What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

Book description

This is not a book about one thing. It's not a 250-page dissertation on leadership, teams or motivation. Instead, it's an agenda for building organizations that can flourish in a world of diminished hopes, relentless change and ferocious competition.

This is not a book about doing better. It's not a manual for people who want to tinker at the margins. Instead, it's an impassioned plea to reinvent management as we know it—to rethink the fundamental assumptions we have about capitalism, organizational life, and the meaning of work.

Leaders today confront a world where the unprecedented is the norm. Wherever one looks, one sees the exceptional and the extraordinary:

  • Business newspapers decrying the state of capitalism.

  • Once-innovative companies struggling to save off senescence.

  • Next gen employees shunning blue chips for social start-ups.

  • Corporate miscreants getting pilloried in the blogosphere.

  • Entry barriers tumbling in what were once oligopolistic strongholds.

  • Hundred year-old business models being rendered irrelevant overnight.

  • Newbie organizations crowdsourcing their most creative work.

  • National governments lurching towards bankruptcy.

  • Investors angrily confronting greedy CEOs and complacent boards.

  • Newly omnipotent customers eagerly wielding their power.

  • Social media dramatically transforming the way human beings connect, learn and collaborate.

Obviously, there are lots of things that matter now. But in a world of fractured certainties and battered trust, some things matter more than others. While the challenges facing organizations are limitless; leadership bandwidth isn't. That's why you have to be clear about what really matters now. What are the fundamental, make-or-break issues that will determine whether your organization thrives or dives in the years ahead? Hamel identifies five issues are that are paramount: values, innovation, adaptability, passion and ideology. In doing so he presents an essential agenda for leaders everywhere who are eager to...

  • move from defense to offense

  • reverse the tide of commoditization

  • defeat bureaucracy

  • astonish their customers

  • foster extraordinary contribution

  • capture the moral high ground

  • outrun change

  • build a company that's truly fit for the future

Concise and to the point, the book will inspire you to rethink your business, your company and how you lead.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Dedication
  6. PREFACE
  7. SECTION 1: Values Matter Now
    1. 1.1: PUTTING FIRST THINGS FIRST
    2. 1.2: LEARNING FROM THE CRUCIBLE OF CRISIS
      1. EASY MONEY
      2. SECURITIZATION
      3. INSURANCE
      4. COMPLEXITY
      5. LEVERAGE
      6. ILLIQUIDITY
      7. DECEIT
      8. HUBRIS
      9. MYOPIA
      10. GREED
      11. DENIAL
    3. 1.3: REDISCOVERING FARMER VALUES
    4. 1.4: RENOUNCING CAPITALISM'S DANGEROUS CONCEITS
    5. 1.5: RECLAIMING THE NOBLE
  8. SECTION 2: Innovation Matters Now
    1. 2.1: DEFENDING INNOVATION
      1. WE OWE OUR EXISTENCE TO INNOVATION
      2. WE OWE OUR PROSPERITY TO INNOVATION
      3. WE OWE OUR HAPPINESS TO INNOVATION
      4. WE OWE OUR FUTURE TO INNOVATION
    2. 2.2: CATALOGING THE WORLD'S GREATEST INNOVATORS
      1. ROCKETS
      2. LAUREATES
      3. ARTISTES
      4. CYBORGS
      5. BORN-AGAIN INNOVATORS
    3. 2.3: INSPIRING GREAT DESIGN
    4. 2.4: TURNING INNOVATION DUFFERS INTO PROS
      1. THE PERCEPTUAL HABITS OF SUCCESSFUL INNOVATORS
    5. 2.5: DECONSTRUCTING APPLE
      1. BE PASSIONATE
      2. LEAD, DON't FOLLOW
      3. AIM TO SURPRISE
      4. BE UNREASONABLE
      5. INNOVATE INCESSANTLY AND PERVASIVELY
      6. SWEAT THE DETAILS
      7. THINK LIKE AN ENGINEER, FEEL LIKE AN ARTIST
  9. SECTION 3: Adaptability Matters Now
    1. 3.1: CHANGING HOW WE CHANGE
    2. 3.2: BECOMING AN ENEMY OF ENTROPY
    3. 3.3: DIAGNOSING DECLINE
      1. FIRST, GRAVITY WINS
      2. SECOND, STRATEGIES DIE
      3. THIRD, SUCCESS CORRUPTS
    4. 3.4: MOURNING CORPORATE FAILURE
    5. 3.5: FUTURE-PROOFING YOUR COMPANY
      1. ANTICIPATION
      2. INTELLECTUAL FLEXIBILITY
      3. STRATEGIC VARIETY
      4. STRATEGIC FLEXIBILITY
      5. STRUCTURAL FLEXIBILITY
      6. RESILIENCE-FRIENDLY VALUES
  10. SECTION 4: Passion Matters Now
    1. 4.1: EXPOSING MANAGEMENT'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET
    2. 4.2: PUTTING INDIVIDUALS AHEAD OF INSTITUTIONS
    3. 4.3: BUILDING COMMUNITIES OF PASSION
    4. 4.4: REVERSING THE RATCHET OF CONTROL
      1. AN IMPROMPTU EXPERIMENT
      2. NOT SO FAST
      3. A DAY AT THE BEACH
      4. WHY IT WORKS
    5. 4.5: REINVENTING MANAGEMENT FOR THE FACEBOOK GENERATION
  11. SECTION 5: Ideology Matters Now
    1. 5.1: CHALLENGING THE IDEOLOGY OF MANAGEMENT
    2. 5.2: MANAGING WITHOUT HIERARCHY
    3. 5.3: ESCAPING THE MANAGEMENT TAX
      1. MARKETS VERSUS HIERARCHIES
      2. MEET MORNING STAR
      3. UNPACKING SELF-MANAGEMENT
      4. FREE TO SUCCEED
      5. THE UPSIDE OF SELF-MANAGEMENT
      6. A CHEAP LUNCH, BUT NOT A FREE ONE
      7. MANAGERS VERSUS MANAGING
      8. MARKETS AND HIERARCHIES
      9. SELF-MANAGEMENT: HOW TO GET STARTED
      10. CONCLUSION
    4. 5.4: INVERTING THE PYRAMID
      1. TRANSPARENT FINANCIAL DATA
      2. U&I
      3. SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS
      4. OPEN EVALUATIONS
      5. MYBLUEPRINT
      6. EMPLOYEE FIRST COUNCILS
    5. 5.5: AIMING HIGHER
      1. MENDING THE SOUL
      2. UNLEASHING CAPABILITIES
      3. FOSTERING RENEWAL
      4. DISTRIBUTING POWER
      5. SEEKING HARMONY
      6. RESHAPING MINDS
      7. GETTING BEYOND EITHER/OR
      8. GETTING STARTED
  12. APPENDIX: THE HALF MOON BAY “RENEGADE BRIGADE”
  13. NOTES
  14. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  15. About the Author
  16. INDEX

Product information

  • Title: What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: February 2012
  • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
  • ISBN: 9781118120828