Think Big, Act Small
Book

Think Big, Act Small

How America's Best Performing Companies Keep the Start-up Spirit Alive

Jason Jennings
Portfolio, 2005
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

getAbstract recommends this book to all companies dealing with growth. If your business is content with staying small, skip it. Read this book if you are in a growing business or in one that lost its way while it expanded. The final quiz section, where author Jason Jennings walks you through a series of exercises to identify where your business falls in his rubric, is not so impressive. Skim it. Everything else in the book is stunningly useful. Jennings and his staff did a lot of research, including both statistical analysis and first-person interviews. They also reflected seriously on the sorts of businesses they should hold up as models for others to follow. These model businesses operate in fields ranging from fast food (SONIC) to sports outfitting (Cabela's). Some of these enterprises - such as Strayer University, the higher education representative - initially seem too specialized to provide generalizable lessons, but Jennings succeeds in making them relevant. The result is a book that is entertaining and convincing, if not always easy to follow. After all, Jennings wants you to become proficient at business fundamentals, an asset which is, as he notes, both rare and difficult.

Summary

The Meaning of “Think Big, Act Small”

How can your company simultaneously think big and act small, and why should it try? Your choices are:

  • Think small, act small – You are a micro-business, such as a mom-and-pop store or an artist selling his or her work. You’re satisfied and have no interest in growing.
  • Think small, act big – You offer unsolicited advice to your peers – even though you don’t really have much to offer – and you attack those who succeed.
  • Think big, act big – You have ideas and services that people want, but you let success spoil you. You start driving a flashy car and showing off, living the cliché of a mogul’s life.
  • Think big, act small – You offer important ideas and services but, just as you did when you first started, you pay attention to your customers, your product, your suppliers, your family, your community and the bottom line. You’re still excited. You focus on running your business well rather than on showing off and impressing people.

The Growth Race

Consider the pressures on business today: everyone...

About the Author

Jason Jennings was a consultant and business speaker. He also wrote Less is More and It's Not the Big That Eat the Small...It's the Fast That Eat the Slow.

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