From the Publisher
"Breakaway is a literary breakthrough! This is a business book that reads more easily than most and is as enlightening as any. Fred has succeeded in demystifying the previously arcane world of employee performance and competency management. Kudos for stripping the industry of its gobbledy-gook jargon and baring its substantive soul." —Howard M. Block, managing director, Education Services, Banc of America Securities, LLC
"Speed and proficiency is a great and highly practical concept for gaining competitive advantage. Chuck Fred has done a beautiful job of blending the ideologies of continuous quality improvement and those of continuous learning to create an articulate and compelling case for winning through the development of people. Breakaway cuts right to the core of what differentiates winners from losers in the race to provide superior customer value." —Gary Jusela, vice president, learning, The Home Depot
"Chuck Fred's concepts reflect the importance of business velocity, speed of decision making, and customer impact often overlooked in many popular works regarding quality in business." —Terry J. Erdle, vice president, Sun Microsystems Educational Services
"Getting new employees up to speed rapidly—and helping current employees learn new skills—has never been more important for success. The Breakaway concepts are becoming a key competitive edge in the war to attract and utilize top talent. A quick 'cycle time to proficiency' is now a must to meet both our customer and employee needs." —Eric J. Ross, president, Global Customer Care Services, Nortel Networks
"Breakaway reflects the winning philosophy of valuing each person as an individual with unique skills and talents. Fred recognizes that by adapting employee education and training to meet this reality, it is not only good for the person, but good for the customer and for business." —C. William Pollard, chairman and chief executive officer, The ServiceMaster Company
"Breakaway is a revolutionary book. By focusing on the role of speed and expertise in delivering value to customers fast, Fred has turned the conventional wisdom of business change completely on its head . . . a visionary, practical, and exciting tool that will transform business learning and development forever." —A. Reed Hayes, president and chief operation officer, National Restaurant Association Education Foundation
"As one of the founders of Precision Response Corporation, a leader in out- sourced integrated customer care for over eighteen year, I have seen, first-hand, the importance of people in the customer equation, and encourage business leaders to follow Fred's secrets for success" —David Epstein, chief executive officer, Precision Response Corporation
"An insightful and practical look at how organizations can help shorten the cycle time to transform employee learning into customer value . . . a roadmap to help organizations leverage and capitalize on their learning and development investments." —Richard Chang, CEO, Richard Chang Associates, Inc., author, The Passion Plan and Performance Scorecards
