Work the system by Sam Carpenter

While surfing internet for tips on successful management, during my stay at Houston with my son two years back, I came across Sam Carpenter's "6 Steps to Working Less and Making More". I was impressed by the advice and signed up for his newsletter. I also wrote to him about my impressions about his forth coming book. He promptly replied me.

Since then, I was getting regular newsletters giving small real life stories explaining application of work the system method.


When I saw the cover of the book with gears, I remembered an incidence ten years back when my grandson Ketan was 4 years old. I was playing with him with him and just to inspire about how the toy works, I showed him a battery of gears in the broken toy train and explained him how one wheel moves other wheel and so on. He was so excited with the knowledge that he started running to everybody in the house and showing them how the wheels rotate as if he has invented it.

I feel that the same enthusiasm must have prompted Sam Carpenter to write the book ‘Work the system’ when he suddenly realized the system principles, when he thought objectively at his business failure.

When the book was released, I was in India and could not get the print copy, but was eager to read the book. Fortunately the author provided free download facility of the soft copy of book. I read some part casually and got really attracted to it in the topic titled `Gun to the head enlightenment’, where he narrated the experience in the night which turned his frustration due to business failure into sudden enlightenment of new inspiration after realizing negligence to simple small systems which created all problems. I liked it because I was also in similar state of mind was seriously thinking of closing down the show. His narration created a new hope in me. Without waiting to read all remaining book, I sent mail to express my thanks to him.

He found simple solution of analyzing the business as a combination of small systems, taking out wrong system and replacing it after correcting it with dramatic improvement in overall system performance. The classical theory of systems approach tells exactly this procedure. But very few business people can look to their business separating themselves from it and study it objectively. Even myself, a small business owner and who has taught systems approach to college students for many years forgot to apply it to my business. I congratulate Sam Carpenter for sharing his revelation and developing practical procedure for successful implementation of theory into practice.

Earlier to this change, Carpenter had struggled for years in vain to make his business of telephone answering service, Centrial, to run with success. By studying the business of taking an "outside and slightly elevated" point of view, he could identify reasons to the non working subsystems. To streamline and automate efficient working of business he developed methodology of defining Strategic objectives and elaborate operating and working procedures. He has given many examples to illustrate the points and emphasized that one can run the business successfully by working less, paying more salaries and to the satisfaction of customers, if simple work the system principles are followed.