Synopses & Reviews
andlt;Bandgt;Why has Facebook been so limber, andlt;/Bandgt;evolving so successfully even after a number of stumbles, while Myspace stalled and lost ground? Why was Wal-Mart able to expand so successfully into new offerings, such as groceries, while Handamp;R Block dramatically failed to expand into offering financial services? The answer, David Murray reveals, is that Facebook and Wal-Mart both started with business models that empowered them to effectively adapt their plans as they executed them. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;The failure of detailed strategic plans that have taken a great deal of time and money to develop is one of the worst problems in business, and itand#8217;s ever more urgent as the pace of change in business continues to accelerate. Murray, author of the acclaimed andlt;Iandgt;Wall Street Journal andlt;/Iandgt;bestseller andlt;Iandgt;Borrowing Brilliance, andlt;/Iandgt;argues that valiantly sticking to even a well-thought-out Plan A is the road to disaster. The greatest success comes to those who know how to construct and implement an adaptive Plan A that has within it the means of evolving into a superior Plan B by responding to problems confronted, discoveries made, changing market conditions, and the competition. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Writing in a lively, engaging voice and using a series of specific examples drawn from companies including IBM, Intel, Facebook, American Express, and Kaiser Permanente, as well as from the art of war, including the Battle of Gettysburg and the D-Day invasion, and even from the space program, Murray presents powerful methods for constructing a plan that has the mechanisms for adaptation built in. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Drawing on a wealth of research, he explains why we are fairly good at short-term predictions but why, in our ever more rapidly changing business world, even the best laid plans will eventually go astray. He then introduces the best techniques for creating an optimal original plan that takes into account our limited ability to predict, showing that vital to this process is that it be constructed so that we are alerted in time to make the right changes. In a brilliant discussion of strategy and tactics, he shows that the core of this adaptability is making sure that your strategy and tactics are well aligned with one another and that you have established the right metrics for measuring results. He then details precisely how to adapt throughout the execution process by constantly monitoring and assessing results, developing worst-case scenarios, and recognizing unanticipated opportunities. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andlt;Iandgt;Plan B andlt;/Iandgt;is an essential guide to harnessing the forces of change to achieve long-lasting success despite the most vexing challenges.
Synopsis
A guide to successfully implementing great ideas by creating a "Plan B," an adaptive, goal-oriented plan that’s able to evolve in the changing world.
Synopsis
A guide to successfully implementing great ideas by creating a Plan B, an adaptive, goal-oriented plan that's able to evolve in the changing world.
Synopsis
The author of the acclaimed
Wall Street Journal bestseller
Borrowing Brilliance reveals that the most important secret of successful business strategy is knowing how and when to switch from your Plan A to a more effective Plan B.
The failure of detailed strategic plans, which have taken a great deal of time and money to develop, is one of the worst problems in business. Former Fortune 500 executive and head of innovation at Intuit David K. Murray introduces that the key to successful execution of strategy is understanding that valiantly sticking to a well-thought out plan is the road to hell, whereas victory comes from learning to create an “adaptive plan” that easily evolves according to problems confronted, discoveries made, changing market conditions and the competition.
Murray writes in a lively style, telling a host of true stories of both brilliant adaptations of strategy and devastating failures to do so from his own career as an entrepreneur, aerospace engineer, and corporate innovation chief, as well as from leading companies, the history of war, and even the Apollo space program. He shows that while the traditional approach to developing strategy is based on predicting the future, all such predictions are fundamentally flawed, introducing a fascinating range of research that reveals why our predictions will always be off base. He then introduces his innovative “Plan B planning process,” detailing exactly the steps we must take to craft a strategy with sufficient flexibility and presenting a powerful set of methods for adapting that plan throughout the execution process. Plan B is a groundbreaking work on a vitally important business issue that is also a joy to read.