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Powered by Change: How to design your business for perpetual success
In a hectic business environment where it is estimated that half of the decisions that C EOs make turn out to be wrong, the stark reality is that it has never been harder to see what's happening around us, interpret information efficiently, and develop strategies that are executed in a successful way.
This is partly down to the speed of change and also down to the mindset about change that is common amongst large and small companies. To them, change is seen as the enemy. This book proposes a role reversal and gives people a brand new methodology as a practical guide in how to use change as a fuelling mechanism to generate outstanding business success.
We all accept that change is the only constant, yet the author believes there is a significant lack of insight into how to think and act in a way that capitalizes on a constantly changing environment.
Powered by Change requires leaders to adopt a more radical view about the way business is done. The Windmill is constructed using four blades: Purpose, People, Product and Process. Getting these four blades to work in harmony with one another leads to an empowered business that can use the winds of change to fuel business success.
Powered by Change is filled with examples and stories from around the world, including global corporates and start-up ventures, alongside colorful insights and above all, actionable steps to take to achieve competitive advantage. Key topics include change, innovation, leadership, strategy and futureproofing.
"Test your thinking about how you would disrupt your own business - because somebody out there is already doing it." -Jesper Brodin, Chief Executive, IKEA
224 pages, Hardcover
Published April 24, 2018
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March 31, 2019
A worthy winner of the 'Embracing Change' category at the Business Book Awards 2019.
Macdonald takes that great aphorism 'When the winds of change blow, some build a wall and others build a windmill' and makes it the central structural metaphor of this energetic manifesto for change-readiness.
He asks us to construct four blades for our windmill - Purpose, People Product and Process - all of which are needed to harness change for growth, and each of which has three sections. It's a helpful framework, and doesn't feel contrived in its symmetry.
Macdonald's own story is a powerful opening to the book: bullied mercilessly from his earliest days at school, a digital music industry pioneer, briefly a dot com millionaire then a bankrupt, he has done the hard yards. There's no better qualification for speaking about disruption than having been at the frontline of the music industry at the turn of the 21st century, and he draws many useful and insightful lessons from that experience, for example the way that the industry failed to 'transpose' the piracy model of connecting fans directly with music, leaving the field clear for companies like Napster and Spotify to do the work for them and reap the rewards. In the face of the digital revolution the music industry tried to build a wall rather than a windmill, and it's never really recovered.
The sense of excitement and potential that bubbles behind the book is palpable, and occasionally overwhelming - at points it feels more like a series of 'Wow, look at this cool innovation' moments than a methodology for culture change. But if you're baffled by blockchain and dubious about digital printing, or simply feel that they don't apply to you, this is essential reading.
Macdonald takes that great aphorism 'When the winds of change blow, some build a wall and others build a windmill' and makes it the central structural metaphor of this energetic manifesto for change-readiness.
He asks us to construct four blades for our windmill - Purpose, People Product and Process - all of which are needed to harness change for growth, and each of which has three sections. It's a helpful framework, and doesn't feel contrived in its symmetry.
Macdonald's own story is a powerful opening to the book: bullied mercilessly from his earliest days at school, a digital music industry pioneer, briefly a dot com millionaire then a bankrupt, he has done the hard yards. There's no better qualification for speaking about disruption than having been at the frontline of the music industry at the turn of the 21st century, and he draws many useful and insightful lessons from that experience, for example the way that the industry failed to 'transpose' the piracy model of connecting fans directly with music, leaving the field clear for companies like Napster and Spotify to do the work for them and reap the rewards. In the face of the digital revolution the music industry tried to build a wall rather than a windmill, and it's never really recovered.
The sense of excitement and potential that bubbles behind the book is palpable, and occasionally overwhelming - at points it feels more like a series of 'Wow, look at this cool innovation' moments than a methodology for culture change. But if you're baffled by blockchain and dubious about digital printing, or simply feel that they don't apply to you, this is essential reading.
Displaying 1 of 1 review