What do The Beatles, Apollo 13, the Roman military, a pack of wolves,
and the very best companies in the world all have in common? Answer:
Plasticity. They can change, adapt, and excel as the situation
requires.
In most organizations, strategy and functional excellence get the most
attention. But even the best of either provides only limited long-term
advantage. Highly effective organizations add Plasticity as a third
dimension and rack up stellar breakthroughs--again and again. It is the
key ingredient that allows strategy and functional excellence to deliver
value.
As the authors show in Corporate Plasticity: How to Change, Adapt, and
Excel, Plasticity also enables great organizations to break down
barriers and collaborate in the pursuit of a common objective, and to
reconfigure or rewire themselves to face down challenges or reach
ever-stronger competitive positions.
Through entertaining stories and astute analysis, this book demonstrates
that Plasticity spurs sports teams to become champions, companies to
book record earnings, and artists to attain worldwide fame. You can use
its principles--adaptability, flexibility, fluid networks and roles,
lofty goals, and innovation, among others--to achieve operational
excellence, tear down silos, and create more vibrant, creative
enterprises. Your organization can become not just highly profitable and
fun to work for, but an organization that can change the world.
Plasticity allows an organization to choose its own destiny, become
versatile, and dare more than others. Its success lies in a set of
abilities called the Magic 7:
- Purpose: Your company must discover, select, and express what it is
meant for.
- Focus: Your company must have the courage to ignore everything that is
not in line with its purpose, and then see that purpose through.
- Culture: Your company must create the conditions that allow people to
work across boundaries and outside of predefined roles.
- Spirit: Your company must inspire people to feel part of a cause that
is bigger than they are.
- Networking: Your company must provide the means, freedom, and
encouragement for people to nurture and grow their internal and
external networks continuously.
- Knowledge: Your company must encourage experts to provide their
knowledge and make it readily available to everyone who needs it.
- Leadership: Your company's leaders must model and personify the
characteristics they want others to adopt.
Silo thinking? Poor collaboration? Weak earnings? Strategies that gain
no traction? Corporate Plasticity: How to Change, Adapt, and Excel is
the answer. It shows you how to cultivate each of the seven disciplines
to infuse Plasticity in an organization. That--along with razor-sharp
strategy and crisp execution--will unleash the power you need to reach
both personal and corporate goals. You might even change the world.
