Breaking Bad Habits - Freek Vermeulen

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ISBN: 978-1-63369-382-1
Verdict: 👍👍

Having read so many business books in the past decades I tend to avoid them now days, however this was suggested a good read by a close friend and it was.






Enjoyed reading this  book and found myself not agreeing  with some recommendations but loved some of the quotes e.g. “It’s good optics. But it’s not necessarily good business” ( p11)

My personal observation of many of the large consulting firms, is one of ‘Land and Expand’ ,however Freek makes a great observation “Consultants basically have three roles: conducting client projects; acquiring new clients and projects; and helping run the firm” (p85) 

I disagreed with Freek where he states “companies should pick one very simple structure and then regularly change it over time" (p135) I would want to see evidence where this adds continuing value – my view is why not recalibrate and optimize structures if they work?

I did liked “numbers can be a dud, because they focus us on what we can measure, at the expense of things we can’t quantify” (p204).

This was a very nice basic read – if you’re a veteran of reading business books you may want to just scan it, if not then worth reading the whole book.


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