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Leading the Revolution
Gary Hamel, world-renowned business thinker and co-author of Competing for the Future , the book that set the management agenda for the 1990s, now brings us Leading the Revolution . An action plan-indeed, an incendiary device-for any company or individual intent on becoming and staying an industry revolutionary, this book will ignite the passions of entry-level assistants, neophyte managers, seasoned VPs, CEOs, and anyone else who worries that their company may be caught flat-footed by the future. Hamel argues that in an increasingly nonlinear world, only nonlinear ideas will create new wealth. To thrive in the age of revolution, companies must adopt a radical new innovation agenda. The fundamental challenge companies face is reinventing themselves and their industries not just in times of crisis-but continually. Based on an extensive study of "gray-haired revolutionaries," including Enron, Charles Schwab, Cisco, Virgin, and GE Capital, Leading the Revolution
Explains the underlying principles of radical innovation
Explores where revolutionary new business concepts come from
Identifies the key design criteria for building companies that are activist-friendly and revolution-ready
Details the steps your company must take to make innovation an enduring capability
Packed with insight and practical advice, Leading the Revolution shows you how to
Get off the treadmill of incrementalism
Save your company from becoming a "one-vision wonder"
Harness the imagination and passion of every employee
Develop new financial measures that focus energy on the challenge of creating new wealth
Create vibrant internal markets for ideas, capital, and talent
Drawing on the examples of activists who profoundly changed their companies with their bare hearts, Hamel outlines the practical steps anyone can take to lead a successful revolution in their own firm. Leading the Revolution is not a book for cozy corner-office types. It is for everyone who has the guts to act on the knowledge that our heritage is no longer our destiny. With an arresting four-color design and a compelling message that will set the new innovation agenda for the next century, this groundbreaking book from the premier business thinker of our time is a call to arms for the dreamers and doers who will lead us into the age of revolution.
Explains the underlying principles of radical innovation
Explores where revolutionary new business concepts come from
Identifies the key design criteria for building companies that are activist-friendly and revolution-ready
Details the steps your company must take to make innovation an enduring capability
Packed with insight and practical advice, Leading the Revolution shows you how to
Get off the treadmill of incrementalism
Save your company from becoming a "one-vision wonder"
Harness the imagination and passion of every employee
Develop new financial measures that focus energy on the challenge of creating new wealth
Create vibrant internal markets for ideas, capital, and talent
Drawing on the examples of activists who profoundly changed their companies with their bare hearts, Hamel outlines the practical steps anyone can take to lead a successful revolution in their own firm. Leading the Revolution is not a book for cozy corner-office types. It is for everyone who has the guts to act on the knowledge that our heritage is no longer our destiny. With an arresting four-color design and a compelling message that will set the new innovation agenda for the next century, this groundbreaking book from the premier business thinker of our time is a call to arms for the dreamers and doers who will lead us into the age of revolution.
333 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2000
About the author
Gary Hamel
57 books176 followersDr. Gary P. Hamel is an American management expert. He is a founder of Strategos, an international management consulting firm based in Chicago.
Gary Hamel is Professor of Strategic Management at London Business School. He has researched strategy development in a multinational context.
Gary Hamel is Professor of Strategic Management at London Business School. He has researched strategy development in a multinational context.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 23, 2015
''Leading the Revolution'', which deals with fostering innovation in business settings, was first published in 2000. Nevertheless, many of the ideas and suggestions that Hamel proposes are still fresh and relevant. Some of the case-studies, however, are a bit dated (the best example of this are the more than 10 pages to praise innovation at Enron).
Hamel's basic premise is that innovation goes above and beyond mere product- or service innovation. He argues that true new wealth is created by radically innovative business models. Following this argument, Hamel claims that radical innovation is the ultimate competitive advantage in the 21st century.
Hamel starts out by describing how in the last decade and a half or so of the 20th century, the business environment has made a change from an era of incremental progress to one of revolutionary overhauls of many industries. To survive in this new, fast-changing environment, you have to ''lead the revolution'' of innovation. Sitting back and doing business as usual can be fatal, fast.
Many companies have difficulty letting go of their ageing business models, even though signs are all around that they are no longer working. Many companies try hard to squeeze the last drops of benefit from their ageing business models by various quality programs and financial engineering. Hamel points out that increased obsession with quality and financial strategies such as share buybacks and even acquisitions can be signs of business models that are (quickly) becoming outdated.
After this introduction, Hamel takes the reader through 3 stages: A description of what a business model is, a series of suggestions how an individual can become more open to innovation, and a set of guidelines of how to make a company more innovative.
Hamel's framework for a business model contains 4 building blocks:
1. Key Strategy
2. Strategic Resources
3. Customer Relations
4. Value Connections
1. Key Strategy has 3 components:
- Mission
- Product / Market scope
- Basis for Differentiation
This overlaps with the OAS strategy statement that Kaplan & Norton mention in ''The Execution Premium'', which states that a good strategy statement should contain an Objective (what you want to do or become), an Advantage (how you want to do it, how you want to differentiate) and Scope (where you want to operate, who is going to be your customer).
2. Strategic Resources has 3 elements:
- Core Competencies
- Strategic Assets
- Key Processes
Hamel, a known promoter of Core Competencies, writes that all competitive advantage worthy of that name is based on unique resources, that are specific to a particular company.
3. Customer Relations can be divided in:
- Realization and Support
- Information and Ideas
- Customer Relations Dynamics
- Pricing Structure
Here, Realization and Support describes how a company is going to market, how it is reaching its customers. This includes distribution channels and customer support. Information and Ideas refers to the information that companies receive from their customers, how they use that information to generate new ideas, and the information that the company provides to its customers.
4. Value Connections are the following:
- Suppliers
- Complementers
- Alliances
These 4 building blocks are connected as follows:
- Customer Benefits connects Key Strategy and Customer Relations
- Configuration connects Key Strategy to Strategic Resources
- Company Limits connects Strategic Resources to Value Connections. Company Limits basically deals with the question ''To outsource or not to outsource''.
Note that this business model is very similar to the Business Model Canvas:
- The Value Proposition is what Hamel describes in Mission, Basis for Differentiation and Customer Benefits
- The Customer Segment is Hamel's Product / Market Scope
- The Channel is Realization and Support
- Customer Relations is Information and Ideas and Customer Relations Dynamics
- Revenue Streams corresponds to Pricing Structure
- Key Resources are Core Competencies and Strategic Assets
- Key Activities are Key Processes
- Key Partners are Suppliers, Complementers and Alliances.
- Cost Structure doesn't appear in Hamel's framework.
On a personal level, Hamel gives several suggestions on how you can become more open to innovation, and who knows, even innovative. Most importantly, he urges us to see things differently, to be different, and to return to the levels of curiosity we had as 5 year olds. He states that to see things differently is often more valuable that mere intellectual power. Some more specific suggestions are the following:
- Look for new ways to see things
- Find ways to continually be surprised
- Where are others not looking?
- What is the big picture?
- What is nobody talking about?
- Investigate, dig deeper
- Go from analysis to experience: Don't just read about discontinuities, but experience them
- Travel! Travelling allows you to discover the new, meet new people, have new conversations.
- If you can't travel, read! But not the same newspaper you are always reading, not the same newspaper that everybody is reading.
Conclusion: Don't underestimate the importance of curiosity.
On a company level, Hamel gives some guidelines of how a company can become more innovative. Several of these guidelines have to do with adapting (some of ) the methodologies of Silicon Valley in a company.
- Set unreasonable expectations. This is similar to Porras' and Collins' advice to set BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals). Hamel states that only when people are faced with unreasonable expectations will they start to look for breakthrough new ideas. Without unreasonable expectations, most people will focus on incremental improvements of the current business model without ever finding completely new ways of doing business.
- Elastic definition of the company. This is similar to the old saying about the first wave of telegraph companies. Those companies that defined themselves as telegraph companies have long ago gone bankrupt, but those that defined themselves as telecommunication companies are still around. Tip: Look beyond the borders of your company, look beyond the borders of your sector of industry.
- A cause, not a business. As Daniel Pink mentioned in ''Drive'', people are really motivated if they have a purpose. Robert Grant mentions in ''Contemporary Strategy Analysis'' that ''the world's most consistently successful companies in terms of profits and shareholder value tend to be those that are motivated by factors other than profit''. ''Entrepreneurs are generally driven less by the promise of riches as by the desire to create''.
- New voices: In many companies, strategy formulation is the exclusive task of the top of the hierarchy, where the same 10 people year in year out talk to each other, and who can all finish each other's sentences. This is not likely to lead to new, fresh ideas. Hamel suggests that you listen to the young employees, those who work in the periphery of the company and the new arrivals.
- Create internal markets for talent, capital and ideas. Basically, bring Silicon Valley into your company.
- Do small, low-scale experiments to test new business models
- Reward the revolutionaries inside your company, compensate the in-company entrepreneurs as if they were working in Silicon Valley.
Hamel's focus on curiosity is not only mentioned explicitly, but also shines through the many questions he asks his readers. Perhaps this approach of continually asking questions has allowed him to come up with some business models that later came to life in Skype and crowd-funding. Hamel states that it is impossible to predict the future, but that it is possible to imagine it. Asking the right questions certainly helps in the process of imagining the future. The right questions may also lead you to new ideas, which are the only way to really create new wealth.
The theories and suggestions of this book are mostly still valid. Some of the examples and statements about companies are unfortunately a bit dated (such as Hamel's remark in 2000 that Apple will be not more than a footnote in the history of Information Technology).
Hamel's basic premise is that innovation goes above and beyond mere product- or service innovation. He argues that true new wealth is created by radically innovative business models. Following this argument, Hamel claims that radical innovation is the ultimate competitive advantage in the 21st century.
Hamel starts out by describing how in the last decade and a half or so of the 20th century, the business environment has made a change from an era of incremental progress to one of revolutionary overhauls of many industries. To survive in this new, fast-changing environment, you have to ''lead the revolution'' of innovation. Sitting back and doing business as usual can be fatal, fast.
Many companies have difficulty letting go of their ageing business models, even though signs are all around that they are no longer working. Many companies try hard to squeeze the last drops of benefit from their ageing business models by various quality programs and financial engineering. Hamel points out that increased obsession with quality and financial strategies such as share buybacks and even acquisitions can be signs of business models that are (quickly) becoming outdated.
After this introduction, Hamel takes the reader through 3 stages: A description of what a business model is, a series of suggestions how an individual can become more open to innovation, and a set of guidelines of how to make a company more innovative.
Hamel's framework for a business model contains 4 building blocks:
1. Key Strategy
2. Strategic Resources
3. Customer Relations
4. Value Connections
1. Key Strategy has 3 components:
- Mission
- Product / Market scope
- Basis for Differentiation
This overlaps with the OAS strategy statement that Kaplan & Norton mention in ''The Execution Premium'', which states that a good strategy statement should contain an Objective (what you want to do or become), an Advantage (how you want to do it, how you want to differentiate) and Scope (where you want to operate, who is going to be your customer).
2. Strategic Resources has 3 elements:
- Core Competencies
- Strategic Assets
- Key Processes
Hamel, a known promoter of Core Competencies, writes that all competitive advantage worthy of that name is based on unique resources, that are specific to a particular company.
3. Customer Relations can be divided in:
- Realization and Support
- Information and Ideas
- Customer Relations Dynamics
- Pricing Structure
Here, Realization and Support describes how a company is going to market, how it is reaching its customers. This includes distribution channels and customer support. Information and Ideas refers to the information that companies receive from their customers, how they use that information to generate new ideas, and the information that the company provides to its customers.
4. Value Connections are the following:
- Suppliers
- Complementers
- Alliances
These 4 building blocks are connected as follows:
- Customer Benefits connects Key Strategy and Customer Relations
- Configuration connects Key Strategy to Strategic Resources
- Company Limits connects Strategic Resources to Value Connections. Company Limits basically deals with the question ''To outsource or not to outsource''.
Note that this business model is very similar to the Business Model Canvas:
- The Value Proposition is what Hamel describes in Mission, Basis for Differentiation and Customer Benefits
- The Customer Segment is Hamel's Product / Market Scope
- The Channel is Realization and Support
- Customer Relations is Information and Ideas and Customer Relations Dynamics
- Revenue Streams corresponds to Pricing Structure
- Key Resources are Core Competencies and Strategic Assets
- Key Activities are Key Processes
- Key Partners are Suppliers, Complementers and Alliances.
- Cost Structure doesn't appear in Hamel's framework.
On a personal level, Hamel gives several suggestions on how you can become more open to innovation, and who knows, even innovative. Most importantly, he urges us to see things differently, to be different, and to return to the levels of curiosity we had as 5 year olds. He states that to see things differently is often more valuable that mere intellectual power. Some more specific suggestions are the following:
- Look for new ways to see things
- Find ways to continually be surprised
- Where are others not looking?
- What is the big picture?
- What is nobody talking about?
- Investigate, dig deeper
- Go from analysis to experience: Don't just read about discontinuities, but experience them
- Travel! Travelling allows you to discover the new, meet new people, have new conversations.
- If you can't travel, read! But not the same newspaper you are always reading, not the same newspaper that everybody is reading.
Conclusion: Don't underestimate the importance of curiosity.
On a company level, Hamel gives some guidelines of how a company can become more innovative. Several of these guidelines have to do with adapting (some of ) the methodologies of Silicon Valley in a company.
- Set unreasonable expectations. This is similar to Porras' and Collins' advice to set BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals). Hamel states that only when people are faced with unreasonable expectations will they start to look for breakthrough new ideas. Without unreasonable expectations, most people will focus on incremental improvements of the current business model without ever finding completely new ways of doing business.
- Elastic definition of the company. This is similar to the old saying about the first wave of telegraph companies. Those companies that defined themselves as telegraph companies have long ago gone bankrupt, but those that defined themselves as telecommunication companies are still around. Tip: Look beyond the borders of your company, look beyond the borders of your sector of industry.
- A cause, not a business. As Daniel Pink mentioned in ''Drive'', people are really motivated if they have a purpose. Robert Grant mentions in ''Contemporary Strategy Analysis'' that ''the world's most consistently successful companies in terms of profits and shareholder value tend to be those that are motivated by factors other than profit''. ''Entrepreneurs are generally driven less by the promise of riches as by the desire to create''.
- New voices: In many companies, strategy formulation is the exclusive task of the top of the hierarchy, where the same 10 people year in year out talk to each other, and who can all finish each other's sentences. This is not likely to lead to new, fresh ideas. Hamel suggests that you listen to the young employees, those who work in the periphery of the company and the new arrivals.
- Create internal markets for talent, capital and ideas. Basically, bring Silicon Valley into your company.
- Do small, low-scale experiments to test new business models
- Reward the revolutionaries inside your company, compensate the in-company entrepreneurs as if they were working in Silicon Valley.
Hamel's focus on curiosity is not only mentioned explicitly, but also shines through the many questions he asks his readers. Perhaps this approach of continually asking questions has allowed him to come up with some business models that later came to life in Skype and crowd-funding. Hamel states that it is impossible to predict the future, but that it is possible to imagine it. Asking the right questions certainly helps in the process of imagining the future. The right questions may also lead you to new ideas, which are the only way to really create new wealth.
The theories and suggestions of this book are mostly still valid. Some of the examples and statements about companies are unfortunately a bit dated (such as Hamel's remark in 2000 that Apple will be not more than a footnote in the history of Information Technology).
May 25, 2022
I absolutely loved this book, but then I am an activist and I love the world of business.
Bringing two of my passions together in the way Gary Hamel did, and the easy to read flow he writes in was just what I needed to regain confidence in what I am building with my own business, especially as so many 'experts' in business kept telling me I was doing it wrong and needed to be 'less this, that and the other'.
Not that I am really one to listen to others, but after a while, it gets a bit tedious and it is hard not to question yourself.
With clear ideas, implementation strategies and case studies, it is easy to implement the ideas and create to-do lists which you simply tick off as you go - provided they are relevant to your business that it.
If you really want to innovate your business, and are not afraid to go against the grain (which, let's be honest is what innovation is all about) then I highly recommend this timeless book.
Bringing two of my passions together in the way Gary Hamel did, and the easy to read flow he writes in was just what I needed to regain confidence in what I am building with my own business, especially as so many 'experts' in business kept telling me I was doing it wrong and needed to be 'less this, that and the other'.
Not that I am really one to listen to others, but after a while, it gets a bit tedious and it is hard not to question yourself.
With clear ideas, implementation strategies and case studies, it is easy to implement the ideas and create to-do lists which you simply tick off as you go - provided they are relevant to your business that it.
If you really want to innovate your business, and are not afraid to go against the grain (which, let's be honest is what innovation is all about) then I highly recommend this timeless book.
April 26, 2020
Gary Hamel was once considered one of the strategy gurus, but hasn’t actually come up with much new in the past twenty years. He seems to have made the choice to follow in the Tom Peters mould of becoming an entertaining speaker and merchant of wow! Rather than concentrating on supported academic research, which he is quick to belittle as for a minority readership with no links to action.
Having said that there was much good stuff in this book, although his time really hasn’t changed much right up to the present day. Basically suggests that old models of strategy led to incrementalism, and what the world needed was greater creativity and business system innovation.
Having said that there was much good stuff in this book, although his time really hasn’t changed much right up to the present day. Basically suggests that old models of strategy led to incrementalism, and what the world needed was greater creativity and business system innovation.
May 29, 2017
This book was written a long time ago. Strategists and futurists rarely get credit for their thinking when they write - because no one has seen what these guys see...and the world has yet to see it come true. The edition I read had one of the best layouts I have come across - very creative - clean and inspiring. A great read made even better by the brilliant layout. Not sure how relevant the book is in today's context - unless there have been updated versions.
May 22, 2025
Good read, offering a good model for developing an entrepreneur organization. It is a book about non-linear innovation-not in the usual sense of new products and new technologies, but in the sense of radical new business models Difficult to read at times due to writing style.
December 20, 2020
A book I will read everyday ❤
June 11, 2025
Our dreams are no longer fantasies, but possibilities.
September 16, 2025
A solid follow up read from The Innovator’s Dilemma.
September 21, 2010
This is another piece on innovation, this time focussing on innovating the business model, rather than innovation within a research environment. While the book was interesting, it did not connect with me as well as some of the other work on innovation, such as Dorothy Leonard's Wellsprings of Knowledge . The author is a well-established thinker in the field and presents a compelling case for "non-linear thinking" to bring about high growth. The book contains the obvious examples from the high tech industry, but also contains a number of examples of "gray-haired revolutionary" companies that are consistently able to deliver high growth. Hamel's central argument is that while continuous improvement is valuable, it will not keep a company from falling prey to business-changing developments elsewhere.
He advocates that companies continue working on these linear improvements while also exploring non-linear changes. While there isn't a prescription for doing this, Hamel suggests that companies should encourage its people to think of new ideas, try out as many low-cost experiments as possible, promote successful experiments to trial projects (with moderate budgets) and the few successful trials could become full-fledged projects. His view is that if just one of the 1000 ideas truly bears fruit as a business concept, then the company could easily reap the rewards for encouraging innovative thinking.
While the other innovation literature tends to focus on R&D labs and similar places where one expects to find creativity, Hamel mostly talks about business models and projects that are outside the realm of "pure R&D." His argument is that companies that want to continue growing need to continually think about new ways to do everything, whether that is designing new drugs or selling them.
He advocates that companies continue working on these linear improvements while also exploring non-linear changes. While there isn't a prescription for doing this, Hamel suggests that companies should encourage its people to think of new ideas, try out as many low-cost experiments as possible, promote successful experiments to trial projects (with moderate budgets) and the few successful trials could become full-fledged projects. His view is that if just one of the 1000 ideas truly bears fruit as a business concept, then the company could easily reap the rewards for encouraging innovative thinking.
While the other innovation literature tends to focus on R&D labs and similar places where one expects to find creativity, Hamel mostly talks about business models and projects that are outside the realm of "pure R&D." His argument is that companies that want to continue growing need to continually think about new ways to do everything, whether that is designing new drugs or selling them.
May 2, 2012
Leading the Revolution was a book I found from my friends bookshelf, when we were visiting them. He hadn't read the book and I hadn't heard anything about it beforehand, so I got the luxury to read it without many expectations towards it. Gary Hamel as a person was familiar to me, but this book wasn't.
Book is about innovation. How radical and continuous innovation is only way companies can stay on the top and profitable. Also it tells how people outside the top management can be the ones who drive the innovation in companies.
It was refreshing to read innovation theories from 10 years back. Most of it is totally valid even today. This book unfortunately lost part of it's value with dot-com bubble and Enron scandal. This shouldn't change the fact, that book is full of good thinking of how companies should support innovation and reinvent their business models often enough. I liked the book and with these known shortcomings, it's still a good book to read.
More thorough review here
Book is about innovation. How radical and continuous innovation is only way companies can stay on the top and profitable. Also it tells how people outside the top management can be the ones who drive the innovation in companies.
It was refreshing to read innovation theories from 10 years back. Most of it is totally valid even today. This book unfortunately lost part of it's value with dot-com bubble and Enron scandal. This shouldn't change the fact, that book is full of good thinking of how companies should support innovation and reinvent their business models often enough. I liked the book and with these known shortcomings, it's still a good book to read.
More thorough review here
May 13, 2016
Some content is dated, but that shouldn't take away the core message. This is driving directions for those of us who work for large corporations and would like to carve out different perspectives and 'point of view' for future of the business.
If you ever thought you had ideas that company should be pursuing and didn't do much other than complaining about how 'they' are idiots and that they don't havea games plan? Well, you have no excuse anymore...
If you ever thought you had ideas that company should be pursuing and didn't do much other than complaining about how 'they' are idiots and that they don't havea games plan? Well, you have no excuse anymore...
February 13, 2008
Good book. More story than anything, but good. Good stuff towards the end on helping start a revolution (chapter 7).
Inspiring, a bit. Promotes a Strategic perspective AND ethos - not too common to see both in a book or author.
Inspiring, a bit. Promotes a Strategic perspective AND ethos - not too common to see both in a book or author.
February 29, 2008
This book was all the rage until Enron imploded.
August 3, 2011
Good structure. Plentiful examples that confirm radical innovation being the most important strategy for well-established company to pursue in order to thrive.
June 2, 2012
You may not agree with everything Gary has to say but he will challenge you to want to go out and break something!
September 7, 2012
A must read for corporate people and management students.
August 1, 2014
Convincing but frankly very hard to realize in "bigcorp" where incremental improvements crowed out revolutionary approaches. Yet precisely because of this a must-read.
January 29, 2016
Excellent book about business model innovation. Businesses need to do more than product innovation. Business model innovation is what will create long-term business success.
to-read-if
October 11, 2011Reference: From The Ten Must-Read Books in Love Is the Killer App
March 29, 2013
An optional-read book on innovation for knowledge workers and entrepreneurs.
April 12, 2017
What does it mean to be innovative, to cause change, run a company, be a leader, a revolutionary? Gary Hamel’s ‘Leading The Revolution’ takes all these questions into perspective, analysing and moulding them into something tangible that can be applied to your own variation of thinking. The book is not so much about telling the reader what it is like to be revolutionary, but rather it investigates existing examples of companies and CEO’s who rose or fell for every business enthusiast to observe. What are the dos and don’ts, and is it even as black and white as such?
Hamel’s writing takes the reader through example cases, discussing what a business strategy is, points out successful examples and sticks with several of the same companies to revisit in varying contexts. While seemingly slow and slightly difficult to comprehend for the uninitiated business enthusiast, some passages go into deep analysis of applied business tactics, set in bullet points or graphical charts, make a point and then do it again for three more examples. Hamel does this not to bore his reader but to make a point for those who see the patterns. It appears evident that the innovative mindset is something that can be cultivated if you have the conviction to pursue it and Hamel explains in rich detail what such a person needs to focus on, not in specifics but rather in how they approach things, ideas and their particular area of practice.
Under the paragraph ‘Search out underappreciated trends’, Hamel writes:
“Whatever you can know about what’s changing in the world, so can everyone else. So you’ve got to look where others are not looking. The good news is that most people in an industry are blind in the same way – they’re all paying attention to the same things, and not paying attention the same things” - Page 131.
What Hamel writes in this section is, in a way, his explanation of what is so different about the revolutionary mindset, the instigators of change. To him it does not matter if the revolution happens in a big tech corporation lead by an ingenious CEO or if you are self-employed, or perhaps even a humble manager of a small company office. Those who dare to analyse the climate of their business, define the patterns that competitors are following, and develop their own different path to a new goal, those are the rebels of an industry, the ones paving the way for others to follow and here size definitely does not matter, for as Hamel argues, most people are perfectly comfortable on “[…] the treadmill of progress [...]” (p. 322). In this concluding statement on the penultimate page of the book, Hamel makes it crystal clear that you can be successful in many ways and that what distinguishes the revolutionary person from any other workhorse is the mindset. You can do your part in whichever role you have and remain competitive in a market, but when somebody comes up with a new idea that nobody seems to have thought of, turning the tables on who was thought to be the leaders, that is when the revolution shows its face.
‘Leading The Revolution’ is not a book for casual reading. It is not self-help and it is not for everybody. If you have the slightest interest in innovation, starting a business, or feel like you could do a better job making decisions than your current employer, maybe this is the book for you, and perhaps you will be nodding along as Gary Hamel explains his research in what makes a revolution happen. He supplies viewpoints in various fields from big airline bureaus to perfume experts, as well as the Silicon Valley giants. The teachings are timeless as they explain the train of thought required to get on your path as a leader of innovation, and as such the book still holds up in 2017 where companies like Uber and Tesla exist. I recommend this book to anyone who knows that they have it in them to cause change, who would dare to do things differently and who is intrigued by the sheer notion of getting involved with ‘the next big thing’, whether it is banking, cement, logistics or technology in the broad spectrum. Let this comprehensive piece of research and sound advice guide you towards your next revolutionary undertaking. Lead the revolution!
Hamel’s writing takes the reader through example cases, discussing what a business strategy is, points out successful examples and sticks with several of the same companies to revisit in varying contexts. While seemingly slow and slightly difficult to comprehend for the uninitiated business enthusiast, some passages go into deep analysis of applied business tactics, set in bullet points or graphical charts, make a point and then do it again for three more examples. Hamel does this not to bore his reader but to make a point for those who see the patterns. It appears evident that the innovative mindset is something that can be cultivated if you have the conviction to pursue it and Hamel explains in rich detail what such a person needs to focus on, not in specifics but rather in how they approach things, ideas and their particular area of practice.
Under the paragraph ‘Search out underappreciated trends’, Hamel writes:
“Whatever you can know about what’s changing in the world, so can everyone else. So you’ve got to look where others are not looking. The good news is that most people in an industry are blind in the same way – they’re all paying attention to the same things, and not paying attention the same things” - Page 131.
What Hamel writes in this section is, in a way, his explanation of what is so different about the revolutionary mindset, the instigators of change. To him it does not matter if the revolution happens in a big tech corporation lead by an ingenious CEO or if you are self-employed, or perhaps even a humble manager of a small company office. Those who dare to analyse the climate of their business, define the patterns that competitors are following, and develop their own different path to a new goal, those are the rebels of an industry, the ones paving the way for others to follow and here size definitely does not matter, for as Hamel argues, most people are perfectly comfortable on “[…] the treadmill of progress [...]” (p. 322). In this concluding statement on the penultimate page of the book, Hamel makes it crystal clear that you can be successful in many ways and that what distinguishes the revolutionary person from any other workhorse is the mindset. You can do your part in whichever role you have and remain competitive in a market, but when somebody comes up with a new idea that nobody seems to have thought of, turning the tables on who was thought to be the leaders, that is when the revolution shows its face.
‘Leading The Revolution’ is not a book for casual reading. It is not self-help and it is not for everybody. If you have the slightest interest in innovation, starting a business, or feel like you could do a better job making decisions than your current employer, maybe this is the book for you, and perhaps you will be nodding along as Gary Hamel explains his research in what makes a revolution happen. He supplies viewpoints in various fields from big airline bureaus to perfume experts, as well as the Silicon Valley giants. The teachings are timeless as they explain the train of thought required to get on your path as a leader of innovation, and as such the book still holds up in 2017 where companies like Uber and Tesla exist. I recommend this book to anyone who knows that they have it in them to cause change, who would dare to do things differently and who is intrigued by the sheer notion of getting involved with ‘the next big thing’, whether it is banking, cement, logistics or technology in the broad spectrum. Let this comprehensive piece of research and sound advice guide you towards your next revolutionary undertaking. Lead the revolution!
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January 25, 2019I have the english and the german edition.
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