Introducing the Four Components That Make Innovation RepeatableEven the best-performing companies eventually stall. Sustaining momentum—and remaining a great growth company—takes a system.Scott Anthony and David Duncan call this system a “Growth Factory.” They’ve seen it work in a small set of elite companies that have created environments where innovation is both repeatable and reliable, not relegated to an off-site or isolated division that has no real connection to the organization’s future.In this HBR Single, Anthony and Duncan draw on their extensive experience working with these growth factory organizations—most notably Procter & Gamble and Citigroup. They highlight the four main components that make innovation repeatable and reliable, citing real examples of what P&G, Citi, and even their own firm, Innosight, have gone through to stay firmly on a path toward growth despite huge challenges. They offer practical advice on how you can put their system into action in your own company—whether it’s a large multinational or a small start-up.HBR Singles provide brief yet potent business ideas for today’s thinking professional. They are available digitally at HBR.org and through the Kindle Store, the iBookstore, and other ebooksellers.
Stewart Brand famously declared, “Information wants to be free.” Except he didn’t (not really). And it doesn’t.Information is much more complicated than that. What information really wants—what makes it more valuable, useful, and immediate, Joshua Gans argues—is to be shared.Using the tools and logic of information economics, Gans shows how sharing enhances most information’s value. He also shows how the business models of traditional media companies, gatekeepers who have relied on scarcity and control, have collapsed in the face of new technologies. Equally important, he argues that sharing can revive moribund, threatened industries even as he examines platforms that have, almost accidentally, thrived in this new environment.Provocative, intriguing, and useful, Information Wants to Be Shared will change the way you think about your ideas and the media you use to consume and produce them.HBR Singles provide brief yet potent business ideas, in digital form, for today's thinking professional.
The era of social technologies provides seemingly endless opportunity, both for individuals and organizations. But it’s also the subject of seemingly endless hype. Yes, social tools allow us to do things entirely differently—but how do you really capitalize on that?In 11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era, the newest in Harvard Business Review’s line of digital books (HBR Singles), social strategist and insightful blogger Nilofer Merchant argues that “social” is much more than “media.” Smart companies are letting social become the backbone of their business models, increasing their speed and flexibility by pursuing openness and fluidity. These organizations don’t operate like the powerful “800-pound gorillas” of yesteryear—but instead act more like a herd of 800 gazelles, moving together across a savannah, outrunning the competition.This ebook offers new rules for creating value, leading, and innovating in our rapidly changing world. These social era rules are both provocative and grounded in reality—they cover thorny challenges like forsaking hierarchy and control for collaboration; getting the most out of all talent; allowing your customers to become co-creators in your organization; inspiring employees through purpose in a world where money alone no longer wields that power; and soliciting community investment in an idea so that it can take hold and grow.The strategies of the Industrial Era—or even the Information Age—will not be enough for the Social Era. Read 11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era to get ready to meet the challenges of this new age and thrive.HBR Singles provide brief yet potent business ideas, in digital form, for today's thinking professional.Editorial ReviewsNamed a “Best Business Book of 2012” by Fast Company“Ms. Merchant's new work provides a provocative vision of the future of both what organizations and what work might look like, yet grounded in real businesses today…this will inspire ideas and thought about what running a business really means.” — Forbes.com“Every CEO, CMO, and decision maker needs to read this. Nilofer has taken a high-level concept and made it abundantly clear how to implement this big idea.” — Tara Hunt, cofounder and CEO, Buyosphere; author, The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business“A rare combination: strategic, well researched, and actionable. Nilofer Merchant helps executives see what’s at stake in the connection economy.” — Seth Godin, author, Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?“Traditional strategy is dead. But do not fear—Nilofer Merchant shows how your organization can thrive with the new rules of the Social Era. Buy yourself a copy—and one for every member of your board.” — Charlene Li, founder, Altimeter Group; author, Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead; and coauthor, Groundswell“Social media is not about hooking up online. It’s becoming a new means of production and engagement. Nilofer lays out her enormously helpful ‘11 Rules’ to embrace the Social Era.” — Don Tapscott, coauthor, Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World“Pay attention to Nilofer Merchant. Or risk obsolescence.” — Dave Gray, Senior Vice President, Dachis Group“Nilofer Merchant nails it in this important and timely book. It’s an insightful road map. through the new world of business that embraces openness, stability, sustainable advantages, profitability, and the new value chain. It’s all here for you to devour. I hope you’re hungry.” — Mitch Joel, President, Twist Image; author, Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone“Nilofer Merchant offers not just a name—the Social Era—to these confusing and turbulent times, but thoughtful and straightforward advice about how both institutions and people can thrive, not just be the last one standing. Required reading for today’s leaders—and tomorrow’s.” — Barry Z. Posner, Accolti Professor of Leadership, Santa Clara University; coauthor, The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations“With tools, metrics, and markets pulsing with change, Nilofer’s 11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era is a vital compass to staying relevant and profitable. Embrace them.” — Lisa Gansky, entrepreneur; author, The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing“Nilofer Merchant deftly dissects the industrial traditions that are failing us. Not content to simply describe the state of affairs, she also offers comprehensive, prescient guidelines for taking the future into our own hands. This book opened me up to a whole new way of thinking about business, influence, and power.” — Deanna Zandt, media technologist; author, Share This!: How You Will Change the World with Social Networking“11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era completely, convincingly, and lucidly redefines what it’s going to take for companies to be successful going forward. Powerfully provocative and highly practical. Bravo, Nilofer!” — Tony Schwartz, President and CEO, The Energy Project; coauthor, The Power of Full Engagement and The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working
What Duke Ellington and Miles Davis teach us about leadershipHow do you cope when faced with complexity and constant change at work? Here’s what the world’s best leaders and teams do: they improvise. They invent novel responses and take calculated risks without a scripted plan or a safety net that guarantees specific outcomes. They negotiate with each other as they proceed, and they don’t dwell on mistakes or stifle each other’s ideas. In short, they say “yes to the mess” that is today’s hurried, harried, yet enormously innovative and fertile world of work.This is exactly what great jazz musicians do. In this revelatory book, accomplished jazz pianist and management scholar Frank Barrett shows how this improvisational “jazz mind-set” and the skills that go along with it are essential for effective leadership today. With fascinating stories of the insights and innovations of jazz greats such as Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins, as well as probing accounts of the wisdom gleaned from his own experience as a jazz musician, Barrett introduces a new model for leading and collaborating in organizations.He describes how, like skilled jazz players, leaders need to master the art of unlearning, perform and experiment simultaneously, and take turns soloing and supporting each other. And with examples that range from manufacturing to the military to high-tech, he illustrates how organizations must take an inventive approach to crisis management, economic volatility, and all the rapidly evolving realities of our globally connected world.Leaders today need to be expert improvisers. Yes to the Mess vividly shows how the principles of jazz thinking and jazz performance can help anyone who leads teams or works with them to develop these critical skills, wherever they sit in the organization.Engaging and insightful, Yes to the Mess is a seminar on collaboration and complexity, against the soulful backdrop of jazz.
Your guide to making better decisionsDespite the dizzying amount of data at our disposal today—and an increasing reliance on analytics to make the majority of our decisions—many of our most critical choices still come down to human judgment. This fact is fundamental to organizations whose leaders must often make crucial decisions: to do this they need the best available insights.In Judgment Calls, authors Tom Davenport and Brook Manville share twelve stories of organizations that have successfully tapped their data assets, diverse perspectives, and deep knowledge to build an organizational decision-making capability—a competence they say can make the difference between success and failure. This book introduces a model that taps the collective judgment of an organization so that the right decisions are made, and the entire organization profits.Through the stories in Judgment Calls, the authors—both of them seasoned management thinkers and advisers—make the case for the wisdom of organizations and suggest ways to use it to best advantage. Each chapter tells a unique story of one dilemma and its ultimate resolution, bringing into high relief one key to the power of collective judgment. Individually, these stories inspire and instruct; together, they form a model for building an organizational capacity for broadly based, knowledge-intensive decision making. You’ve read The Wisdom of Crowds and Competing on Analytics. Now read Judgment Calls. You, and your organization, will make better decisions.
For half a century the US has sat at the center of the global economic system, and Western-style capitalism has dominated. Now, it's no secret that the center of gravity is shifting. The advanced economies that in 2000 consumed 75% of the world's output will, by 2050, consume just 32%. Meanwhile, the emerging economies of the world–Brazil, India, China, and others–will surge forward.As these fast-growing, low-income economies mature, will they adopt the practices of the old guard? Or will they make their own way, and create the next prevailing version of capitalism? What new opportunities will that create for firms around the world?Standing on the Sun tackles these questions with fresh ideas and provocative examples. Based on firsthand observations of companies defying capitalism's old rules yet prospering, the authors outline new principles for commercial success. Among them:· The obsession with return on equity gives way to more broad-based measurements of success.· Adam Smith's invisible hand of the market is redeemed by the «invisible handshake» of collaborative networks. · Businesses take ownership of the impacts they now call «externalities.»Those who need to understand the emerging shape of global capitalism will benefit from Standing on the Sun.
A manager's job is getting harder to do. But the central question for all managers – the one that separates great managers from the rest- is how to get the most from your people. What do you do when your most talented people fall short of their potential, or worse, fall off their game for awhile? How do you inspire a solid contributor to even more stellar performance? How do you find that spark? And turn it into a burning flame?According to best-selling author and psychiatrist, Ned Hallowell, it's all in the brain. Creating that spark and inspiring someone to perform at their highest levels isn't rocket science; but it is brain science, and it has yet to be codified into a simple and reliable process that all managers can use.Drawing from his expertise helping people reach their full potential and synthesizing the latest research on happiness, brain science, and performance, Hallowell does exactly that – he offers a five step process that leads to peak performance. Based on the latest findings in the fast-moving field of high performance research and rooted in the work of Martin Seligman, Dan Gilbert, Marcus Buckingham, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, John Ratey, and many other experts in psychology and neuroscience, this book gives managers a simple and coherent framework for getting the best out of people:(1) Selection – how to put people in the right job, and give them the responsbilities that literally make their brains «light up;»(2) Connection – how to overcome the powerful forces that disconnect us interpersonally in today's workplace, and how to restore the positive connections that fuel superior performance;(3) Play – why play is essential to peak performance, and how managers can get it right;(4) Progress – when the pressure is on, how to challenge the right person at the right time;(5) Recognition – why reward systems always decrease peak performance, and how managers can finally get this rightThe value of the five steps is that each step builds on another. For instance, there's no point in challenging an employee to go beyond their personal best if you haven't bothered to ensure first that you've got them in the right job. And there's no way to successfully get someone to think more creatively if you haven't first established the personal connection with her so that she knows her wild ideas will be taken seriously. And there's no point in demanding more, if you haven't first given employees a chance to engage their imagination and play around with the things that «light up their brains.»Especially in times of mental overload and stress, when invoking people to suck it up or work even harder isn't an effective management tool, managers need a new game plan, like the one in this book, for helping their people perform at their best.
The war for talent is heating up in emerging markets. Without enough “brain power,” multinationals can’t succeed in these markets. Yet they’re approaching the war in the wrong way—bringing in expats and engaging in bidding wars for hotshot local “male” managers.The solution is hiding in plain sight: the millions of highly educated women surging into the labor markets of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and the United Arab Emirates. Increasingly, these women boast better credentials, higher ambitions, and greater loyalty than their male peers.But there’s a catch: Attracting and retaining talented women in emerging economies requires different strategies than those used in mature markets. Complex cultural forces – family-related “pulls,” such as daughterly duties to parents and in-laws, and work-related “pushes,” such as extreme hours and dangerous commutes – force women to settle for dead-end jobs, switch to the public sector, or leave the workforce entirely.In Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets, Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid analyze these forces and present strategies for countering them, including:• Sustaining ambition through stretch opportunities and international assignments• Combating cultural bias by building an infrastructure for female leadership (networks, mentors, sponsors)• Introducing flexible work arrangements to accommodate family obligations• Providing safe transportation, such as employer-subsidized taxi servicesDrawing on groundbreaking research, amplified with on-the-ground examples from companies as diverse as Google, Infosys, Goldman Sachs, and Siemens, this book is required reading for all companies seeking to strengthen their talent pipeline in these rich and expanding markets.
Pleasing Wall Street used to be easy for executives. Not anymore. The stock market is an uncertain place, and every day executives have to figure out what investors really want. There are right ways and wrong ways to do this. Get it wrong, and you risk alienating investors as well as employees, consumers, and suppliers—which can erode your earnings and stock price.In Winning Investors Over, Baruch Lev draws on his own and other finance scholars’ research to present authoritative, often surprising instructions for dealing intelligently with Wall Street—and boosting your company’s earnings and stock price. Through rigorous data analysis and real-life cases, Lev shows how to:• Understand and address investors’ concerns to secure ongoing funding and support from the capital markets• Deliver disappointing news effectively to investors• Build, rebuild, and maintain credibility on Wall Street• Buy time for your company’s recovery from activist shareholders and hedge fund raiders• Structure your compensation to win shareholders’ supportWinning Investors Over demonstrates that despite the uncertainty that characterizes Wall Street today, you can still craft a mutually beneficial, long-term partnership with investors.