BBRT
presents Contagious Success with Susan Lucia Annunzio
June 2, 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Business Book Roundtable
Meet Susan Lucia Annunzio, '79, at the presentation of her
most recent book, Contagious Success. A copy of
the book will be provided with admission. Learn
more.
Add
This Event in Outlook 
Where:
Gleacher Center
Room 600
450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
Chicago, IL
Program:
5:30-6:00 p.m. Book Signing and Appetizers
6:00-7:00 p.m. Keynote Speaker: Susan Lucia Annunzio
7:00-8:00 p.m. Q&A and Book Signing
Cost:
$30 in advance / $35 after May 30th
Registration:
Register Online
Questions:
Paul Maranville, '03
312.604.3928
Book
Synopsis:
Share the secrets of your top workgroups to accelerate profitable growth
What separates high-performing work groups from the rest of the pack?
The ability of the work group to consistently outperform its peers relative
to
various productivity measures (e.g. revenue, profit, process improvement,
customer satisfaction, teamwork, etc.).
With this in mind, author Susan Lucia Annunzio surveyed more than 3,000
people from high performing work groups in a variety of industries; workers
over
150 Fortune 500 companies and other large global forms were included.
What Annunzio found: Performance extinguishers included micromanaging, hoarding
information and leaders acting in their own self-interest. In high-performing
groups, the leader was an active buffer that "protected" the
group from the rest of the organization. That didn't mean a silo mentality
existed.
It meant that cross-functional team members weren't distracted from the
team's task.
Three characteristics -- valuing people, optimizing critical thinking
and seizing opportunities -- separated high-performing teams from their
peers.
Valuing people -- let people show how smart they are. Management should
tell workers what needs to be accomplished, not how they should accomplish
it.
This is the only way to support "creative, innovative thoughts and
actions."
Optimize critical thinking -- Work groups must focus on their task,
not personalities or individual emotions. They must also see that
management is "walking
the talk" not only with respect to their work group, but also
across the firm.
Seizing opportunities -- Work groups and learning environment
are synonymous. Taking risks and making mistakes (i.e. discoveries) are
part of every
creative process.
The Hudson Highland Center for High Performance recently completed
the largest and most in-depth global study ever done of the factors
that
accelerate or
stifle high performance. The alarming conclusion: only 10 percent
of knowledge workers are part of a high-performing workgroup, one
that
makes money for
the company and is creating a new product or service.
Contagious Success reveals Susan Lucia Annunzio’s
proven strategies for identifying, nurturing, and replicating business units
that are already
high performing. These workgroups tend to be ignored while senior
management focuses on fixing its lowest performing units. But Annunzio argues
for
the opposite strategy: Focus on the groups that are doing the best
work in the
organization, learn their secrets, and help spread their expertise
to the average groups.
Annunzio focuses on groups, not individuals, because even a great
individual can’t succeed in a weak environment. By using the high-performing groups
to improve just the top 20 percent of the average performers—what Annunzio
calls “moving the middle”—a company can achieve
dramatic, sustainable growth in revenue and profits.
This is a book for leaders who want to unleash the hidden potential
in their organizations.
About the author:
Susan Annunzio teaches the MBA course on leadership in the evolutionary
economy at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Formerly,
she was an adjunct professor of management at the Kellstadt Graduate School
of Business, DePaul University, where she taught change management and organizational
behavior. She is also a guest lecturer at General Electric's Crotonville
Corporate Training Center and at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Annunzio is a leading authority in the field of change management.
She has led numerous efforts to align employee behavior and corporate strategy
with an emphasis on companies involved in large-scale transitions. She is
a sought after adviser to senior corporate leaders around the world for her
expertise in fashioning programs that maximize the success and profitability
of change efforts.
Her projects have covered a wide variety of industries, including financial
services, petroleum, manufacturing, high technology, professional services,
and healthcare. Professor Annunzio is author of "Evolutionary Leadership:
Dynamic Ways to Make Your Corporate Culture Fast and Flexible" which
is published in the U.S., Canada, China, Thailand, Korea, and throughout
Europe. She is co-author with Marcia B. Cherney of "Communicoding." Annunzio
is quoted frequently in leading business media including The
Wall Street Journal and Management Review.
Before founding the CfHP, Susan Lucia led the global Change Management practice
at Nextera. Her practice won numerous industry awards – including the
Dalton Pen Award of Excellence, the CIPRA Award of Excellence, the Telly
Award, and the Publicity Club of Chicago Silver Trumpet – in recognition
of its pioneering work with numerous Fortune 100 companies crossing all industry
sectors, including: BP, Pfizer, ABN AMRO, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Amazon.com.
Susan Lucia has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the behavioral
sciences from Loyola University, Chicago.
