Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence

Kotler and Caslione cover all the bases about what to cope with turbulent times, but what I found most helpful is their take on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that the current situation has created. A practical book by two practical thinkers.

According to Philip Kotler and John Caslione, today's business leaders need "a new view of the world and a new framework for dealing with it...a systems to make better decisions. They need a managerial framework and system to deal with chaos. They need a Chaotics Management System." In the Introduction, Kotler and Caslione note that business leaders "sense that we've entered an era of ongoing, continuous turbulence and heightened chaos. This realization is often accompanied by a sense of relief that they can now articulate what they've been sensing, coupled with dread that the traditional up cycle may not kick in to let the good times roll again - at least not like it did in the past. It is for this reason that we wrote Chaotics." These remarks reminded me of Andrew Grove's assertion that "only the paranoid survive" because, even when - especially when - the "good times" are rolling, they sustain a sense of "dread" that keeps them ever-alert to potential as well as obvious threats. In their book, Kotler and Caslione do not suggest that The Age of Turbulence is merely imminent. It is already here and all organizations are now subjected to its "unpredictable and uncertain waters" in their competitive marketplace, and their leaders must somehow "navigate" them through the turbulence while achieving Business Enterprise Sustainability (BES). The material is carefully organized within eight chapters. First, review the main causes of turbulence, then shift their attention to the sequence of eight steps of the chaotics implementation cycle that will enable business leaders to navigate "the unpredictable and uncertain waters of disruptive turbulence in what they characterize as the "Age of Turbulence": 1. Identify sources of turbulence and chaos 2. Identify management's wrong responses to turbulence 3. Establish early-warning systems 4. Construct key scenarios and strategies 5. Prioritize key scenarios and select strategy 6. Implement chaotics strategic management behaviors 7. Implement chaotics strategic marketing behaviors 8. Achieve business enterprise sustainability Kotler and Caslione note that Clayton Christensen introduced the term "disruptive technology" in an article published by the Harvard Business Review and later developed this concept in much greater depth in a book, The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail, and then replaced the term with a new concept, disruptive innovation, in a later book, The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth, that he co-authored with Michael Raynor. In their own book, Kotler and Caslione devise and then explore a frame-of-reference for a process of disruption that not only continues but escalates during what Fareed Zacharia aptly characterizes as "the third great power shift in modern history." (The first two were the rise of the Western world (during the 15th century of science and technology, commerce and capitalism, and the industrial and agricultural

An insightful read to get a better grasp of some of the changes currently taking place in the economic system. I enjoyed the provided practical advice to connect concepts with strategies that can be implemented in the real world. On the theoretical and philosophical level, books like the black swan might cover more ground but Chaotics gave me a little bit more bang for the buck in terms of applicability.

This book is very focused on today's volatile business world, and I really enjoyed reading it. I recommend this book for the business owner who needs practical "fix it now" advice. The reader will gain so much insight just by reading chapter 2, as it covers topics I'm sure today's business owner is struggling with. I.E. - resource allocation, across the board spending cuts, quick fixes to preserve cash flow, and reducing sales related expenses, etc. I particularly found a passage in the book that rings true and reinforces my stance that who we are is more important than what we do. The authors state, "So a company's internal and external behavior leaves a legacy that affects the stakeholder's future mindsets and behavior toward the company. Often times this reveals the absence of the company's authenticity, a quality that is becoming increasingly important to consumers." Being authentic in your marketing and business operations in imperative in maintaining happy customers that return. I recommend this book.

The timing of this book could not be any better. Clearly the authors saw the writing on the wall months ago, and knew that the world has irrevocably changed. Bravo! I'd love to share information on "the new normality" with my executive team but I don't think anyone would want my used copy of Chaotics because I have scribbled notes throughout the entire book. I thought I knew how to drive my company through this economic downturn. But this book forced me to see that this isn't a downturn, it is the beginning of a new reality - what the authors call, "The Age of Turbulance." This book reads like a simple how-to guide to business management. But it is actually a wake-up call. I read the book in one sitting but found myself wondering why I hadn't yet implemented these seemingly simple ideas in my company. Kotler and Caslione share the keys to creating an organization that will be "responsive, robust and resilient." If you only read one chapter, make it Chapter 4: I urge you to get this book and USE it.