Endorsements

Organizational transformations are notoriously difficult. They require courageous leaders with insight and vision and a receptive organization. Mike Beer has 30 years of experience in facilitating structural and cultural change. His robust methodology, Strategic Fitness Process (SFP), as described in Fit to Compete provides an elegant framework for honest and transparent conversation of strategy and management. It is enables unvarnished discussion and creates a nontoxic climate leading to tangible conclusions which can then be implemented and recursively measured. I love the SFP dynamic approach to appreciating an organization’s strengths, limitations and needs.

Congratulations on Fit to Compete which is a must read for organizations and leaders desiring to implement new strategic directions using a most effective process that promotes transparency and results.

— Robert I. Grossman, M.D., Dean & CEO, NYU Langone Health

Fit to Compete is a survival manual for every leader who has struggled to create real change in an organization. Michael Beer offers a powerful tool — the Strategic Fitness Process — that enables leaders to successfully implement their strategies and, in the process, transform their organization’s culture and their own ability to lead.

— Teresa Amabile, Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School and coauthor of The Progress Principle

Before becoming CEO, I spent 4 months exclusively asking questions and listening to workers, middle level managers, customers and suppliers to try to learn the truth about the company.  It payed huge dividends. Few COEO’s have this luxury. Beer describes a tested and effective way to systematically accomplish this in a way that not only works but also builds trust and institutional knowledge. It would have been hugely valuable if I had the method and wisdom in this book at the time I took over as CEO. A must read.

— Richard Gochnauer, retired CEO United Stationers

Michael Beer has written a powerful book that can help unlock the wisdom and energy of organizations. Leaders know that their associates have critically important insights that, if leveraged, can accelerate progress. Michael Beer and his associate Russ Eisenstat have developed practical ways to combine the best of leadership vision with the insights of those across the organization who understand the potential barriers to success. By working together leadership and team members create smarter plans, that are better executed by more energized team members. I know this because I have had the privilege of leading an organization with 20,000 people and seeing it work first hand. The effort translated into a substantial increase is associate retention, revenue and profit growth.

— Peter Dunn, Principal and Co-Founder of Activate Healthcare

Mike Beer shows the way to develop shared ownership for your organization’s success. Through courageous leadership at the top that enables honest conversations at all levels and speaking truth to power, the Strategic Fitness Process yields heightened trust, a higher ambition culture, and sustainable performance. Fit to Compete is a must read for any leader that wants to take their organization to the next level. 

— Kenneth W. Freeman, Dean Emeritus, Boston University Questrom School of Business, and Founding and Former Chairman and CEO, Quest

Speed and adaptability are becoming table stakes for survival in the digital age. Organizational trust is a crucial ingredient for both and Mike Beer vividly shows how honest, collective and public conversations are critical for building trust. A very practical and timely manual from a wonderfully thoughtful scholar.

— Ravi Venkatesan, Unicef Special Representative for Young People, Former Chairman of Microsoft India, Bank of Baroda, Cummins India

Mike Beer's new book Fit to Compete provides you with a detailed and instructive approach to his Strategic Fitness Process and how he has applied it working within large organization systems such as Corning, BD and many more... I highly recommend you add this to your business book library with real case studies, pragmatic and well researched applied methodologies, and results-driven change.

— Louis Carter, CEO, Best Practice Institute and author of 11 management and leadership books including his newest: In Great Company: how to spark peak performance by creating an emotionally connected workplace (McGraw Hill)