Managing at the Leading Edge: Navigating and Piloting Business Strategy at Critical Moments

Introduction

Wind and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigator.

—EDMUND GIBBON

We live in an exciting time of great change and opportunity. Technology, globalization, and demographic shifts provide new potential for personal and business success. Yet, research tells that only 30 percent of our attempts to implement change succeed amid the turbulence we encounter both within and outside today’s organizations. We need new ways of thinking and doing if we are to turn unrealized potential reflected in the statistics we cited into performance. We find inspiration for a new way of thinking and doing in an unusual place.

Let us imagine that you are a ship’s captain in the 1700s. Between you and the riches of discovery and trade lies a vast ...