Only the Paranoid Survive
Andy Grove is one of the most successful and intriguing figures in Silicon Vally. While not as popularly known outside the valley as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, Grove—as one of the founding members and the former CEO of Intel—has had as much to do with shaping the hi-tech industry as anyone. He was, in fact, TIME Magazine's Man of the Year in 1997, a year after the book he wrote—and that we have for you today—was released. The book is Only the Paranoid Survive, and it focuses largely on what Grove calls Strategic Inflection Points, or "a time in the life of a business when its fundamentals are about to change." And that pretty much describes all of us right now, doesn't it?
Depending on how these sea changes are managed, a company will either be provided with a wealth of new opportunity or dashed about in an ever-changing business climate. These points come everywhere and in every industry, and according to Grove, only the paranoid survive them—those who see them coming because they are aware of and attuned to the constant flux not only their business position, but of the of the entire business world itself. In business, Grove contests, you simply need to keep looking over your shoulder. Or, as Black Sabbath so eloquently put it in 1970's "Paranoid": Can you help me occupy my brain?
All day long I think of things
But nothing seems to satisfy
Think I'll lose my mind
If I don't find something to pacify
Oh yeah!
Unfortunately, this book does not have wicked Tony Iommi solo in the middle of it, but it will satisfy your business paranoia by encouraging it and help keep your brain occupied in strategic thinking. The paperback edition we have for you today also has a "new chapter about the impact of strategic inflection points on individual careers—how to predict them and how to benefit from them" that I don't believe any Black Sabbath album contains. Maybe if you play "Iron Man" backwards...
"Managing, especially managing through a crisis, is an extremely personal affair."
Black Sabbath, of course, reached such a Strategic Inflection Point when Ozzy Osborne left their ranks, leaving not only their fans dismayed, but the Dark Side deeply disgruntled. Ronnie James Dio may have popularized the "metal horns" hand gesture, but he just wasn't going to cut it (plus, every time he threw those puppies up, baseball fans everywhere thought there were two outs, confusing his message of darkness). Like Steve Jobs and Apple, Black Sabbath just wasn't the same until Ozzy came back for the reunion tour decades later.
And, speaking of Steve Jobs, he is quoted on the back as follows:
This book is about one super-important concept. You must learn about Strategic Inflection Points, because sooner or late you are going to live through one." —STEVE JOBS, CEO, PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS
Jobs, of course, met with one of those points soon after writing that, having to leave Pixar to go save the company he founded, Apple Computer. A master of crisis management, Steve Jobs put the company back on track, and a little over a decade later, it is an innovative and successful icon once more. I have to think that reading Grove's book soon before reassuming the leadership of Apple had to help him (at least a little) guide the company through that crisis.
We've certainly had our Strategic Inflection Points here as well—one recently, due to the economic downturn and demise of our sister company Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, had a great affect upon our offices and staff (and is one of the reasons posts here have become more sporadic in the last month or so). Looking forward, or over our shoulder as it were, we see more coming. Jack has already led us through a few—The rise of the big-box bookstores, mega-retailers Barnes & Noble, amazon.com, and more (911, for instance, affected business book sales rather drastically)—and I'm sure the books he's read over the past quarter century have helped every step of the way. We're fortunate in that way... We're in the business of business solutions, and now we're passing them along to you.
Today, we have 25 copies available.
If you're unfamiliar with Andy Grove, and would like to know more, I'd suggest Richard Tedlow's excellent biograpy, Andy Grove, released in 2006 and part of our Jack Covert Selects series.
Sorry! This offer has expired. Check out today's offer instead.
