Issue Highlight - Y2K, Oh
-- "At 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2000 we both breathed a sigh of relief and simultaneously attended a coronation...The coronation may have been more significant than the relief."

In This Issue...
Elementary TQM
Workplace Humor
Games at Work
Merger Mania
Boosting Capacity

Features...
Peter Block Column
Views for a Change
Pageturners
Briefcases
The Quality Tool
---- I Never Use
Diary of a Shutdown

Pagetuners
Book Reviews with an Atitude

-----"Managing Upside Down: The Seven Intentions of
-----Values-Centered Leadership"

------by Tom Chappel----------* * * Three Stars

Revolutionary! The one word that captures the essence of this intriguing book. Written by the co-founder and CEO of Tom's of Maine, "Managing Upside Down" presents a unique slant on leadership and management.

-- Because its contents are so non-traditional and unconventional, the book is worth reading just to get a different perspective of what can work to achieve success in today's changing world. Now, values, coupled with mission statements, are indeed the two main topics talked about in business circles.

-- Specific benefits that can be obtained by reading "Managing Upside Down" include:

• Learning how to incorporate values into business practices.
• Acquiring information about mistakes that can prevent an enterprise from achieving its goals.
• Gaining insights to increase productivity through creativity, innovation and thinking outside of the box.

-- The book acquired its interesting title by looking at business needs from the bottom up, i.e., employees, customers, community and environment, as opposed to viewing business requirements from the top down, i.e., management and profit.

-- "Managing Upside Down" is essentially about putting social and moral responsibilities first in running a business, instead of the bottom line-profit. In the book, Chappell tells how Tom's of Maine-a natural personal care products (deodorants, soaps and oral hygiene items) company, with reportedly over $30 million in sales last year - became highly successful financially through the integration of values with money making.

-- Chappell, a Harvard Divinity School graduate, explains in the book the way that Tom's of Maine balances values and profits, using these seven steps:
-- 1. Connect
-- 2. Know thyself, be thyself
-- 3. Envision your destiny
-- 4. Seek advice
-- 5. Venture out
-- 6. Assess
-- 7. Pass it on

-- Each step has a chapter devoted to it in the book.

-- Real attention hook: Chappell's statement: "I have been running our company, Tom's of Maine, according to a mission of respecting customers, employees, community and the environment, and we are creating more products and making more money than I ever dreamed."

-- Favorable quote: "Managing upside down is not just a job; it's a vocation." Most useful feature: Talking points and homework for each values-centered intention

-- Lasting impression: "Managing upside down" is a complex and continuing trial-and-error balancing act.

"Managing Upside Down: The Seven Intentions of Values-Centered Leadership," Tom Chappell, l999, William Morrow and Company, New York, ISBN: 0-688-17069-2, 220 pages. Reviewed by Ben L. Walton, Distribution Services Manager, Janus, Denver, Colo.

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