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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
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Searching... | 30000003756024 | HD30.28 I46 1994 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
Foreword by Tom Peters
Internationally known management consultants Nicholas Imparato and Oren Harari connect the big picture of our changing civilizations with the specific practical actions that managers have to take to produce results today. All organizations are faced with the same challenge: the need to jump the curve to make significant, discontinuous leaps in their thinking, whether about product, technology, or management style. The alternative to follow current practices all the way to their inevitable decline is unacceptable. The authors show us that it is also unnecessary.
Drawing on numerous personal interviews with innovative leaders around the world, as well as research and first-hand observation, Imparato and Harari identify the four strategic imperatives--innovation, intelligence, coherence, and responsibility--that will enable companies to successfully jump the curve and thrive in the emerging epoch. And they show how cutting-edge companies and leaders are translating these imperatives into action.
Not since the dawn of the Modern Age some five hundred years ago has civilization undergone the kind of profound, rapid-fire changes we're experiencing today. Even organizations that are adapting, growing and innovating have the gnawing sense that obsolescence is right around the corner. Jumping the Curve offers perspective and guidance for doing business at this unique moment in time. It connects the big picture of our changing world with the practical actions managers must take now to position their organizations for success in a new epoch we can't yet fully see or understand.
Author Notes
NICHOLAS IMPARATO is professor at the McLaren School of Business, University of San Francisco. A prominent speaker and consultant to organizations worldwide, he has served as a director on the boards of several public and privately-held companies. OREN HARARI is senior consultant with the Tom Peters Group and professor at the McLaren School of Business, University of San Francisco. An internationally renowned speaker and consultant, he is a regular contributor to Management Review.
Reviews 2
Booklist Review
A symptom of our ever-changing workplace is the large number of consultants writing manuals on how to reconfigure a business; however, Imparato and Harari do more than simply outline the steps necessary to leave one stage of development for another. They argue convincingly that we're now entering the fourth epoch--the first three being the classical, middle, and modern ages--which will mandate the adoption of four principles: out-of-the-box thinking, intelligence or a smart organization, the linking of success to values and ideals, and a 100 percent customer guarantee. Their ideas are backed by both corporate examples and copious research; in fact, much of their work distills that of other gurus in the managerial and human-resource fields. Nonetheless, their total output reveals wise strategies to pursue for future growth. ~--Barbara Jacobs
Library Journal Review
Imparato and Harari (both business, Univ. of San Francisco) view the transitional period in society today as the fourth major epochal change, after the Classical period, the Middle Ages, and the Modern period. They argue that to stay competitive and profitable during this transition, business must jump the curve, that is, leave "one pattern of behavior for another." Imparato and Harari's theory consists of four major principles, all of which focus on the customer as the guiding force for company practices. The authors devote two chapters to each principle and one to specific steps for implementing changes successfully. While the principles themselves are not particularly innovative, this book does the best job yet of providing a historical framework when explaining the societal changes affecting businesses today. Recommended for all businesses collections.-Gary W. White, Pennsylvania State Univ., Harrisburg (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Part One Straddling Two Worlds: The Familiar and the Unknown |
| 1 We've Been Here Before: Historic Parallels to Our Tumultuous Age |
| 2 Turning Point: The World Has Never Been So Awake |
| 3 Rising to the Occasion: New Roles for New Times |
| Part Two Making the Leap: Strategic Choices for the Emerging Epoch |
| 4 The Innovation Imperative |
| 5 Practicing Creative Destruction |
| 6 The Intelligence Imperative |
| 7 Growing the Smart Organization |
| 8 The Coherence Imperative |
| 9 Linking Success to Values and Ideals |
| 10 The Responsibility Imperative |
| 11 Guaranteeing That the Customer Is Final Arbiter |
| Epilogue: Choosing Our Destiny |
