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Practically Radical: Not-So-Crazy Ways to Transform Your Company, Shake Up Your Industry, and Challenge Yourself – Innovation Ideas for Business Leaders
“The most powerful and instructive change manual you’ll ever read. It will persuade and inspire you to change your business, your work, and maybe your life.” —Daniel H. Pink, bestselling author of A Whole New Mind
In Practically Radical, William C. Taylor, the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mavericks at Work offers a refreshing, rigorous new look at pragmatic ways to shake things up and make positive change in difficult times.
Exploring how twenty-five for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations—including IBM, Zappos, Swatch, the Girl Scouts, and Interpol—made remarkable strides in tough circumstances, Practically Radical raises (and answers) the make-or-break questions facing today's leaders in every
Do you see opportunities the competition doesn't see? The most successful organizations embrace one-of-a-kind ideas in a world filled with "me-too" thinking.Do you have new ideas about where to look for new ideas? Routine practices in one field can be revolutionary when they migrate to another.Are you the most of anything? In business today, the middle of the road is the road to ruin.Are you getting the best contributions from the most people? Change is not a game best played by loners.Anything but your typical business book, Practically Radical is a must-own for small business owners and CEOs, for managers at all levels, and innovators and entrepreneurs of every stripe.
In Practically Radical, William C. Taylor, the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mavericks at Work offers a refreshing, rigorous new look at pragmatic ways to shake things up and make positive change in difficult times.
Exploring how twenty-five for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations—including IBM, Zappos, Swatch, the Girl Scouts, and Interpol—made remarkable strides in tough circumstances, Practically Radical raises (and answers) the make-or-break questions facing today's leaders in every
Do you see opportunities the competition doesn't see? The most successful organizations embrace one-of-a-kind ideas in a world filled with "me-too" thinking.Do you have new ideas about where to look for new ideas? Routine practices in one field can be revolutionary when they migrate to another.Are you the most of anything? In business today, the middle of the road is the road to ruin.Are you getting the best contributions from the most people? Change is not a game best played by loners.Anything but your typical business book, Practically Radical is a must-own for small business owners and CEOs, for managers at all levels, and innovators and entrepreneurs of every stripe.
325 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 15, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
October 24, 2011
This is fine as a pop management book looking at a lot of companies, plus some nonprofits and government entities, that found success doing things differently. Some of the examples Taylor offers are actually pretty interesting. Zappos has been written about plenty already, but it really is an interesting company that puts customer service above all else, with stellar results. Also intriguing are the software firm Rite-Solutions, which developed an internal stock market of ideas to tap into the creative genius of its workforce, and Ryanair Airlines, which is cutting every last ounce of fat from air travel -- including window shades -- to keep tickets dirt cheap.
But Practically Radical reads like a bunch of stitched-together feature stories from Taylor's magazine Fast Company -- which is probably what it is. Taylor is also endlessly effusive and breathless about the genius of each of the execs he profiles. His ass-kissing does get old -- and dated. Reed Hastings of Netflix, praised through much of the book, has plenty of egg on his face of late for bungling Netflix's price increases and then the "Qwikster" spin-off debacle. Genius doesn't always last long in the business world.
Taylor doesn't dive particularly deeply with any company, which is probably necessary given how much he jumps around. Still, the reader loses out on context behind why a company like Zappos has done so well emphasizing customer service, while Ryanair has done well doing the exact opposite in the name of cutting costs. Of course, it has something to do with the economics of airline travel, but Taylor doesn't explain that. For him, it's just another case of a company doing something TOTALLY RADICAL and having tremendous success.
What about companies and organizations that tried something radical and spectacularly failed? How do they differ from the examples in this book? We don't know, since Taylor has opted for a superficial, laudatory snapshot only of success stories. It's entertaining, for the most part. But instructive? Not so much.
But Practically Radical reads like a bunch of stitched-together feature stories from Taylor's magazine Fast Company -- which is probably what it is. Taylor is also endlessly effusive and breathless about the genius of each of the execs he profiles. His ass-kissing does get old -- and dated. Reed Hastings of Netflix, praised through much of the book, has plenty of egg on his face of late for bungling Netflix's price increases and then the "Qwikster" spin-off debacle. Genius doesn't always last long in the business world.
Taylor doesn't dive particularly deeply with any company, which is probably necessary given how much he jumps around. Still, the reader loses out on context behind why a company like Zappos has done so well emphasizing customer service, while Ryanair has done well doing the exact opposite in the name of cutting costs. Of course, it has something to do with the economics of airline travel, but Taylor doesn't explain that. For him, it's just another case of a company doing something TOTALLY RADICAL and having tremendous success.
What about companies and organizations that tried something radical and spectacularly failed? How do they differ from the examples in this book? We don't know, since Taylor has opted for a superficial, laudatory snapshot only of success stories. It's entertaining, for the most part. But instructive? Not so much.
January 26, 2019
As the other readers reviewed this book is full of real world examples that very good and useful ,by the way i found some advices about backing to humanity values to find the profits in our business .
نويسنده كتاب صاحب امتياز مجله شركتهاي سريع است،كتاب سراسر مثال هايي از نحوه رشد شركتهاي حال حاضر همه نقاط جهان است و نكته هايي جالب از استفاده از مشتريان براي نوآوري ،همان شاه كليد همه تجربه هاي تجاري در اين قرن
نويسنده كتاب صاحب امتياز مجله شركتهاي سريع است،كتاب سراسر مثال هايي از نحوه رشد شركتهاي حال حاضر همه نقاط جهان است و نكته هايي جالب از استفاده از مشتريان براي نوآوري ،همان شاه كليد همه تجربه هاي تجاري در اين قرن
December 19, 2017
The Appendix is the most valuable part of the book. A tremendous amount of research was done for the book and the "real world" stories are excellent. Tough to slog thru in the middle, but the questions posed in the Appendix make up for it. Recommended for any leader looking for the way to innovate into the next 10 years.
September 14, 2016
In ''Practically Radical'', William Taylor, co-founder of the magazine ''Fast Company'', presents a diverse set of case studies, from police departments to hospitals, from start-ups that can only exist because of crowdfunding to established industry giants such as IBM that use open innovation to define their future. From these case studies, he draws some general lessons about change management and leadership. These lessons are grouped together in 3 different categories:
- Transforming Your Company
- Shaking Up Your Industry
- Challenging yourself
TRANSFORMING YOUR COMPANY: 5 Truths of Corporate Transformation.
Taylor argues that there are 2 sources of inspiration for transforming your company: A company's history and other sectors. He especially stresses several times that to be innovative, you don't have to ignore your past. On the contrary, a company's past can be both an inspiration for new ideas and a guide or compass for a company's culture and values. To see the future with new eyes you don't have to close your eyes to the past.
Besides from a company's past, inspiration can also come from other sectors. Some of the best sources of new ideas are ideas that are already tried and tested in other sectors.
In order to find those 2 sources of inspiration, you have to know where to look: What you want to change depends on what you see, what you see depends on where you look. Asking questions can be an excellent way to check is you are looking in the right places. Taylor gives several examples: What do you see what other companies don't see? How would you see your company and sector if you were to see it for the first time? What aren't we doing what we should be doing? What should we stop doing immediately?
Note that the specific questions are less important than the general thought behind them, which should be to challenge conventional wisdom.
Five Truths of Corporate Transformation:
1. Tunnel vision. Note that often experiences can be an obstacle to innovation.
2. Benchmarking only to companies in your own sector can strengthen tunnel vision. Learn from innovators in other sectors!
3. The past can be an inspiration for the future.
4. Taylor proposes a framework very similar to B. Quinn's ''Defying Doom'' framework:
- What's the Story?
- Who's on board?
- Getting things done
5. Never stop learning. The best leaders are tireless learners.
SHAKING UP YOUR INDUSTRY: 5 New Rules for Starting Something New.
''Good enough in everything'' and ''the middle of the road'' are no longer working. Note that if you want to please everybody, you are likely to end up being mediocre. So you have to be the best in something. Those companies that see a different game-plan are the ones who will really win.
Five New Rules for Starting Something New:
1. True innovators make sure they are the best in something.
2. Being the best in something doesn't mean that you can't do different things. E.g. You may use your core competencies to shift to other product categories or enter new markets.
3. Success has 2 ingredients: Thinking better, more and differently + empathy. Make sure you really connect with customers and employees.
4. We are not just rational agents. You have to win your customers both rationally and emotionally.
5. Creating something new doesn't necessarily mean creating a new company.
CHALLENGING YOURSELF: 5 Habits of Highly Humbitious Leaders.
Taylor argues that it is time for a new kind of leadership style. The 20th century know-it-all authoritarian decision maker should be getting out of fashion. Taylor proposes a new kind of leadership style, which he calls HUMBITION.
Humbition = Humility + Ambition.
To be honest, Humbition sounds a lot like Jim Collins' ''Level 5 Leader'' concept. Also, Humbition is very similar to some of the things Dov Seidman is saying in ''How''. Seidman argues that leaders should shift from ''direct and control'' to ''share and collaborate''.
Note that it is likely that success is a combination of luck, being surrounded by great people and having access to brilliant ideas.
Although he doesn't use the buzzwords themselves, in this context Taylor is talking about crowd-sourcing and open innovation. Part of his new leadership mentality is that leaders must not pretend to know it all, but that they instead obtain the best ideas from many people. Leaders must therefore create environments where people can express their ideas. Note that Gary Hamel in ''Leading the Revolution'' makes a similar point (Note that both Collins' and Hamel's books were published a decade before this one was). Some of the best case studies of the book strengthen this point: IBM's information jam, the ideas-stock-market at Rite-Solutions, the crowdfunding by shoe designer John Fluevog.
The case I enjoyed most was also related to this: Threadless, a on-line company that sells T shirts that can be designed by anybody: Anybody can go to Threadless website and post his/her design. Next step: Anybody can go to the website and vote for the proposed designs. The most voted designs are evaluated by Threadless employees and then brought into production in limited edition.
Five Habits of Highly Humbitious Leaders:
1. Real business geniuses don't pretend to know it all. The best ideas can come from the most unexpected places.
2. The community doesn't only generate ideas, but also evaluates them.
3. Obviously not all ideas are good. How do you reject the bad ones without creating bad blood?
4. Give and take. If you expect that your community shares its ideas with you, then you should also be willing to share your ideas with others.
5. Humbition can be applied to both people and companies.
This book is a good read: Great case studies from diverse backgrounds that lead to a collection of lessons that make sense. Some lessons also make sense because others have mentioned them before. Some obvious examples I mentioned earlier: Humbition looks a lot like Collins Level 5 Leader, Hamel argued 10 years earlier that leaders should create environments where people can express their ideas. Because of this, and because several case studies are about companies that are now household names, reading the book in 2016 means that it probably doesn't feel as original as it did when it was published in 2011.
- Transforming Your Company
- Shaking Up Your Industry
- Challenging yourself
TRANSFORMING YOUR COMPANY: 5 Truths of Corporate Transformation.
Taylor argues that there are 2 sources of inspiration for transforming your company: A company's history and other sectors. He especially stresses several times that to be innovative, you don't have to ignore your past. On the contrary, a company's past can be both an inspiration for new ideas and a guide or compass for a company's culture and values. To see the future with new eyes you don't have to close your eyes to the past.
Besides from a company's past, inspiration can also come from other sectors. Some of the best sources of new ideas are ideas that are already tried and tested in other sectors.
In order to find those 2 sources of inspiration, you have to know where to look: What you want to change depends on what you see, what you see depends on where you look. Asking questions can be an excellent way to check is you are looking in the right places. Taylor gives several examples: What do you see what other companies don't see? How would you see your company and sector if you were to see it for the first time? What aren't we doing what we should be doing? What should we stop doing immediately?
Note that the specific questions are less important than the general thought behind them, which should be to challenge conventional wisdom.
Five Truths of Corporate Transformation:
1. Tunnel vision. Note that often experiences can be an obstacle to innovation.
2. Benchmarking only to companies in your own sector can strengthen tunnel vision. Learn from innovators in other sectors!
3. The past can be an inspiration for the future.
4. Taylor proposes a framework very similar to B. Quinn's ''Defying Doom'' framework:
- What's the Story?
- Who's on board?
- Getting things done
5. Never stop learning. The best leaders are tireless learners.
SHAKING UP YOUR INDUSTRY: 5 New Rules for Starting Something New.
''Good enough in everything'' and ''the middle of the road'' are no longer working. Note that if you want to please everybody, you are likely to end up being mediocre. So you have to be the best in something. Those companies that see a different game-plan are the ones who will really win.
Five New Rules for Starting Something New:
1. True innovators make sure they are the best in something.
2. Being the best in something doesn't mean that you can't do different things. E.g. You may use your core competencies to shift to other product categories or enter new markets.
3. Success has 2 ingredients: Thinking better, more and differently + empathy. Make sure you really connect with customers and employees.
4. We are not just rational agents. You have to win your customers both rationally and emotionally.
5. Creating something new doesn't necessarily mean creating a new company.
CHALLENGING YOURSELF: 5 Habits of Highly Humbitious Leaders.
Taylor argues that it is time for a new kind of leadership style. The 20th century know-it-all authoritarian decision maker should be getting out of fashion. Taylor proposes a new kind of leadership style, which he calls HUMBITION.
Humbition = Humility + Ambition.
To be honest, Humbition sounds a lot like Jim Collins' ''Level 5 Leader'' concept. Also, Humbition is very similar to some of the things Dov Seidman is saying in ''How''. Seidman argues that leaders should shift from ''direct and control'' to ''share and collaborate''.
Note that it is likely that success is a combination of luck, being surrounded by great people and having access to brilliant ideas.
Although he doesn't use the buzzwords themselves, in this context Taylor is talking about crowd-sourcing and open innovation. Part of his new leadership mentality is that leaders must not pretend to know it all, but that they instead obtain the best ideas from many people. Leaders must therefore create environments where people can express their ideas. Note that Gary Hamel in ''Leading the Revolution'' makes a similar point (Note that both Collins' and Hamel's books were published a decade before this one was). Some of the best case studies of the book strengthen this point: IBM's information jam, the ideas-stock-market at Rite-Solutions, the crowdfunding by shoe designer John Fluevog.
The case I enjoyed most was also related to this: Threadless, a on-line company that sells T shirts that can be designed by anybody: Anybody can go to Threadless website and post his/her design. Next step: Anybody can go to the website and vote for the proposed designs. The most voted designs are evaluated by Threadless employees and then brought into production in limited edition.
Five Habits of Highly Humbitious Leaders:
1. Real business geniuses don't pretend to know it all. The best ideas can come from the most unexpected places.
2. The community doesn't only generate ideas, but also evaluates them.
3. Obviously not all ideas are good. How do you reject the bad ones without creating bad blood?
4. Give and take. If you expect that your community shares its ideas with you, then you should also be willing to share your ideas with others.
5. Humbition can be applied to both people and companies.
This book is a good read: Great case studies from diverse backgrounds that lead to a collection of lessons that make sense. Some lessons also make sense because others have mentioned them before. Some obvious examples I mentioned earlier: Humbition looks a lot like Collins Level 5 Leader, Hamel argued 10 years earlier that leaders should create environments where people can express their ideas. Because of this, and because several case studies are about companies that are now household names, reading the book in 2016 means that it probably doesn't feel as original as it did when it was published in 2011.
Read
January 26, 2019It's one of those books that teaches you to think outside the box with lots of examples: Henry Ford learned from a slaughterhouse and invented the factory pipeline; A bunch of hospital employees were sent to a Japanese car manufacturer and learned about just-in-time manufacturing which helped them significantly improve test result waiting time (among other things).
But if you want to read outside the box for once, here is a story that caught my attention. Pedigree is a dog food manufacturer. They are being squeezed by high-end dog food from the top and low-price competitors from the bottom. What did their advertisement agency told them to do? Nothing -- to their product. They started a campaign to position themselves as a brand that loves dog by allowing employees to bring in dogs at work. This type of putting old wine in new bottle even has a name: vuja de. Bravo Pedigree. I'm feeding my dog chicken legs now.
But if you want to read outside the box for once, here is a story that caught my attention. Pedigree is a dog food manufacturer. They are being squeezed by high-end dog food from the top and low-price competitors from the bottom. What did their advertisement agency told them to do? Nothing -- to their product. They started a campaign to position themselves as a brand that loves dog by allowing employees to bring in dogs at work. This type of putting old wine in new bottle even has a name: vuja de. Bravo Pedigree. I'm feeding my dog chicken legs now.
January 30, 2019
This books gives great tips and examples to boost your business. He key to victory, according to Sun Tzu is engaging your opponent on your own terms, and if you can't prevent conflict, choose the battlefield, redefining the terrain instead of trying to outcompete your rivals (like TBWA did when they stopped marketing themselves as a dog food company and instead positioned as a brand that cares about dogs); also, drawing ideas from other industries (like Ford did from slaughterhouse that had assembly lines) and being the best in one area rather than average at a lot of things, and engaging their customers with a human face while being humble and asking for ideas within your company.
March 2, 2019
Stop marketing yourself as a dog food company and position yourself as a brand that simply cares about dogs.
Pedigree started running ads for dog adoption.
The product itself didn’t change at all, but the company’s image was transformed into a brand that stood for something more than just dog food. The fresh way of looking at things also gave Pedigree a new sense of purpose.
Excel in one area rather than being average at a lot of things if you want to be a game changer.
Ask yourself what makes your business special.
Pedigree started running ads for dog adoption.
The product itself didn’t change at all, but the company’s image was transformed into a brand that stood for something more than just dog food. The fresh way of looking at things also gave Pedigree a new sense of purpose.
Excel in one area rather than being average at a lot of things if you want to be a game changer.
Ask yourself what makes your business special.
November 14, 2020
While the book is a few years old, many of the lessons hold up. I find this type of work so inspiring.
The author does a great job of referencing the businesses as he makes points later in the book. It helps to keep things fresh.
Would highly recommend to anyone looking for creativity and new business sparks.
The author does a great job of referencing the businesses as he makes points later in the book. It helps to keep things fresh.
Would highly recommend to anyone looking for creativity and new business sparks.
January 28, 2019
I read this book thanks to Blinkist.
I accidentally deleted my review for this & I’m too lazy to write it again.
Just know the book is full of amazing insights & inspiring examples. I’ve added it to Favourites.
Suggested Further reading: Small Giants
I accidentally deleted my review for this & I’m too lazy to write it again.
Just know the book is full of amazing insights & inspiring examples. I’ve added it to Favourites.
Suggested Further reading: Small Giants
November 12, 2023
practical ideas on how to innovate
Author does a great job of explaining innovation principles and how some of the leading organizations in the world accomplish those. These are practical ideas organizations can readily start leveraging.
Author does a great job of explaining innovation principles and how some of the leading organizations in the world accomplish those. These are practical ideas organizations can readily start leveraging.
November 29, 2018
practically brilliant! sometimes i feel
my heart surges with excitement. strange heart i have. is it the book? or time to go for my medical checkup.
my heart surges with excitement. strange heart i have. is it the book? or time to go for my medical checkup.
February 2, 2019
2.5. I actually liked this one. From Blinkist.
June 23, 2019
Insights bacanas mas bem conhecidos
October 30, 2023
Read on Blinkist. The key message of this book:
If you want to boost your business, take a look at what today’s most successful companies are doing.
Put those into practice, and you’re bound to see your business thrive.
It’s not a game-changer message, but it works. Although you have to tickle your brain a little, to think outside the box and redefine your business to something unique.
I also liked the idea of humbitious (humble + ambitious)
Suggested further reading: Small Giants by Bo Burlingham
Small Giants are privately owned companies that don’t follow the usual corporate dogma of growing revenues at any cost. Instead, they’re driven by their heart-felt enthusiasm for their product, and focus on factors like quality and caring for their workforce.
If you want to boost your business, take a look at what today’s most successful companies are doing.
Put those into practice, and you’re bound to see your business thrive.
It’s not a game-changer message, but it works. Although you have to tickle your brain a little, to think outside the box and redefine your business to something unique.
I also liked the idea of humbitious (humble + ambitious)
Suggested further reading: Small Giants by Bo Burlingham
Small Giants are privately owned companies that don’t follow the usual corporate dogma of growing revenues at any cost. Instead, they’re driven by their heart-felt enthusiasm for their product, and focus on factors like quality and caring for their workforce.
August 29, 2016
A solid book about how to pull ideas out from interesting places and transform yourself, your business, and your industry.
I find myself wanting to use some of the ideas from the book, but I read a lot of similar books and this one does not stand out. Yet I enjoyed it and learned a few key lessons that I'll take away as I work to transform my world. I wanted to give it 4 stars, but I'm not sure I'll recommend it to another person unless they were challenged in very specific ways, which the book addresses.
Read the appendix and skim the book. The book could have been a bit shorter, but it was a good read with good stories.
I find myself wanting to use some of the ideas from the book, but I read a lot of similar books and this one does not stand out. Yet I enjoyed it and learned a few key lessons that I'll take away as I work to transform my world. I wanted to give it 4 stars, but I'm not sure I'll recommend it to another person unless they were challenged in very specific ways, which the book addresses.
Read the appendix and skim the book. The book could have been a bit shorter, but it was a good read with good stories.
March 28, 2013
This books helps inspire you to step back, take off those corporate tunnel vision goggles, and see your business from an entirely different perspective. Just as Ford first envisioned the assembly line after viewing a Chicago slaughterhouse, sometimes you need to look outside your business and completely question all assumptions within your industry. I enjoyed the behind the scenes journeys of Ryanair, Zappos, and Umpqua Bank and how they transformed their industries by simply doing things different from the norm.
July 6, 2013
This book just barely eeks out a 4th star. To be honest the writing and structure is only ok. It gets a point across... kinda. It doesn't do a good job of having a cohesive and succinct point, so it lacks power on that front.
That said, this book is a treasure chest of interesting ideas and case studies. These little tidbits have a lot of insight in them and make the book quite worthwhile.
It seems like the book could have been truly special with either a strong thesis or an observer viewpoint.
That said, this book is a treasure chest of interesting ideas and case studies. These little tidbits have a lot of insight in them and make the book quite worthwhile.
It seems like the book could have been truly special with either a strong thesis or an observer viewpoint.
Read
April 27, 2011He seemed to stretch out the content a bit to fill out the book, but there was some useful, though-provoking advice. The two that stick with me the most are "Move the Big Dots", from a hospital CEO, and Taylor's advice to "start with a clean sheet of paper" rather than make incremental improvements. It would have been helpful to have more examples from outside of healthcare and more in depth about how change was achieved.
February 3, 2011
I really enjoyed the case studies in this book about companies that stand for something more than just making a profit.
It's interesting because this book is kind of making the case for what we call user experience design: looking at what matters to the people who use your service/product, and finding ways to improve that experience.
It's interesting because this book is kind of making the case for what we call user experience design: looking at what matters to the people who use your service/product, and finding ways to improve that experience.
Read
May 27, 201475% complete and it is a great business book because it tackles business problems from a story-telling perspective. Many of the business books I read are not organized as effectively as this one and it makes it a pleasure.
The concept is not new but the framing of it, in these times, is noteworthy and a good refresher. It has been a real thought starter for me.
The concept is not new but the framing of it, in these times, is noteworthy and a good refresher. It has been a real thought starter for me.
April 11, 2012
Great book, I got lots of creative ideas for my organization which happens to be a church. I love the broad set of examples used to demonstrate how to connect with people and set yourself apart. Loved the term humbition and agree that the best leaders have that mindset of humility and ambition.
May 6, 2013
Just started, who's to say?
October 19, 2014
While better than most, it's still a business book.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews