Comprehensive & Scalable,
Business Transformation

“UnSquaring the Wheel is the operating manual for the printing firm of the future.
It is filled with new thinking for an old industry trying figure out what it wants to be
when it grows up. There will be print as we move into the future and it
will be produced by firms that transform themselves.

This book will tell them how to do it.”

—Frank Romano, Professor Emeritus
Rochester Institute of Technology

Purchase the book

“Business transformation is really hard work. UnSquaring The Wheel offers a roadmap for business leaders to begin with market-back thinking (what to do) and proceed to implementation and execution (how to do) in the transformation process.”

— Tom Saggiomo, President & CEO DG3 Group

If Amazon runs out of books, there are more on the way. Drop us an email and we’ll reserve you a copy in the next print run.

Take the evaluation

The next step in the UnSquaring® process is the self-assessment. From that, a plan is created to rebuild the basic business model of a graphic communications company starting from its current job shop structure. Register for the self-assessment here.

Come See Us!!

GraphExpo Booth 701
2:00–3:00pm 9/26/2016
HP Case Study Café’

HP, Webcom, and the authors of “Unsquaring the Wheel” will share how HP’s digital printing and OneBook technology partnered to produce a customized publishing experience for GRAPH EXPO. Complimentary coffee/tea and snacks will be provided!

You can take the next 4 steps to success

1.) Read UnSquaring the Wheel

“Graphic communications is an industry in wholesale transition.” — Tom Saggiomo, CEO, DG3

To execute an entirely different kind of strategy, and to build a business model to support it, graphic communications companies of all sizes will need to do a number of things that they’ve never had to do well until now.  On the customer-facing side of the business, there are three:

  • First, they need to develop an understanding of brands, and they need to build one.
  • Second, they need to manage business development as a systematic process, bridging the artificial gap between marketing and selling.
  • Third, they need to create an intentional customer experience that delivers everything the brand has promised.

2.) Take the evaluation.

UnSquaring® – Business Transformation Assessment, or BTA, is the starting point for the “UnSquaring®” transformational approach. The UnSquaring® BTA provides these three key benefits because it:

1.    Allows you to discover where you are (your current reality),
2.    Helps you to identify your gaps and misalignments, and
3.    Enables you to determine what needs to be transformed.

3.) You get a graphical readout of strengths and weaknesses

Conducting a structured assessment process, then getting a graphical representation and report of your current reality is a great way to get a macro-view of your firm. You will be looking at your firm from nine unique business transformational vectors all at the same time. Now you can determine the importance of the changes that you need to make in order to align with the current market conditions.

4.) Reach for help
when you need it

Comprehensive and scalable. When we set out to describe how the graphic communications companies with whom we’re working are changing and thriving, and why “business as usual” isn’t viable any longer, we began with a live “proof of concept” presentation to a dozen industry leaders. They offered incredibly valuable and actionable feedback, in addition to their hearty encouragement that we were on the right track. Among the actionable feedback we received was the charge to insure that what we produced was both comprehensive and scalable. Taking that to heart turned a project that might have required months into one that’s taken three years to complete.

We’ve made the case that no graphic communications enterprise will find a single, magic bullet enabling it to transform itself from struggling into successful, from shrinking into growing, or from marginal to vital in the eyes of its customers. Real transformation requires looking at the whole enterprise comprehensively. That comprehensive perspective is what you hold in your hands.

Transforming a company into something else, something different and better than what it was certainly isn’t for the faint of heart. But we see so many owners and executives working so hard already, we know that if they faint it will be from weariness rather than timidity.

We’ve only rarely encountered a defeatist attitude among the owners and executives of graphic communications companies. But in too many cases, we’ve heard confusion and frustration as they work to stiff-arm a sense of dread about their possible futures. Fortunately, it’s easy for us to offer substantial hope because we can point to companies well down the path of transforming, of reinventing themselves. And we’ve described how they have learned to transform themselves into something new, unexpected, different, and strong.

Chris Bondy is the Gannett Distinguished Professor in the School of Media Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology. He leads the transformation of the School of Media Sciences into a cross-disciplinary educational experience. Chris has extensive experience in strategy, business development, product planning, process engineering and the graphic communications value chain. He received a Masters of Engineering and Science in New Product Development from RIT.

Send Chris an email

Wayne Peterson is the Principal of the Black Canyon Consulting Group Inc. His expertise is customer-facing, focusing on strategy, branding, business development, and the customer experience. Wayne is a trusted advisor to thriving companies, enabling them to compete, win, grow, and thrive. His clients include printing and other graphic communication companies, publishers, associations, and technology development firms nationwide.

Send Wayne an Email

Dr. Joe Webb is President of Strategies for Management, and Director of WhatTheyThink’s Economics and Research Center. He is a 35-year veteran of the graphic arts industries, and the industry’s best-known economist and forecaster. His weekly business and economic analysis appears at WhatTheyThink.com. He is a Ph.D. graduate of the NYU Center for Graphic Communications Management and Technology, holds an MBA from Iona College, and was a magna cum laude graduate in business from Manhattan College.

Send Joe an Email

Commercial printers looking for a real world tool that will assist them to evaluate their business and provide them with a clear path forward would be well served to check out this new offering from Dr. Joe Webb and his collaborators Wayne Peterson and Prof. Chris Bondy. UnSquaring The Wheel takes you beyond theories and philosophical concepts. It provides an evaluation of your business and then establishes a path for improvement and success for the future. Any company that wishes to be a successful marketer of a broader range of client services should be checking this out.

John Berthelsen, Chairman Suttle-Straus, Inc.

WOW! As Graphic Communications executives struggle with challenges associated with transforming their businesses, this brilliant collaborative project by industry experts Dr. Joe Webb, Wayne Peterson and Prof.Chris Bondy – Unsquaring the Wheel – integrates significant fundamentals that focus on the Customer, the Platform and the Resources. Engage your multi-generational teammates to explore a new business model, work with their unique UnSquaring® assessment and dig into your business to build your future.

Jerry Scher, Founder and Harrison Assessment™ Managing Partner Peak Focus, LLC

Unsquaring the Wheel weaves high level and complex concepts into the granular level of day-to-day business reality. The authors eloquently cover each topic from the ground up to 36,000 feet and then take you back down again. Let the reader beware: there are no gimmicks or 12 easy steps to get from A to L. If the reader approaches this book looking for an instruction guide you will miss the point. You won’t find a program here. Unsquaring The Wheel is a blueprint for a methodology of thought processes, and the more you read the more the thought process becomes a natural part of the actions – and real change – required to successfully survive in this convoluted world. It is not for the faint of heart; it is for those who want to be honest of heart and face the hard realities of ourselves and our business models in this industry, and not cling to the perceptions and “best practices” we have spawned over the years so we could ignore those realities.
The case studies are painfully honest. I have been on all sides of this industry from web publication print, to graphic arts supply, technology and equipment distribution, to commercial sheetfed, to paper. There is no topic not covered, and Wayne and company outline them in cogent detail. This is a book I will read many times and wish I had to read many times over the years. The writing style is engaging and provoking and in some places so brutally honest you have to laugh or you’ll cry. What is spoken here is by no means limited to the graphic arts world either. Take courage though: if you can think what you read there is great hope ahead!

Joe Fanelli, CEONew Leaf Paper, a Public Benefit Corporation

Whether you are a big or small printer, the new book UnSquaring The Wheel written by three industry titans, Wayne Peterson, Dr. Joe Webb and Prof. Chris Bondy of RIT will take you on a proven journey to transform your commodity business into a meaningful and profitable enterprise. It is by far the best book ever written for the industry, and takes you step-by-step through the process of reinventing your business for the future.

Jim Schultz, Chairman, President & CEO, Great Lakes Integrated

Our industry is filled with well-intentioned owners too “busy” to build value in their business so their iceberg slowly melts away and they are left with little revenue and useless equipment. Please invest the time in UnSquaring the Wheel. You are certain to learn: (1) you are not alone, (2) there is a way to build a vibrant business with lasting value and great enrichment, and (3) your brand is much more than a name, it is the embodiment of your purpose and your relevance to customers and prospects.
As business owners we want to move to that coveted “upper right quadrant” with coveted and “sticky” clients, deep relationships and great value added services. UnSquaring® gets you there.

Kevin K. CushingPresident- Allegra Network- Alliance Franchise Brands Former CEO and franchisee- AlphaGraphics Inc Soderstrom WTT CEO of year 2011

Buy UnSquaring The Wheel NOW!