Imagine running a business without a strategy. It would be akin to
driving blindfolded, to building a house without a blueprint. Yet just
fifty years ago business "plans" were mere extrapolations of the status
quo, heedless of the forces that determine the fate of today's
organizations: competitive threats, customer needs and business costs.
The concept of strategy changed all that, paving the way for the
creation of the modern corporate world.
The Lords of Strategy recounts the birth and evolution of
strategy--arguably the most influential business paradigm of the past
half century--and the trials and triumphs of the surprising disruptors
who invented it. Principal among them were four men--Bruce Henderson,
founder of the Boston Consulting Group; Bill Bain, creator of Bain &
Company; Fred Gluck, longtime managing director of McKinsey & Company;
and Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter--each obsessed with
pinpointing how companies achieve competitive advantage over others.
This insider account reveals the industry's pioneers as "idea junkies" a
new breed of intellectuals who wielded concepts as weapons for fighting
business battles. Their relentless efforts to plumb the depths of
competition exploded much of the prevailing wisdom, galvanized
executives into action, and forced companies to understand themselves as
never before.
An important audiobook by one of management's keenest observers, The
Lords of Strategy provides listeners with a deeper understanding of the
world they compete in, and a sharper eye for what works--and what
doesn't--when forging strategy.
