Search results for ""Author Deloitte"

Low cost competitors, who offer “good enough” products and services at very attractive prices, are currently significantly impacting the businesses of many leading companies, and some are starting to “move up” to challenge the traditional companies in their core markets. It’s only a matter of time before most companies will feel the pressure from these aggressive, cut-price competitors. Beating Low Cost Competition offers a step–by–step structured approach to help executives in traditional companies with premium brands think through the options for responding to their low cost rivals and select the most appropriate strategy to win in their chosen markets. By examining a wide-ranging group of companies from around the world, Adrian Ryans provides numerous examples of how different companies in different industries have responded to low cost competitors and analyses the effectiveness of their strategies. He also discusses the leadership and cultural challenges that many companies are facing as they take steps to respond to their low cost rivals. Ultimately, the insights gained from this book will lead to better and more profitable business decisions. Adrian Ryans is Professor of Marketing and Strategy at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland. He has designed and taught on executive programs for organizations in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, including GE, Bank of Montreal, Medtronic, Deloitte, Borealis, Saurer, Vestas, IBM, Boeing, National Semiconductor, BioWare, ASML, Holcim, Varian, Hoechst, Amgen, Fluke, LSI Logic, Hutchison Port Holdings and Qualcomm. He has also acted as a consultant for a number of leading global corporations.

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In the face of ever more complex societal challenges, this book provides an essential new model for transforming the public sector and getting things done.Pandemics. Climate change. Refugee resettlement. Global supply chains. We face a new generation of complex problems that stretch across the public and private sectors and flow over organizational boundaries. To meet the moment, we need a fresh, new approach that strengthens institutions and government agencies by breaking free from organizational boxes and rigid, top-down leadership.As William D. Eggers, executive director of Deloitte's Center for Government Insights, and Donald F. Kettl, public management scholar, show in this indispensable book, we need a government of bridgebuilders who collaborate with partners—inside and outside government—to get the job done. These leaders manage horizontally instead of vertically; they see their role as connectors; and they identify which players have the assets needed to solve the unprecedented problems at hand.Each chapter examines one of the ten core principles of bridgebuilding and features practical tips and dynamic cases of how effective leaders have put each bridgebuilding principle to work. The book also includes a special section that helps government leaders create a hundred-day bridgebuilding plan.Throughout, Eggers and Kettl tell fascinating and instructive stories about some of today's bridgebuilders—federal, state, and local government leaders who transcend boundaries, partner across sectors, and get stuff done.Trusted and effective government has never been more important than today. Bridgebuilders provides a new model that current government decision makers—as well as young leaders who aspire to public service—can learn from and apply right now to transform government and restore public trust.

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A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLERA PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLERThe essential, data-driven blueprint to build trust in your organization. Did you know that trusted companies outperform their peers by up to 400%? That customers who trust a brand are 88% more likely to buy again? And that 79% of employees who trust their employer are more motivated to work (and less likely to leave)? The importance of trust is at an all-time high—just as our inclination to trust is at an all-time low. Building trust is your single greatest opportunity to create competitive advantage. With new data at its core, The Four Factors of Trust gives you practical guidance to measure and build trust in the relationships that matter the most—with your customers, workforce, and partners. Trust ultimately comes down to just Four Factors: Humanity, Capability, Transparency, and Reliability. These Four Factors make up Deloitte's HX TrustIDTM, a groundbreaking measurement tool poised to become the gold standard for evaluating organizational performance. Ashley Reichheld and Amelia Dunlop show how your organization can use HX TrustIDTM to measure, predict, and build trust to earn lifelong loyalty—and elevate the human experience with your customers, workforce, and partners. The Four Factors of Trust lays it all out in do-able parts so you can: Create better business outcomes by understanding how trust affects human behaviors Measure your company's trust score—revealing strengths, deficits, and opportunities to (re)build trust with key stakeholders Design actionable strategies to improve trust with your customers, workforce, and partners Build trust and earn loyalty through every business function from marketing to operations to talent experience With compelling stories from leading organizations—and practical applications in Marketing & Experience, Cybersecurity, HR, Sustainability (ESG), and Operations & Technology—The Four Factors of Trust will enable you to create the relationships you want to build, the organizations you want to belong to, and the world you want to live in.

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The Data-Driven Guide for your Digital Transformation Payday In Digital Transformation Payday: Navigate the Hype, Lower the Risks, Increase Return on Investments, Tim Bottke, Senior Strategy Partner at Deloitte and Associate Professor for Strategy and Digital Transformation at SDA Bocconi, a Financial Times/Forbes/Bloomberg Businessweek Top-Five European business school, delivers a provocative, new perspective on digital business transformation—using research to get beyond the hype and uncover its real financial payback. Have you ever asked yourself: “Should I really embark on a digital transformation journey that is likely full of pain, failure, and high cash-outs? One that puts a lot of pressure on our stock price and my nerves? Who will thank me for that? Will there ever be a measurable return on invest for all these technologies that supports positive market value impact?” If so, this book is for you. You’ll find unique insights and guidance for managers, executives, board members, and investors as you navigate an immense array of strategic and operational choices, opportunities, and pitfalls. You’ll also learn to demystify digital strategy and technology buzzwords, better define the initial focal point and process of your firm’s digital transformation, and establish new ways of thinking in terms of value impacts—and how to measure them—right from the start. The book also includes: A proven framework for defining your next digital transformation effort end to end, and configuring your initiatives for maximum return on investment Empirical data to help you understand your company’s odds of navigating your chosen digital transformation initiatives with financial payback An indispensable resource for business leaders, Digital Transformation Payday will also earn a place in the libraries of entrepreneurs, founders, leaders of established companies, and digital enthusiasts.

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The Only Innovation Guide You Will Ever Need--from the Award-Winning Minds at Mayo ClinicA lot of businesspeople talk about innovation, but few companies have achieved the level of truly transformative innovation as brilliantly--or as famously--as the legendary Mayo Clinic.Introducing Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast, the first innovation guide based on the proven, decade-long program that’s made Mayo Clinic one of the most respected and successful organizations in the world. Thisessential must-have guide shows you how to: Inspire and ignite trailblazing innovation inyour workplace Design a new business model that’s creative,collaborative, and sustainable Apply the traditional scientific method to the latest innovations in "design thinking" Build a customized toolkit of the best practices, project portfolios, and strategies Increase your innovation capacity--and watch how quickly you succeed These field-tested techniques grew out of the health care industry but are designed to work with any complex organization. Written by three Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation insiders--Dr. Nicholas LaRusso, BarbaraSpurrier, and Dr. Gianrico Farrugia--the book offers a wealth of transformative ideas and strategies.The concise, easy-to-implement methods can help jump-start your employees' creative potential, involve them in the collaborative process, and pave the way to the future of sustainable innovation. You get step-by-step advice on building leadership teams, accelerator platforms for speeding up results, and fascinating case studies of innovation in action from the files of the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation.In today's fast-moving world, it's innovation that drives success. This book gives you the keys.ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THINK BIG, START SMALL, MOVE FAST:"Truly great organizations do not just achieve great results; they are also relentless in the pursuit of continual improvement. This book offers both methods and motivation to leaders in any industry who understand that the pursuit of excellence is never-ending." -- Donald Berwick, M.D., MPP, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow,Institute for Healthcare Improvement"Do you want your organization to deliver a shockingly better customer experience? Here is Mayo's method that transformed the patient experience by making innovation systemic, the human side of innovation." -- Scott Cook, Cofounder and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit"A powerful set of actionable, yet importantly nonprescriptive, principles for transformative change that will inspire and challenge all of us to reenvision a system that delivers health, not just care, for all our patients." -- Rebecca Onie, Cofounder and CEO, Health Leads"This book should serve both as a how-to guide for medical professionals and an inspiration for other innovators all over the country." -- T. R. Reid, reporter and author of The Healing of America"Powerful insight on how to deliver meaningful innovations time and again." -- Frans van Houten, CEO, Royal Philips"Leaders who seek to accelerate new innovation competencies can benefit from this hands-on guide." -- Sarah Miller Caldicott, great grandniece of Thomas Edison,and CEO, Power Patterns of Innovation"Read this book. . . . Copy its practices. It will save you years of misery and missteps as you build your own innovation revolution." -- Larry Keeley, Cofounder, Doblin Inc., and Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP

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Global Information Technology Outsourcing In Search of Business Advantage Mary C. Lacity & Leslie P. Willcocks 'Lacity, and Willcocks have shown us again why they are the world's leading IT outsourcing gurus... the most comprehensive work on IT outsourcing to date.' Sara Cullen, National Partner, Australia Business Process Management, Deloitte Touche, Tohmatsu 'a valuable collection... readers will find here advice that premier consultants would deliver for a very large multiple of the price of this book.' Paul A. Strassmann, former CIO of General Foods, Kraft, Xerox and the US Department of Defense '(a). "must read" for anyone in search of a clear understanding of what information technology outsourcing is all about... absolutely no one should jump into outsourcing prior to taking advantage of the outstanding case studies outlined in this book.' Emmett Paige, President, OAO Corporation 'an excellent guide to successful outsourcing, the best I have read on the topic. It should be mandatory reading for any senior executive.' Gail Burke, Executive Director & CIO, Macquarie Bank, Australia 'crisp and concise. The studies selected for detailed presentation are excellent and the analysis... rings with credibility.' Rob Westcott, Vice President and CIO, General Motors Acceptance Corporation International Operations, UK 'Lacity and Willcocks have... unrivalled access to outsourcing deals across the globe... their new book... is a powerful synthesis of their learning (and) their chapter on risk management is a groundbreaking contribution. A vitally important business guide.' Richard Sykes, Chairman Morgan Chambers plc. - Europe's largest independent consultancy in IT services & business process sourcing 'Lacity and Willcocks tell it like it is and pull no punches... A must read for any organization contemplating outsourcing or trying to fix a broken outsourcing relationship... Planning for outsourcing, negotiating the deal, making the relationship work - it's all here.' Bob Young, Executive Director, South Australian Government Account, EDS (Electronic Data Systems) 'For those of us with a deep knowledge and experience of outsourcing, this book is required reading. For those who are just starting out on the journey, it is essential reading.' Robert White, CEO, Lucidus Management Technologies

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Designing Brand Identity Design/Business Whether you’re the project manager for your company’s rebrand, or you need to educate your staff or your students about brand fundamentals, Designing Brand Identity is the quintessential resource. From research to brand strategy to design execution, launch and governance, Designing Brand identity is a compendium of tools for branding success and best practices for inspiration. 3 sections: brand fundamentals, process basics, and case studies. Over 100 branding subjects, checklists, tools, and diagrams. 50 case studies that describe goals, process, strategy, solution, and results. Over 700 illustrations of brand touchpoints. More than 400 quotes from branding experts, CEOs, and design gurus. Designing Brand Identity is a comprehensive, pragmatic, and easy-to-understand resource for all brand builders—global and local. It’s an essential reference for implementing an entire brand system. Carlos Martinez Onaindia Global Brand Studio Leader Deloitte Alina Wheeler explains better than anyone else what identity design is and how it functions. There’s a reason this is the 5th edition of this classic. Paula Scher Partner Pentagram Designing Brand Identity is the book that first taught me how to build brands. For the past decade, it’s been my blueprint for using design to impact people, culture, and business. Alex Center Design Director The Coca-Cola Company Alina Wheeler’s book has helped so many people face the daunting challenge of defining their brand. Andrew Ceccon Executive Director, Marketing FS Investments If branding was a religion, Alina Wheeler would be its goddess, and Designing Brand Identity its bible. Olka Kazmierczak Founder Pop Up Grupa The 5th edition of Designing Brand Identity is the Holy Grail. This book is the professional gift you have always wanted. Jennifer Francis Director of Marketing, Communications, and Visitor Experience Louvre Abu Dhabi

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Government Alone Can't Solve Society's Biggest Problems World hunger. Climate change. Crumbling infrastructure. It's clear that in today's era of fiscal constraints and political gridlock, we can no longer turn to government alone to tackle these and other towering social problems. What's required is a new, more collaborative and productive economic system. The Solution Revolution brings hope--revealing just such a burgeoning new economy where players from across the spectrum of business, government, philanthropy, and social enterprise converge to solve big problems and create public value. By erasing public-private sector boundaries, the solution economy is unlocking trillions of dollars in social benefit and commercial value. Where tough societal problems persist, new problem solvers are crowdfunding, ridesharing, app-developing, or impact-investing to design innovative new solutions for seemingly intractable problems. Providing low-cost health care, fighting poverty, creating renewable energy, and preventing obesity are just a few of the tough challenges that also represent tremendous opportunities for those at the vanguard of this movement. They create markets for social good and trade solutions instead of dollars to fill the gap between what government can provide and what citizens need. So what drives the solution economy? Who are these new players and how are their roles changing? How can we grow the movement? And how can we participate? Deloitte's William D. Eggers and Paul Macmillan answer these questions and more, and they introduce us to the people and organizations driving the revolution--from edgy social enterprises growing at a clip of 15 percent a year, to megafoundations, to Fortune 500 companies delivering social good on the path to profit. Recyclebank, RelayRides, and LivingGoods are just a few of the innovative organizations you'll read about in this book. Government cannot handle alone the huge challenges facing our global society--and it shouldn't. We need a different economic paradigm that can flexibly draw on resources, combine efforts, and create value, while improving the lives of citizens. The Solution Revolution shows the way.

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES Best practices from 50+ world-class organizations to improve project management, add business value, and increase benefit realization Featuring senior executives and project managers from more than 50 world-class companies offering their best practices for successful project management implementation, the newly revised Fifth Edition of Project Management Best Practices contains updates throughout to reflect the latest project management best practices that add value and efficiency to every level of an organization. The text offers guidance on a wide range of project management best practices, with new coverage of the impact of COVID-19, the growth of nontraditional projects, cultural and emotional intelligence, and much more. Project Management Best Practices features insights and best practices from world class organizations like Siemens, Deloitte, GEA, Heineken, Sony, Dubai Customs, Philips Medical, IBM, Boeing, Comau, and Hitachi. Case studies from many of these organizations are included in each chapter to practically illustrate various concepts. This Fifth Edition includes updated information from companies covered in the earlier books along with contributions from new companies. Project Management Best Practices includes information on: Project management best practices throughout modern history and how the best of intentions can quickly become migraines Responding to changing customer requirements, what to do when the wrong culture is in place, and handling the internal politics of any project Strategic planning for project management, roadblocks to excellence, and seven fallacies that delay project management maturity Recognizing the need for project management methodology development and where/how artificial intelligence (AI) slots into the project management field Following the same successful format as its predecessor in terms of content, the Fifth Edition of Project Management Best Practices is an essential resource for senior level and middle level corporate managers, project and team managers, engineers, project team members, business consultants, and students in related programs of study.

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The bestselling business classic on the power of relationships, updated with in-depth advice for making connections in the digital world 'Don't walk . . . RUN to your closest bookstore. The most extraordinary and valuable book I've come across in a long, long time' Tom PetersDo you want to get ahead in life? Climb the ladder to success? Master networker Keith Ferrazzi says the secret is in reaching out to others. As he discovered early in life, what distinguishes highly successful people is the way they use the power of relationships - so that everyone wins. Never Eat Alone: Expanded and Updated lays out the steps and mindset Ferrazzi uses to connect with thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates: people he has helped and who have helped him. This form of connecting to the world is based on generosity; Ferrazzi distinguishes gen­uine relationship-building from crude glad-handing. These practical, proven principles include: don't keep score (make sure other people get what they want, too); 'ping' constantly (reach out to your contacts all the time - not just when you need something); never eat alone ('invisibility' is a fate worse than failure); and become the 'king of content' (use social media to make meaningful connections). In this classic, global bestseller you'll discover the timeless strategies used by the world's most connected people, from Bill Clinton to the Dalai Lama. And you'll learn how to transform your own network, career and life.'A step-by-step way to build relationships with anyone. The tone is engaging and the advice practical' New York Times 'Cleverly mixes anecdotes with cogent advice and suggests concrete steps readers can take toward improvement' USA TodayKeith Ferrazzi is the founder and CEO of the training and con­sulting company Ferrazzi Greenlight and a contributor to Inc., the Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review. Earlier in his career, he was the CMO of Deloitte Consulting and of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and the CEO of YaYa Media. He lives in Los Angeles.Tahl Raz has written for Inc., the Jerusalem Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and GQ. Raz lives in New York City.

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Die Zukunft der Arbeit erreichte uns früher als erwartet. Beschleunigt durch Covid-19 entstand ein dringender Bedarf an neuen Denkweisen, neuen Strategien - und vor allem an einem vertrauenswürdigen Leitfaden, der uns auf dieser Reise begleitet. So eine Hilfe bietet Jeff Schwartz in seinem Buch. Als Gründungspartner der Deloitte-Consulting-Praxis "Future of Work" liefert Schwartz Klarheit, Humor, Weisheit und praktische Ratschläge für die Zukunft der Arbeit, ein Thema, das leider oft von Fehlinformationen, Angst und Verwirrung geprägt und umgeben ist. Mit einem grundlegenden Glauben an die Kraft menschlicher Innovation und Kreativität präsentiert Schwartz die Schlüsselthemen, kritischen Entscheidungen und potenziellen Fallstricke, die auf jedermanns Radar sein müssen. - Wenn Sie befürchten, dass Roboter Ihnen in Zukunft Ihre Arbeit wegnehmen könnten, werden Sie sich durch die realistische Perspektive, die faktenbasierten Erkenntnisse und die praktischen Schritte, die Schwartz anbietet, beruhigt fühlen. - Wenn Sie sich nicht sicher sind, wie Sie sich überhaupt vorbereiten sollen, folgen Sie seinen besonnenen Ratschlägen und einfach zu befolgenden Aktionsplänen. - Wenn Sie sich als Führungskraft in der Zwickmühle zwischen Durchhaltevermögen und Nachdenken über die nächsten Schritte befinden, werden Sie das Buch zu schätzen wissen. - Wenn Sie sich fragen, wie Covid-19 die Art und Weise und den Ort Ihrer Arbeit verändern wird, dann lesen Sie dieses Buch. Geschrieben in einem Gesprächsstil von Schwartz mit Suzanne Riss, einer preisgekrönten Journalistin und Buchautorin, bietet "Arbeit im Wandel" eine willkommene Alternative zu Büchern über das Thema, denen es an einer breiten Perspektive fehlt oder die sich eher mit den Problemen beschäftigen als Lösungen anzubieten. Top-aktuell und aufschlussreich enthält das Buch die Auswirkungen von Covid-19 auf unsere gegenwärtige und zukünftige Arbeit. Interviews mit führenden Denkern über die Zukunft der Arbeit bieten zusätzliche Perspektiven und Orientierungshilfen. Karikaturen, die der führende Illustrator Tom Fishburne für das Buch erstellt hat, lassen die Reise des Lesers und die komplexen Fragen rund um das Thema lebendig werden.

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Wall Street Journal bestsellerHave you ever struggled to feel worthy at work? Do you know or lead people who do? When Amelia Dunlop first heard the phrase "elevating the human experience" in a leadership team meeting with her boss, she thought, "He is crazy if he thinks we will ever say those words out loud to each other much less to a potential client." We've been conditioned to separate our personal and professional selves, but work is fundamental to our human experience. Love and worth have a place in work because our humanity and authentic identities make our work better. The acknowledgement of our intrinsic worth as human beings and the nurturing of our own or another's growth through love ultimately contribute to higher performance and organizational growth. Now as the Chief Experience Officer at Deloitte Digital, a leading Experience Consultancy, Amelia Dunlop knows we must embrace elevating the human experience for the advancement and success of ourselves and our organizations. This book integrates the findings of a quantitative study to better understand feelings of love and worth in the workplace and introduces three paths that allow individuals to create the professional experience they desire for themselves, their teams, and their clients. The first path explores the path of the self, an inward path where we learn to love ourselves when we show up for work, and examines the obstacles that hinder us. The second path centers around learning to love and recognize the worth of another in our lives, adding to the worth we feel and providing a source of meaning to our lives. The third path considers the community of work and learning to love and recognize the worth of those we meet every day at work, especially for those who may be systematically marginalized, unseen, or unrepresented. Drawing on her own personal journey to find love and worth at work in her twenty-year career as a management consultant, Amelia also weaves together insights from philosophers, theologians, and sociologists with the stories of people from diverse backgrounds gathered during her research. Elevating the Human Experience: Three Paths to Love and Worth at Work is for anyone who has felt the struggle to feel worthy at work, as well as for those who have no idea what it may feel like to struggle every day just to feel loved and worthy, but love people and lead people who do. It’s a practical approach to elevating the human experience that will lead to important conversations about values and purpose, and ultimately, meaningful change.

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Jacqui Burnett wants to kill her father. At the age of 16. With a gun. The setting: apartheid South Africa in the 1970s and 80s. The mood: the apparent bliss and harmony of white conservative Christian life. Driven to extremes by her father’s criminal schemes and corrosive emotional abuse, Jacqui barely survives the first part of this turbulent memoir, as near-death experiences lacerate the pages with suicide attempts, a death-defying car accident, an illegal abortion, and that near-patricide episode… to name just a few. At this point, Jacqui is only 18. This is truth stranger than fiction and it’s only the beginning of her journey… Part one is dedicated to her father and tells the visceral, switchback story of the twisted father-daughter relationship that formed her character, fuelled by her first 26 years in his thrall. Part two switches settings as we find Jacqui in her mid-40s travelling across America, searching for answers. Perhaps surprisingly, this section is dedicated to her mother, the woman who turned a blind eye while supporting the tyrant she remained married to – all his life. The opening chapter drops Jacqui at 11 300 feet in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Having achieved material success, Jacqui remains dogged by unresolved anger and co-dependency - damaged by her history, despite a bucket load of therapy. Trying to make sense of her life after a decade-long legal battle against the giant multinational accounting firm, Deloitte, which against all odds she wins, she now faces a failing marriage and a ninth near-death experience: Jacqui is lost in a snowstorm. Cue her rebound romance, with a man who at first appears to be her soulmate on a white horse come to rescue her. By the end of part two, however, the reader and Jacqui’s close friend Amanda are on the same page: this man is ultimately an unavailable emotional fool. Finally, in part three, after an avalanche of events strips Jacqui of everything she values, Jacqui learns to put herself first, to tell her story of survival through the prism of self-love and its potential for self-regeneration. In essence, Life’s Not Yoga is about self-discovery and self-recovery. Of course, every twelve-step program shares a similar tale of a shattering life journey (parts one and two) where the wounded soul is guided to recovery (part three). So how is this memoir different? While the themes are universal, the dialogue is cracking, coupled with Jacqui’s unapologetic authentic voice and her hard-won belief in discovering her own path to a Higher Power. This combination makes for compelling storytelling. On one level it’s a tale of looking for love in all the wrong places, but on a deeper level, it’s a story of how adversity viewed through the lens of insight and wisdom lead to hope and redemption. To get to this point – to quote Laurie Hertzel – requires ‘a certain plumbing of the soul’, at which Jacqui Burnett excels. It’s a tumultuous, terrifying, frustrating but finally redemptive journey as she struggles to uncover the heroine within. The miracle is that she comes out the other side alive and – more than that – willing to use her life story to inspire others to survive and flourish. This is a book that will attract readers well beyond her already 40 000-strong online following. Compulsory reading for all of us living through challenging relationships with parents, partners, families, colleagues, our histories and ourselves. That would be all of us, then. (Written by Giles Griffin)

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UNCOVERED: 1 in 4 EXAM GRADES IS WRONG 'An important contribution to our thinking.’ – Sixth Form Colleges Association 'An uncomfortable but important read.’ – Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference 'Everyone in UK education should reflect upon the problems identified in this powerful book' – Higher Education Policy Institute Every summer one million GCSE and A-Level candidates receive results that define their school years and set them up for their life. But those results are gravely unreliable. In fact, about one grade in four in England is WRONG. That is 1.5 million grades every year. An A-Level grade B might have been an A, or even a C, had a different examiner marked the script. Similarly, a GCSE grade 7 might have received a grade 8 or a 6. For a decade, young people and their friends and families have been unable to grasp the full extent of this randomness. Now, in this definitive and easy to follow book, Dennis Sherwood explains why so many pupils receive final grades that don’t do them justice. And he suggests ways to regain trust, which apply to essay-based exams throughout the world. Reviews ‘Know an A Level student who you were absolutely sure should nail an A* but ended up with a B? Well, they probably should have got that A* but were a victim of this scandal. Sherwood’s work changed my outlook. Let him change yours too.’ – Robert Campbell, former Chief Executive, Morris Education Trust ‘Dennis has been challenging our thinking about assessment and the awarding of grades for many years, combining detailed research with an engaging manner and clear explanations... this is an important contribution to our thinking.’ – Bill Watkin, Chief Executive, Sixth Form Colleges Association ‘Dennis Sherwood asks the questions about exam grades that no one really wants to answer. His analysis suggests that much of what we think we know about school exams is based at best on wishful thinking and at worst on wilful misrepresentation of statistics. But he also has some positive suggestions for improvement. Missing the Mark is an uncomfortable but important read.’ – Melvyn Roffe, Chair, Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference ‘Missing a grade can result in university or college applications being rejected. Dennis Sherwood asks the $64,000 question: ‘Are grades reliable enough for the purposes they are supposed to serve?’ This book presents an insightful analysis of this important matter, including the rules introduced in 2016 to reduce the number of appeals, the controversial grading processes in 2020 and 2021 when exams were cancelled, why ‘real’ grades are so unreliable, and some solutions too.’ – Huy Duong, parent ‘Everyone in UK education should reflect upon the problems identified in this powerful book – and then decide what to do about them.’ – Nick Hillman, Director, Higher Education Policy Institute Anyone with an interest in how examinations are assessed, from those in government, regulators, schools, colleges, universities to employers, teachers, parents and students, should read Dennis Sherwood's incisive analysis. His conclusions will have a profound impact on our idea of the accuracy, reliability and fairness of examinations. – Mike Larkin, Emeritus Professor Queen's University of Belfast and Total Equality For Students ‘Dennis provides a clear, step-by-step outline of what is going so terribly wrong and the easy ways to remedy this.’ – Ollie Green, A-level student About the author Dennis Sherwood is a management consultant with experience of solving complex problems. He has a Physics Masters from the University of Cambridge, an MPhil in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and a PhD in biology from the University of California in San Diego. After being a consulting partner at Deloitte Haskins + Sells, and Coopers & Lybrand, he became an executive director at Goldman Sachs. He now runs his own business, The Silver Bullet Machine Manufacturing Company Limited, specialising in organisational creativity and innovation. He is author of 14 books. Extract - Foreword Gold standard! Well, maybe not! For many years England’s GCSE and A-level qualifications have enjoyed an international reputation as world-leading. They have frequently been cited as ‘gold standard’ examinations. In this book Dennis Sherwood applies forensic analysis, in an accessible format, to one aspect of those qualifications – the grades awarded to each student on results day. His expert commentary leaves us in no doubt that the architecture of reliability is nothing more than a fancy façade on a house that’s built on sand. This is not a book about whether examinations are the best way to assess authentic learning. That’s a different debate, although there’s evidence here that excessive reliance on end-of-course examinations exacerbates the great grading scandal. This is also not a book about whether the content of our examination-driven school and college curriculum is well-designed, fit for purpose or sufficiently visionary for the future needs of students. That too is a long overdue discussion which should inform public policy, but Dennis retains his focus on one pressing issue. Are the grades awarded to students at the end of the examination process a reliable indicator of their performance and ability? Can those grades be trusted to determine suitability for advanced academic study or access to employment? Do they serve to differentiate authentically between one student and the next? We are all familiar with the results day photographs that accompany the headlines in August. Enthusiastic celebrations with beaming smiles. Images that are carefully contrived to align with the supporting text as ‘Camelia’ (or whoever) progresses to a top university with her four A* grades or ‘Daniel’ revealed to be a prodigy as he attains twelve grade 9’s in his GCSEs. Their results may well be impressive and will certainly open doors towards privileged academic opportunities. But what if the student with AAB is actually no better, in any meaningful sense, than the student with BAC? What if these grades lack the precision that they appear to convey? Is there an element of unreliability in how they are awarded – such that two otherwise identical candidates may as well roll a dice alongside completing their examination paper to determine which, say, of two adjacent grades they may ultimately be awarded? If Dennis is right – and I think he is – then a great grading scandal unfolds before our eyes every summer... [Buy the book to continue reading the foreword] Dr Robin Bevan, Headteacher, Southend High School for Boys and NEU Past National President, 2020-21

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