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From: Robert Morris (a "Top 50 Reviewer" for Amazon ) - June, 2007
The power of "a radically compelling value proposition, hard economic logic, and fast efficient execution"
One the most formidable challenges most organizations now face is how to differentiate themselves from the competition, especially at a time when customers have more choices and more control of the purchase decision, and when, as Oren Harari observes, "In every industry, a very small number of organizations are fast, fit, healthy, and clearly at the forefront. They are followed by a few pretty good wannabes nipping at their heels. These groups are clearly ahead of `the pack' - that large, undifferentiated bulk of companies of all shapes and sizes that don't stand out and don't draw the kind of positive attention from customers and investors that they'd like."
Harari focuses in this book on how to break away from - and then stay ahead of -- "the pack" and thereby thrive in what will probably continue to be a "Copycat Economy," even as a process of natural selection seems to eliminate faster than ever before those organizations that are unwilling and/or unable to adapt to new (albeit painful) realities in their competitive environment. Throughout Harari's narrative, his emphasis is always on "how" and, when appropriate, he includes a brief explanation to establish a context within which he shares insight and recommended action items.
All of those organizations that succeed in breaking from a given pack understand the power of "a radically compelling value proposition, hard economic logic, and fast efficient execution." Each involves a mix of entrepreneurial spirit, foresight, and discretion as well as prudence. Harari characterizes that mix as "calculated reinvention." With regard to the first, "a radically compelling value proposition," Harari introduces "Curious, Cool and Crazy/Calculated Reinvention Launch Pads" in Part I that can propel almost any organization in six strategic directions. For example, "Dominate or Leave" which makes sense if an organization does not have both domination and profitability. How to know that? Harari points out that no company can "be all and do all" profitably. For sustained competitive advantage (and for breaking from the pack), companies must determine which markets and value propositions they can dominate (be the best at, be the benchmark for innovation, be the ones that set the agenda for the industry), and then avoid or exit those they can't. He also emphasizes the need for metrics for measurement that revolve around profit as well as organic growth rate, customer retention rate, and rate of retention of most valuable employees.
The importance of "hard economic logic" is especially important when M&A activities are involved. In Chapter Ten, "Consolidate for Cool," Harari identifies and then examines eight reasons why M&As fail (Pages 230-237) and eight motives which have made M&A "the number-one `go to' growth strategy for many executives despite the fact that a high percentage (estimates range from 65%-80%) either fail or fall far short of expectations. Many readers will especially appreciate Harari's "6-T Blueprint" for determining whether or not a proposed consolidation meets all six of the criteria specified (Pages 241-246). Obviously, if a proposed consolidation is rejected, it may still make sense to forge a strategic alliance with the given organization. Harari concludes the chapter by sharing some sound advice from a Ben McCleary, a former lead investment banker at Lehman Brothers and currently a partner at Seaview Capital.
"The 6-T is hard to quantify, [McCleary] says, which can open it up to potential abuse or disregard. But, he continues, if you read the 6T Blueprint in the privacy of your office or home, think carefully about your motives and options, look in the mirror, and then ask yourself `Is this deal the right thing to do?', then you just might make the right decision that will truly help your organization break from the pack."
As for "fast efficient execution," Harari examines the importance of "tornado speed" in an earlier book, Beep! Beep! He and co-author Chip Bell offer some truly valuable insights into major business subjects such as effective leadership, "competing in the terrain of the future," collaborative "flocking" (as opposed to mindless regimentation), strategic uses of speed, flexibility and adaptability, the power of having an "honorable culture, "the "magic" of curiosity and innovation, and the importance of joy (as opposed to pleasure). I especially appreciate the inclusion of several dozen boxed items (e.g. "Birdseed") that supplement (indeed nourish) the narrative. In Break from the Pack, Harari reiterates the importance of speed, agility, and flexibility, and what he calls "strategy on the run"; these are attributes that break-from-the-pack organizations use to capitalize on fleeting market opportunities.
I am among those who agree with Harari's comments about dominance. For example, that two or more organizations can be dominant within the same competitive marketplace (whatever it may be) if - huge "if"--each of them sustains sufficient profit margins, continues to avoid or eliminate waste, and maintains a high retention level of both (profitable) customers and (valued) employees. It takes courage as well as determination to eliminate whatever and whoever weakens performance in any one of them.
Tom Peters has described the business world as "a brawl with no rules" and there is some truth in that but, as Oren Harari explains so brilliantly, there are values as well as strategies and tactics to break away from the pack and that can be a noble achievement because it helps an organization to provide itself and all of its stakeholders with "the joy and reward that come with being on the leading edge."
From: Kirkus Reviews - May 2, 2006
An original and fun guide to sustaining a competitive advantage in today’s copycat economy.
Through entertaining chapters with names like “Welcome to Commodity Hell,” “Consolidate for Cool,” and “The Madonna Effect and the Willie Nelson Principle: The Power of Calculated Re-Invention,” business professor Harari takes you on a fascinating ride to find out how to stay ahead of the pack. He demonstrates what makes companies like Google, GE, Starbucks, Apple, Wal-Mart and Toyota so successful, as well as cutting-edge businesses like Sirius Satellite Radio, Whole Foods, Pixar, Ikea, Jet Blue and Netflix. To stay ahead in today’s market, it’s imperative that businesses be fresh, innovative and compelling. Clinging to old habits and methods, Harari argues, can be deadly. In straightforward terms, this book teaches readers how to create the “strategic audacity,” “organizational lunacy” and disciplined leadership that every company needs to succeed.
No matter how big or small your business, this important guide can help you win higher profit margins, stock values, market buzz and customer loyalty.
From: Publishers Weekly - June 19, 2006
More often than not, companies face the challenge of differentiating themselves from each other - a tricky process, but one that can be accomplished through careful planning, Harari promises. Focusing on exposure and profitability, he proposes a four-pronged process for moving into the lead, including having a contrarian mindset, a willingness to cast aside perceptions, exceptional follow-through and disciplined focus, and integrity and courage. While acknowledging that it's easy to be ahead one moment and behind the next, he also observes that if your products become irrelevant, then your company will, too. To avoid that fate, he points to the Madonna Effect, reasoning that the pop star has had such a sustainable career because she has continually reinvented herself for two decades, and that regularly reinventing your business can provide similar effects for your company. He also advocates the Willie Nelson Principle: jumping in front of a movement that is already successful, re-creating it for your own advantage and leading from there. While he isn't alone in his major emphasis that "to break from the pack, you must dominate some significant area of the market" his primer offers many useful, concrete tools for doing it.
From: BetterManagement - February, 2007
Everywhere, products are being commoditized, services are being imitated, and traditional barriers to market entry are collapsing. To sustain competitive advantage in today's Copycat Economy, companies must break from the pack. This book will show how. Oren Harari starts by touring "Commodity Hell," and identifying 10 common mistakes that keep companies trapped in the pack. Next, Harari introduces six strategies for propelling your organization where competitors can't follow.Learn how to dominate markets (and when to leave them); how to create a "higher cause" that will mobilize stakeholders; and how to build a pipeline of cool, compelling products, in any industry. Harari reveals new ways to takecustomers far beyond mere "satisfaction," and shows how to innovate in even the most prosaic areas ofa business. Learn how to avoid destructive mergers, and buy what really matters: talent, imagination, foresight, speed, rebelliousness, and inspiration. Finally, Harari offers a candid "12 Step" program for transformingleadership behavior to lead the charge -- and leave competitors in the dust.
From: Craig Matteson (a "Top 100 Reviewer" for Amazon ) - September, 2006
Why stay back in the pack getting nowhere slowly when you can be out front?
Harold Rosenberg's famous shot at his fellow New York intellectuals as "a herd of independent minds" has been usefully applied to almost every kind of grouping people make for themselves. It is as true of teenagers in their conformist non-conformist fashions, college students in their uniform way of becoming independent from the parents whose money they use to fund this process, and it is also true of business people.
Why is this so? Maybe part of it is similar to the behavior of herds of animals that live around predators. Staying in the herd increases your chance of survival. Wandering off through carelessness or being too slow or ill leads to becoming someone's lunch. However, in human activity that is often competitive, it is staying in the herd that can lead the immutable laws of economics to allocate your resources elsewhere and you starve to death.
Oren Harari opens the book describing his observations of a long distance race. The first group was about three people who were fit, full of energy, and alone. In back of them was a slightly larger group that was huffing and puffing trying to catch up to the first group that was setting the pace. Then came the huge pack - the herd - who were plodding, sweating, and straining to simply not trip over each other. Finally, a smaller group brought up the rear who were having a good time walking along, but made no pretence of even being in the race in any meaningful way. This is quite an apt metaphor for competing in business.
This book provides interesting perspectives on ways you can rethink your company's position in the marketplace and get into that front group and leave the big pack behind. Obviously, you will have to do things differently than the way "everyone else does it". It will make you uncomfortable and being that alone may make you fear being noticed and eaten. But it is in the pack that the competitive business faces the most danger.
After framing his argument in the prologue, Harari divides the rest of his book into three parts. The first is resisting the pull of the pack. He describes "commodity hell" and how living in the copycat economy is a form of doom. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on "how to lose". He explains ten compulsions we face that keep us mired in the pack stepping on each other's toes breathing bad air. His founding principles for success are based on continuous and calculated reinvention and being curious, cool, and crazy in order to build a culture of disciplined lunacy. Good stuff.
Part II provides a series of six chapters on how to break from the pack. Dominate of leave (which does not necessarily mean being the biggest in the industry), putting the pieces together for a higher cause (which involves the customer as well as your employees), build a defiant pipeline (of products and services - this involves leading the marketplace rather than waiting and reacting), taking your customer to an impossible place (a very interesting notion of the level of expectations and exceeding them in a certain way), take innovation underground (your innovation has to be in your processes and in back of the house, as well. But EVERYTHING has to be for the effect it has on the customer, not for some vague notions of cost cutting or some program), and consolidate for cool (not accounting benefits).
The third part is a chapter on a 12 step recovery program so you can become the Leader of the Pack and an epilogue.
I really enjoyed the thinking in this book and the way the author illustrated his points. He uses good case illustrations from real world companies. And I was actually thrilled in his insistence of focusing on PROFITS rather than being distracted by other measures. You can increase your revenues and lose money. You can increase market share and lose money. You can do lots of things including manipulating your accounting and lose actual money. However, if you are actually making money, good things happen to your company, to your company culture, and to everything else you do.
This is quite an enjoyable book for those of us who are interested in business and what it takes to win in the marketplace. Why slog it out when you can be out front where the air is good and no one is stepping on your feet?
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