McKinsey & Company are about the only one among large consulting organisations that seem to understand the new world of business, one where Digital has completely and permanently changed the rules. They are famous for the quality of their thinking. Almost as much as for the high price of their services, which makes them inaccessible to all but a handful of the richest companies and governments.
Their advice is about to get a bit more accessible, thanks to the imminent launch of a new book, Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick, which promises to show CEOs how to beat the odds with a bold strategy.
Mining the data from thousands of large companies, McKinsey Partners Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt and Sven Smit open the windows of the strategy room, and bring an outside view. They have found three discrete groups of companies: the bottom quintile with massive economic losses; the long, flat, middle 60 percent with practically no economic profit; and the top 20 percent to whom all the value accrues.
According to the authors, there is an empirically–backed science to improve your odds of success, most importantly by making a few big moves.
To make these big moves happen, you’re going to have to break through inertia, gamesmanship and risk aversion. You’re going to have to mitigate human biases and manage group dynamics. Eight practical shifts can help you do this, and unlock bigger, bolder, better strategies.
This is not another by–the–book approach to strategy. It’s not another trudge through frameworks or small-scale case studies promising a secret formula for success. It’s an irreverent, fact-driven, and humorous take on the real world of strategic decision-making.
I have already preordered Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick. I recommend you do the same.
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