The Attacker’s Advantage: Turning Uncertainty into Breakthrough Opportunities
Ram Charan
Public Affairs
Pp 240
Rs439
The Attacker’s Advantage is another management book in the genre of corporate strategy and leadership in which author Ram Charan sets guidelines on how to succeed in this world of uncertainty. The principles are a matter of sheer common sense which, unfortunately, is not followed by most companies. Anticipating change is the starting point of the book of advice, which is essential for companies to take the appropriate turns and thereby corrective action, so as to remain in the fray. When we say that Dell failed or Nokia became less relevant, it was more on account of not being able to anticipate change. Organisations need to build this ability, writes Ram Charan.
The so-called book of guidelines talks of the creation of five skills in any organisation. The first is perceptual acuity where it should be able to see contradictions, oddities and anomalies in the external landscape so that it can plan necessary action. This has to happen from within the organisation, which, in turn, should create leaders ready to pick up these signals.
The second is creating a mindset to see opportunity in such challenges. By recognising the fact that uncertainty can take you steps ahead of competition, one is really prepared for launching an ‘attack’. One should never be on the defensive is the message that Ram Charan gives here, as very often it is self-defeating and only prolongs the inevitable. We need to accept that the core competences which made the organisation could no longer be relevant in the new context when conditions change. If there are blockages, we need to get past them at any cost.
Third, the author talks of the ability of a leader to see a new path and then commit to it. It is one thing to see uncertainty and then an opportunity, but to be successful before others we have to be to build new capabilities and go ahead with belief and commitment. Here he does stress the age of algorithms which have now caught on in every business, be it stock or retail trading, when we are able to connect producers with suppliers or other producers and ultimately consumers. If there are obstacles on the way, we should attack to dislodge them. He exhorts these leaders to convince their bosses to make these stories come alive.
Fourth, we have to adapt the organisation to managing the new path. This will involve financial outlays and hence is important. Here one has to constantly be in touch with investors and convince them of the credibility of the model being pursued by constantly showing how milestones have been achieved along the way in order to obtain their support.
Lastly, the leaders need to develop the skills to make the organisation steerable and agile. Here, he bats for what are called ‘joint practice sessions’ in companies where a set of leaders congregate and discuss openly what has to be done under the changing circumstances. This is the only way to resolve conflict.
There are lots of examples given to show how various companies and leaders did well by following this path. Often companies prefer to stick to core competences, incremental gains and defensiveness. The alternative path is one of aggression where we create a new need which is subsequently scaled up, thus creating a bend in the road for traditional players.
Ram Charan has checklists for each of these five skills which need to be posed periodically and reassessed by the leaders if they believe truly in what they are doing. To build perceptual acuity, we need to encourage contrary viewpoints, dissect the past, evaluate the sources of risk, build our mental map of changes in multiple industries, and consider what might be considered as being an invention, patent or new law. These are all good points but the issue really is that rarely are these practices followed by most companies which tend to be driven by a vision of just one person, the CEO, who tends to be egotistic. This is why companies fail as they are not able to see the big picture and are happy in their comfort zones.
An interesting section in the huge book is where the author focuses on the mindset for becoming aggressive. Here, the barriers that come in the way are quite interesting. Most companies have attachment to their core competences and hold on to them whatever may happen. The rationale is that this has been responsible for their high margins and market share and logically will continue to be so. The example given is of Kodak which just refused to believe that its time was over and it was time to move on to the digital age. On the other side, companies like GMR have been quite amazing in seeing opportunity and changing their plans and hence direction and venturing from banking to become one of the largest infra companies in the country.
Another challenge is dealing with the obsolescence of key people. This becomes an issue when the company needs to become a math house and the existing staff just doesn’t fit in. Further, the fear of the unknown creates mental blockages in the way of turning aggressive. Last of all is the avoidance of opposition when we hit change. All these have to be addressed to turn on aggression and move to new territory.
A template outlined by the author is that companies have to be agile. There have to be explicitly designed nodes in the organisation which have to be monitored continuously. Remedial action like even changing leaders is important besides dispensing with people who are out of sync with the times. There need to be short-term strategies while moving on the long-term path and, when opportunities are spotted, engagement with the key people is essential.
It would have been interesting if the author would have also given case studies of companies that have tried but not succeeded. Often, we tend to give examples of success stories which broadly fit into these templates. But there are several others which also follow this path and don’t succeed. Maybe a commentary on what went wrong would have provided a balance to such a narration.
Ram Charan
Public Affairs
Pp 240
Rs439
The Attacker’s Advantage is another management book in the genre of corporate strategy and leadership in which author Ram Charan sets guidelines on how to succeed in this world of uncertainty. The principles are a matter of sheer common sense which, unfortunately, is not followed by most companies. Anticipating change is the starting point of the book of advice, which is essential for companies to take the appropriate turns and thereby corrective action, so as to remain in the fray. When we say that Dell failed or Nokia became less relevant, it was more on account of not being able to anticipate change. Organisations need to build this ability, writes Ram Charan.
The so-called book of guidelines talks of the creation of five skills in any organisation. The first is perceptual acuity where it should be able to see contradictions, oddities and anomalies in the external landscape so that it can plan necessary action. This has to happen from within the organisation, which, in turn, should create leaders ready to pick up these signals.
The second is creating a mindset to see opportunity in such challenges. By recognising the fact that uncertainty can take you steps ahead of competition, one is really prepared for launching an ‘attack’. One should never be on the defensive is the message that Ram Charan gives here, as very often it is self-defeating and only prolongs the inevitable. We need to accept that the core competences which made the organisation could no longer be relevant in the new context when conditions change. If there are blockages, we need to get past them at any cost.
Third, the author talks of the ability of a leader to see a new path and then commit to it. It is one thing to see uncertainty and then an opportunity, but to be successful before others we have to be to build new capabilities and go ahead with belief and commitment. Here he does stress the age of algorithms which have now caught on in every business, be it stock or retail trading, when we are able to connect producers with suppliers or other producers and ultimately consumers. If there are obstacles on the way, we should attack to dislodge them. He exhorts these leaders to convince their bosses to make these stories come alive.
Fourth, we have to adapt the organisation to managing the new path. This will involve financial outlays and hence is important. Here one has to constantly be in touch with investors and convince them of the credibility of the model being pursued by constantly showing how milestones have been achieved along the way in order to obtain their support.
Lastly, the leaders need to develop the skills to make the organisation steerable and agile. Here, he bats for what are called ‘joint practice sessions’ in companies where a set of leaders congregate and discuss openly what has to be done under the changing circumstances. This is the only way to resolve conflict.
There are lots of examples given to show how various companies and leaders did well by following this path. Often companies prefer to stick to core competences, incremental gains and defensiveness. The alternative path is one of aggression where we create a new need which is subsequently scaled up, thus creating a bend in the road for traditional players.
Ram Charan has checklists for each of these five skills which need to be posed periodically and reassessed by the leaders if they believe truly in what they are doing. To build perceptual acuity, we need to encourage contrary viewpoints, dissect the past, evaluate the sources of risk, build our mental map of changes in multiple industries, and consider what might be considered as being an invention, patent or new law. These are all good points but the issue really is that rarely are these practices followed by most companies which tend to be driven by a vision of just one person, the CEO, who tends to be egotistic. This is why companies fail as they are not able to see the big picture and are happy in their comfort zones.
An interesting section in the huge book is where the author focuses on the mindset for becoming aggressive. Here, the barriers that come in the way are quite interesting. Most companies have attachment to their core competences and hold on to them whatever may happen. The rationale is that this has been responsible for their high margins and market share and logically will continue to be so. The example given is of Kodak which just refused to believe that its time was over and it was time to move on to the digital age. On the other side, companies like GMR have been quite amazing in seeing opportunity and changing their plans and hence direction and venturing from banking to become one of the largest infra companies in the country.
Another challenge is dealing with the obsolescence of key people. This becomes an issue when the company needs to become a math house and the existing staff just doesn’t fit in. Further, the fear of the unknown creates mental blockages in the way of turning aggressive. Last of all is the avoidance of opposition when we hit change. All these have to be addressed to turn on aggression and move to new territory.
A template outlined by the author is that companies have to be agile. There have to be explicitly designed nodes in the organisation which have to be monitored continuously. Remedial action like even changing leaders is important besides dispensing with people who are out of sync with the times. There need to be short-term strategies while moving on the long-term path and, when opportunities are spotted, engagement with the key people is essential.
It would have been interesting if the author would have also given case studies of companies that have tried but not succeeded. Often, we tend to give examples of success stories which broadly fit into these templates. But there are several others which also follow this path and don’t succeed. Maybe a commentary on what went wrong would have provided a balance to such a narration.
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