FROM PANIC TO PROFIT

A turnaround expert advises business leaders on moving to profitability.

In this business book, Canady draws on his experience as a CEO often hired to rehabilitate companies in financial and operational trouble to discuss how to establish the conditions that allow businesses to thrive. The Pareto principle underlies the author’s approach—Canady explains to readers how to shift a company’s focus to the 20% of products and customers that deliver the majority of the business’ revenue, resulting in more profitable operations. The author contends that businesses need to earn “the right to grow,” which they can do by setting a goal and making an action plan. The book provides a detailed example of such a process, using a pseudonymous company Canady once ran on behalf of its private equity owners. The author takes readers through the process of segmenting both products and customers into the profitable 20% and the unprofitable 80%, offering suggestions on how to maximize the value of the unprofitable majority. Canady advises readers on how to get staff aligned with corporate goals, how to measure progress and profitability, and how to approach an existing business with a fresh mindset in order to make the changes needed for its survival. Sometimes, the author’s analogies are overstretched (like his claim that Thoreau set a goal of “achieving a trivial-to-critical ratio of 95/5” when he moved into a cabin by Walden Pond), but readers will generally find enough substance in the text to allow them to overlook some rhetorical excesses and unnecessary repetition (the concept of “zeroing-up” is defined at length twice). On the whole, the book is highly readable, offers actionable advice, and gives readers a solid understanding of what it takes to make a business profitable. Canady’s enthusiasm for the turnaround process drives the narrative pace, making the book a quick read with meaty sections readers will return to when they are ready to apply its lessons to their own workplaces.

A fast-paced and engaging account of taking a business from weakness to strength.