Summary The Atttacker's Advantage

Some Impressionistic takes from the book of
Mr. Ram Charan
“The Attacker’s Advantage “
Turning Uncertainty into Breakthrough Opportunities
by Ramki – ramaddster@gmail.com

About the Author
Mr.Ram Charan is a world-renowned business advisor, author and speaker who
has spent the past 35 years working with many of the top companies, CEOs, and
boards of our time.
In Ram Charan’s work with companies including GE, MeadWestvaco, DuPont,
Novartis, EMC, 3M, Verizon, Aditya Birla Group, Tata Group, GMR, Max Group,
Yildiz Holdings, and RBS, he is known for cutting through the complexity of running
a business in today's fast changing environment to uncover the core business
problem or unseen opportunity.
He has authored 15 books since 1998 that have sold over three million copies in
more than a dozen languages. Execution, which he co-authored with former
Honeywell CEO Larry Bossidy in 2002, was a #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller and
spent more than 150 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. He also has
written for publications including Harvard Business Review, Fortune,
BusinessWeek, Time, Chief Executive and USA TODAY.

Prelude
The phenomenon of uncertainty is not new; what is new is its
intensity & potential to change industries & destroy companies.
Business leaders can be on the defensive, or they can be on
offense, prepared to lead decisively.
The ability to deal with uncertainty is perhaps the paramount skill
leaders must have to be successful in this era. Without it they
risk becoming personally obsolete and driving their companies
off a cliff.
In The Attacker's Advantage, renowned business expert &
bestselling author Ram Charan shows what skills are needed to
be able to spot the disruption that is coming, & what actions are
necessary to take advantage of these changes. While many
leaders know how to cope with operational uncertainty-when, for
example, revenue fluctuates-the same cannot be said for dealing
with structural uncertainty that can alter the money-making
patterns of a company, industry or entire economic sector.

Prelude
Charan demonstrates the huge upside offered by structural
uncertainty & provides the concepts and tools-such as being able to
spot the catalysts of disruption, building organizational
preparedness, developing a financial understanding of the
consequences to take advantage of forces that are creating new
customer needs, market segments and ways to make money.
Uncertainty is now ubiquitous.
The sources of structural change are so varied and fast moving, &
their convergence so unpredictable.
Digitization & the integration of technologies through software and
hardware has already impacted many businesses, but much more is
to come.
With his unparalleled ability to cut through complexity and provide
workable solutions, Ram Charan provides his readers with the
ability to anticipate and deal with the biggest threats facing their
business.

Key Concepts -1/2
Today’s business environment is characterized by dynamic change and
structural uncertainty.
Leaders should therefore keep the following points in mind:
 Structural uncertainty is global. A growing number of change
creators everywhere are empowered by the Internet and low-cost
wireless communication. They number seven billion—the entire
population of the world.
 Uncertainty does not arise as suddenly as it seems. There are often
early warning signals that go unnoticed.
 Algorithms are dramatically changing the structure of the global
economy. Along with other technological factors, algorithms are
altering peoples’ lifestyles.
 The attacker’s advantage is the ability to detect forces that are
shaping the marketplace. Leaders can then position an organization
to make the next move ahead of the competition.

Key Concepts- 2/2
 Leaders should look for the larger significance of anomalies,
contradictions, and oddities in business—things that depart from
familiar patterns and differ from past experiences.
 Change does not wait for an annual planning cycle. It is important to
go through the process of identifying seeds and catalysts for change
frequently.
 Transitioning to a new path poses special challenges. These
challenges cannot stop a company from striving to meet its goals.
Going on the offense is essential.
 Organizations must be agile and “steerable.” They must be
redirected quickly and must streamline linkages with the speed and
character of the external business environment.
 Decision-making processes must be dissected. This will ensure that
the various aspects and results of the decision making are in sync
with the speed and nature of change.

1
The Fundamental Leadership Challenge of our time

Frankly, this is a remarkable time to be in business and to
be serving in a leadership role. The risks, fears of change,
possibilities of disruption or the realities of creative destruction
and non-destructive creation are all facts of our business lives
and they create a remarkable backdrop for us to create…to
innovate. But first, we’ve got to fight our natural tendencies when
determining how to act in this environment.

 Waiting for Normal to Return. Some leaders imagine a return to an
environment that feels more like equilibrium. Newsflash…the new
equilibrium is a constant state of disequilibrium. Quit waiting on this friend
to return. She’s gone.
 Fighting Unseen Dragons. Others have as their sworn duty the need to
protect their firm against risks…known and unknown. This fear-driven
response to the environment narrows the options and in some cases
induces an organization-wide paralysis that nearly certainly leads to
decline and death. If you’re not moving, you’re dying.
 Striving to Control the Weather. Worse yet, some attempt to impose
order on the big forces propelling ever faster change in our world.
Whether it’s through traditional approaches to long-term strategic planning
(oxymoronic) or expecting the customers and market to bend to the
whims of leadership’s wishful thinking, the attempt to impose order on
these forces is a lot like expecting you will succeed in making the weather
respond to your bidding.
Three Nearly Fatal Leadership Mistakes in this Era

Leadership & Uncertainty
 The Contemporary world is uncertain and threatening.
 The global financial system needs reform, new competitors are
appearing from unprecedented places and the “algorithmic
revolution” is changing how business works.
 Today’s constant radical change is “qualitatively different” than
change in earlier times.
 Today, “structural uncertainty” affects forces that can reshape your
entire market in a moment.
 These transformational forces are global, but the changes they
produce are specific to particular locations.
 This makes it difficult to generalize about how such changes might
affect you and your firm.
 The lack of specific situational guidelines means that developing an
effective broad strategy for dealing with uncertainty is the most
important task leaders face today.

Bends in the Road
 Taking control of uncertainty is the essential leadership challenge of
today’s corporate community. The immense uncertainty in the current
marketplace is truly unique. Its speed, impact, and increasing ubiquity
make it qualitatively different from any time in history.
 Some of the uncertainties are operational, such as optimizing
production, launching a new product, or adjusting to interest rates.
Structural uncertainty occurs when the structure of the market can be
significantly destroyed or diminished.
 Steering a business through structural uncertainty requires a different
type of leadership, one with new skills for anticipating events and going
on the attack.
 Traditional leaders wait for uncertainties in the external environment to
occur before they react to them. Instead of waiting and reacting,
however, great leaders immerse themselves in the ambiguities of the
external environment.
 They set a path to steer the organization decisively into it

Bends in the Road
 Today’s leaders must make it a personal challenge to be
prepared in the face of structural uncertainty. Leaders who
are best prepared to lead in this era of big bends in the road
have the following skills:
 Perceptual acuity, defined as psychological & mental
preparedness.
 A mind-set to see opportunity in uncertainty.
 The ability to see a new path and commit to it.
 Adeptness in managing the transition to this new path.
 Skill in making their organizations “steerable” & agile.
You can manage an operational uncertainty with existing tools. But a
structural uncertainty . . . Is outside your control, and it can obliterate your
business if you don’t detect it in time and create your own space in the
new environment that is taking shape.

Why Structural Uncertainty Is Different
 Traditional answers are fine for operational uncertainty. For structural
uncertainty, however, control and detection are the keys. A structural
uncertainty does not arise suddenly. More often than not, early warning
signals go unnoticed.
 Companies such as Nokia, Toyota, and even the California Public
Utilities Commission have faced structural uncertainty with varying
degrees of success.
 Every bend in the road contains a message about future growth that
must be explored and exploited through different lenses.
 The fact that structural uncertainty does not fit with the core concepts
and capabilities of a business is no excuse.
 Effective leaders succeed despite such uncertainty. They realize that a
world in flux creates new possibilities and lowers the entry barriers. They
see clearly, move decisively, and act—or attack.

The Algorithmic Revolution
 Mathematical tools called algorithms—and their related
sophisticated software—are the most important instruments of
change in today’s business world.
 Never before has so much mental power been computerized &
made available. This power can predict patterns and changes and
affects everything from consumer behavior, health, maintenance,
operations, and machinery.
 The decision engines driven by algorithms process enormous
amounts of data at light speed. Algorithms can be programmed to
learn from the outcomes of the decisions and improve subsequent
decisions.
 Therefore, companies that embrace new mathematical
capabilities possess a huge advantage.
 These companies are not just digitized, they have become math
houses, and they are creating structural uncertainty for all other
industries

The Algorithmic Revolution
 Decisions made through the use of algorithms enable a productive
dialogue between the producer and the consumer.
 The math house is shaping up as a new stage in the business-to-
consumer relationship. The first stage was one-to-one transactions;
then came the era of mass production. Today’s era is one of
information.
 The ability to connect the corporation to the customer is crucial for
an organization of the future.
 Beginning in 2011, General Electric began turning itself into a math
house. The company’s new expertise in software and algorithms
has reshaped the entire organization for the 21st century,
positioning it to drive results through uncertainty.
 Success in this new era requires more than hiring new kinds of
expertise and creating new skills in the existing organization.
 Many companies need to substantially change the way they are
organized, managed, and led.

Early Warning Signals
 There is a long list of prominent leaders who have ignored or
failed to see the warning signals of structural change. Often,
these signals come not from within a company’s system but
from some unexpected source.
 Leaders or managers need to detect these early warning
signals; this can be accomplished by:
 Going on the attack.
 Pinpointing the sources of uncertainty.
 Removing some of the mystery.
 Defining a path forward.
 Making the necessary adjustments to steer their
organizations

Early Warning Signals
 Uncertainty is not something to fear, but something from
which to create new and immense value. Leaders need to
embrace it and develop skills to deal with it.
 They must ask several questions, including:
 How aware are their companies of structural change?
 Has the external landscape been scanned?
 Are companies that are using algorithms being tracked?
 Is the reality of uncertainty accepted?
 Are their companies prepared to convert uncertainty into
opportunity?
Many business leaders live with the constant but unspoken fear that the
“givens” of their industry could suddenly change, and they won’t see
the change coming.

Catalysts of Structural Change
 Perceptual acuity is the ability to notice and sense events,
trends, and anomalies—to see through uncertainty and act
on it before others do. A person with extraordinary perceptual
acuity is a catalyst, a creative thinker unconstrained by
conventional wisdom. Such a person takes the following
actions.
 Thinks about perceptions.
 Compares perceptions with the views of others in social
networks.
 Considers hypotheses.
 Gets excited about the possibility of new opportunities.
 Acts on the hypothesis to accomplish goals and take risks.

Catalysts of Structural Change
 CNN founder Ted Turner is a catalyst. He spotted what
was different in the television industry and visualized the
advantages of combining satellite transmission and a
24-hour news network, even when the pieces were not
all in place.
 The events or new technologies that a catalyst senses
are called seeds. They may lie untouched until a
catalyst picks them up and cultivates them.
 Perceptual acuity can be created by watching others
who adopt the routine and practice discipline in carrying
out their goals. The greatest test of perceptual acuity is
the ability to pick up catalysts and seeds even when the
signals are weak.
 Many catalysts develop over time but show their true
essence early on in their efforts.
 Performance is often repeated, so it is important to
research those who have track records of anticipating
change and using it to create opportunity.

Seeing What Catalysts See
 There is detailed information at every person’s fingertips, and scanning the
potential anomalies in business is important. The following are some anomalies
to consider:
 An accelerating trend: A trend by itself may be passive, but changing its
 momentum can be momentous.
 An extraordinary event: This event could be social, economic, or political.
 Potential scalability: This involves sketching the scenarios in potential
outcomes.
 Initially, the seeds of structural change challenge a company’s sales force and
front-line workers.
 Customers no longer want to pay a high up-front cost to buy a product. They
prefer to pay for a product based on its utility.
 Wherever an anomaly is noticed, a new landscape must be imagined. This is a
signal of powerful change, and it is important to assess the manner in which the
change can create opportunity.
 An effective leader will engage others in this assessment to see the possibilities
from multiple angles, thus building the team’s ability to detect change accurately
and quickly.

As you develop your perceptual acuity, you will . . .
Expand your capacity to see the landscape from
multiple angles, discern what’s important, and
speculate about how you could shape it by
engaging other people in this task.

Perceptual Acuity
 Psychological & mental preparedness to “ See around
corners”.
 Ability to spot potentially significant anomalies, contradictions
& oddities in the environment – ahead of others.
 Needs to institutionalized.
 Sharpen the skills by practice – on the alert, sensing the
signals of change and looking for the message in them.
 Work to become mentally and psychologically ready.
 Look ahead, and read the activity you observe.
 Look for signs of threats and disruption.
 Some people possess innate perceptual acuity, but you can
develop and improve yours.
 Need to expand the networks, relationships & source of
information far beyond the domain, company & industry .

Building Perceptual Acuity
 Practicing perceptual acuity should be part of a business leader’s
job and will raise his or her value.
 Building such acuity involves developing the focus and discipline
to watch and listen for new signs in the ordinary course of
business.
 To foster perceptual acuity, a leader can practice the following:
 The 10-minute exercise: A manager should devote the first 10
minutes of every staff meeting to discussing anomalies in the
external landscape. Each week, a different staff member could
be asked to present a potential structural uncertainty to the
team.
 Seeking contrary viewpoints: Speaking with those who may
have opposite views will test one’s own perceptions. Tracking
political events or other happenings in a different part of the
country or world can shed light on new opportunities.

 Dissecting the past: A glance in the rearview mirror can be helpful. A
person should spend time with colleagues and examine external
changes over time.
 Diving into the sources of risk: Management must have a rhythmic,
disciplined mechanism to detect signals of risk and take appropriate
action.
 Building a mental map: Leaders must be mindful of the opinions and
perspectives of their employees as well as customers, industry
leaders, and the competition. This provides an external context to
growth and decision making.
 Considering product usage: How will a company’s product make a
difference? Who has the interest to do something with it? These are
the questions that must be asked when analyzing a product.
 Asking what is new: Leaders should stay informed regarding changes
and shifts in an individual marketplace.
 This stimulates new thinking, expands the imagination, and connects
various insights.

 Using outsiders: Media across the globe should be searched
to gather information on critical topics.
 Watching the social scene: Paying close attention to how
society is changing and what new consumer behaviors are
emerging can bring important information to light.
 Being a voracious reader: Whether reading a journal,
newspaper, or other source, leaders should look for surprises
and anomalies in business
There are very few conversations we can have that won’t
inspire something that is actually relevant to our business.

Defining the Path
 Two aspects will greatly improve a company’s ability to find a path through
uncertainty:
 A sharp focus on the end-to-end experience of the customer or
consumer.
 A working knowledge of digitization and analytics.
 Focusing on the short-term bottom line and generating cash is not enough.
Organizations must have a mindset to pursue new opportunities. Still, it is
a challenge to maintain two separate business codes—the existing one
and the one that functions in this new era of structural uncertainty.
Changing directions has serious ramifications that will affect total revenue
and the bottom line.
 Both of these entities may temporarily shrink as the company spends
money to build new programming capabilities. The transition is never
easy, but the market will respond more enthusiastically. Such was the
case with Adobe as it went on the offensive and repositioned itself for
cloud computing.

Defining the Path
 The human mind is still unsurpassed at making connections
and generating ideas that can be tested and implemented.
 A real understanding of the customer cannot be developed
without direct observation. Exposure to customers will help
develop instincts and a sense of evolution against the
backdrop of external changes.
 Companies can be reborn digitally if their leaders have a
mind-set for offense and the courage to venture into
uncharted waters.
 Macy’s is one company that was not born digital, but
embraced technology and capitalized on it.
 The best strategic thinkers must go on the offensive and have
the courage to move in the face of uncertainty.

A Mindset for Offence
 Even the best strategic thinkers can be weak on
offense if they lack the courage to move in the face
of uncertainty.
 Going on the offense almost always requires taking
action before you have a crystal-clear picture of all
the factors your success will depend on.
 You must be willing to commit to a new path forward
even when some things are fuzzy, knowing that you
will adjust your path along the way.
 This is the mindset of offense for moving ahead and
creating uncertainty for others.

A Mindset for Offence
Taking an offensive approach does not necessarily mean being
the very first in a particular business segment. It does, however,
involve several steps:
 Assessing how the market place is evolving.
 Recognizing resources and the need for partners & alliances.
 Knowing a company’s ability to withstand setbacks in failure.
 Anticipating an expanded marketplace.
 Leaving plenty of room to grow.
 Monitoring the seeds and catalysts.
 Gathering the right competencies and resources

 Even if you educate yourself about digitization and the
consumer, your own psychology may get in the way of finding
a path to take advantage of uncertainty.
 Paying keen attention to the deeply rooted subconscious
blockages — your own as well as your team’s — will help
transform your mindset from defense to offense.
 Some of the blockages that can interfere with people’s
observational acuity and decision making include
 Attachment to your existing core competencies
 Inability to build a new core competency
 Obsolescence of key people
 Fear
 Avoidance of opposition
Removing the Blockages

Removing the Blockages
 Do you have the guts to make a big move?
 Intellectualizing is one thing; having the courage to
pull the trigger is another.
 Doing nothing can be risky in itself, and there will
always be some unknown unknowns –– risks you
don’t even know exist despite careful thinking.
 But pinpointing the particular signals that your
assumptions were right or wrong can build your
confidence to step onto the path.
Seizing the attacker’s advantage.. Is a process that starts
with this central question; what new developments can I take
advantage of to create a new need or give the customer or
consumer a more compelling experience ?

Attachment to your existing Core Competency

Kodak
 Look at Kodak. In the late 1990s it expanded its film business into
China, an untapped market that then-CEO George Fisher saw as an
enticing opportunity for growth.
 It was virtually impossible to get nationwide access to China back
then, and Fisher worked tirelessly to develop relationships with
Chinese state-owned enterprises, provincial governments, city
governments, ministries, commissions, and banks, and spoke of
having Zhu Rongji, who became Chinese prime minster in 1998, as a
tennis partner.
 Eventually the doors opened. In 1998 the company committed to
invest $1.2 billion in two joint ventures to manufacture and distribute
film, paper, and photochemical products in the country.
 Fisher wisely established the ventures in a way that gave local
partners minority stakes in exchange for business assets, ensuring
that Kodak would have operational control.
 Despite the political risk, it seemed that Kodak was making a
breakthrough, and investors approved.

 While the Chinese deals expanded Kodak’s core business & leveraged its
tremendous capabilities in film, they did nothing to solve its bigger
problem: the shift to digital photography.
 Kodak had been pioneering digital technology since the 1970s. It had a
crude prototype of a digital camera as early as 1975 and in the mid-1990s
helped Apple develop its QuickTake 100 digital camera.
 Competing in digital technology was, however, a different game altogether
and one that threatened Kodak’s core business.
 For one thing, the company didn’t dominate the field the way it did in film
but was one of many players.
 The market was also less predictable, and margins were lower. Much
lower. According to a former executive, gross margins on the traditional
business were a whopping 75 percent.
 Despite the growing importance of digital imaging, the old business
commanded the resources and management attention for too long.
 Later efforts to speed the transition to digital were unable to stem Kodak’s
decline.
Kodak

 How can you create and fill a new consumer need or give
consumers “a more compelling experience”?
 On what emerging forces or new technologies can you
capitalize?
 Look for something “newer, better or cheaper” that will drive
change. Establish a “mind-set for offense” by educating
yourself on critical technological developments, like
digitalization and better analytics.
 Even as you build your understanding of such tools, however,
realize that you can’t “replace an intuitive feel” for people with
technology.
 Maintain a focus on customer experience.
 Nothing can substitute for observing your customers directly.
Taking the Offensive

 To pursue progress, confront and deal with “deeply rooted
subconscious blockages” in your team and yourself. Some
blocks arise for good reasons, like attachment to your
“existing core competencies.” Others arise from fear or the
inability to develop “a new core competency.”
 However, the most common blockages spring from not
wanting to generate “pushback and resentment” by working
for change.
 For instance, acknowledging that some employees who have
been productive may now prove obsolete is hard, but you
must be aware and hire replacements.
 Help the people in your workforce develop their mind-set as
you develop yours.
 You can’t “completely eliminate uncertainty,” but learning to
read the signs of change will help.
Taking the Offensive

Mind-set to see opportunity in uncertainty
 Uncertainty is an invitation to go on the attack.
 Never be on defensive – unless you are caught by surprise or
totally short of time.
 Intellectual honesty is important when you sense a structural
break.
 Acceptance of the reality – core competencies of that has given
results are no longer valuable.
 It is a potential hindrance to a promising future.
 Every journey has obstacles – some are psychological.
 When you recognize opportunities, detect a path that leads to
them.
 Don’t cling to the past; commit your organization to navigating a
new path.
 Setting a definite course requires tough decisions, like departing
from your core business because you realize the market is
shifting away from it.

Kaiser Permanente’s Path Through the Turmoil
in Health care

Kaiser Permanente
You didn’t have to be a genius in the early 2000s to
sense that health care was going to change.
A focus on the total end-to-end experience of the
consumer, in this case the patient, was conspicuously
missing.
The industry was data poor: Medical records were kept
on paper in separate physical locations, so while patients
passed from one care entity to another, information about
them did not.
People inside and outside of the industry, including
members of Congress, began talking about health care
rationing as perhaps the only viable endgame for care
delivery.

 In 2002, George Halverson became CEO of Kaiser Permanente,
the California-based health-insurance company that also ran
clinics and community hospitals.
 He saw things differently.
 Why not use information technology to integrate information and
use it to find ways to improve the cost and quality of outcomes
for care delivery?
 Halvorson went on the offense.
 The CEO convened a task force of 70 people, almost all doctors.
He asked them to identify everything they wanted a system to do
and look at every system in the world.
 The price tag for the project was $4 billion, the biggest
investment in an information system ever made.
 Data opened new lines of discovery, with impressive results in
the treatment of HIV, congestive heart failure, asthma & stroke.
 The good results from data access and process improvements
boosted KP’s reputation
Kaiser Permanente

4
Making the Organization Agile

The Joint Practice Session
 In many companies, there is a slow processing of information on
the way to making a decision. This creates unresolved
disagreement.
 Leaders and managers must therefore not only recognize the
ever-shifting nature of their businesses, but also connect their
everyday activities to those changes.
 By doing so, they can eliminate the long, drawn-out processes
for making decisions, thus making their organizations more agile
or “steerable.”
 Joint practice sessions (JPS) operate on the premise that when
information is transparent to everyone, people can form a
common view of the total picture.
 They are more willing and better equipped to make trade-offs
and adjustments spontaneously. People are energized,
decisions are made, and the organization gets results

The Joint Practice Session
 A JPS includes all the critical people in an organization, and
transparency rules.
 Observations about what is happening are welcome. Team
members can better steer their parts of the organization as
they visualize the progress of the total group.
 The Keurig Green Mountain Coffee Company made the JPS
a central steering mechanism and was able to identify and
then eliminate blockages, moving with urgency and
synchronizing work.
 As a result, the company became much more agile. JPS
meetings are crucial in relentlessly driving accountability and
the execution of the steps a company must take to put itself
on a new path.

Walmart- JPS
 Sam Walton made the JPS
his central steering
mechanism.
 Key people gathered together
— store managers, logistical
people, advertising people
and buyers — and worked as
a team to ensure that Walmart
delivered on its mission of
providing the lowest prices.
 What are customers asking for that we don’t have? Is there
too much in the store that is not selling? How does our price
for a given product compare with our competitors? These
sessions made Walmart agile, able to respond promptly to
customers’ changing needs.

Apple
 Steve Jobs, when he returned as CEO
of Apple in 1997, instituted a four-hour
Monday morning session at Apple at
which people whose interdependence
was crucial discussed one or more
products.
 Jobs wanted everyone in the room
listening to each piece of information
simultaneously, believing that the
resulting dialogue and debate would
foster better integration.

 In his first week at Ford, Alan
Mulally introduced a weekly JPS.
 All senior leaders were required to
attend. Reports on progress
toward the company’s turnaround
goals were to be succinct and
honest, and facts — not politics or
personality — ruled the day.
Mulally used the meetings to
sharpen his team’s perceptual
acuity.
 They were crucial in relentlessly
driving accountability and
execution of the steps Ford was
taking to put itself on the new
path. Week after week, progress
since the previous meeting — or
lack thereof — was on the charts
for all to see.

How Keurig Green Mountain
Adopted the Joint Practice Session

Keurig Green Mountain Coffee
 In January 2014, Keurig Green Mountain CEO Brian Kelley
launched what he later came to call JPSs to integrate all the
functions across the business, including some 25 top people.
 At the inaugural meeting, members were asked to write down
the top three priorities for the upcoming quarter.
 The intention was to help them focus on executing the short-
term steps that were part of their journey. Then they were
asked to list these priorities across the bottom of a blank
piece of paper, and above each, to draw bars, smokestack
style, for the five critical tasks associated with that priority.
Going around the room, each person explained his or hers.
 It was the first time they had heard each other’s priorities and
tasks in detail. They were asked to grab markers to color-
code these critical tasks red, yellow or green for how they
were progressing as of that day.

Keurig Green Mountain Coffee
 People were noticeably uncomfortable that there was lots of
red and very little green. But they were assured that this is
normal for any company and encouraged to keep looking.
 As they did, the team members started to notice that a
number of the reds had something in common: The people
with critical technical expertise that they depended on
stretched too thin.
 Other issues also surfaced. Two leaders were driving similar
critical tasks.
 A decision was made on the spot to combine them into one.
Another critical task was red because a supplier had been
lagging behind, and again people put their heads together to
figure out how to overcome the problem in the short run.

 The group reconvened six times over the next three months.
 They could see the total picture of the business; they had
identified the blockages and in many cases had fixed them.
 They knew what they had to focus on when they went back to
work, and that it was aligned with what was happening across
the company.
 The JPS had become a routine, and a welcome one that gave
the company newfound agility

Critical Decision Nodes
 The ability to assess , dissect and analyze an organization’s
decision making is an important part of navigating big bends
in the road.
 Unless a leader drives the necessary changes in decision
making, the organization could seize up and stagnate.
 The crucial decision nodes—specific points in the
organization in which the most critical decisions are made—
must be identified.
 A node can be one person, but is often a group of people with
one leader.
 To find the decision nodes that matter most, an organization
should work backward from the crucial actions that must be
taken.

Critical Decision Nodes
 Leaders facing new challenges often make changes in
organizational structure or key personnel.
 Exactly who is in the decision node must be clearly defined
and specific.
 The node must include people with expertise, along with
people who understand the consumer and market
competition, both traditional and new.
 Problems arise when the person in charge of a decision node
will not free up the resources needed, such as money or
personnel. This can be a particular problem in companies
where the power is concentrated at the top.
 In nearly every organization, decision nodes are
interdependent with other nodes, including those that may be
outside the organization or business system

Steering the Two tracks
 A leader must maintain a company’s existing business while
simultaneously planning to go on the offense; he or she must
steer the company on two tracks.
 A leader can become a master in managing the transition to the
offensive mind-set at the appropriate speed by:
 Setting short-term milestones. These milestones do not have
to be quantitative, but they must be specific and paint a
picture of where the organization wants to go.
 Keeping the new path in focus. Leaders need to track the
short-term milestones just as intensely as they do cost and
margins. They must also be quick to take remedial action
when something deviates.
 Letting the numbers flex. Budgets can be a great tool for
steering a business to the new path, but the perceptual acuity
and the numbers must be linked.

Steering the Two tracks
 Financial resilience. A steerable company has a greater
capacity to withstand the shock if something unexpected
strikes. Maintaining liquidity in a new venture requires
strong management.
 Keeping others involved. Leaders should maintain
communication and “feelers” to know how various
constituencies are reacting to the change.
 The vital ingredient of a shift to a more offensive path in the
face of structural change is communication. If all information
has been made clear and yet there is little or no support
within an organization, the plan may need to be rethought. Or,
in some cases, a leader may forge ahead and lead by his or
her convictions.

Ability to See a new path Forward & Commit to it

Path forward & Commit to it
 Willing to build whatever new capabilities
 Higher level of proficiency in digitization & algorithms.
 End to end customer experience – how to use digitization to
enhance it continuously.
 Pursue with tenacity.
 Identify the obstacles/ blockages stand in your way& overcome.
them.
 Don’t cling to the past; commit your organization to navigating
a new path.
 Setting a definite course requires tough decisions, like
departing from your core business because you realize the
market is shifting away from it.

Adeptness in managing the transition to the
new path

Transition to new path
 Willing to build whatever new capabilities
 Higher level of proficiency in digitization & algorithms.
 End to end customer experience – how to use digitization to
enhance it continuously.
 Pursue with tenacity.
 Identify the obstacles/ blockages stand in your way& overcome.
them.
 Don’t cling to the past; commit your organization to navigating
a new path.
 Setting a definite course requires tough decisions, like
departing from your core business because you realize the
market is shifting away from it.

You are going to face skepticism, if not outright
resistance, as you navigate your business through
uncertainty. You need a resilient inner core, a
deep-rooted belief that you can overcome
whatever obstacles arise, and intensity in
executing on both your short and long-term goals.

An Organizational Turn to Offense
 The key for any Manager or CEO in becoming an attacker is
to build a realistic and achievable set of objectives across the
landscape of the entire business.
 Leaders must expand their viewpoints and harden their
resolve to find new opportunities to grow.
 There are four essential pillars of growth:
 Leverage existing products for increased promotion and
targeting.
 Improve and accelerate products already in the pipeline.
 Aggressively seek other companies that have products
that can address customer needs.
 Give customers support beyond what they expect.

Take-Away
 Mastering uncertainty is most important thing in a contemporary Leader
can do .
 To respond to uncertainty , shift from defending against change to
seeking change & exploiting it.
 “ Structural Uncertainties” reshape markets & the overall economy.
 Leaders should develop “ Perceptual acuity” – the ability to spot new
trends & to see potentially disruptive developments in advance .
 To establish perceptual acuity, study leaders who embrace change. Look
outside your organization or discipline.
 Read widely and watch trends & new developments
 Opportunities abound in settings of troubling uncertainty.
 When you detect a potential opportunity, respond aggressively.
 Seek a path through uncertainty & guide your organization along it.
 Help your organization become “ agile’ by being decisive in the face of
uncertainty.
 Identify key “ decision nodes” and review how decisions are made and by
whom.

“Trying to ignore uncertainty only increases fear, triggering a variety of
symptoms, from withdrawal or losing control of your temper to suppressing
bad news and blaming others.” Dean Stamoulis commented that “blaming
and rationalizing is an extreme red flag….Blaming indicates a thinking style
that is not effective in uncertainty, and it erodes the connection with whatever
constituencies are taking the heat.” The more you embrace uncertainty the
more you’ll be energized by it.

Mail your comments to ramaddster@gmail.com

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