What do you think?
Rate this book
The Upside: From Risk Taking to Risk Shaping - How to Turn Your Greatest Threat into Your Biggest Growth Opportunity
One of the business world’s most innovative thinkers explains how to take a unique, counterintuitive approach to the key issue for every business – growth – by turning big threats into big opportunities. The world is moving so quickly that every business in every industry faces big threats. Risk is one of those unpleasant realities--along with death and taxes--that most people would prefer to ignore. In fact, many people do ignore it as much as possible. On the rare occasions when they think about risk, most people, including business people, adopt a fatalistic attitude. "Oh, well," they shrug, "No pain, no gain." They accept the conventional wisdom that risk and reward go together—that to get great upside results (higher-than-average profits, quantum leaps in growth), you need to take big downside risks. It's a painful but inescapable fact of life. But there are ways to anticipate threatening changes and turn them into successes. Risk and reward are not inextricably linked. The reality is that it’s possible to reduce the risks you face at the same time as you improve the returns you enjoy. In fact, it’s not only possible but essential. The leaders of today’s most successful companies aren’t risk takers . . . they’re risk shapers. They think day and night about the risks they face and are continually working to develop and implement strategies to reduce them. Their attitude toward risk is the opposite of fatalistic--it's aggressive, ruthless, and uncompromising. Managed correctly, the risks you face can be transformed into extraordinary growth opportunities. Risk is considered a fact of life like the weather, a threat you shouldn’t even think about combating. After all, doesn’t everyone know you can have high returns or low risk—but not both? Over the next half-decade, the majority of business leaders will come to understand that risks can be not merely controlled but transformed into opportunities. Yet for now, this is a minority opinion. Those who grasp this insight early and put it to work in their industries--as a few far-sighted managers have already done--will enjoy a huge advantage over their competition.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
5 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Adrian J. Slywotzky
26 books45 followersAdrian J. Slywotzky (born in 1951) is a consultant and author of several books on economic theory and management. Slywotzky graduated from Harvard College and holds a JD from Harvard Law School and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has worked as a consultant since 1979 and is currently a partner at Oliver Wyman.
Slywotzky wrote several books on profitability and growth, namely the bestselling The Profit Zone'.' He is one of the most renowned consultants of the United States and was elected as one of the 25 best consultants in 2000 and 2008. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Slywotzky wrote several books on profitability and growth, namely the bestselling The Profit Zone'.' He is one of the most renowned consultants of the United States and was elected as one of the 25 best consultants in 2000 and 2008. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 15, 2019
This book was worth reading because the author tries to describe your actions in risky moments.
The general concept is "Ride the risk". Seven strategies and cases are brilliant. This case about Toyota and Uchiamada Takeshi made up my day.
How to change the risks of the company next big intense and create potential industry breakthroughs.
•Ride the risk, don’t be shaped by it.
•A killer of the industry can’t kill what’s not his industry.
•"When you come to a fork in the road—take it!" From the book.
•Stuck in a business box? Find the bigger box—and then the biggest.
•Your enemies on the market can also be your greatest enablers of profit.
This book gives you the understanding of clearness and long-sightedness of the author's way of thinking. Every company should consider them. This book can show you how to use the current situation, and get much more profit than your opponents. This book can help businesses to go into long run and capitalise them. Slywotzkyy puts valuable effort into organisational design. Also, much of the book topics were related to decision making under uncertainty.
The general concept is "Ride the risk". Seven strategies and cases are brilliant. This case about Toyota and Uchiamada Takeshi made up my day.
How to change the risks of the company next big intense and create potential industry breakthroughs.
•Ride the risk, don’t be shaped by it.
•A killer of the industry can’t kill what’s not his industry.
•"When you come to a fork in the road—take it!" From the book.
•Stuck in a business box? Find the bigger box—and then the biggest.
•Your enemies on the market can also be your greatest enablers of profit.
This book gives you the understanding of clearness and long-sightedness of the author's way of thinking. Every company should consider them. This book can show you how to use the current situation, and get much more profit than your opponents. This book can help businesses to go into long run and capitalise them. Slywotzkyy puts valuable effort into organisational design. Also, much of the book topics were related to decision making under uncertainty.
August 25, 2008
What we have in Upside is a continuation of Slywotzky's emphasis on the importance of measuring what really matters, especially insofar as value migration during paradigm shifts within competitive markets are concerned, but I think there are some intriguing differences between this book and those which precede it. For example, Slywotzky establishes and then sustains throughout his narrative a conversational, at times almost (not quite) playful tone...certainly his tone is much less formal than in earlier works. Also, and more to the point, he devotes less attention to the "what" (i.e. seven strategies), preferring to focus primarily on the "why" and "how" of strategic risk management which enables just about any organization (regardless of size or nature) to "turn big threats into growth breakthroughs."
More specifically, a major initiative fails or at least falls far short of high hopes and great expectations; there is a significant loss of customer revenue; there is an paradigm, shift within the given industry; a seeming unbeatable competitor appears; loss of brand power and leverage; the given industry has become a no-profit zone; zero or insignificant organizational growth. "The first two jobs of strategic management are to sidestep the unnecessary blows [i.e. self-inflicted wounds] and mitigate the blows you can't avoid. You can avoid the biggest hits to your company's value through as strategic risk management system that uses the principles and techniques described in the rest of this book." Slywotzky then goes on to suggest: "Remember Warren Buffett's first rule: Preserve your capital. And also his second rule: See the first rule."
According to Slywotzky, "The first step in de-risking your product is to recognize the true odds of success; the second is to change them." He explains how in the first chapter, citing Toyota as an exemplary company and its development of the Prius as a case in point. I especially appreciate that, on page 32 and throughout the book, Slywotzky includes a checklist of key points within the given context. These are action steps for his reader to consider. "How many of these types of moves can you adapt for your next big project?" (The key words are "moves" and "adapt.") In fact, later in the same chapter and throughout his subsequent narrative, Slywotzky makes brilliant use of a reader-friendly device, "[name of company's] Moves to [name of initiative]."H e uses a variation of it (e.g. "Toyota's Further Moves to Change the Odds") to indicate that effective strategic risk management, responding effectively to "big threats," is an on-going process.
More specifically, a major initiative fails or at least falls far short of high hopes and great expectations; there is a significant loss of customer revenue; there is an paradigm, shift within the given industry; a seeming unbeatable competitor appears; loss of brand power and leverage; the given industry has become a no-profit zone; zero or insignificant organizational growth. "The first two jobs of strategic management are to sidestep the unnecessary blows [i.e. self-inflicted wounds] and mitigate the blows you can't avoid. You can avoid the biggest hits to your company's value through as strategic risk management system that uses the principles and techniques described in the rest of this book." Slywotzky then goes on to suggest: "Remember Warren Buffett's first rule: Preserve your capital. And also his second rule: See the first rule."
According to Slywotzky, "The first step in de-risking your product is to recognize the true odds of success; the second is to change them." He explains how in the first chapter, citing Toyota as an exemplary company and its development of the Prius as a case in point. I especially appreciate that, on page 32 and throughout the book, Slywotzky includes a checklist of key points within the given context. These are action steps for his reader to consider. "How many of these types of moves can you adapt for your next big project?" (The key words are "moves" and "adapt.") In fact, later in the same chapter and throughout his subsequent narrative, Slywotzky makes brilliant use of a reader-friendly device, "[name of company's] Moves to [name of initiative]."H e uses a variation of it (e.g. "Toyota's Further Moves to Change the Odds") to indicate that effective strategic risk management, responding effectively to "big threats," is an on-going process.
August 25, 2008
What we have in Upside is a continuation of Slywotzky's emphasis on the importance of measuring what really matters, especially insofar as value migration during paradigm shifts within competitive markets are concerned, but I think there are some intriguing differences between this book and those which precede it. For example, Slywotzky establishes and then sustains throughout his narrative a conversational, at times almost (not quite) playful tone...certainly his tone is much less formal than in earlier works. Also, and more to the point, he devotes less attention to the "what" (i.e. seven strategies), preferring to focus primarily on the "why" and "how" of strategic risk management which enables just about any organization (regardless of size or nature) to "turn big threats into growth breakthroughs."
More specifically, a major initiative fails or at least falls far short of high hopes and great expectations; there is a significant loss of customer revenue; there is an paradigm, shift within the given industry; a seeming unbeatable competitor appears; loss of brand power and leverage; the given industry has become a no-profit zone; zero or insignificant organizational growth. "The first two jobs of strategic management are to sidestep the unnecessary blows [i.e. self-inflicted wounds] and mitigate the blows you can't avoid. You can avoid the biggest hits to your company's value through as strategic risk management system that uses the principles and techniques described in the rest of this book." Slywotzky then goes on to suggest: "Remember Warren Buffett's first rule: Preserve your capital. And also his second rule: See the first rule."
According to Slywotzky, "The first step in de-risking your product is to recognize the true odds of success; the second is to change them." He explains how in the first chapter, citing Toyota as an exemplary company and its development of the Prius as a case in point. I especially appreciate that, on page 32 and throughout the book, Slywotzky includes a checklist of key points within the given context. These are action steps for his reader to consider. "How many of these types of moves can you adapt for your next big project?" (The key words are "moves" and "adapt.") In fact, later in the same chapter and throughout his subsequent narrative, Slywotzky makes brilliant use of a reader-friendly device, "[name of company's] Moves to [name of initiative]."H e uses a variation of it (e.g. "Toyota's Further Moves to Change the Odds") to indicate that effective strategic risk management, responding effectively to "big threats," is an on-going process.
More specifically, a major initiative fails or at least falls far short of high hopes and great expectations; there is a significant loss of customer revenue; there is an paradigm, shift within the given industry; a seeming unbeatable competitor appears; loss of brand power and leverage; the given industry has become a no-profit zone; zero or insignificant organizational growth. "The first two jobs of strategic management are to sidestep the unnecessary blows [i.e. self-inflicted wounds] and mitigate the blows you can't avoid. You can avoid the biggest hits to your company's value through as strategic risk management system that uses the principles and techniques described in the rest of this book." Slywotzky then goes on to suggest: "Remember Warren Buffett's first rule: Preserve your capital. And also his second rule: See the first rule."
According to Slywotzky, "The first step in de-risking your product is to recognize the true odds of success; the second is to change them." He explains how in the first chapter, citing Toyota as an exemplary company and its development of the Prius as a case in point. I especially appreciate that, on page 32 and throughout the book, Slywotzky includes a checklist of key points within the given context. These are action steps for his reader to consider. "How many of these types of moves can you adapt for your next big project?" (The key words are "moves" and "adapt.") In fact, later in the same chapter and throughout his subsequent narrative, Slywotzky makes brilliant use of a reader-friendly device, "[name of company's] Moves to [name of initiative]."H e uses a variation of it (e.g. "Toyota's Further Moves to Change the Odds") to indicate that effective strategic risk management, responding effectively to "big threats," is an on-going process.
March 29, 2013
A should-read book on strategy for knowledge workers and entrepreneurs.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews