Foreword
Founder and former CEO, Compaq Computer Corporation
Author of Open
Only Karen Walker could write a book entitled No Dumbing Down—phrasing like that couldn’t be closer to what she is about and who she is.
With her background in industrial engineering, Karen has a keen understanding of systems and what it takes to make them work. She’s leveraged these experiences to become an excellent model for all kinds of leaders, including organization executives who go on to become consultants. Her work with people like me—CEOs and other senior leaders in growth-oriented organizations—generates results because of her unusual, yet, formidable mixture of business acumen with her intolerance for corporate politics. She knows when and where to take a stand and turn inactivity into action.
When we founded Compaq, one of our primary goals was to create a good place to work. That goal encompassed both what we did as well as how we did it. Our company’s work ethic was not only efficient and effective, but it was also immensely rewarding for so many people. As the company grew, so did we. Karen was one of the many to walk away having learned extremely valuable lessons. But what I find most remarkable is how she’s been able to transpose these experiences so brilliantly into her consulting work today.
At each juncture of this book, she will show you how to support growth in your organization in proven and insightful ways. She will also make it clear why only you can make it happen. The five core principles she outlines, coupled with a compatible product/market fit, were critical to Compaq’s incredible growth, and I believe they have been key to the expansion of many other successful companies. An organization that lacks these principles—even with an excellent product/market fit—will begin to decline over time. Her approach, focusing on the internal strategies to support growth, is indispensable.
When it comes to running a business, none of us has time for approaches that leave us asking, “So what?” In our decade of working together, Karen demonstrated an unflappable bias for action and an obsession for meaningful results. Her book will enable you to achieve those same kinds of results and all the different types of success that goes with them.