STATUS QUO IS NOT COMPANY POLICY

Scott and Naylor provide a detailed look at the corporate culture of one utility company.

In a five-year period, David Naylor turned the Rayburn Electric Cooperative from a $300 million company to a $1 billion cooperative in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. In this nonfiction debut, Scott tells the story of Naylor’s success, providing a detailed account of how he transformed Rayburn into a successful “family feel” organization that’s not exclusively focused on cost-effectiveness. (“In fact, sometimes, we even purposefully avoid the cheapest option because that is the best way to ensure we stay on task and maintain the proper focus.”) Building on Naylor’s story, Scott broadens the narrative to apply some Rayburn experiences to what economists refer to as the wider VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world. She notes that one of the key ways Naylor and his team navigate that world is by hiring smart, self-motivated people to build a culture of cooperation, steadily strengthening the “trust bank” at Rayburn by avoiding such trust-eroding practices as micromanaging, which can create “a negative and demoralizing work atmosphere.” In these and other ways, Scott describes how Rayburn has avoided becoming “a stale utility stuck in the past.” While all this material is conveyed with energy and clearly sincere enthusiasm, the book can often feel more like a Rayburn-specific recruiting brochure than a broader study of how a company can stay competitive in a rapidly changing world. Scott and Naylor too frequently resort to obvious observations: “When employees from different generations work together, they can draw from their unique life experiences and professional backgrounds to solve problems”; “growth is a double-edged sword.” Still, Naylor’s passionate advocacy for a less regimented, more adaptive workplace is ultimately inspiring; readers at all levels of management will appreciate a look at a corporate environment done right.

A readable and instructive breakdown of the lessons that can be learned from trusting, adaptive leadership.