Blindsided: How to Spot the Next Breakthrough That Will Change Your Business Forever

Experts predict that 80 percent of the technology that will be in use in our day-to-day lives 10 years from now hasn't been invented yet. Over two-thirds of the Fortune 500 companies from 35 years ago have vanished due to 'blindsiding.' Jim Harris offers a diet of four strategic tools to help secure your company's ongoing vitality and growth. First you must understand the laws governing the future. He offers 12 of these. 1. Moore's Law (1965)- computer processing power will double every 18 months until 2014. 2. Metcalf's Law - your network's value is proportional to the square of the number of its members. 3. Gilder's Law - bandwith grows 3X faster than computing power. 4. Coase's Theorem - corporate activities are driven by lower transaction costs. 5. Information Explosion (not management)- information quantity on the net doubles every 2.8 years. 6. Expanding Storage Capacity and Falling Costs of Memory - in 1993, a gig of memory was 1000 dollars, now it is about 50 cents. 7. The Wireless Explosion. 8. Schumpter's Law of 'Creative Destruction'- the old makes way for the new - a corporation's average life is less than 20 years - you must make your own products obsolete in order to survive. 9. Dr. Geus' Law of Learning - the only sustainable competitive advantage is to learn faster than the competition. 10. 3% rule of Product Waste - only 3% of the elapsed time for a corporate process is actually needed to complete an activity. 11. The Peer to Peer Law of Distributed Computing - joined networks have more power. 12. Environmental Imperative - lowering environmental impact of new technoloy, such as ebooks or mp3s over books and cds. The weight of this book is given to what these laws mean to your company, and how they can be used. The second part of the strategy is to get your company to operate in 'real time' just like your body. The third part is CRM - Customer Relationship Management. 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your customers per Pareto's principle. It also states that 40% of your profits come from 60% of your customers, and 20 percent of your customers will cause a negative profit of 20 percent. The fourth discusses breaking some of the dominant rules in your business sector. The fifth stratey is 'Scenario Planning' developed by Herman Kahn of the Rand Corporation think tank in the 40s. Create plausible future scenarios. Which may be likely? Which would have the biggest imapact? "Backcast", look backwards from the future, possible bad futures, and determine what could have been done to prevent it, and what were its markers? Chock full. Five Stars

This is one of the best books I have read so far. The author was prolific in his writing and contains very rich contents. He has very explicitly shared his experience throughout the book. The books gives good insight about the American music industry and how companies like napster, netscape really skinned through the time. Also microsoft, IBM and, Dell. Amongst all the case studies quoted, CISCO was the best and it was excellent. I am waiting to read Mr. Harris's next book which he will probably name it being and becoming. Also, his earlier book the Learning paradox was an amazing book.\ I recommend blindsided to be read by all those in the world of business not only in America but globally. Best Regards, Kamal

Jim's book offers extrordinary insights and research. He has delved deep into the complex psychie of the corporate strategic misfires. Read it and see why he is asked to speak to many organizations yearly on change and managment. Pay attention to the parts about Kodak and Microsoft. Your orgainzation may not be in the technology industry but this means you need to read this book more. From volunteer organizations to small start-ups this book has practical advice. We apply it.

In Blindsided, change expert Jim Harris discusses the startling way some major companies got "blindsided" - caught with their antenna down by fast-moving technological changes that undermined their businesses. He fills you in on how change works, and works quickly. Then, as if to make you feel better, he offers practical techniques that superior companies use to avoid being walloped. Harris tells you (consider this a warning) what to do to deal with change. Generally, this is a top-notch, straightforward book, although some corporate histories and guideposts on recognizing change may sound like retreads of other material. Still, Harris provides a guidebook for heeding and handling change. Just ask yourself the questions at the end of each chapter to find out if you need this heads up strategy check. We from getAbstract suggest that diagnostic dialog to business strategists and executives. Just keep looking behind you while you are reading - someone, or something, may be gaining on you.