Dan Kennedy on his book about ruthless management: why he chose that title, how managers reacted, and why some companies lost staff but built better teams by restructuring for profit.
Finally somebody is saying to me that I have the right to actually manage the business as my business right and I should be managing it for profit. Hello and welcome to this month's masterclass with Dan Kennedy. Today we're talking about one of Dan's best selling books, the no BS Guide to Ruthless Management of People and Profits. And Dan, you often say this is the book that you brings you the most mail. The word ruthless is an obvious trigger for people. So why did you use that? I like to annoy folks. The book gets more direct feedback than any other and it has consistently. About 25% of it is from outraged people, many of whom it is clear, did not read the book. Just the title and what's on the back cover was enough to set them off. A little bit of it is from staff. They see it on the, on the boss's desk and they pick it up and take it at lunch. If they are epileptic, about 75% then is grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Because they now feel liberated to, to actually manage their business. They were increasingly feeling like they had to be soft and gentle and accommodating and appeasing. And they're being told that kind of from every corner there's at least a debate they're hearing, but in many cases they're just being whole. The whole work from home thing, the latest kind of debate scuffle. I think it's two weeks ago now. Elon Musk and Martha Stewart both made a big deal out of Pigeonhead being the office. And Kevin o' Leary from Shark Tank, who I am increasingly convinced is about half as smart as the character he plays on tv. Kevin is everywhere waving the surrender flag. So he is telling business owners it's over, forget it. If you want talent, you are going to have to let them work where they want to work, when they want to work. You are going to have to change the way you manage to accommodate that. So this is what they're hearing and they hear quite the opposite from me. And I get the. You're finally somebody is saying to me that I have the right to actually manage the business as my business, right. And I should be managing it for profit. Right. And so a lot of the mail is that and people will. We have a ton of, you know, fairly long testimonials of, you know, I finally went and made These changes and 20% of my people quit, but the other 80%, you know, are kicking button taking names and we finally got this whole thing working and thanks to you. So it's that kind of mail? If you want to learn from the greatest marketing minds of our generation, then subscribe to this channel and check out these videos. What are you waiting for? I'll see you in the next video.
