Change to strange: create a great organization by building a strange workforce

215 Pages·2007·1.851 MB·English

by  Cable, Daniel Merle

Praise for
Change to Strange
“It’s not just a war for talent out there,it’s a war for the right talent. Cable
sheds light on how managers can identify and attract the right people to turn
strategy into reality.”
—Susan Ashford,Associate Dean for Leadership Programming and the
Executive MBA Program,University of Michigan
“Change to Strangetakes the mystery out of the gap between strategy and
strategy execution. Daniel underscores that success is dependent on the quality
of your workforce,specific targets,and disciplined measurement. The book
provides a useful process and a set of questions that your leadership team needs
to address to create a great organization that stands above competitors.”
—Stan Kelly,Senior Vice President,Wachovia Corporation
“In an era of over-emphasis on best practices and benchmarking,it is so
refreshing to see a blueprint for how an organization can invest in its people to
truly drive competitive advantage and create uncommon value for its customers
and owners. Daniel Cable’s insightful,practical,and rigorous ‘strange work-
force value chain’will help your organization build a workforce with distinc-
tive and compelling capabilities that better serve your customers and beat the
competition.”
—Christian M. Ellis,Senior Vice President,Sibson Consulting,
A Division of Segal
“Change to Strangehelps you ask the right questions about what will differen-
tiate you in the marketplace and the strange (distinctive,extraordinary) steps
you must take to make it happen. Be strange; get Change to Strangeand have
fun cooking up the special sauce your customers will love and your competi-
tion will find tough to imitate.”
—Ben Schneider,Senior Research Fellow,VALTERA; Professor Emeritus,
University of Maryland; and author of Winning the Service Game.
“Cable’s model is highly thought-provoking. The book is full of great ideas for
standing out from the competition and getting your workforce fully engaged!”
—Sara Rynes,Editor,Academy of Management Journal;
Murray Professor of Management,University of Iowa
“What a great read! I found plenty of great ideas and examples in this book
that I can use at VIF,and now my executive team is reading it.”
—David B. Young,Chief Executive Officer,
Visiting International Faculty Program
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change to strange

change to strange
Create a Great Organization by
Building a Strange Workforce
Daniel M. Cable
Vice President,Publisher:Tim Moore
Wharton Editor:Yoram (Jerry) Wind
Acquisitions Editor:Jennifer Simon
Editorial Assistant:Pamela Boland
Development Editor:Russ Hall
Associate Editor-in-Chief and Director of Marketing:Amy Neidlinger
Publicist:Amy Fandrei
Marketing Coordinator:Megan Colvin
Cover Designer:John Barnett
Managing Editor:Gina Kanouse
Senior Project Editor:Kristy Hart
Copy Editor:Language Logistics LLC
Proofreader:Water Crest Publishing
Senior Indexer:Cheryl Lenser
Senior Compositor:Gloria Schurick
Manufacturing Buyer:Dan Uhrig
©2007 by Pearson Education,Inc.
Publishing as Wharton School Publishing
Upper Saddle River,New Jersey 07458
Wharton School Publishing offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity
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permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing April,2007
ISBN 0-13-157222-9
Pearson Education LTD.
Pearson Education Australia PTY,Limited.
Pearson Education Singapore,Pte. Ltd.
Pearson Education North Asia,Ltd.
Pearson Education Canada,Ltd.
Pearson Educatión de Mexico,S.A. de C.V.
Pearson Education—Japan
Pearson Education Malaysia,Pte. Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cable,Dan.
The change to strange :create a great organization by building a strange workforce / Daniel M. Cable.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-13-157222-9 (hardback :alk. paper) 1. Organizational effectiveness. I. Title.
HD58.9.C33 2007
658.3’01—dc22
2006100415
To Alison
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Contents
Preface xix
1 Be Strange. Be Very Strange. 1
Strange Mechanics 2
People as Competitive Advantage 4
How Can a Workforce Give an Organization a
Competitive Advantage? 5
Where Will I Get My Strange Workforce? 8
When Strange Turns Normal 9
Winning Through Measurement 10
Goals of This Book 13
I’m Not a CEO. Should I Stop Reading Now? 15
ix