Peter Sheahan - Matter: Move Beyond the Competition, Create More Value, and Become the Obvious Choice

Praise for MATTER

Matter is a must-read intellectual roadmap for all those courageous leaders looking to make an actual difference. Its not just about making change happen, its about making change that actually matters.

Jeremy Gutsche, CEO, Trend Hunter, and
New York Times bestselling author

This book inspires us all to build companies that matter; where customers best interests fuel innovation. It teaches us how to embrace a disruptive edge as a defining competitive advantageand make our company the obvious choice by focusing all our attention and actions on people. This book should be compulsory reading inside companies that want to lead.

Ken Fenoglio, president, AT&T University

If you want to be a Leader that Matters this is the only book that matters. Surprising. Provocative. The obvious choice for leaders everywhere.

Mel Robbins, award-winning CNN commentator,
TEDx Sensation, and bestselling author

Matter walks the razor edge between strategy and execution. Its obviously written by real-world business leaders, and not just talking heads. In a hyper-competitive world, Matter will give you the road map to finding your edge of disruption and offer specific tactics for exploiting the opportunities you find there, and ensure you become the obvious choice in the process.

Josh Linkner, four-time tech entrepreneur and
New York Times bestselling author

This book provides an invaluable road map to differentiating yourself from the competition and becoming the obvious choice. As the authors rightly explain, in todays world unless you matter, you dont have a right to exist and remain in business. Now more than ever in our fast-moving environment its necessary to fight against commoditization and add value, this book provides not just case studies of how companies are achieving this but practical guidance on how to achieve the same in any business.

Charles Stanley, president, Forevermark at De Beers

Matter recognizes that we are living in volatile times and gives you the tools to succeed. Matter helped me to realize the importance of being curious and having courage, of relentlessly asking questions, and challenging assumptions.

Donna Lynne, DrPH, group president, Kaiser Foundation
Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals

A truly impactful book that challenges you to re-think the lens by which you view your business, your customers, competitors, and how you thrive in this new economy full of disruptive opportunities.

Bruce Johnson, president and CEO, GHX

Matter left me energized with a new perspective on how to create value for our customers, investors, employees, and communities. The book provides an approach that is relevant to any leader, regardless of their position, industry, or scale of operation. These insights and tools are as applicable to business as they are in life. After all, dont we all really want to matter?

Zachary T. Neumeyer, chairman, Sage Hospitality Resources

Peter Sheahan and Julie Williamson possess that rare and dazzling intellect required to define a new space, and bring true thought leadership to the changing world of business. Their new book Matter shows us how to stand up, stand out, and make a world-changing difference to people that matter mostour customers, our communities, and our employees.

Sally Hogshead, CEO and founder, Fascinate Inc.

Matter provides a road map for anyone seeking to become the obvious choice and win in a hyper-competitive world. More importantly, it provides a pathway to do work that mattersto your client, to your community, and to you. The case studies are rich and insightful, and the strategies are simple, but not simplistic. Its robust and evidenced based, without ever being academic or theoretical. We all want to do work thats significant. We all want to feel significant. Ultimately, the power of this book is that it will inspire you to become a company that matters, and to do the work that really matters.

Dr. Peter Fuda, principal, The Alignment Partnership

MATTER

MATTER

PETER SHEAHAN and
JULIE WILLIAMSON, PhD

BenBella Books, Inc.
Dallas, TX

Copyright 2016 by Peter Sheahan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

BenBella Books, Inc.

10300 N. Central Expressway

Suite #530

Dallas, TX 75231

www.benbellabooks.com

Send feedback to

First E-Book Edition: January 2016.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Sheahan, Peter. | Williamson, Julie.

Title: Matter : move beyond the competition, create more value, and become the obvious choice / Peter Sheahan, Julie Williamson.

Description: Dallas, Texas : BenBella Books, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015029946| ISBN 9781941631768 (hardback) | ISBN 9781941631775 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: Value. | Expertise. | Excellence. | Competition. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Business Development. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Decision-Making & Problem Solving. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Leadership. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Customer Relations.

Classification: LCC HB201 .S549 2016 | DDC 658.4/01dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015029946

Distributed by Perseus Distribution www.perseusdistribution.com

To place orders through Perseus Distribution:

Tel: (800) 343-4499

Fax: (800) 351-5073

E-mail:

This book is dedicated to the courageous souls who do work
that matters, and who do the work to matter!

CONTENTS

The purpose of life... It is to be useful, to be honorable.
It is to be compassionate. It is to matter, to have it make
some difference that you have lived.

Leo Rosten

D OES YOUR COMPANY REALLY MATTER? Has it moved beyond the commoditized and substitutable solutions readily available in the market, and created more value for its customers, communities, investors, and employees? It could!

Is your team focused on doing the work that really matters? Are team members solving the most difficult challenges your internal and external customers face, and going above and beyond to create more value for your organization? They could!

What about you? Does your work matter? Are you just working hard, or are you focusing on the hard work that moves the needle in the areas your team most needs, generating more value for them and for your organization than if you just stuck to the basics?