The Pursuit of Something Better: How an Underdog Company Defied the Odds, Won Customers' Heart, and Grew Its Employees Into Better People

by Dave Esler and Myra Kruger

The Pursuit of Something Better tells the story of the transformation of U.S. Cellular from a thoroughly ordinary company ranked eighth in its industry and in danger of extinction into an organization... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0982443706
• ISBN13: 9780982443705
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: New Ridge Press
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Great story on U.S. Cellular successful large-scale change initiative ...

Recently at the 2009 Chicagoland Learning Leaders Conference, Dave Esler, co-author, shared his new book, The Pursuit of Something Bette; it tells U.S. Cellular's story of becoming a Dynamic Organization. This book is well written explaining U.S. Cellular transformation journey from under-performing to a customer-focus, growing organization. I found the writing approach for this book you used to capture key components of the challenges & successes to be insightful & refreshing. I haven't read a business book before told as a story mostly through annual survey data from all the employees. Data is very powerful, but unfortunately rarely used to its fullest (as the authors pointed out this sad reality too). By sharing successes & failures to pass on lessons learned, readers are given practical advice they can bring to their organization's change initiatives - one of my favorites you shared is having executives where "Ask Me a Question" buttons ... and U.S. Cellular associates started asking upper management more questions. In hindsight, if we would have known about The Pursuit of Something Better earlier, it would have been an excellent book to be featured as for our Chicagoland Learning Leaders Conference book signing. I do not plan to keep my copy since I prefer to pass my copy on to a senior CLO/CTO Group member so they can give me and our community more feedback. For me it helped hearing Tom Griffin's keynote CLO presentation where he shared some first-hand experiences (albeit challenging and scary at the time) AND reading The Pursuit of Something Better. We have some great video of Tom sharing his U.S. stories & experiences which we share on Chicagoland Learning Leaders website.

This is really Something Better

If you have followed my blog (Survival Leadership) for a while, you're aware that I review leadership books that I believe would help not only my executive clients but any other leaders. Most of the books I review are from mainline publishers. This book is a self-published book by two very smart consultants. And, what actually made me read it was a quote on the back cover of the book by Jim Kouzes (of the famous leadership research team of Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner). My indirect, albeit, personal connection with Kouzes and Posner was that I sat on the nominating committee for the American Society for Training and Development, which tapped the team to receive the Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Performance Award for their body of work over the years, which has had an impact on learning and performance in the workplace. In short, these guys know what they're talking about. Here's what they said about In Pursuit of Something Better: "This book teaches, inspires, and entertains, and it should be required reading in every business school, boardroom, and consultancy seminar." I strongly agree and have already recommended it to executives, academics, and consultants. It's a real winner and guaranteed to change your perception of how to transform an organization. A "must read" for leaders who aren't fully satisfied with the level of success they want for their organizations.

U.S. Cellular's Formula for Corporate and Personal Success

Business in the twenty- first century hasn't been pretty. Enron, Worldcom, and other large businesses ended up collapsing due to ethics violations charged to the companies' senior leadership. This led to cynicism on the part of the public and greater regulations on businesses as governmental bodies looked for ways to prevent another serious corporate scandal from occurring again. In the middle of all of this turmoil, there still existed some ethical businesses and one of them is the subject of this book. The company is U.S. Cellular and this book is dedicated to this cell phone service provider and its corporate transformation; a change of both culture and business practice that led U.S. Cellular to the success and admiration that it enjoys today. Business has always been in a state of change, but the information age has increased the speed and need for change to levels never before seen in history. Some companies are mired in their ways, with employees that are resistant to change every step of the way. This was, in a nutshell, the type of company that Jack Rooney inherited when he took over as CEO of U.S. Cellular in 2000. The company was going nowhere fast and its employees were underdeveloped, lacked focus, and didn't necessarily know how they could or should perform. Rooney knew he had a challenge in front of him, and he accepted it with vigor and determination. He helped to change the business from top to bottom, improving not only the bottom- line numbers but also improving the individual lives of employees. The Pursuit of Something Better, in many ways, reads like a typical business success story. Here, you have a business stuck in the doldrums; anemic at its core and in need of quick resuscitation if it hopes to survive. Then, in walks a corporate knight who helps to change the business one department, one employee at a time. Sales and profits improve, and Rooney receives some much- deserved credit for these improvements. But The Pursuit of Something Better is more than just a numbers game. Changing corporate culture can often prove to be an even more daunting task than strengthening the financial statements and at U.S. Cellular, the corporate culture was changed for the better, in spite of the resistance of some employees. Not only did Rooney successfully change the morale and the way employees felt about U.S. Cellular as a business, he also changed individual lives outside of the workplace. The book includes several examples of U.S. Cellular employees who give Jack Rooney credit for making them better parents, spouses, and friends. They took the U.S. Cellular formula for success and applied it to their own lives outside of the workplace. Before they knew it, their lives had improved in ways they never thought possible. Companies could all benefit from stronger leadership and The Pursuit of Something Better is one book with a positive story to share about leadership and success. U.S. Cellular was stuck in a corporate rut and had l

`Believe your work is noble and good things will follow'

This book is an account of how U.S. Cellular, under the leadership of Jack Rooney, went from ordinary to extraordinary by developing a culture which made it both more flexible and more resilient. The book is a case study of ethically-led organizational change. In 2000, when Jack Rooney became CEO of U.S.Cellular, the company was ranked eighth in its industry and was apparently in danger of extinction. By 2008, U.S Cellular was a leader in its field but is facing another significant challenge. Who will replace Jack Rooney? How much of the U.S. Cellular transformation is imbedded in the organisation? Will it survive a change of leadership? Jack Rooney's philosophy involves a statement of behaviours and values expected of all members of staff (called associates). His business model (the Dynamic Organization) has five core values: customer focus; respect for associates; empowerment; ethics; and pride. These words are not unique: many organizations include such ideals in their strategic business plans and statements of value. What makes Rooney's Dynamic Organization different is that he demonstrated the values through his own leadership. Importantly, he invested in staff within the organization to try to ensure cultural fit. This investment for the future is part of the success of U.S Cellular in 2008. It remains to be seen whether the support for changes is sufficiently part of U/S Cellular's culture to survive both a change of leader and the current turbulent economic times. Much of what is covered here would be of value to other organizations - but only if they have a leader with the courage to lead fundamental transformation. Effective change is a process of transformation, not of transplantation. I hope U.S Cellular continues to thrive. I also hope that those interested in organizational change and ethical leadership behaviour read this book. Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Whatever you think this is about, you'll get more

If you think this is a business book, a work on leadership, a management concept, a "self-help" book, a case study in ethics, a case study in corporate culture change, a business biography, or great story, you'll be pleased as it is all of these and then a bit. In 2000, Jack Rooney became the CEO of U.S. Cellular. At that time, U.S. Cellular could have been the role model for the employer in Dilbert - The Complete Series. Disaffected employees, clueless self-serving managers, and disconnected profiteering executives; all that was missing was the pointy hair on the managers and a female engineer who punched co-workers (or these were left out of the book?). In 2008, against all expectations of 2000, U.S. Cellular is an aggressive competitor in the cellular industry. Jack Rooney's leadership was the driving force behind the complete transformation of the corporate culture that led to this overwhelming success. The philosophy behind the change is Dynamic Organization (D.O), a statement of behaviors and values expected of every member of U.S. Cellular. What makes this unusual is that the CEO (Rooney) lived the behaviors and values and expected everyone, executives, managers, and engineers as well as store employees and call center workers. To ensure compliance, leaders are rated by their subordinates, and the subordinates rate their bosses' boss. Talk about heresy in corporate America. Needless to say, there were some rough spots between 2000 and 2008. The D.O. statement itself is not earthshattering or terribly innovative, but competent, proven, and above all, ethical guidelines for conduct and teamwork. The enablers to make this succede are all communications. A direct line to the CEO open to *any* employee, annual surveys on leadership and corporate culture, the assessments of supervisors by subordinates, and other lines of communication allowed the propagation of the new values and reporting on individuals who failed to comply with the new standards. Rooney wasn't perfect, and the writers admit his mistakes in more than one instance, but he was persistant and consistent in his drive to raise the ethical climate of U.S. Cellular. What makes this a great story is the presentation of the eight years of effort to effect the culture change, with conflicts and victories at every level of the organization. Striking the balance between the "what" of profitiability and the "how" of the ethical and behavior standards of D.O. was painful, but makes for some great drama. This is not the usual fair for a book on business leadership, ethics, and corporate climate. There were a number of surprises about this book. The most salient was that this is something of a biography of Jack Rooney. And unlike the self-aggrandizing corporate leadership Americans have come to loathe and expect, he really lives the value of selfless service. Note well that on the back cover blurb, his name is two thirds of the way down rather than in the first line of every paragrap