Reading List: O Great One!

By Chauncey MabeApril 16, 20161 min read

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During the 14 years David Novak served as CEO at Yum! Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell), he used recognition to develop the company into one of the world’s biggest restaurant outfits. “If you give people the recognition they’ve earned, if you show genuine appreciation and acknowledge the unique things people have to offer, then you will drive real results.”

Novak is puzzled why recognition is used so little in the business world. To get the word out, he writes a parable about Jeff Johnson, the new CEO, trying to save his family toy company. There’s more story here than in earlier business parables such as Who Moved My Cheese? After reading it, bosses might be more apt to pat employees on the back and give an “attaboy” for work well done.

O Great One!
By David Novak with Christa Bourg
May; Portfolio; $25

This article appears in the May 2016 issue of SUCCESS magazine.

Chauncey Mabe

Chauncey Mabe is a freelance writer, book critic, and blogger in Miami, Fla. For 23 years he served as Book Editor and Senior Entertainment Writer at the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. He was Book Blogger for the Florida Center for the Literary Arts, the parent organization of Miami Book Fair International, from 2009 to 2012. He also blogs for the Betsy Hotel South Beach hotel, which sponsors literary events year round. His reviews and feature stories have appeared in publications such as the Toronto Globe & Mail, the Serving House Journal, Inspicio, the Palm Beach Arts Paper, the Baltimore Sun, the Juneau Empire, and the Chicago Tribune.