Charles F. Knight

Winthrop helped legendary CEO Chuck Knight explain how he balanced impressive consistency and fundamental change

Charles F. “Chuck” Knight, the former CEO of Emerson, the electronics giant, commissioned Winthrop to help him tell the story of Emerson’s impressive success. The result was Performance Without Compromise: How Emerson Consistently Achieves Winning Results, co-authored with Winthrop's Davis Dyer and published by Harvard Business School Press.

A study of Emerson’s consistently strong financial performance, Performance Without Compromise attributes the company’s enviable record to a rigorous system of planning and control and a willingness to embrace organizational change—a rare combination among large companies. As Knight puts it, “We succeeded in combining impressive consistency and fundamental change.”

According to Gary Hamel, the well-known professor and consultant, “Performance Without Compromise is a compelling look at a management process and value system that has proven successful in the face of challenge after challenge. It offers clear and relevant insight to managers seeking to excel on a global basis here.”

Performance Without Compromise is Winthrop's second major publication for Emerson. Davis Dyer also co-authored an illustrated book for the company's centennial entitled Emerson Electric Co.: A Century of Manufacturing, 1890-1990.