In Operationally Svelte: Manage Costs to Increase Profit and Enhance Performance, Duane Deason delivers a timely and practical guide to one of the most overlooked drivers of organizational excellence: cost management. Drawing on decades of experience across finance, operations, and executive advisory roles, Deason argues that companies don’t fail because they grow too slowly—they fail because they allow bloat, inefficiency, and poorly understood spending to quietly take root. The book makes a compelling case that lean, disciplined, and structurally sound cost management is not only compatible with growth and innovation—it is essential to sustaining them.

This is a book worth reading because it reframes cost management as a strategic enabler of performance rather than a budget-cutting exercise. Deason provides a clear, actionable blueprint for leaders who want to run lean without starving the business, build resilience without stifling innovation, and create an operating model that supports sustainable growth. The guidance is deeply aligned with Lean thinking—centered on eliminating waste, building systems that support people, and creating visibility across an entire organization. Readers will walk away with a practical understanding of how to avoid crisis-driven cuts and instead build a proactive, intentional cost-management structure that strengthens competitiveness.

The book is ideal for CEOs, CFOs, COOs, HR and Finance leaders, and Lean/CI practitioners who regularly influence cost decisions but often do so from within silos or legacy processes. It is particularly relevant for organizations approaching or surpassing the $100M revenue mark—where bloat accelerates—and for private equity portfolio companies that require repeatable, disciplined approaches to EBITDA and cash flow improvement. Any leader who wants to build a culture of financial awareness, remove waste, and align spending with strategy will find the frameworks in this book invaluable.

The book is also structured for clarity and ease of reading. Organized into nine concise chapters, Deason moves the reader from diagnosis—how organizations accumulate inefficiency—to the detailed, step-by-step solution of building a centralized Cost Management Center. Each chapter is broken into practical subsections that are easy to digest, making the content accessible even for busy executives. The moderate length keeps the material focused without unnecessary theory, and the writing style is direct, grounded in real-world experience rather than academic abstraction. This structure makes Operationally Svelte a quick yet impactful read that readers can immediately apply to their own organizations.

Deason’s proposed solution—creating a centralized Cost Management Center—stands out as both practical and transformative. Rather than relying on outdated budget cycles or scattered oversight, this function consolidates expertise, strengthens accountability, elevates reporting, and infuses cost awareness into daily decision-making. From managing SaaS spend and consulting budgets to handling compensation structures, real estate, and crisis preparation, the book offers actionable steps for leaders ready to make their organizations truly “operationally svelte.”