Evidence & Sources
Every quotation, fully cited.
Compass publishes other people's words only when they can be checked. This page carries the complete bibliographic record for each quotation used across the site — authors, title, publication, issue, pages, publisher and a link to the original — so any reader can verify the line at its source.
The standard we hold
Verbatim quotation. Named source. Separated commentary.
Verbatim
Quotations are reproduced word for word. Compass never edits, tightens, modernizes or paraphrases a published line and then presents it as a quotation.
Attributed
Every quotation carries its author and the publication that put it on the record, with issue and page detail wherever the original provides it.
Unendorsed
No author, journal or firm quoted here is endorsing Compass Performance, Inc. The reading beside each quotation is Compass's own.
The published record
System and community as a differentiator
These are the quotations behind the evidence band on the Compass differentiation page. Each entry gives the quotation as published, the full citation, and a link to the original publication.
Reference 01 · Verified published source
“Strategic fit among many activities is fundamental not only to competitive advantage but also to the sustainability of that advantage.”
Michael E. Porter — Professor, Harvard Business School - Author(s)
- Porter, Michael E.
- Title
- What Is Strategy?
- Publication
- Harvard Business Review
- Year
- 1996
- Publisher
- Harvard Business School Publishing
- Issue / pages
- November–December 1996 issue, pp. 61–78. Reprint 96608.
- Full citation
- Porter, Michael E. “What Is Strategy?” Harvard Business Review 74, no. 6 (November–December 1996): 61–78.
- Original publication
- View the original publication(opens in a new tab)
What this means at Compass — Compass commentary
This is the case for architecture. A competitor can copy a single practice; they cannot copy the way an entire operating system fits together. Compass architects the fit — decision rights, structure, cadence, capability and measurement as one system — which is why the results hold after the engagement ends.
Reference 02 · Verified published source
“Fit locks out imitators by creating a chain that is as strong as its strongest link.”
Michael E. Porter — Professor, Harvard Business School - Author(s)
- Porter, Michael E.
- Title
- What Is Strategy?
- Publication
- Harvard Business Review
- Year
- 1996
- Publisher
- Harvard Business School Publishing
- Issue / pages
- November–December 1996 issue, pp. 61–78. Section: “Fit Drives Both Competitive Advantage and Sustainability.”
- Full citation
- Porter, Michael E. “What Is Strategy?” Harvard Business Review 74, no. 6 (November–December 1996): 61–78.
- Original publication
- View the original publication(opens in a new tab)
What this means at Compass — Compass commentary
The operating system done right becomes the organization's secret sauce: it cannot be bought, it cannot be observed from outside, and it does not sit still. That is the difference between a tool a competitor can license and an architecture they would have to rebuild.
Reference 03 · Verified published source
“Health is the ability of your organization to align, execute, and renew itself faster than your competitors can.”
Scott Keller and Colin Price — McKinsey & Company - Author(s)
- Keller, Scott, and Colin Price
- Title
- Beyond Performance: How Great Organizations Build Ultimate Competitive Advantage
- Publication
- Book
- Year
- 2011
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons, in association with McKinsey & Company
- Issue / pages
- Chapter 1, on organizational health. ISBN 978-1-118-05162-2.
- Full citation
- Keller, Scott, and Colin Price. Beyond Performance: How Great Organizations Build Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
- Original publication
- View the original publication(opens in a new tab)
What this means at Compass — Compass commentary
Align, execute, renew is the shape of the Compass Enterprise Architecture: FOUNDATION and SIMPLIFY align, LEAD and GROW execute, and ARC™ — Assess, Refine, Commit — is the renewal engine that runs across all of it. Renewal is designed into the architecture rather than bolted on after performance slips.
Reference 04 · Verified published source
“In an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the one sure source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge.”
Ikujiro Nonaka — Professor and author on organizational knowledge creation - Author(s)
- Nonaka, Ikujiro
- Title
- The Knowledge-Creating Company
- Publication
- Harvard Business Review
- Year
- 1991
- Publisher
- Harvard Business School Publishing
- Issue / pages
- November–December 1991 issue, pp. 96–104. Reissued in the HBR Classics series (July–August 2007).
- Full citation
- Nonaka, Ikujiro. “The Knowledge-Creating Company.” Harvard Business Review 69, no. 6 (November–December 1991): 96–104.
- Original publication
- View the original publication(opens in a new tab)
What this means at Compass — Compass commentary
A system captures what an organization knows; a community is how that knowledge keeps growing. Compass Executive Forums put leaders carrying the same weight in different industries in one room every month, so judgment compounds instead of resetting with each new hire or each new quarter.
Reference 05 · Verified published source
“Communities of practice are groups of people informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise.”
Etienne C. Wenger and William M. Snyder — Authors on communities of practice - Author(s)
- Wenger, Etienne C., and William M. Snyder
- Title
- Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier
- Publication
- Harvard Business Review
- Year
- 2000
- Publisher
- Harvard Business School Publishing
- Issue / pages
- January–February 2000 issue, pp. 139–145. Reprint R00110.
- Full citation
- Wenger, Etienne C., and William M. Snyder. “Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier.” Harvard Business Review 78, no. 1 (January–February 2000): 139–145.
- Original publication
- View the original publication(opens in a new tab)
What this means at Compass — Compass commentary
Most firms sell either a framework or a peer group. Compass partners on both, deliberately: the architecture gives the community something concrete to pressure-test, and the community keeps the architecture honest under real operating conditions.
Reference 06 · Verified published source
“A bad system will beat a good person every time.”
W. Edwards Deming — Statistician and architect of modern quality management - Author(s)
- Deming, W. Edwards
- Title
- “A bad system will beat a good person every time.”
- Publication
- Deming four-day seminars; documented by The W. Edwards Deming Institute
- Year
- c. 1980s–1993
- Publisher
- The W. Edwards Deming Institute
- Issue / pages
- Spoken repeatedly in Deming's four-day management seminars rather than published in a single text.
- Full citation
- Deming, W. Edwards. Quoted in “A Bad System Will Beat a Good Person Every Time,” The W. Edwards Deming Institute.
- Note on provenance
- Seminar quotation. The Deming Institute is the custodian of Deming's teaching and publishes the line; there is no primary print citation in Deming's own books.
- Original publication
- View the original publication(opens in a new tab)
What this means at Compass — Compass commentary
Compass does not treat performance as a people problem to be coached away. We make the system visible, redesignable and measurable — then transfer the discipline, so your leaders can architect without an adviser in the room.
Bibliography
Works cited
- Deming, W. Edwards. Quoted in “A Bad System Will Beat a Good Person Every Time,” The W. Edwards Deming Institute. Link to the original publication (opens in a new tab)
- Keller, Scott, and Colin Price. Beyond Performance: How Great Organizations Build Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Link to the original publication (opens in a new tab)
- Nonaka, Ikujiro. “The Knowledge-Creating Company.” Harvard Business Review 69, no. 6 (November–December 1991): 96–104. Link to the original publication (opens in a new tab)
- Porter, Michael E. “What Is Strategy?” Harvard Business Review 74, no. 6 (November–December 1996): 61–78. Link to the original publication (opens in a new tab)
- Wenger, Etienne C., and William M. Snyder. “Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier.” Harvard Business Review 78, no. 1 (January–February 2000): 139–145. Link to the original publication (opens in a new tab)
If you believe any citation on this page is incomplete or inaccurate, write to skopecky@compassperformanceinc.com and it will be corrected.
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