Outthink the Competition: How a New Generation of Strategists Sees Options Others Ignore

by Kaihan Krippendorff

A Fast Company blogger and former McKinsey consultant profiles the next generation business the "Outthinkers" "Outthinkers" are entrepreneurs and corporate leaders with a new playbook. They see opportunities others ignore, challenge dogma others accept as truth, rally resources others cannot influence, and unleash new strategies that disrupt their markets. Outthink the Competition proves that business competition is undergoing a fundamental paradigm shift and that during such revolutions, outthinkers beat traditionalists.

Outthink the Competition presents stories of breakthrough companies like Apple, Google, Vistaprint, and Rosetta Stone whose stunning performances defy traditional explanation and will inspire readers to outthink the competition. Core concepts in the book

Discover the Eight Dimensions of Disruption Learn to play by the Outthinker Playbook Develop the Five Habits of the Outthinker Implement the Outthinker Process It's time to buck tradition in order to stay ahead. Outthink the competition and uncover opportunities hiding in plain sight.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Business Strategy

328 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Kaihan Krippendorff is the founder of Outthinker and the Outthinker Network, a global community of corporate strategy leaders. Recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the top emerging business thinkers to look out for, he is a professional speaker and the author of Outthink the Competition: How a New Generation of Strategists Sees Options Others Ignore (2011), among other business strategy books. A former McKinsey consultant, he is a strategic advisor numerous leading corporations.

Kaihan is a member of the prestigious Thinkers50 Class of 2019 Radar group – A global selection of the top 30 management thinkers to follow and hear from in the coming year. One of the top 8 innovators in the world in 2019 according to Thinkers50, Kaihan was included for a Distinguished Achievement Award in the category of Innovation – awarded to the person in the world that has contributed the most to our understanding of innovation in the past two years.

Reviews

[Angela Lam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty "heavy" book to read, because of the sheer amount of material, and the thinking process that it evokes - assuming you're reading and reflecting on it rather than just glossing through the concepts.

If you're an entrepreneur, business executive or leader, you should be able to take away something useful from the book:
• To understand the idea of "competitive revolutions", the patterns involved and how you can do things differently to shake up your own industry;
• To use the “Outthinker’s Playbook” strategies provided as a lens to think about opportunities in your market that you may otherwise miss; and
• To think of wider organizational processes and habits that could support or hinder your ability to shift and re-engineer yourself.

Here's a summary of some of the main ideas: http://readingraphics.com/book-summar...

Personally, my favourite parts of the books are the strategems in the Appendix, in particular the 5 strategems that Krippendorff elaborated on in detail - these alone generated many ideas for my business. In a nutshell, you can use these questions to brainstorm for ideas:
(i) Where is the next battleground?
(ii) Who could you coordinate?
(iii) With whom can you launch a two-front battle?
(iv) How could you appear to be or truly be helpful?
(v) What piece can you add to the board?

As for the 5 Outthinker Habits and 5 Outthinker Processes, they make sense, but are a little bit more abstract - unless I'm really breaking it down (possibly with the help of a consultant), it's hard to really put the ideas to work. In a nutshell, it involves
(i) Constructing a mental picture of the future,
(ii) Dissecting the parts,
(iii) Expanding on new ideas (including using the 5 questions above),
(iv) Analyzing the winning moves that are easiest to implement and will give you the highest payoffs, and
(v) Selling the idea to key stakeholders

More details here: http://readingraphics.com/book-summar...
A worthwhile book to read if you are seriously planning for strategic shifts for your company.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Outthink the Competition" is one of these rare business books that can become a classic in no time. Written by Kaihan Krippendorff - an expert in how to apply thousands of years of Asian strategic thinking to business situations - this book targets those executives that truly want to move their companies to a long-term success trajectory above and away from the competition. Don't read "Outthink" if you are an executive or business owner who is just happy with the current status and does not want to rock the proverbial boat by departing from the crowd. If, however, you want or need to put your thinking cap on in order to find dramatically different ways to make your company grow successfully, Kaihan's book is a must-read.

Kaihan, a former colleague of mine from McKinsey, uses the consulting tool set at its best - he has developed easy to follow, yet incredible powerful frameworks to guide you through the process of generating, evaluating, and implementing your path to competitiveness.

The book follows the traditional path of business books by providing intelligent frameworks, powerful examples, and a simple process map for you to implement the concept in your company. For me, the highlight of the book is Part III, where Kaihan addresses the "5 Habits of Outthinkers" like "attacking the interconnected system" by finding leverage points in the value chain and networks that others overlook; and visualizing future desired outcomes and scenarios through "mental time travel". Having worked in strategy and strategic planning executive roles at various global companies, I can attest that Kaihan's way of thinking is truly remarkable and very different from what is usually done in Corporate America.

In summary, "Outhink the Competition" is an innovative business book for the determined executive who really wants to move her company not only to the next level, but to a level unattainable by competition.

[Stuart Berman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a pure business book about strategy. Whether you are starting a business or work for a large corporation Kaihan lays down the principles of success to compete and win. He provides examples and templates anyone can use but there is one caveat, this is hard work, and it is easy to see why leaders who are not desperate to win would prefer to take the easy road of managing what they know and follow the inertia.

[Gabriel K. Choi · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book about how to Outthink the Competition. The examples were very interesting and Krippendorff does a great job connecting his thoughts with the examples he presents.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was in a seminar that Kaihan did a couple of weeks ago and I got the book as a follow up. Interestingly enough, his seminar tells many of the same stories as this book, so I didn't appreciate the book because it didn't add to the content found within the seminar. I do think there are some great ideas presented. Where I get bored is with all of the same business success case studies that I hear in other business books. I'd rather hear examples from smaller companies who are doing great things rather than the large multi-billion dollar ones. Those companies seem inaccessible to me and more localized case studies would be more interesting to me.

[Nikki Cobb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible process for helping me think about ways to grow my business and innovate at the edges without challenging the core business and incumbent managers.

[David Veronese · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has not aged well ( although I cannot comment if it was good / relevant when released) I took very few ideas from it and suggest there are far better and up to date books out there.

[Ahmad Koumaiha · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book helped me think differently running my business

[Kristen McKay · Rating 3 out of 5]

From this book, I found the pieces on narrative techniques to be the most intriguing and useful to practice.

[Gerardo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Outdated.

[Louise Silk · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his book, Krippendorff does an outstanding job explaining the future of business with many examples of very successful companies that "outthink" the competition with what he calls "a new playbook."

I loved the specific examples of companies like Vistaprint and Rosetta Stone. I have watched these companies take hold but never understood their success until this book.

These entrepreneurs see opportunities others ignore, challenge dogma to create a new truth, rally alternative resources and unleash new strategies that change the nature of the traditional market.

The Outthinker process creates a fundamental paradigm shift as it imagines, dissects and analyzes within eight points of differentiation:position, product, price, place,promotion,processes, physical experinece and people.

Really interesting and thought provoking.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this an interesting read being market conscious. Gave me new insight about thinking about an organization.

[Doug Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so bad and so full of trite bromides that I was compelled to say so both on an Amazon review and to the professor who assigned it. WOOF.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

95% of the book was informative and entertaining. The last 5% read like a college textbook. Still had good insights and a lot of useful information.

[A.B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s outdated.

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, easy-to-follow great business strategies. Enjoyed reading!