Rethink: A Business Manifesto for Cutting Costs and Boosting Innovation, Safari

It’s the trap that ensnares virtually every business.

 

We focus on process: “how” we’re doing the job. And we forget about the bigger issue: “what” we’re doing and “why” we’re doing it. That’s why we’re leaving so much value on the table. In Rethink, business architect Ric Merrifield exposes this problem with vivid examples and introduces breakthrough techniques for overcoming it.

 

Merrifield shows how to rise above the clutter of your “hows” to expose what does and doesn’t need attention in your organization. You’ll learn to identify the activities most critical to success, as well as those that are borderline, redundant, or even counterproductive. Merrifield helps you get past the parochial, subjective viewpoints of ground-level participants...find more cost-effective ways to achieve core goals...capture better information for prioritizing investments...identify hidden sources of value...use technology-driven plug-and-play management to increase efficiency and agility...and reconfigure your company to ride nonstop waves of change.

 

Along the way, Merrifield presents powerful case studies ranging from ING DIRECT to Amazon.com to Procter & Gamble. These diverse companies have learned how to cut costs, strengthen innovation, and profit from change all at the same time. Using the lessons in this book, you can, too.

  

• Rise above low-level processes and narrow perspectives

• Step back, identify what really matters to the organization, and act accordingly

• Understand the hidden connections that can make or break your business

• Make profitable changes without setting off destructive chain reactions

• Expose activities where people, process, and technology matter...and, equally important, where they don’t

 

Introduction  1

Chapter 1        How the “How” Trap Is Trapping You  7

Chapter 2        The Thinking Behind Rethinking  27

Chapter 3        First–Identify the "Whats" That Are Truly Valuable  39

Chapter 4        Second–Know What You Are (and Aren’t) Good At  61

Chapter 5        Third–Make (and Break) Connections  77

Chapter 6        Fourth–Understand What Can (and Can’t) Be Predicted  91

Chapter 7        Fifth–Unravel (and Follow) the Rules  109

Chapter 8        Revolutionary Rethinking at ING DIRECT  117

Chapter 9        Rethinking at Eclipse  133

Chapter 10      Rethinking at Cranium  151

Chapter 11      Morph Again and Again  169

Key Concepts  193

Index  213