The John Deere Way: Performance that Endures

Book Description
The John Deere Way presents timeless business lessons from one of America’s top brands. Even as many American manufacturers struggle with low-cost foreign competition, John Deere has not only prevailed, but increased its market share by offering superior quality products built tough and in accordance with time-tested business values. This book shares the company’s management principles and corporate values and shows how those values guide the company to increasingly greater success. For business owners and leaders who want to know what real long-term success constitutes—and how to achieve it—The John Deere Way is the only way.



Download Description
As many American manufacturers struggle with low-cost foreign competition, John Deere has not only prevailed, but increased its market share by delivering superior quality products built with time-tested values. For 150 years, these values have guided John Deere from a small tractor and farm equipment manufacturer to a famous American brand with social cache and a diverse array of products. The John Deere Way shares the management principles and values that have made John Deere one of the most respected and successful brands in America, including the ten core secrets every business leader should take to heart:

* I will not put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me.
* If we don't improve our products, others will make them in our place.
* Always maintain integrity.
* Concentrate on areas where you have a clear competitive advantage.
* It is more important in business to listen than to lead.
* It is more valuable to link than to leverage.
* It is better to be lean than laden.
* In a rigorously competitive market, virtue is necessary for sustained value creation.
* It is important to build a business as great as your products.





From the Inside Flap
As many former giants of the American industrial heartland fall prey to low-cost foreign competition and high domestic manufacturing costs, one U.S. company stands out as a shining example of growth, brand recognition, and phenomenal success in a globalized world. John Deere has done more than prevail in its primary market: With $19.9 billion in annual sales and 46,000 employees, this global powerhouse has expanded its highly respected brand name beyond agricultural equipment to become the world leader in forestry harvesting equipment and a major supplier of equipment for construction, lawn and turf care, and golf course maintenance, as well as financial services and managed health care.

How can a company founded in the early nineteenth century maintain such a high level of vitality in the constantly changing business climate of the twenty-first century? Can other organizations crack the secrets of this enduring firm's success and use them to enhance their own growth and profitability? In The John Deere Way, celebrated business author David Magee takes you behind the scenes to discover the timeless underlying principles and innovative practices that have enabled John Deere to continue to leap ahead of the competition for nearly 170 years.

Given unfettered access to the company, its archives, and its CEO Robert Lane, Magee soon discovered that the driving force behind this dynamic organization is a set of values and principles instilled at its inception by John Deere himself. From the day Deere developed the world's first commercially successful self-scouring steel plow in 1837 through to a remarkable series of innovations spearheaded by Robert Lane today, these principles have guided the company through good times and bad, helping it survive depressions and wars while making the most of prosperous times.

From "I will not put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me," to "You cannot have enduring performance without trust," The John Deere Way shares each of these secrets for the first time. Then, it examines how Deere employees, from the CEO on down, strive to express each principle through their actions in the workplace every day. This close examination translates each of Deere's values into useable and proven leadership lessons that can invigorate any company of any size in any industry.

Complete with an insightful introduction from Deere & Company Chairman and CEO Robert Lane, The John Deere Way offers compelling and important reading for anyone interested in industrial history; cutting-edge business practices; or a good, old-fashioned American success story.



About the Author
DAVID MAGEE is the author of five books, including Ford Tough: Bill Ford and the Battle to Rebuild America's Automaker and Endurance: Winning Life's Majors the Phil Mickelson Way, both from Wiley. He lives with his wife and three children on Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.