Synopses & Reviews
“Before you can realize the full potential of cloud-based computing strategies, you need a way to grasp the essentials of what makes a business perform. Merrifield’s breakthrough thinking will get you there, in clear, practical, and sometimes, fun ways.”
Rita G. McGrath, author of Discovery-Driven Growth
"Rethink comes at a crucial time--one in which companies must concentrate on the very few areas that truly add value to customers. As Merrifield explains, what companies can and should outsource--the distractions of everyday business--has changed radically because their operations today are so rooted in software and so easily shared over the Internet.”
Michael Treacy, author of Double-Digit Growth
"Merrifield’s book is a much-needed fresh perspective on prioritization, simplification, and careful task allocation that more fully leverages technology and tools few could have imagined ten years ago.”
Scott Bedbury, author of A New Brand World
"Companies today need to rethink their whole business model, and process thinking alone won’t get you there. In this book, Merrifield takes the art of business design to a science.”
James Champy, coauthor of Reengineering the Corporation and author of INSPIRE!: Why Customers Come Back
"Merrifield maps out the key ‘whats’ in a new approach to redefining your business. This is the new In Search of Excellence that takes you inside many companies that have been rethought using his principles.”
Robert Scoble, author and evangelist on the blog Scobleizer
"Rethink admirably picks up the torch from the late Peter Drucker while at the same time presenting contemporary examples and methods that are practical and easy to understand. Read it and prosper!"
Tren Griffin, Microsoft Technology Strategy and Policy team
What might be right for one company could be the end of another in the same industry. Rethink guides readers through a strategic re-think to help set a course tailored for them. For every executive-level leader, senior manager, business strategist, or consultant seeking better ways to efficiently set priorities, achieve goals, and reduce costs in today’s challenging business environment, this book will outline a new way of thinking to unlock hidden sources of value.
Synopsis
It’s the trap that ensnares virtually every business.
We focus on process: “how” we’re doing the job. And we forget about the bigger issue: “what” we’re doing and “why” we’re doing it. That’s why we’re leaving so much value on the table. In Rethink, business architect Ric Merrifield exposes this problem with vivid examples and introduces breakthrough techniques for overcoming it.
Merrifield shows how to rise above the clutter of your “hows” to expose what does and doesn’t need attention in your organization. You’ll learn to identify the activities most critical to success, as well as those that are borderline, redundant, or even counterproductive. Merrifield helps you get past the parochial, subjective viewpoints of ground-level participants...find more cost-effective ways to achieve core goals...capture better information for prioritizing investments...identify hidden sources of value...use technology-driven plug-and-play management to increase efficiency and agility...and reconfigure your company to ride nonstop waves of change.
Along the way, Merrifield presents powerful case studies ranging from ING DIRECT to Amazon.com to Procter & Gamble. These diverse companies have learned how to cut costs, strengthen innovation, and profit from change all at the same time. Using the lessons in this book, you can, too.
• Rise above low-level processes and narrow perspectives
• Step back, identify what really matters to the organization, and act accordingly
• Understand the hidden connections that can make or break your business
• Make profitable changes without setting off destructive chain reactions
• Expose activities where people, process, and technology matter...and, equally important, where they don’t
Synopsis
It's a totally human condition, a trap that ensnares virtually everyone. Just as when we tie a route to a destination so much so that when someone else takes a different route "why are we going this way?" it usually doesn't matter "how" you get there. This "how" trap also takes place at work, people intertwine "how" they do their job with the outcome of "what" they are doing that sometimes obvious decisions are masked, and missed. We know how to focus on process: the how of business. That's why this book shows that we're leaving so much value on the table and that's what this book exposes with vivid examples, while at the same time offering guidance on ways you can take advantage of this new business lens. Business architect Ric Merrifield shows how to rise above the clutter of your "hows" to expose what does and doesn't need attention. You'll learn to identify the activities most critical to success and those that that are borderline, redundant, or even counterproductive. Along the way, Merrifield presents powerful case studies from companies as diverse as ING DIRECT and Eclipse, Amazon.com and Procter + Gamble: firms that have learned how to cut costs, strengthen innovation, and profit from change all at the same time.
About the Author
Ric Merrifield spent nearly 15 years in various consulting roles helping organizations define and achieve their goals. Since joining Microsoft, Merrifield has spent more than 10,000 hours as a business architect and has filed twelve patent applications all with the goal of helping companies rethink their operating models and get out of the “how” trap described in the pages of this book.
Merrifield recently coauthored “The Next Revolution in Productivity,” a June 2008 Harvard Business Review article focused on case studies that highlight needs of the organization and the opportunity to rethink business operating models before making major technology changes. Merrifield is an alumnus of Lakeside School in Seattle and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 How the “How” Trap Is Trapping You 7
Chapter 2 The Thinking Behind Rethinking 27
Chapter 3 First–Identify the "Whats" That Are Truly Valuable 39
Chapter 4 Second–Know What You Are (and Aren’t) Good At 61
Chapter 5 Third–Make (and Break) Connections 77
Chapter 6 Fourth–Understand What Can (and Can’t) Be Predicted 91
Chapter 7 Fifth–Unravel (and Follow) the Rules 109
Chapter 8 Revolutionary Rethinking at ING DIRECT 117
Chapter 9 Rethinking at Eclipse 133
Chapter 10 Rethinking at Cranium 151
Chapter 11 Morph Again and Again 169
Key Concepts 193
Index 213