The Lessons from Break Through Companies
Book Review: Strategy Focus
The Breakthrough Company: How Everyday Companies Become Breakthrough Performance
The Breakthrough Companyby Keith R. McFarland 2009
by Keith R. McFarland 2009
McFarland started his research for this book by asking three questions:
- Why do most companies start small and stay that way?
- What is special about the handful of companies that successfully “break through” the entrepreneurial stage of development?
- What can a leader do to ensure that the company maximises its chances for breakthrough?
He then studied over five years more than 7,000 companies, interviewed more than 1,500 executives and reviewed and catalogued more than 5,600 articles and annual reports.
He determined that there was really no such thing as a breakthrough company, but rather a set of breakthrough principles that any company could adopt to achieve breakthrough performance.
These principles he called:
Crowning the Company
Make the good of the Company the reason for doing things, not the whim of the founder of CEO.
Upping the Ante
Have a willingness to place increasingly bigger bets as the stakes of the game grow bigger.
Building Company Character
Breakthrough companies don’t spend too much time drafting values statements and worrying about corporate culture. They spend their time aligning what they say with what they do.
Navigating the Business Bermuda Triangle
Continue to leverage the advantages of a small company even as you grow into a large company.
Erecting Scaffolding
Surround the company with external resources and ideas that enable the company to grow the next level.
Enlisting Insultants
Build a culture in which people internally are prepared to question the fundamental assumptions of the business.
Graduating from the Tough Times U(niversity)
Consider crises as an opportunity to develop a clear focus of what is important.
Many entrepreneurial companies are started but few are successful in developing to their full potential.
The Breakthrough Company is a good investment for those who want to give their company the best chance of beating the odds and developing in to something great.
But be warned….while the principles are easy to understand, they a much more difficult to implement.
It takes leaders of great character to develop the type of companies that McFarland is talking about.….perhaps explaining why so few make the transition from entrepreneurial stage to significant growth.