Shockproof: How to Hardwire Your Business for Lasting Success

Shockproof: How to Hardwire Your Business for Lasting Success

by Debra Jacobs, Garrett Sheridan, Juan Pablo González
Released December 2010
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9780470872543

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Book description

Reinvent your company to deliver sustained profitable growth.

As performance lags in the midst of economic cycles, many companies turn to magic bullets such as EVA, Kaizen, or Six Sigma. Unfortunately, these initiatives-along with how they're implemented-often deliver only short-term positive impact or cause more pain than the preexisting condition.

Returning to competitive health and profitability in the face of economic downturns requires a dynamic realignment of business strategies, organizational design, and talent management. Based on timely research conducted by Axiom Consulting Partners, Shockproof empowers and enables business leaders, owners and managers to make and maintain the necessary connection between strategies and organization to achieve sustainable performance.

  • Create an agile business that can rapidly reinvent itself as business conditions change

  • Foster leadership that knows how to mobilize people to execute and deliver results

  • Build a workforce that is adaptive, inherently innovative, and energized by the rewards of success

As priorities change and challenges arise throughout the ebbs and flows of the economic cycle, let Shockproof guide you to reinvent your company and deliver sustained profitable growth in good times and bad.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. Foreword
  3. Prologue: A Shockproof Future
  4. 1. Beware the Big Blue Catfish
    1. 1.1. Shockproof Elements: Leadership, Strategy, Organization, and Talent
      1. 1.1.1. Strategy
      2. 1.1.2. Organization
      3. 1.1.3. Talent
      4. 1.1.4. Leadership
    2. 1.2. The Shockproof Mind-Set and Capabilities
    3. 1.3. Connections and Calibrations
    4. 1.4. The Shockproof Difference in Action
      1. 1.4.1. Qualcomm Inc: Where Leaders Are Hardwired to Align Strategy with Organization and Talent
    5. 1.5. Winning Once Versus Being Shockproof
    6. 1.6. The Journey Begins
  5. 2. Headlines or Tombstones?
    1. 2.1. After A While, Crocodile . . .
    2. 2.2. Is It the Shoes?
    3. 2.3. Neither Snow nor Rain nor Heat nor Gloom of Night . . .
    4. 2.4. Fedex Delivers
    5. 2.5. Consultant, Heal Thyself
    6. 2.6. Could This Be You?
    7. 2.7. Glatfelter Goes Beyond Paper
    8. 2.8. Read Your Next Headline, Using Shockproof Lenses
    9. 2.9. The Future Is Now: Let's Get Started
  6. 3. Make Sure the Strategy Is "Not Wrong"
    1. 3.1. Economic Downturn Provides Juicy Opportunity
    2. 3.2. Leaders Who Create the Battle Plan Can Adapt the Battle Plan
    3. 3.3. Breaking Down versus Breaking Out
    4. 3.4. Strategy IQ Meets Execution IQ
    5. 3.5. Make Sure the Strategy Is "Not Wrong," and Make It Stick
    6. 3.6. Making Technology More Than an Afterthought
    7. 3.7. Knowing When to Hit Reboot: Every Strategy Has a Shelf Life
    8. 3.8. Not Wrong, Not Perfect, but Close Enough
  7. 4. Beyond boxes and Lines
    1. 4.1. Nurse, Scalpel Please
    2. 4.2. Seeing Beyond the Chart
    3. 4.3. Shockproof Organization Design
    4. 4.4. An Early Warning Sign Triggers Significant Organizational Change
    5. 4.5. What's the Work That Needs to Get Done?
    6. 4.6. Trading Up
    7. 4.7. Diagnosing Organization Design Issues the Shockproof Way
      1. 4.7.1. Take the Time to Unwind
      2. 4.7.2. Try Looking from the Outside In
      3. 4.7.3. Respect the "Emotional Chart," but Don't Be a Slave to It
      4. 4.7.4. Rome Wasn't Built in a Day
      5. 4.7.5. Not All Work Is Created Equal
      6. 4.7.6. Be Careful What You Measure
      7. 4.7.7. Know Where the Buck Stops
      8. 4.7.8. Checks and Balances
  8. 5. Carbon Paper? Really?!
    1. 5.1. Talent Acquisition: The People Who Got You Here Won't Get You There
    2. 5.2. Talent Deployment: Right People, Right Place, Right Time
    3. 5.3. Talent Development
    4. 5.4. Shockproof Rewards Try the Veal—or, How Can the Food Be So Good and The Service So Bad?
      1. 5.4.1. The Case for Shockproof Rewards
    5. 5.5. How To Think About Rewards
    6. 5.6. Making the Most of Your Most Valuable Resource
  9. 6. Connections and Calibrations
    1. 6.1. Shockproof Companies Maintain the Ready Position
    2. 6.2. Shock Happens. It's the Response That Counts
    3. 6.3. Dynamic Adjustments Build Muscle Memory
    4. 6.4. Serving an Ace
      1. 6.4.1. Alignment's Competitive Edge
    5. 6.5. You Can't Lip-Synch Success
    6. 6.6. The Five Cs of Alignment in Shockproof Companies
      1. 6.6.1. A Thirst for Growth: The Five Cs in Action
    7. 6.7. Zooming in on the Five Cs of Shockproof Alignment
      1. 6.7.1. Clarify
        1. 6.7.1.1. Zooming Out to Clarify
        2. 6.7.1.2. I Think I Lost You. Wait . . . Wait . . . Can You Hear Me Now?
        3. 6.7.1.3. Creating Clarity and Alignment versus Declaring It
      2. 6.7.2. Collaborate
      3. 6.7.3. Cultivate
        1. 6.7.3.1. Culture Change at "Big Blue"
      4. 6.7.4. Concentrate
      5. 6.7.5. Calibrate
        1. 6.7.5.1. For Every Zig There's a Zag
  10. 7. Be the Leader You Seek
    1. 7.1. Only Leaders Can Align
    2. 7.2. Polish Your Lenses
    3. 7.3. The Extra Power of Shockproof Lenses
    4. 7.4. The Systems Lens: Do You See What I See?
      1. 7.4.1. Three Focal Points of the Systems Lens
      2. 7.4.2. A Systems Lens Tale
    5. 7.5. The Value Lens: Cutting to the Core
      1. 7.5.1. Three Focal Points of the Value Lens
      2. 7.5.2. A Value Lens Tale
    6. 7.6. The Change Lens: Nothing Will Bring Back the Hour
      1. 7.6.1. Three Focal Points of the Change Lens
      2. 7.6.2. A Change Lens Tale
    7. 7.7. The Interpersonal Lens: Advocacy and Inquiry
      1. 7.7.1. Three Focal Points of the Interpersonal Lens
      2. 7.7.2. An Interpersonal Lens Tale
    8. 7.8. The Self-Awareness Lens: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
      1. 7.8.1. Three Focal Points of the Self-Awareness Lens
      2. 7.8.2. A Self-Awareness Lens Tale
    9. 7.9. Are You Beginning to See Things More Clearly?
    10. 7.10. Sweating the Way Up the Performance Chart
    11. 7.11. The Shockproof Leader Difference
  11. 8. Pass the Salt
  12. Notes
    1. Chapter 1
    2. Chapter 2
    3. Chapter 3
    4. Chapter 4
    5. Chapter 5
    6. Chapter 6
    7. Chapter 7
  13. Acknowledgments

Product information

  • Title: Shockproof: How to Hardwire Your Business for Lasting Success
  • Author(s): Debra Jacobs, Garrett Sheridan, Juan Pablo González
  • Release date: December 2010
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9780470872543