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Uncommon Sense, Common Nonsense

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Uncommon Sense, Common Nonsense

Why Some Organisations Consistently Outperform Others

Profile Books,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Doing business as usual won’t help you survive.

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Traditional management principles are no longer effective in today’s business climate, which demands creativity and entrepreneurship. Jules Goddard of the London Business School and Tony Eccles of the Case Business School explain how your organization can make the changes necessary to remain competitive. In this intelligent, penetrating study of corporate behavior and performance, the British authors identify pivotal problems plaguing businesses today and offer practical solutions for facilitating responsive organizational change and development. They argue that traditional management principles stifle innovation and free thinking, and that corporate leaders must empower their employees and encourage risk-taking. getAbstract recommends their forward-looking ideas to leaders facing the need for change.

Summary

Winning Formula

No one can give you a uniform template for business success. The winning formula that makes one organization triumph offers no guarantee of victory for another. No universal theories govern competitive activities like business, athletics or chess. Instead, winning requires specific intelligence and execution. Success in business is a singular event, like a stunning piece of art or a scientific breakthrough. Intuition and perception generate strategy; rules and ideologies do not.

Entrepreneurship – the pursuit of something new and different – means going against the grain and ignoring your critics. Entrepreneurs exercising courage and persistence apply their unique ideas to develop innovative products and services. As innovation declines, their business falters. Shoot for being distinctive rather than trying to be better than the competition. Decisions that spring from established beliefs and generic strategies increase the possibility of mediocre results. Business leaders mistakenly see implementation as the crucial factor in success or failure. But implementation, like strategy, derives from having adaptable assumptions and theories.

The Danger...

About the Authors

Jules Goddard is a fellow of the London Business School’s Center for Management Development and an Academic Committee member at INSEAD’s Center for Executive Development. Tony Eccles is visiting professor of strategic management at Cass Business School, City University.

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    V. T. 8 years ago
    Irecommend this to business leaders.
  • Avatar
    G. G. 9 years ago
    Brilliant. I recommend this to business leaders.
  • Avatar
    O. A. 9 years ago
    I recommend this summary to anyone and everyone that is a part of the business world, especially to executives that may not have time to read the whole book.