Just Run It!

The growth engine of the global economy is no longer through mega-production and huge conglomerates, but rather through the proliferation of smaller enterprises. In America alone, tens of thousands of businesses crop up each year. Unfortunately, few will succeed, though not due to a lack of ingenuity, initiative, or even capital. Why, then? Because, according to Dick Cross, author of Just Run It!, most business owners lack not just the fundamentals, the nuts and bolts of operating a business effectively day to day, but the bigger picture of how to achieve business success. After taking dozens of companies from underperforming to high performancing, Cross observed a pattern, out of which he devised a formula for success. Using his Just Run It! formula--which includes the Vision-Strategy-Execution analysis--he is now teaching business owners how to understand their business on "the back of an envelope" and make it exceptional.

“You can run a successful business with "back of the envelope" ideas. Grab an envelope. Look at the back. There are four quadrants. Label the flap "Positioning"”

"Business adviser Cross is a steadfast believer in the power of the American small business. Though half a million new businesses are founded each year, most fail because the founders lack the overarching knowledge of how to run a business. In response, Cross has developed a framework to structure the reader's thinking about how to tackle this challenge. He takes readers through the four dimensions that describe all businesses (needs, positioning, customers, and competencies), his process of Vision-Strategy-Execution, a business's natural life cycle, managing funds, and demystifying leadership and management, as well as offering scripts for discussions and negotiations, and tips for instituting values...a remarkably readable game plan for business success." -"Publishers Weekly"

"Dick Cross's capacity to distill outwardly complicated concepts into comprehensible, value creating action steps is rare. Read the book...you'll learn something and be entertained." - Peter Lamm, Fenway Partners

"Save your time and money on consultants. Everything that Dick Cross shares with us comes from those rare generous birds who have taken the theoretical and applied it to real time practice of running a company. "Just Run It!" is a must-read for anyone in management who is searching for strategic enlightenment." - Mike Toth, Founder and Chief Creative Director, Toth & Co

"Take a very bright architect who is trained to know how things 'fit.' Put him in positions of leadership where he invests the front half of his career as a consultant to CEO's and the back half actually being the CEO... and what do you get? One incredibly believable person. Read "Just Run it!" because it will benefit every company leader and provide personal gifts for a lifetime. " -- John C. Adams, Retired Chairman and CEO, AutoZone Inc.

Dick Cross has worked with underperforming companies for over twenty-five years, helping mainstream businesses achieve their next level of success. Dick has been the Chairman, CEO, or President at eight of those companies, and has mentored more than 100 CEOs at others. Much of his career has been spent in private equity circles, including Fenway Partners, and he currently serves on the board of numerous corporate, philanthropic, and civic organizations. On the lecture circuit, Dick is an enthusiastic, colorful, and engaging speaker, who greatly enjoys conveying the story behind every business. He holds a degree in Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Masters of Science in Business from Columbia University. He and his wife split the year between Concord, Massachusetts, and Gloucester Point, Virginia. Dick is also the author of 60 Minute CEO: Mastering Leadership an Hour at a Time (Bibliomotion 2012).

The growth engine of the global economy is no longer through mega-production and huge conglomerates, but rather through the proliferation of smaller enterprises. In America alone, tens of thousands of businesses crop up each year. Unfortunately, few will succeed, though not due to a lack of ingenuity, initiative, or even capital. Why, then? Because, according to Dick Cross, author of Just Run It!, most business owners lack not just the fundamentals, the nuts and bolts of operating a business effectively day to day, but the bigger picture of how to achieve business success. After taking dozens of companies from underperforming to high performancing, Cross observed a pattern, out of which he devised a formula for success. Using his Just Run It! formula--which includes the Vision-Strategy-Execution analysis--he is now teaching business owners how to understand their business on "the back of an envelope" and make it exceptional.

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