Description
"Good to Great to Gone illustrates the vital importance of listening to your customers. Without them your company has nothing." ―Tony Hsieh, New York Times bestselling author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.com, Inc.
How did Circuit City go from a Mom and Pop store with a mere $13,000 investment, to the best performing Fortune 500 Company for any 15-year period between 1965 and 1995, to bankruptcy and liquidation in 2009? What must leaders do not only to take a business from good to great, but to avoid plummeting from great to gone in a constantly evolving marketplace?
The answer lies in history. For almost 50 years, Circuit City was able to successfully navigate the constant changes in the consumer electronics marketplace and meet consumer demand and taste preferences. Following the company's decline and ultimate demise in 2009 after his departure, former CEO Alan Wurtzel shares the rare perspective of a company insider in the role of an outsider looking in.
Believing that there is no singular formula for strategy, Wurtzel emphasizes the "Habits of Mind" that influence critical management decisions. With key takeaways at the end of each chapter, Wurtzel offers advice and guidance to ensure any business stays on track, even in the wake of disruption, a changing consumer landscape, and new competitors.
Part social history, part cautionary tale, and part business strategy guide, Good to Great to Gone: The 60 Year Rise and Fall of Circuit City features a memorable story with critical leadership lessons.
Product Details
| Publisher | Diversion Books |
| Publish Date | July 12, 2016 |
| Pages | 370 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Paperback / softback |
| EAN/UPC | 9781682302439 |
| Dimensions | 9.0 X 6.0 X 1.0 inches | 1.1 pounds |
About the Author
Since retiring from Circuit City, Wurtzel has split his time between for profit and not for profit activities. Early on, much of his time was devoted to higher education and K-12 educational reform. He's served as a trustee of Virginia Commonwealth University, a member of the Virginia Board of Education and the State Council for Higher Education. He was also a director of several not-for-profit standards-based education policy organizations including New American Schools, National Center of Education and the Economy, and the Council for Basic Education. As a member of Virginia's State Board of Education, he actively participated in the formulation and adoption of the current Standards of Learning program.
In the private sector, Wurtzel served as Director of Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., and from 1989 to 1996, he served on the Board of Office Depot. He has been an active investor in startup companies and remains on the Board of two privately held companies.
Currently Wurtzel is a trustee of The Phillips Collection, where he has been active in developing and spearheading its expansion and investment plans, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an environmental group dedicated to saving the Bay and his alma mater, Oberlin College.
Wurtzel received a B.A. from Oberlin College and a J.D. from Yale Law School. He is married to the playwright, Irene Rosenberg Wurtzel, and has three grown children. He lives in Washington, D.C. and Delaplane, Virginia.
Reviews
"Good to Great to Gone illustrates the vital importance of listening to your customers. Without them your company has nothing." --Tony Hsieh, New York Times bestselling author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.com, Inc.
"Alan Wurtzel's Good to Great to Gone adds color and context to many of the compelling business strategy principles outlined in the Pursuit of Excellence." --Robert Waterman, co-author of In Search of Excellence
"Circuit City, founded when the South's first TV station opened in Richmond in 1949, went on to become an iconic Virginia company. It was the premier TV and appliance retailer in America with more than 500 stores from coast to coast and sales exceeding $10 billion. Alan Wurtzel, the CEO who conceived the strategy that took his family business from Good to Great, focuses on the development of business strategies and the habits of mind that brought Circuit City to the top and then to the dust bin of Virginia business history. He tells the dramatic story in a compelling way." --Mark R. Warner, U.S. Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia
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