Sudden Impact

Bennett had expected to spend two months gathering data, but after five weeks, he was confident enough to act. He was also scheduled to give his first overview of the company at an analysts' meeting on March 16. He knew that employees would also be looking for signals. Facing that group, Bennett did something that, at the time, was unthinkable: With the company's founders sitting in the audience, he stood up and said that Intuit was underperforming compared with the opportunity it faced. "In Silicon Valley in early 2000, you hyped first and then hoped you could deliver the results," he says. "We spun that upside down."

That meeting was as much a message to Intuit's employees as it was to the financial markets. Soon after, Bennett followed up with a document titled "Steve's Dream for Intuit" that mapped his plan for turning the company into a high-performance machine. It turned many of the company's long-standing beliefs and practices on their head and stunned the firm's executives. "Most people thought that I was smoking dope," he says. "Out of 35 top managers in the company, there were probably 3 who thought that what I talked about was doable."

Among his goals: Put leaders of business units totally in charge of the end-to-end customer experience, institute zero-based budgeting, standardize equipment as a way of managing costs, and exit businesses such as insurance where Intuit couldn't control the critical success factors. "The response was, 'We're in Silicon Valley. We can't manage costs. We're all about growth!' My response was, 'What's going to pay for growth? You run a tight ship, you give some to the shareholders, and you invest the rest in things that customers care about.' "

Bennett began his change program by restructuring the org chart so that he had 18 direct reports instead of 8. "I took out some layers so that I could connect directly with more people in order to drive change faster," he says. "If you have that many direct reports, you don't have time to meddle in their business. My job is to conduct the orchestra, not to play all the instruments." He was even willing to question the treasured Intuit operational values that were posted on the company's wall. Value number six, for example, was, "Speak, listen, and respond." That was widely understood to mean that everybody had a voice and that top management should take the time to listen. It's a lovely sentiment. Trouble is, there are only 24 hours in a day -- even for indefatigable CEOs. "As soon as I was appointed, 200 people wanted to come and see me," says Bennett. "I told my assistant, 'Tell them no.' If I spent all of my time talking to all of them, then who would do my job?"

Intuit managers soon learned that Bennett had his own corporate credo: Mind your minutes. Indeed, talk to any Intuit staffer for more than a couple of minutes, and you're likely to hear about "the critical few versus the trivial many." That's Bennett code for successful time management. Spend too much time on the "trivial many," and you're screwed, he says. Focus on the "critical few," and success will surely follow.

Raymond Stern, Intuit's senior VP of corporate development and strategy, says that the discipline has been liberating. "One of the things that Steve is amazingly good at is getting a crisp understanding of priorities. All of the top-level leaders in this company have a one-page list of priorities. They learned that from him."

That focus on priorities has been particularly successful in setting the company's strategic direction. Three years ago, Intuit was largely geared toward its consumer and tax businesses while its small-business division lacked focus. Today, the company is galvanized by its new "Right for My Business" strategy, which develops customized business-management solutions for various industries. Intuit now develops products specifically for accountants, retailers, building contractors, and nonprofit businesses that go far beyond traditional accounting functionality. It has also introduced products aimed at businesses that are larger and more complex than those targeted by its original QuickBooks software. The market for small-business management solutions, estimated to be worth $18 billion, presents an enormous opportunity for the company, and Bennett expects that it will generate two-thirds of Intuit's revenue during the next few years.

And despite all of the new big-league initiatives -- the focus on operational rigor, time management, the Six Sigma quality-improvement process, zero-based budgeting, and hard-assed decision making -- Intuit has not lost its small-company feel or its dedication to being a great place to work. Bennett himself now has more time for value number six, and he's often seen hanging out in the company cafeteria or wandering around the office, talking to employees. He sends handwritten notes to staffers who have done something praiseworthy, and he's scrupulous about making time for golf.