How to Design a Winning Company
The eight components of your organizational genome hold the secret to unleashing superior performance.
Issue 72, Autumn 2013
Cover story
In this issue
An Uncommonly Cohesive Conglomerate, How Ready Are You for Growth, , The Thought Leader Interview: Loran Nordgren, and More
An Uncommonly Cohesive Conglomerate
How United Technologies Corporation—owner of Pratt & Whitney, Otis Elevator, and a wide range of other businesses—became one of the major corporate success stories of the past two decades.How Ready Are You for Growth?
A Booz & Company study reveals that only 17 percent of companies are poised for a profitable future.The Thought Leader Interview: Loran Nordgren
The cofounder of unconscious thought theory explains how taking a break and distracting the mind can lead to higher-quality decision making.
Leading Ideas
The Business Case for Nature
By demonstrating the value of investing in the environment, conservationists can forge unexpected partnerships and reap large-scale benefits.
The Big Bite of Small Brands
Upstarts are gaining market share across consumer packaged goods categories. Here’s how incumbents can respond.
How to Let 999 Flowers Die
For innovation to flourish, variation must go hand in hand with selection.
Daniel Pink’s New Pitch
In today’s markets, we are all salespeople.
Is the Arctic the Next Emerging Market?
The earth’s northernmost regions are rich in resources. The challenge will be accessing them sustainably.
Essays
To an Analog Banker in a Digital World
What happened to recorded music is about to happen to you. But only a few banks are making the right moves from branches to online services.
Life in the Matrix
As companies evolve away from traditional hierarchies, a major cultural shift is required.
The Secret to a Successful Divestiture
When you are selling part of your company, don’t just offer buyers a potential asset; give them the capabilities to gain value from it.
Books in Brief
Strategic Change without Tears
A review of Strategic Transformation: Changing while Winning, by Manuel Hensmans, Gerry Johnson, and George Yip.
The Wizards of Money
In The Alchemists, economic journalist Neil Irwin argues that the financial crisis of 2007–08 made the central bankers of the U.S., U.K., and Europe the most powerful people on earth.
Feminine Values Ascending
A review of The Athena Doctrine: How Women (and the Men Who Think Like Them) Will Rule the Future, by John Gerzema and Michael D’Antonio
A Robot Ate My Job
A review of Metaskills: Five Talents for the Robotic Age, by Marty Neumeier.
Recent Research
Getting IT and Marketing Managers to Make Nice
Differing views about technology usage can hurt a company’s performance.
Trending articles
- 1.The power of feelings at workBy aligning the pursuit of business objectives with the meeting of human needs, companies can tap into powerful emotional forces in their current cultural situations.
- 2.Using neuroscience to make feedback work and feel betterResearch shows that using feedback is how organisms — and organizations — stay alive. Here’s how leaders can make the most of the anxiety-producing process.
- 3.The rise of the eco-friendly consumerDuring the pandemic, people have become more sensitive to the environmental impact of their shopping decisions—and companies are responding.
- 4.Connecting the dots in an uncertain worldBusiness professor Christian Busch makes the case that serendipity is a skill, resulting from a mindset that allows you to see and act on opportunities in seemingly unrelated facts or events.
- 5.10 principles of organization designThese fundamental guidelines, drawn from experience, can help you reshape your organization to fit your business strategy. See also “A guide to organization design.”
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