My first week on the job at Heath Ceramics, I wandered into the showroom, picked up a a business book I’d never heard of, by an author I didn’t know who co-founded and led a business I’d never heard of, yet it boasted endorsements from some major names. I was pretty sure I knew the landscape of “must read” business books from the classics, to the wave of stuff from the 90’s that has held up, to the sea of current influencers. So what was this?
From the first sentence of the preface of A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business, by Ari Weinzweig of Zingerman’s, to the last word of the notes in the back, I kept wondering: who is this guy, how does he know all of this, and how’d he stuff it all — the “basic building blocks for culture and structure” — into one book? Later that year I attended a visioning workshop at ZingTrain in Ann Arbor and witnessed firsthand that they practice what they preach, it works, and it’s worth taking into the world.
What’s to love?
Ari lays out the operating system and principles that built Zingerman’s into a thriving business for good—socially, environmentally, and financially successful—the true Triple Bottom Line. And yes, the reference to anarchism is real. He writes that, ”…anarchism is actually a very positive perception of humanity, based on the belief that people want to do the right thing and if unobstructed by self-serving, authoritarian structures, usually will.” That core belief combined with Drucker, Servant Leadership, Open Book Management, and much more, serves up practical, relatable, and refreshingly jargon free tools and wisdom.
The tools are simple, road-tested, and useful. The visioning process, in particular, is a game-changer. Many have written about right-to-left thinking—beginning with the end in mind—but Zingerman’s perfected a method. Originating from work done by Ron Lippitt at Michigan, the method produces clear, compelling, and inclusive visions.that compel employees to see the cathedral they are building together by the bricks they are laying. Many of my clients—organizations and individuals—have used it, and it delivers. Ari argues that a well-crafted vision, paired with a clear mission and guiding principles, creates a core that can withstand earthquakes.
It’s organized in “recipes” (chapters) that stand alone and are available in individual pamphlets, anarchists that they are!
What’s Zingerman's? All you Michigan grads out there have a big smile on your face at the mention of this place. What began in 1982 as a deli started by Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw is now a vibrant and treasured community of businesses in Ann Arbor. The original deli has been joined by a bakehouse, a creamery, restaurants, a coffee company, a candy manufactory, a training facility, ZingTrain, where they teach how they run their businesses, and more. They employ 700+ full-time staffers and swell to nearly 1000 during the holiday season. Super fun to visit if you get the chance.
Favorite quote
The 9th Natural Law of Business: “Success means you get better problems”