NASSCOM SPL: Remain true to yourself, says Champy

MUMBAI, INDIA: Jim Champy is probably the only successful business author who gets into the best sellers list without banking too much on surprises and wit! His to-be-launched book, 'Inspire! Why Customers Come Back' is all about how to hold on to customers, even in tough times.

There could not have been a better time than this for the book.

And what does Champy say? He says some of those things that many companies do boast about without bothering if they mean a single word of what they say. He says some of the things that are so plain and simple that they are difficult to believe.

What I must mention, he says some of the things that our parents taught us but we thought they were old-fashioned beliefs that have no place in the practical world of global business.

And Champy, unlike our parents, does not say those things based on simple beliefs passed on to them by their parents. The book itself is the result of rigorous research of companies that have been immensely successful, companies that have grown more than 15 per cent a year for the past three years or more.

Also, as the chairman of consulting division of $3 billion IT services firm, Perot Systems, Champy has studied many of the successful (and unsuccessful) companies. 

In 'OUTSMART, How Some Companies Do What Their Competitors Can't', Champy describes where companies found new product ideas and how new business models were implemented. In 'INSPIRE!, Why Customers Come Back', he describes a group of companies that have learned how to hold on to customers, even during tough times - how customers are inspired by a “crusade”; how brilliant convenience and economy keep customers; how honesty and authenticity work for customers and companies: and how to revive a venerable brand.

These are the companies, that, he says, “remain true to themselves”. They are authentic. Authenticity is the mother of inspiration.

“A company is always tested when confronted by a decision that pits sticking to its values against maximizing its profits - that is the moment of truth,” he says.

He admits that it becomes tougher for a company to keep true to itself in all actions as it grows.

“The only prescription I have for dealing with this phenomenon is to be vet explicit about your company's beliefs, values and practices - and not tolerant any variance,” he says in the book.

Champy's next book in the series is a book titled, 'Deliver!'

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