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Winning in FastTime: Harness the Competitive Advantage of Prometheus in Business and Life
Developed at warp-speed and designed for overwhelming victory, the Desert Storm air campaign lit up the skies of Baghdad and changed strategic thinking forever. Now, John Warden - architect of the Desert Storm air campaign - and his partner, organizational consultant Leland Russell, have applied this proven approach to success to another kind of intense the fast-changing world of 21st century business. Understand why the Prometheus Process is vital in today's world of crisis. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf gave a ringing endorsement to John Wardens new book, Winning in FastTime, with co-author Leland Russell. David Halberstams new book, War in a Time of Peace, suggested Col. Warden should have been on the cover of Time following the Gulf War The system - Prometheus - is a mindset and a method for rapid, decisive strategic action. Its essence is think strategically, focus sharply and move quickly. Leaders and managers of big-cap, mid-cap and startup companies, in high-tech finance, health care, and many other industries, have successfully applied Prometheus to meet the same kinds of challenges that you face. Now, through clear, step-by-step directions and dramatic, behind-the-scenes stories, Winning in FastTime will explain Prometheus to you. Whether you are a CEO, a manager, a project leader, of simply a dedicated employee, this book will help *Transform your organization into a nimble, market-leading winner; *Design a Grand Strategy that everyone from the boardroom to the front line can share; *Shape tomorrow...before it shapes you. Winning in FastTime has a powerful message. You can control your destiny...if you are willing to shed yesterday's thinking about business strategy and organization...move fast and decisively...and make the future what you want it to be. Welcome to the world of Prometheus.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published August 15, 2001
15 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 4, 2022
A winning warrior's advice for business
John A. Warden III is a retired Air Force colonel. He has been called “the leading airpower theorist in the U.S. Air Force in the second half of the twentieth century.” As with famed modern strategist and fellow Air Force alumnus John Boyd, Warden’s work has been controversial. However, a number of distinguished military historians have concluded that Warden, through his “Checkmate” Warfighting Concepts Development directorate, defined the very terms of reference for the 1991 Iraq I Desert Storm strategy, thus introducing a new approach to the conduct of war. Warden retired from the Air force and started a consulting company to apply strategy in the business world. The book “Winning in FastTime” is an outgrowth of Warden’s (and his partner Leland Russell's) business venture touted as “The Prometheus Process.”
Warden originally developed his “Five Rings Model” to present to General Schwarzkopf. Like a bullseye, this model prioritized targets (Leadership, System Essentials, Infrastructure, Population, and Fielded Military (Agents). For a nation-state, leadership would mean senior officials like the president, prime minister, congress, courts, financial powers, and media. For businesses, leadership would mean leaders of markets, customers, associations, politics, finance, media, brands/ideas, etc. System essentials for a nation to function would include communications, agriculture, electrical generation, etc. Systems essentials for a business would be communications, ideation, commercialization, production, purchasing, distribution, selling, financing, staffing, energy conservation. Infrastructure for a nation-state includes highways, airports, railroads, canals, etc. For businesses, infrastructure includes value networks, organization, physical facilities, installed bases, and transportation networks. Population for a nation-state includes groups of similar people whom you can affect as a group. For businesses, this would be customers, consumers, etc. Fielded military (aka Agents) for a nation-state includes the military, police, and other groups that promote or defend the nation’s agenda. For businesses, Agents include non-lead customers, non-lead competitors, supplier companies, market supplies, sales outlets, etc.
The book develops the four steps to create a winning strategy:
• Design The Future”: Scope environment, paint picture of the desired future, engrave (engrain) guiding precepts, and establish measure of merit.
• “Target For Success”: Map relevant systems, identify centers of gravity (leverage points identified in the Five Rings), and determine desired effects.
• “Campaign to Win”: Operate in parallel (attack centers of gravity simultaneously), organize to win, and orchestrate resources.
• “Finish with Finesse”: Define exit points, terminate, and reconstitute.
It concludes with a valuable listing of a dozen Cardinal Rules for winning. I’d list them here but for not wanting to steal too much of Warden’s "Instant Thunder."
One military theorist believes Warden’s strategic theory is Jominian in that it is practical, emphasizing conflict’s physical sphere, and wants to teach warriors how to act within the principles of war. Thus, Warden’s theory of attack is form-oriented and focuses on physical paralysis. It advocates parallel (simultaneous) strikes against an enemy’s five strategic rings, with steady emphasis on the leadership bullseye, to cause the enemy’s system to fully or partially lose function. This same theorist views Warden’s fellow Air Force strategist Boyd’s theory as Clausewitzian because it is philosophical, emphasizing moral and mental paralysis, and focuses on teaching warriors how to think—i.e., teaching the “genius of war.”
Overall, Warden’s and Russell’s book is a very well done transformation of warfighting strategy into business strategy. It mentions a number of concepts not commonly mentioned in the strategy literature, e.g., the Three-Echelon Rule. Developed by the Prussians, this rule required at least three organization echelons present for any serious planning or decisions. IMHO, the book could have been improved with the addition of helpful diagrams and materials found online that were published (later?) by Warden and Russell and/or their associates. Also, the book touts the success of a number of Warden’s and Russell’s clients. Unfortunately, many of these companies have faltered in the years after 2002, the book’s publication year, begging the question of why. Bottom-line, however, the book is a very nice addition to any business strategy library.
Of possible interest: Strategy Pure and Simple: Essential Moves for Winning in Competition and Cooperation
John A. Warden III is a retired Air Force colonel. He has been called “the leading airpower theorist in the U.S. Air Force in the second half of the twentieth century.” As with famed modern strategist and fellow Air Force alumnus John Boyd, Warden’s work has been controversial. However, a number of distinguished military historians have concluded that Warden, through his “Checkmate” Warfighting Concepts Development directorate, defined the very terms of reference for the 1991 Iraq I Desert Storm strategy, thus introducing a new approach to the conduct of war. Warden retired from the Air force and started a consulting company to apply strategy in the business world. The book “Winning in FastTime” is an outgrowth of Warden’s (and his partner Leland Russell's) business venture touted as “The Prometheus Process.”
Warden originally developed his “Five Rings Model” to present to General Schwarzkopf. Like a bullseye, this model prioritized targets (Leadership, System Essentials, Infrastructure, Population, and Fielded Military (Agents). For a nation-state, leadership would mean senior officials like the president, prime minister, congress, courts, financial powers, and media. For businesses, leadership would mean leaders of markets, customers, associations, politics, finance, media, brands/ideas, etc. System essentials for a nation to function would include communications, agriculture, electrical generation, etc. Systems essentials for a business would be communications, ideation, commercialization, production, purchasing, distribution, selling, financing, staffing, energy conservation. Infrastructure for a nation-state includes highways, airports, railroads, canals, etc. For businesses, infrastructure includes value networks, organization, physical facilities, installed bases, and transportation networks. Population for a nation-state includes groups of similar people whom you can affect as a group. For businesses, this would be customers, consumers, etc. Fielded military (aka Agents) for a nation-state includes the military, police, and other groups that promote or defend the nation’s agenda. For businesses, Agents include non-lead customers, non-lead competitors, supplier companies, market supplies, sales outlets, etc.
The book develops the four steps to create a winning strategy:
• Design The Future”: Scope environment, paint picture of the desired future, engrave (engrain) guiding precepts, and establish measure of merit.
• “Target For Success”: Map relevant systems, identify centers of gravity (leverage points identified in the Five Rings), and determine desired effects.
• “Campaign to Win”: Operate in parallel (attack centers of gravity simultaneously), organize to win, and orchestrate resources.
• “Finish with Finesse”: Define exit points, terminate, and reconstitute.
It concludes with a valuable listing of a dozen Cardinal Rules for winning. I’d list them here but for not wanting to steal too much of Warden’s "Instant Thunder."
One military theorist believes Warden’s strategic theory is Jominian in that it is practical, emphasizing conflict’s physical sphere, and wants to teach warriors how to act within the principles of war. Thus, Warden’s theory of attack is form-oriented and focuses on physical paralysis. It advocates parallel (simultaneous) strikes against an enemy’s five strategic rings, with steady emphasis on the leadership bullseye, to cause the enemy’s system to fully or partially lose function. This same theorist views Warden’s fellow Air Force strategist Boyd’s theory as Clausewitzian because it is philosophical, emphasizing moral and mental paralysis, and focuses on teaching warriors how to think—i.e., teaching the “genius of war.”
Overall, Warden’s and Russell’s book is a very well done transformation of warfighting strategy into business strategy. It mentions a number of concepts not commonly mentioned in the strategy literature, e.g., the Three-Echelon Rule. Developed by the Prussians, this rule required at least three organization echelons present for any serious planning or decisions. IMHO, the book could have been improved with the addition of helpful diagrams and materials found online that were published (later?) by Warden and Russell and/or their associates. Also, the book touts the success of a number of Warden’s and Russell’s clients. Unfortunately, many of these companies have faltered in the years after 2002, the book’s publication year, begging the question of why. Bottom-line, however, the book is a very nice addition to any business strategy library.
Of possible interest: Strategy Pure and Simple: Essential Moves for Winning in Competition and Cooperation
February 2, 2018
This book gives good advice for not just business ventures, but thinking in a modern instant-click world. The Prometheus setup is a great understanding to have to make effective changes in any modern group setting.
July 25, 2008
Winning in FastTime: Harness the Competitive Advantage of Prometheus in Business and Life
John A. Warden III and Leland A. Russell
Venturist Publishing
Warden and Russell introduce what they call the “Prometheus Process – a new way of running an enterprise in warp-speed time.” Why Prometheus? Because, according to legend, he gave two gifts to man: forethpought and then, realizing that forethought alone was insufficient, Prometheus went to Mount Olympus and stole the fire of the gods and gave it to man. So what? “Today, forethought and fire (passion) fuel high performance organmizations. Those whose leaders think strategically and execute passionately have the ultimate competitive advantage – the power to spark their own success, illuminate the future, and ignite the energy of all of their stakeholders.” In practice, the Prometheus is based on four fundamental imperatives: “Design the Future” (i.e clearly envision what to accomplish); “Target for Success” (i.e. select the right objectives by using the “Five Rings” methodology which Warden and Russell explain in Chapter 9); “Campaign to Win” (i.e. aggressively, indeed tenaciously andf relentlessly execute the system strategy to achieve the given objectives); and “Finish with Finesse” (i.e. prepare for the inevitable elimination of products, processes, even businesses...and do so with style and grace). With rigor and eloquence, Warden and Russell explain how to develop and nourish a mindset which involves deciding what the desirable future is and then how to kmake it happen at a faster rate of change in the given competitive environment. They explain why “Instant Thunder” can achieve success IF decision-makers think strategically, frocus sharply, and move quickly. Warden and Russell also explain the necessity of “creating your own rules with a winning strategy” that is translated into an integrated plan “that will take you from vision to execution to completion.” They also point out that everything happens within a system or frame-of-reference which has centers of gravity. “Identify them and act on them rapidly and in parallel. [Think about the concluding scenes in The Godfather film when the enemies of the Corleone family are systematically – and simultaneously – eliminated.] Achieving and then sustaining this focus “is the secret to rapid, decisive system change.”
John A. Warden III and Leland A. Russell
Venturist Publishing
Warden and Russell introduce what they call the “Prometheus Process – a new way of running an enterprise in warp-speed time.” Why Prometheus? Because, according to legend, he gave two gifts to man: forethpought and then, realizing that forethought alone was insufficient, Prometheus went to Mount Olympus and stole the fire of the gods and gave it to man. So what? “Today, forethought and fire (passion) fuel high performance organmizations. Those whose leaders think strategically and execute passionately have the ultimate competitive advantage – the power to spark their own success, illuminate the future, and ignite the energy of all of their stakeholders.” In practice, the Prometheus is based on four fundamental imperatives: “Design the Future” (i.e clearly envision what to accomplish); “Target for Success” (i.e. select the right objectives by using the “Five Rings” methodology which Warden and Russell explain in Chapter 9); “Campaign to Win” (i.e. aggressively, indeed tenaciously andf relentlessly execute the system strategy to achieve the given objectives); and “Finish with Finesse” (i.e. prepare for the inevitable elimination of products, processes, even businesses...and do so with style and grace). With rigor and eloquence, Warden and Russell explain how to develop and nourish a mindset which involves deciding what the desirable future is and then how to kmake it happen at a faster rate of change in the given competitive environment. They explain why “Instant Thunder” can achieve success IF decision-makers think strategically, frocus sharply, and move quickly. Warden and Russell also explain the necessity of “creating your own rules with a winning strategy” that is translated into an integrated plan “that will take you from vision to execution to completion.” They also point out that everything happens within a system or frame-of-reference which has centers of gravity. “Identify them and act on them rapidly and in parallel. [Think about the concluding scenes in The Godfather film when the enemies of the Corleone family are systematically – and simultaneously – eliminated.] Achieving and then sustaining this focus “is the secret to rapid, decisive system change.”
December 29, 2008
This is the basic book on the Prometheus Process, a method of strategic planning developed by one of the planners from the first Gulf War. It's a useful strategic planning process when followed completely--most such methods seem to work, the key is following them. There is a bit of a learning curve with specialized jargon that some find difficult to master and annoying to need to learn.
May 9, 2016
Great model for realizing your vision for the future. Real world applications for startups and established businesses.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews