INTRODUCTION 1
PART I
BUSINESS A S WA R
2 WORLDS APART? 19
3 WAR AS AN AUDIT 37
4 BUILDING LEADERS OF CHARACTER 61
PART I I
LEADERSHIP I N
BUSINESS AND WA R
5 STRATEGY: DELIVER US FROM PROCESS 85
6 ORGANIZING F
...
INTRODUCTION 1
PART I
BUSINESS A S WA R
2 WORLDS APART? 19
3 WAR AS AN AUDIT 37
4 BUILDING LEADERS OF CHARACTER 61
PART I I
LEADERSHIP I N
BUSINESS AND WA R
5 STRATEGY: DELIVER US FROM PROCESS 85
6 ORGANIZING FOR VICTORY: WHILE SHOOTING
AS FEW BUREAUCRATS AS POSSIBLE 105
PART I I I
THE TOOLS
7 BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE: ANOTHER DAMNED
THING THEY DIDN’T TEACH YOU IN B SCHOOL
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN:
ENTERPRISE SECURITY 151
9 TESTING YOUR METL: OR WHAT TO DO
WHEN THE MISSION REALLY IS ESSENTIAL 173
10 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 195
EPILOGUE: THE AFTER ACTION REVIEW (AAR) 215
NOTES 225
INDEX 235
Fair warning: This book is meant to be dangerous. Provocative. Arresting.
Like a brick thrown through the plate-glass window of the
CEO’s office, the meeting room of the board of directors, or the
faculty club of the business school that hits you up all the time for
alumni contributions. I argue that today’s competitive environment for
the business leaders is sufficiently hazardous and uncertain that you are
better off thinking of it not as business but as war. To help you cope, or
even to survive, you need to understand the secrets of the warrior—
things that probably were not a part of either your professional business
education or all that other stuff you like to put on your resume. So fasten
your seat belt, because we’re in for a rough ride—but an interesting one.
And leave those other business books right there on the shelf where they
are: Not only do they not have the right answers, the authors aren’t even
sure what the right questions are.
But you may have noticed that already because business thinkers
typically attempt to solve individual problems—which they will then
publish with overwrought titles suggesting breakthrough solutions. Or
even better, they propound the absurd notion that strategy is nothing
more difficult than conjuring up some “big hairy audacious goals” at
your next corporate outing. (More about that later—I promise.) If you
have a penchant for silly ideas—often dulled by some characteristically
bad writing—then be my guest. However, you may occasionally notice
that those approaches in effect leave you intellectually disarmed in a
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