Break From the Pack: How to Compete in a Copycat Economy - Tapa dura

More often than not, companies face the challenge of differentiating themselves from each other-a tricky process, but one that can be accomplished through careful planning, Harari promises. Focusing on exposure and profitability, he proposes a four-pronged process for moving into the lead, including having a contrarian mindset, a willingness to cast aside perceptions, exceptional follow-through and disciplined focus, and integrity and courage. While acknowledging that it's easy to be ahead one moment and behind the next, he also observes that if your products become irrelevant, then your company will, too. To avoid that fate, he points to the Madonna Effect, reasoning that the pop star has had such a sustainable career because she has continually reinvented herself for two decades, and that regularly reinventing your business can provide similar effects for your company. He also advocates the Willie Nelson Principle: jumping in front of a movement that is already successful, re-creating it for your own advantage and leading from there. While he isn't alone in his major emphasis-that "to break from the pack, you must dominate some significant area of the market"-his primer offers many useful, concrete tools for doing it. --Publisher's Weekly, June 19th Edition

Everywhere, products are being commoditized, services are being imitated, and traditional barriers to market entry are collapsing. To sustain competitive advantage in today's Copycat Economy, companies must break from the pack. This book will show how. Oren Harari starts by touring "Commodity Hell," and identifying 10 common mistakes that keep companies trapped in the pack. Next, Harari introduces six strategies for propelling your organization where competitors can't follow. Learn how to dominate markets (and when to leave them); how to create a "higher cause" that will mobilize stakeholders; and how to build a pipeline of cool, compelling products, in any industry. Harari reveals new ways to take customers far beyond mere "satisfaction," and shows how to innovate in even the most prosaic areas of a business. Learn how to avoid destructive mergers, and buy what really matters: talent, imagination, foresight, speed, rebelliousness, and inspiration. Finally, Harari offers a candid "12 Step" program for transforming leadership behavior to lead the charge -- and leave competitors in the dust.