By Jerry McKay, Owner
McKay Landscape Lighting, a $1 million to $2 million, landscape lighting company
Omaha, Neb.

The book that has affected my company for the better is Predictable Success: Getting Your Organization On the Growth Track—and Keeping It There by Les McKeown, president of and CEO of business consulting firm Predictable Success. I plan to read two more of his books: The Synergist: How to Lead Your Team to Predictable Success and Do Lead: Share your vision. Inspire others. Achieve the impossible, which is slated for release in May.

Predictable Success was published in 2010. I read the book for the first time last year, but I’ve read it more than once and plan to read it again. It’s a very good resource book to keep nearby and pick up for inspiration or guidance.

I became aware of Predictable Success after hearing McKeown speak at an Inc. Magazine conference. I knew right away the book would help improve my business.

After reading it I had a meeting with my team to outline the premise of the book, hashing out ways we could implement processes that would allow us to achieve predictable success consistently.

The book outlines natural stages in the organizational development of companies, which include the Early stage, the Fun stage, the White Water stage, the Predictable Success stage, the Treadmill stage, the Big Rut stage and, lastly, the Death Rattle.

The message is that businesses need to develop a team to navigate the White Water stage in order to achieve Predictable Success.

Organizations that exhibit Predictable Success excel in the following:

• decision-making;
• goal setting;
• alignment;
• accountability; and
• employees taking personal responsibility for their actions and outcomes.

Moreover, when a company strives for these positive skills, they are on their way to Predictable Success.

Predictable Success is one of the first books I recommend to business owners because it gives companies a boost to reach their goals and improve business. (If you liked The E-Myth by Michael Gerber, you will really enjoy this book.) We recently hosted our inaugural The Lighting Summit conference, and, at its conclusion, I distributed copies of Predictable Success to attendees. It was well received—I’ve heard positive comments from many who already finished reading the book.

As told to Sarah Pfledderer