Business Wisdom of the Electronic Elite
Septmeber 1996
In a risky world, those who build new companies seek models to insure their success. Luckily, successful entrepreneurs often crave the added accolades of literary fame, so there are any number of current and former CEO's who have described their experiences or offered their advice.
We'd like to recommend two books of entrepreneurial wisdom you might enjoy. Andy Grove's Only the Paranoid Survive (Doubleday, New York, 1996) is all about identifying and acting on changes in the business environment. These inflection points represent big opportunities to those who can recognize and take advantage of them. The trick is (1) recognizing them and (2) acting on them at the right time.
The recognizing is the hardest part -- you need to look for changes in who's the competition, who's your partner, and who understands the market.
Grove understands how the ability to do this successfully in the past took Intel from the memory chip to the microprocessor business, but deflected an unsuccessful try at the RISC chip business. He even understands that thinking about the Internet -- and Internet appliances -- with an "old head" may be hard to do, but may represent an inflection point and Intel's next Big Opportunity.
You can amplify your reading of Grove's book with a sampling (it's that kind of book, stroll and snack at will) from Geoffrey James' Business Wisdom of the Electronic Elite (Times Business, New York, 1996). This book gives you insights into the management strategies of 34 different high tech CEO's from Bill Gates (Microsoft) to Eckhard Pfeiffer (Compaq) and Scott McNealy (Sun).
If you want a sense of the book, but you're in a rush -- like many of the entrepreneurs the book's advice is gleaned from -- go directly to the appendices. There you'll find three interesting sets of information we're promptly filing with our permanent reading list.
- Mindset Shifts that Lead to Success
1. Business is an ecosystem not a battlefield - build partners, not enemies
2. The Corporation is a community, not a machine - everybody's important; the organization's success is based on all our hopes and visions.
3. Management is service, not control: management leads, allowing and even encouraging dissent. Control is unnecessary.
4. Employees are peers, not children: authority is distributed.
5. Motivate with vision, not fear: we're all on a trip with a known goal. Work is an adventure we're happy to share.
6. Change is growth, not pain: change is a natural part of the process and what leads to success.
- 34 stages of Building an Elite Corporate Culture
- A recommend reading list that includes both books by famous entrepreneurs and books commenting on their strategies. Great resource list.
Not every piece of information you'll read applies to your situation. Some of the stories are dated or self-serving -- on the what a great job I did/what a great leader I am variety, but generally these two are worth the time.
If you've reached this page, obviously you like to read and buy books. For your convenience, we have established a link that will allow you to order this book from Amazon.com. You should be aware that we receive a small commission for this service, but that our goal is to make it easy for you to purchase the books we review.
If you are interested in ordering:
Business Wisdom of the Electronic Elite, click here
Only the Paranoid Survive, click here
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Entire contents © 1995,1996 by Amy D. Wohl. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden.
