sascom voices - The sascom magazine blog

As a child, my brainiac brother was forever taking things apart. He couldn't help it. He had to see for himself how things worked. There he’d sit, dissecting some mechanism, disemboweled parts scattered all around. He was driven to understand which part did what and why.

That's the focus Keith McFarland brought to researching the nine companies featured in his best-selling book The Breakthrough Company: How Everyday Businesses Become Extraordinary Performers. McFarland found out what made each company tick -- and the result is a terrific, insightful read.

SAS, one of the nine, hosted the Triangle, N.C., leg of McFarland's book tour. If you were there and want to share the experience with colleagues who weren't -- or missed it altogether -- check out the event's online presskit for video recordings of McFarland's keynote, a panel discussion including SAS CEO Jim Goodnight.

Walk into any Borders or Barnes & Noble in the U.S. in January and right up front will be stacks of books in shiny silver-and-red jackets – Businessweek columnist Keith McFarland’s highly anticipated book Breakthrough Company - How Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performers. The book, inspired by the late business legend Peter Drucker, details what it takes to grow a company beyond its entrepreneurial roots into the big leagues. For SAS and eight other U.S. companies featured in its pages (four of them SAS customers), it’s a public relations bonanza.

Trips to far-away conferences fill me with dread: 1) I don't like to fly; 2) Striking up conversations with people I don't know is difficult and wears me out.

The Investigative Reporters and Editors Conference (IRE) which I recently attended in Phoenix, proves it's worth venturing outside my comfort zone.