Beep Beep: Competing in the Age of the Road Runner

What a clever idea to use timeless cartoon characters to symbolize the realities and opportunities now before businesses everywhere! Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a fun and apt way illustrate the business mindsets and methods that predominate today versus the perspectives and strategies that will prevail tomorrow. They make instant sense! And so it was easy for Bell and Harari open my eyes to the naked truth: If we stick to our outdated Coyote-like ways much longer, we will surely fail -just like Wile E. fails, time and time again. And if we follow the Road Runner's example, we are more likely to thrive in an emerging world that demands re-thinking our organizations and our roles in them.But that's not the best of it. BEEP! BEEP! is loaded with deeper, richer insights. Bell and Harari's ideas on risk, reward, integrity, freedom, and power - to name just a few - are provocative and profound, enough to make me squirm and begin plotting my transition from a Coyote to a more Road Runner-like manager. Even better, the authors distill their insights into a handful of easy-to-grasp "rules." Then they make those guidelines even more powerful with helpful tips for real-life application plus example after example drawn from companies large and small around the globe. This entertaining blend of fresh ideas with sound practical advice on putting them to work immediately makes BEEP! BEEP! a rare resource, one I will go back to again and again.

What a refreshing addition to my leadership library! Chip and Oren have succintly captured both the barriers inherent in the "way things are" and the opportunities that exist in the "way things are becoming". The cartoon character metaphors are right on and easily digested. As in most such books, the authors give us a prescription for success. What differentiates this book is the spirit of joy and hope that permeates each chapter. Moving from "teams" to "flocks", from "domestication" to "freedom", from "arrogance" to "wisdom and character" may just create the kind of work places we all thought were out there somewhere. No utopian society, Chip and Oren's vision melds passion and purpose with an eagle-eyed (or road runner-eyed) focus on results. This should be required reading in every executive suite in America. With any luck, we'll all be sprouting turqoise feathers!

There's much to love in this book. For one thing, it took me to a wholely different appreciation of the cartoons that I watched and wondered about for decades. Now I can apply that to how we wage our lives at work and beyond. The roadrunner and coyote are excellent metaphors for the ways we have worked vs. the way we can work once our thinking is liberated.It's exciting to read any of these 2 guys' books because their writing is full of energy, and the cases they base their points on are robust.I read this book as I was starting to conceive a new business--and it became the basis for how we wanted to run the entire business. It helped my partner and me think differently--like getting over our "edifice complex"!It's an easy read. Moreover...it's a great read!

WOW...just finished reading Beep Beep. It is an amazing book. Loved the analogy of Road Runner and Wile E Coyote for 21st century business vs 20th century management. I will be using this book in the management courses I teach and in my marketing consulting business. The simplicty and power of this book are incredible. I think there's best seller here!

Beep Beep is refreshing - not only for its unique choice of the Warner cartoon characters whose antics serve as a metaophor and offer object lessons for business success - but also for the lessons themselves. There are loads of new ideas here - practical ways to build customer partnerships and create a more customer-focused organziation. The best part is you can apply most of them right away - and they do get results. I'm going to keep this book close by for awhile - and re-read portions particularly appropriate for my business (sales). The ideas look simple on the surface - but they gain strength as you spend time with them. Powerful stuff!