Under Andy Grove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest chipmaker, the fifth-most-admired company in America, and the seventh-most-prof...
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Jan 14, 2012
Ilya
rated it: 
Andrew Grove was one of the cofounders of Intel Corp., and its CEO in 1987-1998. In this position, he made several right decisions. One was to divest the company of its memory business and concentrate on microprocessors: it couldn't compete with Japanese memory chip manufacturers anyway. When the Pentium floating-point division bug was discovered, the bad publicity prompted Intel to offer to exchange the processor to any end consumer; this offer cost the company half a billion dollars, but it re
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Nov 13, 2011
Preston
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Sep 13, 2010
deep
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The Intel way to manage strategic inflection points - the seismic changes in business that can have only a binary outcome. Grove stresses the importance of tuning into company Cassandras on the front lines and in middle management. At 10,000 feet, he advocates the need to let chaos reign and challenge past assumptions through critical analysis and debate. Then, top management must rein back in the chaos with clear and consistent marching orders. Ideals that few would argue with, but don't always
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Sep 17, 2011
Jacob
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First, the book is concise...a good quality in a business book. I was able to read a chapter on each of my 20 minute morning / afternoon tube ride while in London.
Basically it is about realizing when the game is changing and how important that is. Grove does well to link ideas to his or other's exeperiences and comes across open and honest about his own failures...they don't seem to be the result of an editor saying, "Come on Andy, you must have screwed up once..."
T More...
Basically it is about realizing when the game is changing and how important that is. Grove does well to link ideas to his or other's exeperiences and comes across open and honest about his own failures...they don't seem to be the result of an editor saying, "Come on Andy, you must have screwed up once..."
T More...
Jun 30, 2011
Only The Paranoid Survive
Key Quotes:
"The replacement of corporate heads is far more motivated by the need to bring in someone who is not invested in the past than to get somebody who is a better leader or better manager in other ways."
---Andy Grove, Only the Paranoid Survive (p127)
Strategic change doesn't just start at the top, it starts with your calendar. ---(p146)
"Put all of your eggs in one basket, then WATCH THAT BASKET"
More...
Key Quotes:
"The replacement of corporate heads is far more motivated by the need to bring in someone who is not invested in the past than to get somebody who is a better leader or better manager in other ways."
---Andy Grove, Only the Paranoid Survive (p127)
Strategic change doesn't just start at the top, it starts with your calendar. ---(p146)
"Put all of your eggs in one basket, then WATCH THAT BASKET"
More...
Jul 04, 2011
Upom
rated it:
An interesting and concise book about "strategic inflection points", points at which the fundamentals of a business change dramatically due to 10x forces. Grove recounts his experiences at Intel when the company underwent a strategic inflection point due to the Japanese entering the memory chip market . Grove provides practical advice on how to identify strategic inflection points, how to deal with them in the short-term and the long-term. Grove's method can be summarized with the foll
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Sep 05, 2011
David
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This book discusses some really important ideas, primarily the "10x forces" that fundamentally change businesses and the "strategic inflection points" during which an industry is transformed by these "10x forces" (yes, he quotes that term everywhere it appears in the book). Grove explores these ideas using his experience as CEO during Intel's switch from making memories to making microprocessors in the late 80's as the primary example, but he emphasizes that these
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May 17, 2011
Patrick
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Stopped at page 155 after the pace slowed and it became a little redundant.
What I learned:
What I learned:
* Middle Managers serve a purpose: "Simply by doing their daily work, these middle managers were adjusting Intel's strategic posture. By the time we [senior management:] made the decision to exit the memory business, only one out of eight silicon fabrication plants was producing memories. The exit decision had less drastic consequences as a result of the actions of our middle managersMore...
Jan 21, 2012
Khalid
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Andy is a shrewd leader who took Intel company from a fail to become a success story all over the world. besides chronological events he shows how a company sooner or later will suffer in a turmoil and only the paranoid and surfing against the waves, inflection points, would help out.
This book is a strategy-focused and would benefit any person with needed leadership skills.
This book is a strategy-focused and would benefit any person with needed leadership skills.
Aug 03, 2008
Dan
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Many middle managers could write this book. The unusual thing is that it was written by a CEO, and a famous one at that. CEOs are usually well insulated from reality, as Grove acknowledges, and therefore they are not sensitive to the winds of change.
Grove advocates some ancient ideas such as listening to the people who do the work, not shooting messengers, and promoting vigorous debate. His key idea is about external events that substantially alter a company's destiny and how senior More...
Grove advocates some ancient ideas such as listening to the people who do the work, not shooting messengers, and promoting vigorous debate. His key idea is about external events that substantially alter a company's destiny and how senior More...
Oct 12, 2011
Rob
rated it:
Read for Certificate in Management for Technical Professionals course. It focuses on inflection points and what they mean to your business or career. Inflection points are referred to as a 10x change in one of the five forces of business strategy. I found it interesting and worthwhile overall but repetitive.
Apr 05, 2011
Mark
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While the world is, technologically speaking, a much different place than when Andy Grove ran Intel, ONLY THE PARANOID SURVIVE remains an insightful primer, with lots of compelling case studies, on the challenges of change and "disruption."
Jan 28, 2009
Ming
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exploiting change is the lesson here, and never be content or happy or stable if you work in technology... try a more oligopolistic industry to situate yourself? Unless you're a genius like Andy Grove.
Apr 13, 2009
Charlane
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Interesting how he describes managing through a crisis a personal affair and, separately, the forces which determine the competitive well-being (my interest) of a business.
Sep 05, 2010
Shrikrishna
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Amazing good for Entrepreneurs. The concept of inflection point can be applied to every individual in their carrier.
In general a good book to have it in the shelf
In general a good book to have it in the shelf
Aug 10, 2010
Cameron
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I quite liked this book. If you're in business (or concerned about your career), this is a great book to read to look for ideas for how to cope with interesting times. As someone who struggles with the balance between working too much and not enough, this is a good antidote to complacency (and hopefully overwork?). It's a quick read, and it should provide you with lots of ideas.
If you've read Crossing the Chasm, you'll know why this book is so interesting. In Chasm, the author (G More...
If you've read Crossing the Chasm, you'll know why this book is so interesting. In Chasm, the author (G More...
Jan 19, 2011
Arun
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Gives you a boardroom view of big decisions. Important read to understand decision making
Dec 09, 2009
Tanya
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An excelent book! It helped me a lot in writing an essay about Intel Corporation and, to my surprise, give some practical advice for future career. This book was better that I'd expected!
May 08, 2009
Todd
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This book was included in my book: The 100 Best Business Books of All Time. www.100bestbiz.com
Feb 07, 2012
Alisa
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Andy Grove writes a reasonably entertaining and energetic business book.
Dec 11, 2010
Nedland
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A must read for businessmen, and an interesting take for the average person.
Feb 10, 2009
Kyle
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Strong start, and a fast finish, but very very very dense for about 50 pages in the middle.
Jul 27, 2011
Priya
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How Intel reigns! - an insight into a highly competitive corporate world
Oct 01, 2007
Dave
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i really tried to get into it but I wasn't feeling it...
Please help me see what was good about this book...
Please help me see what was good about this book...
Nov 29, 2011
aford
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Force 10 Strategic Inflection Point - one of my favorite thoughts ever.
