mission. With its 9,500 centers of operation, $2 billion in annual revenues, and 32 million clients served in every zip code in America, The Salvation Army is the model for doing business with a purpose. As Peter Drucker says, "no one even comes close to it with respect to clarity of mission, ability to innovate, measurable results, dedication and putting money to maximum use":
* Clarity of mission: What you can learn from the Army's laser-like focus of evaluating everything it does in terms of its mission of preaching the gospel and meeting human needs without discrimination.
* Ability to innovate: How The Salvation Army's investment in people gets incredible returns and why it as much venture capitalist as charity.
* Measurable results: Learn The Army's unique ways of setting, monitoring and celebrating the achievement of measurable goals so you, too, can say, "look, we promised we would do this and we delivered."
* Dedication: How the Army accomplishes so much with such a small cadre of officers.
* Putting Money to Maximum Use: What you can learn from The Army's bare skeleton of a national organization in terms of making the most of your resources and making all of your operations self-sufficient.

By demonstrating the power of a sense of purpose combined with organizational effectiveness, this remarkable book has something essential to say to all executives, entrepreneurs, managers, and anyone with the ambition to bring people together to reach a goal.

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About this title

Review:

Most of us know the Salvation Army from its fundraising efforts and philanthropic programs, but the $2 billion-a-year transcontinental institution, now serving more than 30 million people with a vastly underpaid and overworked staff, is also a model business structure. Under a title taken from the description applied to it by management guru Peter Drucker, The Most Effective Organization in the U.S. outlines the fundamental tenets that the group has prospered under since its founding in the mid- to late 1800s. Written by former National Commander Robert A. Watson and freelancer Ben Brown, the book details eight principles that allow the Army to do so much with so little: focus on "a purpose that transcends quarterly earnings"; make "what you do serve human needs"; stay publicly accountable to visible standards; encourage feedback and act upon it; "invest real power and real responsibility" in top personnel; "accept the inevitability of change"; take calculated risks; and motivate employees by ensuring their jobs are both valuable and enjoyable. Some readers may not be comfortable with the organization's overt ties to Christian teachings, but few can argue with the success it consistently enjoys. --Howard Rothman

About the Author:

Robert A. Watson has served as a commissioned officer in The Salvation Army for forty-four years, four of them as National Commander, the highest-ranking officer in the United States. In his role as national commander, Commissioner Watson oversaw a vast non-profit operation reaching into every community in the country, generating over $2billion in revenues and involving some 3.2 million officers, employees and volunteers. Commissioner Watson has served on over twenty national and international boards, including the Vice President's Coalition on Welfare to Work. He has represented The Salvation Army in sessions before Congress, at the White House and with other world leaders in the business and the non-profit community.

Ben Brown, a veteran reporter and editor for more than two decades, was a founding staff member of USA Today and founding executive editor of Time, Inc's. Coastal Living magazine. This is his third book.

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown Business
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 060960869X
• ISBN 13: 9780609608692
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 243