Cambridge Business Association
Rogue Waves
Book

Rogue Waves

Future-Proof Your Business to Survive and Profit from Radical Change

Jonathan Brill
McGraw-Hill, 2021
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Applicable
  • Well Structured

Recommendation

Autopsies of failed businesses typically reveal a common fatal flaw: failure to recognize and prepare for future changes. Staying ahead of the curve is a difficult challenge, and many wildly successful organizations become obsolete because they can’t identify the warning signs – or they ignore them. Forward thinker Jonathan Brill offers a remarkably detailed, comprehensive approach to strategic readiness. His game plan can help your firm survive and thrive amid radical upheaval. Brill, who is Hewlett-Packard’s former Global Futurist and Research Director, demonstrates why resilience is priceless.

Summary

Batten down the hatches before a rogue wave sweeps your business away.

Even the grandest sea vessels can fall victim to rogue waves. Your business, likewise, may sail along unimpeded for years before an unexpected crisis arises and washes over you, destroying everything you built. In an increasingly unpredictable world of economic uncertainty, pandemics, political volatility and social activism, you must understand how to navigate inevitable waves of change to protect your company’s well-being.

Traditional business philosophies, such as Competitive Strategy and the Blue Ocean, no longer suffice. Today’s executives must prepare for sudden, unanticipated events that alter the landscape. To illustrate, eight of the top ten publicly traded American companies neglected to list pandemics as a risk factor in their SEC paperwork. Only Apple and CVS were smart enough to do so.

Organizations’ underlying assumptions often fall apart when the going gets tough. Never assume, for example, that short-term value guarantees security in the long run. Traditional thinking holds that organizations adjust from within, but modern...

About the Author

Jonathan Brill is a board member and advisor to the chairman at Frost & Sullivan. He is the former Global Futurist and Research Director at Hewlett-Packard

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