Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation
Linda A. Hill - 2014
Or making the right investments. Or breaking down organizational silos. All of these things may help—but there’s only one way to ensure sustained innovation: you need to lead it—and with a special kind of leadership. Collective Genius shows you how. Preeminent leadership scholar Linda Hill, along with former Pixar tech wizard Greg Brandeau, MIT researcher Emily Truelove, and Being the Boss coauthor Kent Lineback, found among leaders a widely shared, and mistaken, assumption: that a “good” leader in all other respects would also be an effective leader of innovation. The truth is, leading innovation takes a distinctive kind of leadership, one that unleashes and harnesses the “collective genius” of the people in the organization.Using vivid stories of individual leaders at companies like Volkswagen, Google, eBay, and Pfizer, as well as nonprofits and international government agencies, the authors show how successful leaders of innovation don’t create a vision and try to make innovation happen themselves. Rather, they create and sustain a culture where innovation is allowed to happen again and again—an environment where people are both willing and able to do the hard work that innovative problem solving requires.Collective Genius will not only inspire you; it will give you the concrete, practical guidance you need to build innovation into the fabric of your business.
Fallen Angel: The Making and Unmaking of Rajat Gupta
Sandipan Deb - 2013
Why did this happen? Based on extensive research, including transcripts of FBI-wiretap conversations, Fallen Angel is an insightful account of a remarkable man and the extraordinary events surrounding him: this is the real story of Rajat Gupta, an orphaned immigrant from India who managed to reach dizzying heights in the US corporate sector. Although the verdict is out, the mystery remains: several jury members were in tears after delivering the verdict, and nearly everyone who has known Gupta believes he is innocent so what really happened? With its almost thriller-like cast of real-life characters, Fallen Angel is a page-turner that explores the complex layers of this human drama.
Pivot to the Future: Discovering Value and Creating Growth in a Disrupted World
Omar Abbosh - 2019
But what is new is the "wise pivot," a replicable strategy for harnessing disruption to survive, grow, and be relevant to the future. It's a strategy for perpetual reinvention across the old, now, and new elements of any business.Rapid recent advances in technology are forcing leaders in every business to rethink long-held beliefs about how to adapt to emerging technologies and new markets. What has become abundantly clear: in the digital age, conventional wisdom about business transformation no longer works, if it ever did.Based on Accenture's own experience of reinventing itself in the face of disruption, the company's real world client work, and a rigorous two-year study of thousands of businesses across 30 industries, Pivot to the Future reveals methodical and bold moves for finding and releasing new sources of trapped value-unlocked by bridging the gap between what is technologically possible and how technologies are being used. The freed value enables companies to simultaneously reinvent their legacy, and current and new businesses.Pivot to the Future is for leaders who seek to turn the existential threats of today and tomorrow into sustainable growth, with the courage to understand that a wise pivot strategy is not a one-time event, but a commitment to a future of perpetual reinvention, where one pivot is followed by the next and the next.
The TCS Story . . . And Beyond
S. Ramadorai - 2011
In 2009, a year ahead of schedule, TCS made good on that promise: in fourteen years, the company had transformed itself from the $400 million operation that S. Ramadorai inherited as CEO in 1996, to one of the world's largest IT software and services companies with more than 160,000 people working in forty-two countries, and with annual revenues of over $6 billion.The TCS story is one of modern India's great success stories. In this fascinating book, S. Ramadorai, one of the country's most respected business leaders, recounts the steps to that extraordinary success. The inside story of one of India's premier corporate institutions, this is also in part a history of the rapidly developing IT software and services industry in India, told from the perspective of an industry leader.Behind the phenomenon called TCS lies a quest for excellence and an attention to detail-captured in the company's motto 'Experience Certainty'-that can benefit any organization. There is a great deal to be learnt from the TCS example, and Ramadorai outlines a vision for the future where the quality initiatives he undertook can be applied to a larger national framework. This is a book that every Indian who is committed to building a better and more productive future must read.About the AuthorRamadorai retired as CEO& MD of Tata Consultancy Services in 2009, after serving the company for thirty-nine years; he continues to work with TCS in the capacity of Vice-Chairman, and is actively involved as Chairman/Director of various Tata and non-Tata companies and educational institutions. Recently he has been appointed as the Advisor to the Prime Minister in the National Skill Development Council with the rank of a Cabinet minister. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2006 and the CBE in 2009.
X-Teams: How To Build Teams That Lead, Innovate, And Succeed
Deborah G. Ancona - 2007
Based on years of research examining teams across many industries, Ancona and Bresman show that traditional team models are falling short, and that what’s needed--and what works--is a new brand of team that emphasizes external outreach to stakeholders, extensive ties, expandable tiers, and flexible membership.The authors highlight that X-teams not only are able to adapt in ways that traditional teams aren’t, but that they actually improve an organization’s ability to produce creative ideas and execute them—increasing the entrepreneurial and innovative capacity within the firm. What’s more, the new environment demands what the authors call “distributed leadership,” and the book highlights how X-teams powerfully embody this idea.
It Will Be Exhilarating: Indie Capitalism and Design Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century
Dan Provost - 2012
We have launched two successful Kickstarter projects, in turn paving the way for a new era of independent hardware manufacturing, and recently entered the software world with our first iPhone app. We have learned a lot in a short period of time, and wanted to share this information with the world. So we wrote a book. This book was written to offer guidance and inspiration for those charting a similar path, and covers topics such as running a small business, creating hardware products independently, launching a Kickstarter project, and tips for promoting your products. Everything is told through the lens of our own experience.It Will Be Exhilarating is a short read that will provide the needed kick to start making stuff. There isn't a better time than now.“There is no recipe for passion, no 5-step guide to making your idea real, but there is good, solid advice, and this book is filled with it.” – Clay Shirky, author, Here Comes Everybody“It Will Be Exhilarating is both fun and informative. I was shocked at how transparent and thorough Studio Neat are at sharing the details of their journey. Moreover, the book reads quick so you can get back to building your next great idea, but now with a bit of extra inspiration and insight.” – Shawn Blanc, shawnblanc.net"Dan and Tom had a wild ride through the early days of this alternative to make stuff by finding an interested audience that funds the costs of bringing a dream to fruition. This book tells those lessons learned from two successive and successful Kickstarter projects and the first two years of bootstrapping their company. Studio Neat has a practical roadmap for taking something you love and potentially making it your livelihood." – Glenn Fleishman, a freelance technology reporter who contributes to The Economist, Macworld, and BoingBoing“Tom and Dan have created a hitchhikers guide to the black art that is successfully funding a Kickstarter project.” – Ben Brooks, brooksreview.net
Matchmakers: The New Economics of Multisided Platforms
David S. Evans - 2016
Economists call matchmakers multisided platforms because they provide physical or virtual platforms for multiple groups to get together. Dating sites connect people with potential matches, for example, and ride-sharing apps do the same for drivers and riders. Although matchmakers have been around for millennia, they’re becoming more and more popular—and profitable—due to dramatic advances in technology, and a lot of companies that have managed to crack the code of this business model have become today’s power brokers.Don’t let the flashy successes fool you, though. Starting a matchmaker is one of the toughest business challenges, and almost everyone who tries to build one, fails.In Matchmakers, David Evans and Richard Schmalensee, two economists who were among the first to analyze multisided platforms and discover their principles, and who’ve consulted for some of the most successful platform businesses in the world, explain how matchmakers work best in practice, why they do what they do, and how entrepreneurs can improve their chances for success.Whether you’re an entrepreneur, an investor, a consumer, or an executive, your future will involve more and more multisided platforms, and Matchmakers—rich with stories from platform winners and losers—is the one book you’ll need in order to navigate this appealing but confusing world.
Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy--and How to Make Them Work for You
Geoffrey G. Parker - 2016
Airbnb. Amazon. Apple. PayPal. All of these companies disrupted their markets when they launched. Today they are industry leaders. What’s the secret to their success?These cutting-edge businesses are built on platforms: two-sided markets that are revolutionizing the way we do business. Written by three of the most sought-after experts on platform businesses, Platform Revolution is the first authoritative, fact-based book on platform models. Whether platforms are connecting sellers and buyers, hosts and visitors, or drivers with people who need a ride, Geoffrey G. Parker, Marshall W. Van Alstyne, and Sangeet Paul Choudary reveal the what, how, and why of this revolution and provide the first “owner’s manual” for creating a successful platform business.Platform Revolution teaches newcomers how to start and run a successful platform business, explaining ways to identify prime markets and monetize networks. Addressing current business leaders, the authors reveal strategies behind some of today’s up-and-coming platforms, such as Tinder and SkillShare, and explain how traditional companies can adapt in a changing marketplace. The authors also cover essential issues concerning security, regulation, and consumer trust, while examining markets that may be ripe for a platform revolution, including healthcare, education, and energy.As digital networks increase in ubiquity, businesses that do a better job of harnessing the power of the platform will win. An indispensable guide, Platform Revolution charts out the brilliant future of platforms and reveals how they will irrevocably alter the lives and careers of millions.
The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup
Noam Wasserman - 2011
Friendships and relationships can suffer. Bad decisions at the inception of a promising venture lay the foundations for its eventual ruin. The Founder's Dilemmas is the first book to examine the early decisions by entrepreneurs that can make or break a startup and its team.Drawing on a decade of research, Noam Wasserman reveals the common pitfalls founders face and how to avoid them. He looks at whether it is a good idea to cofound with friends or relatives, how and when to split the equity within the founding team, and how to recognize when a successful founder-CEO should exit or be fired. Wasserman explains how to anticipate, avoid, or recover from disastrous mistakes that can splinter a founding team, strip founders of control, and leave founders without a financial payoff for their hard work and innovative ideas. He highlights the need at each step to strike a careful balance between controlling the startup and attracting the best resources to grow it, and demonstrates why the easy short-term choice is often the most perilous in the long term. The Founder's Dilemmas draws on the inside stories of founders like Evan Williams of Twitter and Tim Westergren of Pandora, while mining quantitative data on almost ten thousand founders.People problems are the leading cause of failure in startups. This book offers solutions.
The Ten Commandments for Business Failure
Donald R. Keough - 2008
He has also been friends with some of the most successful people in business history, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Rupert Murdoch, and Peter Drucker. Now this elder statesman reveals how great enterprises get into trouble. Even the smartest executives can fall into the trap of believing in their own infallibility. When that happens, more bad decisions are sure to follow. This light-hearted “how-not-to” book includes anecdotes from Keough’s long career as well as other infamous failures. His commandments for failure include: Quit Taking Risks; Be Inflexible; Assume Infallibility; Put All Your Faith in Experts; Send Mixed Messages; and Be Afraid of the Future. As he writes, “After a lifetime in business I’ve never been able to develop a step-by-step formula that will guarantee success. What I could do, however, was talk about how to lose. I guarantee that anyone who follows my formula will be a highly successful loser.”
Accelerate: Building and Scaling High-Performing Technology Organizations
Nicole Forsgren - 2018
Through four years of groundbreaking research, Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim set out to find a way to measure software delivery performance—and what drives it—using rigorous statistical methods. This book presents both the findings and the science behind that research. Readers will discover how to measure the performance of their teams, and what capabilities they should invest in to drive higher performance.
Paul Graham: The Art of Funding a Startup
Andrew Warner - 2011
Thank you for your feedback and patience.From Andrew Warner:I first interviewed Paul Graham after I heard something shocking from Alexis Ohanian, a founder whose company was funded by Graham's Y Combinator. Alexis came to Mixergy to tell the story of how he launched and sold Reddit.If you're a founder, you know the kind of problems that founders have, right? Figuring out what product to create, how to build it, how to get users to try it, etc.Well Alexis didn't seem to have those problems, or at least they weren't as challenging for him as they were for most of the other 600 entrepreneurs I interviewed on Mixergy.Why? Because Paul Graham helped him launch his business.How did Graham make Reddit's launch easier and more successful than other companies' founding? How did he do the same for hundreds of other startups? And, more importantly, what can you learn from his experiences to grow your business?The book you're holding has those answers.Use what you're about to learn to build your successful startup. After you do, I hope you'll let me interview you so other founders can learn from your experience, the way you're about to benefit from Graham's.About Hyperink, the publisher:Hyperink is the easiest way for anyone to publish a beautiful, high-quality book.We work closely with subject matter experts to create each eBook. We cover topics ranging from higher education to job recruiting, from Android apps marketing to barefoot running.If you have interesting knowledge that people are willing to pay for, especially if you've already produced content on the topic, please reach out to us! There's no writing required and it's a unique opportunity to build your own brand and earn royalties.
The Game-Changer
A.G. Lafley - 2008
. . whether you’re running an entire company or in your first management job.Over the past seven years, Procter & Gamble has tripled profits; significantly improved organic revenue growth, cash flow, and operating margins; and averaged earnings per share growth of 12 percent. How? A. G. Lafley and his leadership team have integrated innovation into everything P&G does and created new customers and new markets. Through eye-opening stories A. G. Lafley and Ram Charan show how P&G and companies such as Honeywell, Nokia, LEGO, GE, HP, and DuPont have become game-changers. Their inspiring lessons can help you learn how to:• Make consumers and customers the boss, not the CEO or the management team• Innovate to grow a mature business• Develop higher growth, higher margin businesses • Create new customers and new markets • Revitalize a business model• Reach outside your own business and tap into the abundant brainpower and creativity of the world • Integrate innovation into the mainstream of your managerial decision making • Manage risk• Become a leader of innovationWe live in a world of unprecedented change, increasing global competitiveness, and the very real threat of commoditization. Innovation in this world is the best way to win—arguably the only way to really win. Innovation is not a separate, discrete activity but the job of everyone in a leadership position and the integral, central driving force for any business that wants to grow organically and succeed on a sustained basis.This is a game-changing book that helps you redefine your leadership and improve your management game.
BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company
Jim Collins - 2020
And while Collins would go on to write a series of famous bestsellers that have sold more than ten million copies worldwide, this lesser-known early work remains the favourite of many of his loyal readers.Now, with Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0, Collins re-shares the timeless insights in Beyond Entrepreneurship alongside new perspectives gleaned after decades of additional research into what makes great companies tick. In Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0, you'll learn how to turn your company into the 2.0 version of itself. You'll be challenged to grow your own leadership as your company grows, from 1x to 2x to 5x to 10x. You'll learn Collins's newest reflections on people decisions, insights that extend beyond his seminal "first who" principle about getting the right people on the bus. You'll learn why luck favours the persistent, and what it means to look for "who luck." You'll learn about the origins of the "BHAG" (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), and why even a small business needs a galvanising BHAG to have a complete and inspiring vision.You'll also unlock what Collins calls "The Map." The Map is a road map that pulls together the key concepts developed from thirty years of research and writing into one integrated framework for building a company that delivers superior results, makes a distinctive impact, and achieves lasting endurance.Finally, you'll learn the lessons that Jim Collins himself learned from the most influential mentor in his life, Bill Lazier.Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0 is the ambitious upgrade to a classic. In Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0, you'll discover that the goal to turn your business into an enduring great company is as relevant - and as within your reach - as ever.
Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World
John P. Kotter - 2012
You quickly create a strategic initiative in response and appoint your best people to make change happen. And it does—but not fast enough. Or effectively enough. Real value gets lost and, ultimately, things drift back to the default status.Why is this scenario so frequently repeated in industries and organizations across the world? In the groundbreaking new book Accelerate (XLR8), leadership and change management expert, and best-selling author, John Kotter provides a fascinating answer—and a powerful new framework for competing and winning in a world of constant turbulence and disruption.Kotter explains how traditional organizational hierarchies evolved to meet the daily demands of running an enterprise. For most companies, the hierarchy is the singular operating system at the heart of the firm. But the reality is, this system simply is not built for an environment where change has become the norm. Kotter advocates a new system—a second, more agile, network-like structure that operates in concert with the hierarchy to create what he calls a “dual operating system”—one that allows companies to capitalize on rapid-fire strategic challenges and still make their numbers.Accelerate (XLR8) vividly illustrates the five core principles underlying the new network system, the eight Accelerators that drive it, and how leaders must create urgency in others through role modeling. And perhaps most crucial, the book reveals how the best companies focus and align their people’s energy and urgency around what Kotter calls the big opportunity.If you’re a pioneer, a leader who knows that bold change is necessary to survive and thrive in an ever-changing world, this book will help you accelerate into a better, more profitable future.