Breakthrough: How Great Companies Set Outrageous Objectives and Achieve Them - Hardcover

Davidson, Bill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471454400 ISBN 13: 9780471454403

Publisher: Wiley, 2003

Synopsis

Breakthrough will help executives lead their teams to peerless, unsurpassed performance by helping them define a grand goal and engage the organization to pursue and achieve that goal, no matter how difficult the challenge seems. Based on a ten–year landmark study of more than seventy bold, breakthrough companies such as IBM, Dayton–Hudson, Progressive Insurance, EMC, American Standard, Charles Schwab, and Dell Computer, the book shows how these remarkable companies adopted outrageous objectives and then did what it takes to achieve remarkable results.

About this title

Review

Walking in the footsteps of Jim Collins′s business bestseller Good to Great, Davidson (The Amazing Race) offers a prescription for corporate greatness based on his study of more than 7 high–performing companies. But while Good to Great focused on lesser–known firms, this volume looks to blue chips like IBM, Dell, Schwab, Caterpillar and ADS. Davidson′s premise is that "breakthrough" companies achieve what they do by setting outrageous objectives and pursuing them with single–minded intensity. The go–for–broke, swing–for–the–bleachers approach that he favors means that there are plenty of intriguing innovations on display. For example, Progressive Insurance vowed to deliver the fastest claim resolution to auto policyholders and–taking that idea to its "outrageous" conclusion – broke the industry mold by putting claims agents in vans, ready to go at a moment′s notice to meet a customer at the scene of an accident. However, the emphasis here is not on storytelling but on building a case for the "breakthrough" approach that can apply to the reader′s own business. What′s most impressive is that the companies cited are by and large established players who′ve radically transformed their operations, rather than startups that begin with a "clean slate." Overall, Davidson′s argument is credible and logical; the trouble is, it′s a little too familiar. So much has been written about corporate transformations through technology or re–engineering during and after the Internet bubble that it′s hard to muster a sense of excitement or discovery. In the end, this is a worthy title, but one that lacks the "breakthrough" spark of visionary thinking to take it to the next level. (Nov.) ( Publishers Weekly, November 3, 2003)

From the Back Cover

"Teams that embrace bold goals and breakthrough strategies can accomplish remarkable results. This book will be invaluable to anyone embarking on that path."
Bart Butzer
Executive Vice President, Target Corporation

"Yellow’s continued industry leadership will result in large part from embracing Bill Davidson’s philosophy and approach."
Bill Zollars
CEO, Yellow Corporation

"Strategic change is a high–risk, high–return proposition. Davidson’s framework provides a sure, firm foundation for success."
Roger MacFarlane
CEO, UTi Worldwide

"This is a serious piece of work which should be required reading for all business leaders. If you plan on remaining or becoming number one in your industry, have your top management team read this right away."
Bob Herson
CEO, Executive Focus International, Inc.

"I could not put it down stunning insights into corporate strategy and tactics."
Randall Lunn
General Partner, Palomar Ventures

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0471454400
• ISBN 13: 9780471454403
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256