The Attacker's Advantage: Turning Uncertainty into Breakthrough Opportunities

Huh? What’s a “perceptual acuity dinner?”Before I tell you why five CEOs have dinner together four times a year, let me mention that this book will certainly be on my Top-10 book list for 2015—and might be my book-of-the-year. Buy it!I’m privileged to serve as board chair of a credit union. This summer at our board’s annual planning retreat, we all read Charan’s latest book, in advance, and then every board member shared a 10-minute chapter review. It was energizing—because the book is so current, mind-bending, and alarming. (We have also read “Boards That Lead” and "Owning Up.”)Ram Charan writes:“Uncertainty has always been a challenge to business, but never before has it had the intensity and potential to change industries and destroy companies as it does today. Business leaders can be on the defensive, or they can be on offense, prepared to lead decisively. The ability to deal with uncertainty is perhaps the paramount skill leaders must have to be successful in this era. Without it they risk becoming personally obsolete and driving their companies off a cliff.”Do you know the difference between operational uncertainty and structural uncertainty—and why it matters?(From Ram Charan’s website): “…Ram Charan shows what skills are needed to be able to spot the disruption that is coming, and what actions are necessary to take advantage of these changes. While many leaders know how to cope with operational uncertainty—when, for example, revenue fluctuates—the same cannot be said for dealing with structural uncertainty that can alter the money-making patterns of a company, industry or entire economic sector.”The reviewer adds, “Charan demonstrates the huge upside offered by structural uncertainty and provides the concepts and tools—such as being able to spot the catalysts of disruption, building organizational preparedness, developing a financial understanding of the consequences—to take advantage of forces that are creating new customer needs, market segments and ways to make money.”Just look at the chapter titles. How can you not read this book?1. Bends in the Road2. Why Structural Uncertainty Is Different3. The Mathematical Corporation: The Algorithmic Revolution and the Rise of the Math House4. Searching for Early Warning Signals5. Building Perceptual Acuity6. Identifying the Catalysts of Structural Change7. Seeing What Catalysts See8. Tools to Build Perceptual Acuity9. How Tata Communications Expands the Organization’s Lens10. Going on the Offense11. Defining the Path12. A Mind-set for Offense13. Kaiser Permanente’s Path Through the Turmoil in Health CareI plan to read this book again—because while it’s very well-written, the concepts cannot be mastered in a quick read or a cursory review. The insights and the principles from the book are now part of the lexicon at every meeting of the Christian Community Credit Union board of directors. Heed these warnings:--“Uncertainty is not something to fear.”--”Taking control of uncertainty is the fundamental leadership challenge of our time.”--“The advantage (in businesses) now goes to those who create change.”--“Taking advantage of the emerging landscape will almost certainly call for significant changes in how you define your business.”--“The greatest risk of all is that leaders who face the need for radical change will deliberate too long and discover that the world has passed them by.”And more elbows-in-the-ribs:"No matter how successful it has made you, your past experience won't ensure success in the new world.”“Most of the 360-degree evaluations companies use focus on essentially the same traits. I have yet to see one that includes those qualities that I believe are now crucial for meeting the fundamental challenge of our time: perceiving the sources of uncertainty ahead of others, taking advantage of uncertainty to go on the offense, and preparing and steering the organization to adapt in tune with sudden changes in the environment.”“He [G.M. Rao, the chairman of GMR, India’s largest infrastructure business] once told me that every bend in the road contains a message about a future growth trajectory that someone could explore and exploit if he or she looked at it though a different lens without being controlled by an existing core competency.”“People often miss these early warning signals because they’re ‘flying at low altitude,’ immersed in the daily operating details of the business.”On perceptual acuity (a big theme throughout the book), Charan gives this definition: “Perceptual acuity is your human radar for seeing through the fog of uncertainty so you can act before others do.”CNN owner Ted Turner had it by seeing the future of 24-hour news, while “SONY’s leaders slept through the dawn of digital music: a stunning lack of perceptual acuity from the company whose Walkman was one of the groundbreaking products of the 1980s.”Charan notes, “The greatest test of perceptual acuity is the ability to pick out catalysts and seeds even when the signals are weak, meaning that they are intermittent or seem irrelevant. Retailers lacking perceptual acuity might, for example, have underestimated the significance of Apple’s bringing in Angela Ahrendts as senior vice president of retail and online stores in 2014. (Read Fortune magazine's Sept. 10, 2015 article, "What the Heck is Angela Ahrendts Doing at Apple?")“What sort of nuttiness, one might ask was it to hire the highly successful CEO of Burberry, one of the world’s best brands, to run a mere division—one that is not even Apple’s largest revenue generator?“The perceptual acute person would immediately ask questions:--Why would such a creative and accomplished executive give up a role as CEO to take on a lesser job?--Is she perhaps a catalyst who will totally reconceptualize what the stores do?--What might her intentions be?--One hypothesis would be that she may convert them into a mecca for fashion and luxury, not just for hardware and software. [More on page 40!)--They should add to their mental data bases the fact that Apple invited fashion journalists to its September 2014 unveiling of the Apple Watch.”Charan shares practical tools for practicing perceptual acuity because it’s “now part of your job and will raise your value as a leader.”He adds, “You need to be on the alert for what is new and what is an anomaly, contradiction or oddity.”Yikes! This review is already too long…and you’ll miss oodles of important stuff unless you buy this book.So…what about those perceptual acuity dinners?“Your social group, too, can sharpen your antennae. Surrounding yourself with people from different industries and backgrounds, with different cognitive bandwidths and attitudes about risk-taking, helps you see the same world through different lenses. Discussing your external perceptions lets you test them against theirs, so you have a better chance of being accurate.”In his chapter, “Tools to Build Perceptual Acuity,” he highlights a mid-forties CEO, “Clare,” who meets with four other CEOs four times a year for dinner. “Their meetings, and informal conversations between get-togethers, serve as a sounding board for each to cross-check thinking and provide a foundation for superb foresight.“In addition, they all make it a habit to seek out and listen to people whose endeavors or expertise gives them insight into external change. They create a multiplier effect magnifying each other’s power of observation.”There are dozens of weapons in the attacker’s arsenal—and (have I mentioned this) you must read this book, perhaps, to even survive.

Typical Ram Charan lessons but dated.

This is a great book to help you develop and implement an approach to strategy and business planning. It is not a strategy book. It is a how to for thinking about your business’ or group’s next strategic move.

I studied strategy for a long time, I actually taught strategic thinking at the Wharton school of business for 14 years as a guest lecturer. I've read a ton of strategy books and this one is excellent. It has some really interesting and insightful ideas, made me look at things differently, and gave me lots of great information that's going to help me be a better strategist. If you are interested and learning about business strategy this is definitely one book you should read.

I also bought the print edition, but there was no need, the audiobook is very complete. High quality production. I appreciate this author so much, its not your everyday "business" book, its for thinking beyond the day-to-day. I will likely listen to this book again.

I am very impressed with Ram Charan's writing and this book was no different. A great number of things to think about, some of which were approached from a different perspective. If you are working in growing your business, big or small, there are some really good thoughts here worth pursuing.

I would recommend this book to my colleagues and clients operating in strategy functions or leading businesses. Keeping a tab on structural change is must for all businesses and adapting to these changes in right time require certain mindset that is explained in the book.

Very relevant in today's worldMakes you think about your business

For those leaders looking to understand how they can attack in their sectors, this tome is valuable. Its insights, complemented by excellent questions, force the reader to consider whether his/her company is engaging uncertainty deeply enough, so as to identify opportunity.

Love this book

This is by no means a breakthrough book on tackling uncertainty. In fact, it's mostly a random walk through the subject with many vague, anonymized examples and unintelligible gobbley-gook similar to the innovation-speak in Ram's Game Changer book. Also, for all of his talk of the Fortune 500, there were an awful lot of examples about companies with $1billion in sales trying to grow. However, in spite of all those drawbacks, there are nonetheless some nuggets nestled I side this book:1) big data is transforming the competitive landscape by predicting customer intent and targeting products, stripping out layers of inefficiency2) dual-track management style, where P&L owners split time between delivering the numbers and creating new revenue streams for the future3) getting executives who can see around corners and detect change before it's too late4) rolling two-year budget to create some steerability towards larger investments in the future (that don't fit into 12 months)Ram does a fairly hard sell for his Joint Practice Session, which sounds like a generic consultant-facilitated strategy session where managers list their priorities and the consultant helps prioritize them and determine enterprise enablers/budget to execute. Nothing new there. Worth a read, but I'll probably be selling my copy on Amazon soon!

This is a must read for Board Members, CEO's and senior executives. The books central message ... we live in times of unprecedented structural change and need to be able to respond with agility to the complexities it presents to our businesses. The practical guidance on how to spot the changes that bring both threat and opportunity makes this book uniquely valuable. For me this outstanding book has changed my perspective from the first pages.

Classic Words of wisdom by the master himself . The flow and sequence with excellent insights from Top Leaders is really inspiring and would be great to apply . The book is a treasure of knowledge with excellent diagnostic tools for the new leaders and highly recommended : specIally the JPS