Don't Fire Them, Fire Them Up: A Maverick's Guide to Motivating Yourself and Your Team

As I read the book by Frank Pacetta entitled, Don't Fire Them, Fire Them Up, I was mystified at parallelisms of success between award winning organizations that I've been a witness and party to while also seeing that the author was able to break down many of those perspectives into tangible chartable elements. His prose takes an awesome approach for change management in highly fluid corporate environments. His most important perspective was creating an environment that had lost for so long, and changing that into a culture of winning. This was a difficult process even as the words fell off the page. Fear, resent, back-stabbing are all processes that make change difficult. His first step in that process was to reward the achievers and create an environment that lead with rewards and praise instead of fear and punishment. While there were consequences for actions, it seems that the subtleties between an attitude change were all that was needed. It was a bit more than semantics however, it was placing the achievers on a pedestal and providing incentives for the team (not the individual) to succeed. This culture allowed more people to succeed and what he created there was something unique and interesting. Another interesting perspective that he had was setting the bar hi. This wasn't something that he was just throwing out but something very important to a successful organization. Rather than fire people and set a tone in the organization, he noted that he just elevated the bar to achieve and the people who didn't want to be a part of that process left the organization on their own. This was an amazing phenomenon. The hard work and sweat of people's labors was in itself self-correcting to the organization. He practices a virtue that I've admired from great Marines that I've worked with. There is a virtue of leadership in the Marine Corps from many of the officers I've worked for and that is that they lead by example. While he was demanding greatness from his office, he was delivering on it himself as well and that kind of consistency was important to the team building process. While I was recruiting for the Navy, a Senior Chief name Dan Medlock was my regional manager or in the civilian world what they often call a DBM. He spent his days helping the weakest elements of a state-wide team. He assisted in the nurturing of new personnel and showed them ropes for building a successful team. It was neat to see that this character trait was present in the leadership and team building that was going on in Cleveland when the manager himself was making 4 sales calls a day. This process creates an interesting synergy that is unmistakable in its effects. When I train with my current CO, his leadership style is the same. He's extremely competitive and driven in his processes and when we hit the ground, he's at the forefront of the mission, leading. That kind of leadership is something the troops, the sales force deeply respects. His ability to manage setba

It doesn't matter what job specialty you are in, if you supervise people - or are an up-and-coming supervisor - you have to read this book. The focus is on sales. But many of the principles outlined can be used no matter what you do. The basic principles even work with dealing with your own family - namely teenagers! You learn that it's about your attitude and you taking responsibility for your actions. It's about knowing that PEOPLE are the most important asset there is. Take care of 'your' people and you will get results. Laziness and complacency will end your career in a hurry. The book is a quick read and entertaining too. Frank does talk about himself quite a bit, and you may get the impression that he is 'stuck on himself'. I think that it is just that he has confidence in himself and his abilities. Learn from this man. The book IS worth you time. Actually, I liked it so much that I bought a copy for each of the supervisors in my office. Take a chance! The worst that could happen is that you will stay the way you are.

When any of my friends get promoted to management, I give them a copy of this book. I like reading lots of different business books, but this is one I refer to over and over again. Sage advice that is a breeze to read through and will motivate you to do the right things with your business and your team.

This is an interesting book that is laced with recommendations that you may be tempted to initially dismiss. Get up and get into the office early / spend 9-5 in front of the customer and do your paperwork outside of normal working hours. However the writing style is as if you are listening to the author tell his story. It is simle to read and relate to all of his examples concerning his work with the Xerox office that he took from worst to first.Books like this that serve to reinforce the basics are invaluable - especially when they are an entertaining and interesting read. This book is both entertaining and interesting while also giving a healthy dose of solid advice.

Although written from the sales' manager's perspective, this book contains down-to-earth lessons that can be applied to any work group that needs to perform at a higher level. Pacetta provides some simple tools, which used effectively and consistently, can produce break-through performance. Get the most out of it by reading more than once, and then use it as a good reference tool for keeping yourself focused on the basics of performance leadership.