Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win

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Harper Collins, Oct 2, 2006 - Business & Economics - 316 pages

Meet the innovators and upstarts who are inventing the future of business. Their unconventional ideas and groundbreaking strategies can become your business plan for the twenty-first century—a better way to lead, compete, and succeed.

Business as usual is a bust. In industry after indus-try, the old guard is cutting back and losing ground. Meanwhile, organizations that were once dismissed as upstarts, as wildcards—or mavericks—are making waves and growing fast. There is a reason: In an age of hypercompetition and nonstop innovation, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for something truly original.

That's the lesson behind the companies, executives, and entrepreneurs you'll meet in Mavericks at Work.They are winning big in business by rethinking the logic of how business gets done. They have devised exciting new answers to the timeless challenges facing organizations of every size and leaders in every field: how you make strategy, how you unleash new ideas, how you connect with customers, how your best people achieve great results.

Who are these mavericks? They are break-the-mold business units inside giants such as IBM and Procter & Gamble, as well as high-profile innovators such as HBO and Pixar. They are Internet banks and gold mines, fashion retailers and advertising agencies, funky sandwich shops and hard-charging computer programmers. Together, they are creating an inspiring agenda that every business can put to work.

Their success demonstrates that:

  • Being different makes all the difference
  • Sharing values beats selling value
  • The company with the smartest customers wins
  • Nobody is as smart as everybody
  • Character counts for as much as credentials
  • Great leaders are insatiable learners

Whether you're a young professional setting out on your career, a senior executive looking to make your organization grow, or an entrepreneur building a company from scratch, Mavericks at Work will help you think bigger, aim higher, and win more decisively.

 

Contents

Strategy as Advocacy
3
Chapter
12
Chapter
13
DisruptorsDiplomats
31
Sizing Up Your Strategy
53
Chapter 8
57
Chapter 4
63
Chapter 5
76
Outstanding Strategies
157
Building Your Bond with Customers
181
Chapter 10
193
Stars Systems
221
The many merits of
235
Practicing Your People Skills
253
APPENDIX
263
ENDNOTES
285

Open Source Gets Down to Business
89
OpenMinding Your Business
117
Chapter 7
129
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
303
Copyright

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About the author (2006)

William C. (Bill) Taylor is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, speaker, and entrepreneur. He is a cofounder and founding editor of Fast Company. Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win was named a "Business Book of the Year" by The Economist and the Financial Times. Bill's new book is Practically Radical: Not-So-Crazy Ways to Transform Your Company, Shake up Your Industry, and Challenge Yourself (January 2011, William Morrow). Taylor is a graduate of Princeton University and the MIT Sloan School of Management. He lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters. Polly LaBarre spent eight years as a senior editor of Fast Company, where she wrote articles on strategy, creativity, and personal success, and co-hosted the magazine's Real Time conferences. She has spoken to business audiences around the world and has appeared on Good Morning America, CNBC, and PBS's Nightly Business Report.