Revved! by Harry Paul & Ross Reck 

Rating - Dynamite

The Fission Rating System

Dud- Don’t waste your time. It looks good…but doesn’t deliver.
Firecracker- If you have extra time. You get what you expect. A fun, yet small and insignificant impact.
Dynamite – Read and pass on. Good book with a big bang. Great for training and making organization impact.
Atomic- Must read right now. You get more than expected. Powerful. Organizational, personal and life changing impact.

The basic premise of Revved! is that by simply caring for those people you work with you can increase their potential and by increasing their potential your potential will also be elevated.

Revved! is a fable about a manager by the name of Katie. Katie went through a personal crisis which caused her to quit trusting people. What ensued was a complete breakdown of her ability to lead and manage her team. She became curt, standoffish, a micro-manager and easily angered. Her peers and staff affectionate crowned her the “witch on steroids.”

Katie is called in by her boss and told she has two months to shape up or she would be fired. In a panic she confides in a friend who told her to call a radio show for advice. Of course, this call leads to a life and career turn around. Katie is mentored through a call in show and learns the three steps of “Looking Out for Number Two.”

Winning Them Over is the first step. This entails a positive and upbeat attitude. Letting others know you care about them and not in a manufactured and manipulative way, but a genuine interest in them and their wellbeing.

The second step is Blowing Them Away. This step builds on the first by appreciating the way someone has gone above and beyond in a significant way. Not just writing an e-mail or sending a card, but doing something that really shows your appreciation and excitement for the over the top job they did for you.

The final step is Keeping Them Revved! This is the ongoing application of Winning Them Over and Blowing them Away. Making “Looking Out for Number Two” a way of life, not just a way to get your agenda accomplished at work. This final step is crucial because it shows your commitment and consistency to your team over the long haul. This helps them know they are not merely being manipulated, but that you truly care.

Revved! was a very enjoyable read.

The fable is simple and predictable, yet achieves its desired results. Following the life of the manager Katie is easy to do and you truly want her to succeed. Paul and Reck do a wonderful job of laying out their “Looking Out for Number Two” philosophy and provide very practical examples that anyone in any position can relate with.

It is a short, simple book with a very basic message. In fact, a dialogue between Katie and her boss about the program really summarizes the book best. Katie says, “Some of the things I am about to tell you may come across simplistic, trivial or even counterintuitive, but they work like nothing else does. You are going to have to take what I am about to give you on blind faith until you experience the results. Trust me, they’re off the charts!”

I resonated with the premise of the book. People are the greatest resource in any business, team, church or organization. Too many times they are taken for granite, manipulated and treated poorly to meet and end. Leaders at all levels should read this book and realize the power they can unleash by simply caring about the people around them.

This book is Dynamite and would serve as a great tool for a staff meeting, retreat, training session or office philosophy. I highly recommend taking the ninety minutes it takes to read Revved!

If you liked Revved! here are a few others you may enjoy:
FISH! By Lundin, Paul and Christensen
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Lencioni
The Radical Leap by Farber
The Fred Factor by Sanborn
How Full is Your Bucket by Rath and Clifton

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