My Review 4/5

This book is a look at the ways emerging companies can expand their reach to ‘breakthrough’ the next level. Unfortunately I came away feeling that “big bets” were the cornerstone of this approach. Just as a poker player can go all in and double his chips so too can companies risk everything on something new. However at risk is the very company and as such I much preferred Blue Ocean Strategy as a mechanism for identifying the next strategic focus.

Frankly. I rated this book a 4/5 instead of 3/5 because the narrative reminded me of Business Adventures and was a fun listen. Two of the firms were of particular interest to me: Paychex and Intuit. There are variety of concepts that are good to remember, listed below.

Quarterly strategy “advance” meetings - bring in all levels of the organization to get a fuller picture of your strategy. Don’t just set it and forget it. Must be followed with action and accountability.

Crown the company - great leaders know the vision is bigger than the person. Making a company a place where employees WANT to work is far more important than fiefdoms.

Build the culture - building a company that outlast a visionary is key. This has been covered in more depth with Built to Last

Place big bets - The key to capturing more revenue is placing layering bets. However as noted above. I think Blue Ocean Strategy explains better this effect.

Grooming ‘in’-sultants - don’t disregard the voices of the internal debate

Loyalty vs Liability - as the firm grows make sure your people receive the necessary training to succeed in this new environment. Remember being loyal to an employee can hamper the growth of an organization.

Date Read

2017/02/27

Date Added

2017/02/21

Goodreads book information

The Breakthrough Company: How Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performers by Keith R. Mcfarland

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7975395

Bookshelves: business

Author’s Note

Initial md Generated using https://github.com/jsr6720/goodreads-csv-to-md

Keith R. Mcfarland, The Breakthrough Company: How Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performers, Random House Audio 2008 (Audio CD)1

Significant revisions

tags: 2017, book, review, Mcfarland, business

  • Apr 22nd, 2024 Converted to jekyll markdown format and copied to personal site
  • Feb 27th, 2017 Originally published on goodreads

EOF/Footnotes

  1. ISBN: =”0739358537” ↩