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Must-Win Battles: How to Win Them, Again And Again
Must-Win Battles shows leaders exactly how to identify the 3 to 5 critical challenges most likely to make or break their businesses -- and then mobilize people and resources to successfully execute on them. This book draws on the authors' exceptional experience as world-class consultants and leading-edge business researchers, and builds on the highly successful executive program they created for IMD, one of the world's best business schools. The authors show leaders how to cut through uncoordinated initiatives, create a short list of true "must-wins," focus relentlessly on them, and infuse their organizations with renewed energy and effectiveness. Along the way, discover how to recognize which victories will make the greatest difference, avoid unwinnable battles, drive consensus when somebody's ox is inevitably being gored, make sure must-win battles are specific and measurable, and change the behavior of your top management team to lock in this laser-sharp focus for future battles.
252 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
18 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 11, 2019
Quite good at describing both the emotional and intellectuals problems concerned with high level change management.
March 8, 2020
Very practical approach to business strategy.
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October 11, 2023How to align your company around a few focused challenges across silos, and make all BUs and functional units actually commit to this common goal?
July 25, 2008
Must-Win Battles: How to Win Them, Again and Again
Peter Killing and Thomas Malnight with Tracey Keys
Wharton School Publishing
What must be managed effectively to improve an organization's performance? "First, [managers must] identify and win the right battles.... But to win the battles, many organizations need to create a more effective top team and build an organization that [is] less silo-based and capable of focusing all of its energies and capabilities on the chosen battles." What is a "must-win battle" (MWB)? "MWBs are the three to five key battles that your organization absolutely must win to achieve its key objectives." What are the characteristics of a well-chosen MWB? It must "make a real difference, be market focused, create excitement, be specific and tangible [and measurable], and be winnable." What is an "MWB journey"? It is simultaneously both an emotional and intellectual process that must be completed by everyone involved in order to transform his or her organization. Ultimate success will depend upon a "shared understanding of the challenges and options facing the organization, an agreed list of three to five MWBs, a committed [and competent] team for each MWB, a high-level action plan for each MWB, new [better] ways of working together, individual commitments, and an initiation assessment of the starting conditions for engaging the organization."
The authors of this volume share what they have learned about why some organizational transformation initiatives succeed while most others fail. What they propose is a three-phase process (a "journey") which begins with a rigorous and thorough assessment of the current situation, followed by an engagement of the Team and then of teams for the MWBs, and then an engagement of the given organization which involves embedding the Team agenda and aligning the organization while maintaining momentum of the MWB initiatives. Readers will appreciate the authors' provision of check lists of key points, graphics (maps and figures) which illustrate step-by-step segments of the "journey," and ---whenever appropriate - caveats and disclaimers which correctly remind the reader that no course of action (including the one which the authors recommend) "fits all." Obviously, it would be a fool's errand for anyone to read and re-read their book, then rush - or even stroll -- to implement everything in it. It would also be a fool's errand to cherry pick diverse (albeit sound) ideas from a variety of different sources and then attempt to consolidate them in a single plan of "attack." Rather, each reader should absorb and digest the material in Must-Win Battles with great care and then, preferably in discussion with others, co-determine what would be most appropriate to the given organization.
Peter Killing and Thomas Malnight with Tracey Keys
Wharton School Publishing
What must be managed effectively to improve an organization's performance? "First, [managers must] identify and win the right battles.... But to win the battles, many organizations need to create a more effective top team and build an organization that [is] less silo-based and capable of focusing all of its energies and capabilities on the chosen battles." What is a "must-win battle" (MWB)? "MWBs are the three to five key battles that your organization absolutely must win to achieve its key objectives." What are the characteristics of a well-chosen MWB? It must "make a real difference, be market focused, create excitement, be specific and tangible [and measurable], and be winnable." What is an "MWB journey"? It is simultaneously both an emotional and intellectual process that must be completed by everyone involved in order to transform his or her organization. Ultimate success will depend upon a "shared understanding of the challenges and options facing the organization, an agreed list of three to five MWBs, a committed [and competent] team for each MWB, a high-level action plan for each MWB, new [better] ways of working together, individual commitments, and an initiation assessment of the starting conditions for engaging the organization."
The authors of this volume share what they have learned about why some organizational transformation initiatives succeed while most others fail. What they propose is a three-phase process (a "journey") which begins with a rigorous and thorough assessment of the current situation, followed by an engagement of the Team and then of teams for the MWBs, and then an engagement of the given organization which involves embedding the Team agenda and aligning the organization while maintaining momentum of the MWB initiatives. Readers will appreciate the authors' provision of check lists of key points, graphics (maps and figures) which illustrate step-by-step segments of the "journey," and ---whenever appropriate - caveats and disclaimers which correctly remind the reader that no course of action (including the one which the authors recommend) "fits all." Obviously, it would be a fool's errand for anyone to read and re-read their book, then rush - or even stroll -- to implement everything in it. It would also be a fool's errand to cherry pick diverse (albeit sound) ideas from a variety of different sources and then attempt to consolidate them in a single plan of "attack." Rather, each reader should absorb and digest the material in Must-Win Battles with great care and then, preferably in discussion with others, co-determine what would be most appropriate to the given organization.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews