The Dynamic Organization

This is the second of several posts this week based on my review of the book: The Pursuit of Something Better by Dave Esler and Myra Kruger...available on Amazon. I highly recommend for senior executives who want a handle on how to build culture in a company.


What helped Jack Rooney’s transformation of U.S. Cellular were the elements of what he called the Dynamic Organization (DO), which he’d used previously at Ameritech. The anatomy of such a DO consists of the following: a preamble, key components, core values, and desired behaviors. I’ll only mention a few (read the book for the entire lists):

--The preamble reads like a mission statement and is all about the company operating seamlessly aligned to its vision, values and behaviors. Jack (and the authors for sure) know that culture (vision, values and behaviors) are at the core of successful organizations. In short: No excellent culture, no excellence.

--Key Components: Associates (who deal directly with the customer) must focus on gaining, retaining and serving customers…thus, be rabidly customer centric. Leaders must focus on leadership and inspiration, not fear and control. And the organization must be goal driven, not myopically task oriented.

--Core Values: Here are a few: Customer focused, respectful, and ethical. Read the book to get the other 3.

--Desired Behaviors: While there are 10 such behaviors in all, here are a few: Trust, enthusiasm, flexibility, and common purpose.

--Finally, to build the dynamic organization, Rooney (working with the authors/consultants) used four tools: the employee survey, internal communications, leadership development programs, and a leadership talent review process.