In praise of Art McNeil's Baton Management System. 

   To:  CEOs Contemplating use of the Baton Management System               

  From:  Sean Carney, CEO Specialized Services Group   May 5 2009

Specialized Services has employed The Baton Management System system for over a year.  It has surpassed our expectations and helped us transform from a jazz band to an orchestra.  This is a journey we had to take alone.  They encouraged us to do it ourselves.  SSG is now an inspired and disciplined team.  We have grown in size and profits in a down economy.  

BMS helped us believe in ourselves, stay focused, develop a powerful team, elimiminate a level of management, survive tough recessionary pressure, make the tough calls sooner, eliminate marginal performers, eliminate waste and rework, keep nervous bankers on board, and speed up the productivity of new employees.   SSG’s unswerving belief in our cultural values of: Value, Honesty, and Commitment...and our reason for being statement “performance driven 24/7” branded us as we transformed from being a local painter into a multi-state maintenance company.  

Our shift to a high performance culture  has been challenging.  The stepwise BMS implementation plan made the transition doable because it's been predictable.  When we started they said it would take 18 months and that we could lose up to  20% of our people.  BMS was right on track!  So far everything the system promised has come to pass.  As a means of creating transferable wealth, generating team energy, and producing profit,  the Baton Management system has surpassed our expectations.   I strongly endorse the BMS approach to management and leadership discipline.

 Sean Carney CEO

Specialized Services Group Awards

• Achieved the nation's #1 “voice of the customer” rating from Home Depot  2009
• Nominated for Tampa Bay’s Small Business of the Year for 2007, 2008 and 2009.
• Nominated for “Leader of the Year” for 2009.
• Nominated for “Best Place to Work” in Tampa Bay for 2009.
• Winner of the community service leaderaward 2009 

Other endorsements:

 "Art has the unique ability to cut through the noise of business and inspire executives, managers, and workers to confront things that really matter. He has a profound understanding of the impact that market changes have on the way people need to work in organizations".                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Rod Smart, Senior Partner, Achieve Global Pty, Ltd.

"Art left 250 conferees wanting more; that is impact. Our people gained a new insight into personal leadership and reached a new level of motivation. There are only a few presenters that can deliver this reaction; Art is in this select group."                                                            James McCoubrey, Sr. VP General Signal.

"To our great satisfaction, Art McNeil proved to be more than an excellent orator. With rather short notice, he customized his presentation to incorporate Pfizer's global values and vision. The result was a highly effective presentation. Our audience overwhelmingly rated Art as an outstanding presenter with relevant and informative content which was easily transferable to their lives."
Stanley R. Schmidt, Director, Professional Development Pfizer, Inc.

"Art helped us take what was a fuzzy emotional concept and clarify leadership for real world application. The jury has rendered its verdict: Leadership as defined by Art McNeil is a competitive edge."
John Cleghorn, Chairman, RBC Bank.

"Art McNeil's process of values clarification and his perspectives on leadership were extremely productive."
Nolan Archibald, CEO, Black & Decker.

"Tom Peters left us a message, but Art McNeil gave us the tools."
Joe Coors, President, Coors, Inc.

"Art spent a day helping us clarify our core values. We also discovered that leadership was not a management position but an essential activity for everybody. Once that sank in, our management, sales, service and administrative teams were never the same. In three short months our existing processes came alive with newfound energy and we became the nations #1 dealer as measured by Ford's Customer Service Index. Nothing I have attended before or since delievered so much, of such value, so fast."
Tony Carson, Ford Dealer Principal.