Show the Value of What You Do: Measuring and Achieving Success in Any Endeavor
Patricia Pulliam Phillips and Jack J. Phillips
Berrett-Koehler Pubishers (September 2022)
When you or your team have achieved something of significant value, let others know about it.
According to Patricia Pulliam Phillips and Jack J. Phillips, “The Show the Value Process is a simplified version of the Return on Investment (ROI) Methodology. This book describes six easy steps to measure and improve the success of any project, program, initiative, or work that you do. It will help you avoid disappointing results by designing for and delivering the desired outcome. It is logical, credible, and easy to use.” At least that’s their claim. For some, presumably it is. Each person who reads this book (actually, a manual) must determine the degree of probability that the material could be of sufficient value for their organization.
These are the “six easy steps”:
1. Start with the Impact
Ask: What will be the value of ultimate success?
2. Select the Right Solution:
Make absolutely certain that focus is on the RIGHT problem/question/opportunity
3. Expect Success with Achieving Objectives
Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re probably right.”
4. Collect Data Along the Way
Continuously coillect, verify, evaluate, and apply or dismiss
5. Analyze the Data
Itemize and monetize
6. Leverage the Results
How can what we have learned be applied where it will be of greatest value?
These are among the learning objectives that the Phillipses help their reader to achieve, each preceded by HOW TO:
o Demonstrate and verify the value of what you offer to accomplish
NOTE: It is generally a good idea to under-promise and then over-deliver. Also, Warren Buffett constantly shares this insight from his mentor and friend, Benjamin Graham: “Price is what you charge. Value is what others think it’s worth.”
o Ensure that the proposed solution is in fact the best solution
NOTE: Check out Toyota’s “Five Whys” approach. It’s the best way I know to identify the root cause(s) of a serious problem.
o Activate and sustain the aforementioned impact measurement throughout application of the solution
o Demonstrate how and why the data collected are essential throughout the chain of value
o Explain how and why the analysis of data is wholly reliable (i.e. verifiable) throughout the process
o Present the results to various audiences in ways and to an extent that are most appropriate to each
Patricia Pulliam Phillips and Jack Phillips would be among the first to emphasize the importance third-person PLURAL pronouns when struggling to answer an especially important question or solve an especially serious problem. Better answers and better solutions are identified when no one involved worries about who gets the credit. Yes, Thomas Edison was awarded more than a thousand patents but he always acknowledged the contributions of his associates.
More often than not, success is a collaboration. It’s also helpful to remember this observation by Bernard of Chartres, a French monk in the 12th century: “We all stand atop the shoulders of giants.”