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Work the System
Book

Work the System

The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

Sam Carpenter
Greenleaf Book Group, 2009

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8

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Recommendation

Author and project engineer Sam Carpenter owns Centratel, a now-profitable telephone-answering company that spent 15 years barely surviving. When Carpenter was working 80-hour weeks struggling to make payroll, he was a basket case – nervous, tense and depressed. He got by on a lot of coffee and very little sleep. Then, he had a eureka moment. He suddenly grasped that many different systems directed his life and work. He saw that if he could control and perfect these systems, he could solve many complex issues. This realization changed his life. Now, Carpenter enjoys himself and works only a couple of hours weekly. He has time for everything he wants to do, and his business hums along. The refreshing thing about this book is Carpenter’s personal perspective as a business owner who figured things out for himself. It’s not just another volume reflecting the theoretical ideas of a management consultant or professor. Carpenter explains his systems-management approach so well that you can use his accessible methods to improve your operations and your personal life. getAbstract recommends this logical book to small-business owners and all those who want to improve the way they run their lives. The caveat: You have to get to work.

Take-Aways

  • If you work long hours and your firm is too dependent on you, you are mismanaging the individual systems that direct your business and your personal lives.
  • To manage both realms, realize that your life is a “logical collection of linear systems that you can control.” Apply the “Work the System method.”
  • Scrutinize your systems, and diagnose in minute detail what you need to do to improve them. Create three sets of documentation:

About the Author

Sam Carpenter is the president and CEO of Centratel. He founded and oversees Kashmir Family Aid, a nonprofit organization that assists children who survived the 2005 Northern Pakistan and Azad Kashmir earthquake.

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