Book picks similar to
Prophets in the Dark: How Xerox Reinvented Itself and Beat Back the Japanese by David T. Kearns
business
management
non-fiction
0305
That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea
Marc Randolph - 2019
Late fees were ubiquitous, video-streaming unheard was of, and widespread DVD adoption seemed about as imminent as flying cars. Indeed, these were the widely accepted laws of the land in 1997, when Marc Randolph had an idea. It was a simple thought—leveraging the internet to rent movies—and was just one of many more and far worse proposals, like personalized baseball bats and a shampoo delivery service, that Randolph would pitch to his business partner, Reed Hastings, on their commute to work each morning.But Hastings was intrigued, and the pair—with Hastings as the primary investor and Randolph as the CEO—founded a company. Now with over 150 million subscribers, Netflix's triumph feels inevitable, but the twenty first century's most disruptive start up began with few believers and calamity at every turn. From having to pitch his own mother on being an early investor, to the motel conference room that served as a first office, to server crashes on launch day, to the now-infamous meeting when Netflix brass pitched Blockbuster to acquire them, Marc Randolph's transformational journey exemplifies how anyone with grit, gut instincts, and determination can change the world—even with an idea that many think will never work.What emerges, though, isn't just the inside story of one of the world's most iconic companies. Full of counter-intuitive concepts and written in binge-worthy prose, it answers some of our most fundamental questions about taking that leap of faith in business or in life: How do you begin? How do you weather disappointment and failure? How do you deal with success? What even is success?From idea generation to team building to knowing when it's time to let go, That Will Never Work is not only the ultimate follow-your-dreams parable, but also one of the most dramatic and insightful entrepreneurial stories of our time.
Harvard Business Review on Change
Richard Tanner Pascale - 1998
Here are the landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious business people in organizations around the globe. From the seminal article "Leading Change" by John Kotter to Paul Strebel on why employees so often resist change, Harvard Business Review on Change is the most comprehensive resource available for embracing corporate change--and using it to your company's greatest advantage. Articles include: Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail by John P. Kotter; Building Your Company's Vision by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras; Managing Change: The Art of Balancing by Jeanie Daniel Duck; The Reinvention Roller Coaster: Risking the Present for a Powerful Future by Tracy Goss, Richard T. Pascale, and Anthony G. Athos; Changing the Mind of the Corporation by Roger Martin; Why Do Employees Resist Change? by Paul Strebel; Reshaping an Industry: Lockheed Martin's Survival Story by Norman R. Augustine; and Successful Change Programs Begin with Results by Robert H. Schaffer and Harvey A. Thomson.
Transforming NOKIA: The Power of Paranoid Optimism to Lead Through Colossal Change
Risto Siilasmaa - 2018
It was to mobile phones was Kleenex is to facial tissues. Then iPhones and Androids appeared out of nowhere and pushed Nokia off the cliff. In just four years, the company lost over 90 percent of its value. Revenues were in freefall; massive layoffs became common. Pundits predicted that bankruptcy wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when.
Then something equally shocking occurred. In record time, Nokia bounced back. With a vengeance. Nokia reinvented itself and is now the second-biggest player in the $100 billion-dollar global wireless market.
In Transforming Nokia, the man who orchestrated and led Nokia’s comeback—Chairman of the Board Risto Siilasmaa—reveals the story of Nokia’s fall and resurrection. He reveals the inside story of the collapse and provides survival strategies and change-management methods any business leader can take to the bank. You’ll learn how to harness the power of what Siilasmaa calls “paranoid optimism” and apply his winning entrepreneurial leadership model to rise above any challenge and drive sustainable success.
Whether you lead a team or a corporate division, head a start-up or a massive organization, and whether your business is on the rocks or running smoothly, Transforming Nokia provides everything you need to sharpen your foresight, expand your options, seize opportunities, and thrive, no matter what changes tomorrow brings.