Shockproof

Reinvent your company to deliver sustained profitable growth. As performance lags in the midst of economic cycles, many companies turn to magic bullets such as EVA, Kaizen, or Six Sigma. Unfortunately, these initiatives-along with how they're implemented-often deliver only short-term positive impact or cause more pain than the preexisting condition. Returning to competitive health and profitability in the face of economic downturns requires a dynamic realignment of business strategies, organizational design, and talent management. Based on timely research conducted by Axiom Consulting Partners, Shockproof empowers and enables business leaders, owners and managers to make and maintain the necessary connection between strategies and organization to achieve sustainable performance. Create an agile business that can rapidly reinvent itself as business conditions change Foster leadership that knows how to mobilize people to execute and deliver results Build a workforce that is adaptive, inherently innovative, and energized by the rewards of success As priorities change and challenges arise throughout the ebbs and flows of the economic cycle, let Shockproof guide you to reinvent your company and deliver sustained profitable growth in good times and bad.

Foreword Paul Jacobs vii Prologue A Shockproof Future ix Chapter 1 Beware the Big Blue Catfish 1 Chapter 2 Headlines or Tombstones? 23 Chapter 3 Make Sure the Strategy Is “Not Wrong” 49 Chapter 4 Beyond Boxes and Lines 77 Chapter 5 Carbon Paper? Really?! 107 Chapter 6 Connections and Calibrations 153 Chapter 7 Be the Leader You Seek 199 Chapter 8 Pass the Salt 241 Notes 257 Acknowledgments 264 Index 267