Praise for MATTER
“Matter is a must-read intellectual roadmap for all those courageous leaders looking to make an actual difference. It’s not just about making change happen, it’s about making change that actually matters.”
—Jeremy Gutsche, CEO, Trend Hunter, and New York Times bestselling author
“This book inspires us all to build companies that matter; where customers’ best interests fuel innovation. It teaches us how to embrace a disruptive edge as a defining competitive advantage—and make our company the obvious choice by focusing all our attention and actions on people. This book should be compulsory reading inside companies that want to lead.”
—Ken Fenoglio, president, AT&T University
“If you want to be a Leader that Matters this is the only book that matters. Surprising. Provocative. The obvious choice for leaders everywhere.”
—Mel Robbins, award-winning CNN commentator,TEDx Sensation, and bestselling author
“Matter walks the razor edge between strategy and execution. It’s obviously written by real-world business leaders, and not just talking heads. In a hyper-competitive world, Matter will give you the road map to finding your edge of disruption and offer specific tactics for exploiting the opportunities you find there, and ensure you become the obvious choice in the process.”
—Josh Linkner, four-time tech entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author
“This book provides an invaluable road map to differentiating yourself from the competition and becoming the obvious choice. As the authors rightly explain, in today’s world unless you matter, you don’t have a right to exist and remain in business. Now more than ever in our fast-moving environment it’s necessary to fight against commoditization and add value, this book provides not just case studies of how companies are achieving this but practical guidance on how to achieve the same in any business.”
—Charles Stanley, president, Forevermark at De Beers
“Matter recognizes that we are living in volatile times and gives you the tools to succeed. Matter helped me to realize the importance of being curious and having courage, of relentlessly asking questions, and challenging assumptions.”
—Donna Lynne, DrPH, group president, Kaiser FoundationHealth Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals
“A truly impactful book that challenges you to re-think the lens by which you view your business, your customers, competitors, and how you thrive in this new economy full of disruptive opportunities.”
—Bruce Johnson, president and CEO, GHX
“Matter left me energized with a new perspective on how to create value for our customers, investors, employees, and communities. The book provides an approach that is relevant to any leader, regardless of their position, industry, or scale of operation. These insights and tools are as applicable to business as they are in life. After all, don’t we all really want to matter?”
—Zachary T. Neumeyer, chairman, Sage Hospitality Resources
“Peter Sheahan and Julie Williamson possess that rare and dazzling intellect required to define a new space, and bring true thought leadership to the changing world of business. Their new book Matter shows us how to stand up, stand out, and make a world-changing difference to people that matter most—our customers, our communities, and our employees.”
—Sally Hogshead, CEO and founder, Fascinate Inc.
“Matter provides a road map for anyone seeking to become the obvious choice and win in a hyper-competitive world. More importantly, it provides a pathway to do work that matters—to your client, to your community, and to you. The case studies are rich and insightful, and the strategies are simple, but not simplistic. It’s robust and evidenced based, without ever being academic or theoretical. We all want to do work that’s significant. We all want to feel significant. Ultimately, the power of this book is that it will inspire you to become a company that matters, and to do the work that really matters.”
—Dr. Peter Fuda, principal, The Alignment Partnership
MATTER
MATTER
Move Beyond the Competition,
Create More Value, and
Become the Obvious Choice
PETER SHEAHAN andJULIE WILLIAMSON, PhD
BenBella Books, Inc.
Dallas, TX
Copyright © 2016 by Peter Sheahan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
BenBella Books, Inc.
10300 N. Central Expressway
Suite #530
Dallas, TX 75231
Send feedback to [email protected]
First E-Book Edition: January 2016.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sheahan, Peter. | Williamson, Julie.
Title: Matter : move beyond the competition, create more value, and become the obvious choice / Peter Sheahan, Julie Williamson.
Description: Dallas, Texas : BenBella Books, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015029946| ISBN 9781941631768 (hardback) | ISBN 9781941631775 (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: Value. | Expertise. | Excellence. | Competition. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Business Development. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Decision-Making & Problem Solving. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Leadership. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Customer Relations.
Classification: LCC HB201 .S549 2016 | DDC 658.4/01—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015029946
| Editing by Debbie HarmsenCopyediting by James Fraleigh | Text design by Publishers’ Design and Production Services, Inc. |
| Proofreading by Laura Cherkas and Kristin Vorce Duran | Text composition by PerfecType, Nashville, TN |
| Indexing by Debra Bowman, Indexing Services | Cover design by Faceout Studio, Kara Davison |
| Jacket design by Sarah Dombrowsky | Printed by Lake Book Manufacturing |
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This book is dedicated to the courageous souls who do workthat matters, and who