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Going the Distance : Why Some Companies Dominate and Others Fail

by: Kennedy, Kevin; Moore, Mary

Going the Distance : Why Some Companies Dominate and Others Fail

by: Kennedy, Kevin; Moore, Mary

ISBN 13:
9780130461209
ISBN 10:
0130461202
Format: Hardcover
Copyright: 01/01/2003
Publisher: FT Press

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Going the Distance : Why Some Companies Dominate and Others Fail > ISBN13: 9780130461209

Summary

Going the Distanceidentifies eight key obstacles to the long-term success of great businessesand shows exactly how to overcome them. Former Cisco SVP Kevin Kennedy and leading consultant Mary Moore show how to assess corporate health and correct weaknesses in leadership, strategy, product, marketplace alignment, governance, and morebefore it's too late.Going the Distanceprovides a total framework for maintaining market leadership into the next generation!

Author Biography

Kevin Kennedy is Chief Operating Officer for Openwave Systems, Inc.

Introduction.
1. Perils of Growth: Evolution and Complexity.
2. Threads of Failure: Overview, Stages and Interdependencies.
3. Culture of Learning/Insufficient Cultural Underpinnings.
4. Lack of Leadership DNA and Metamorphosis.
5. Technology Inertia.
6. Poor Product Transitions.
7. Dysfunctional Governance System.
8. Misguided Strategy.
9. Weak Boards.
10. Misalignment.
11. Summary of Threads and of Call to Action Tools.
12. Exogenous Factors.
13. Closing.

Supplemental Materials

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The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Excerpts

Foreword by Don Valentine, Sequoia CapitalWhere was this book when I needed it? In 1977 when we started Apple? In 1982 when we started 3Com? In 1983 when we financed Oracle? In 1982 when we started Electronic Arts in our office? In 1989 when we took control of Microchip from General Instruments? In 1994 when we financed Network Appliance? In 1987 when we started Cisco? In 1995 when we started Yahoo?This book is an ideal distillation of the lessons of company success and failure, many of which I have learned the hard way, in more than 30 years of nurturing venture-backed companies. As I read it, I found myself wishing that such a handbook had been available to help me diagnose and repair problems so many of our promising companies and founders faced over the years.I've had the wonderful opportunity of watching the evolution of Silicon Valley, almost since its inception1960. Despite an everincreasing number of motivated, talented, and entrepreneurial managers, high-tech companies have a mixed history of commercial success, with only a few reaching the state of dominance enjoyed by Intel, Cisco, and Oracle. The majority fail to "go the distance." Not only does conventional wisdom tend to distill the lessons of success and failure into over-simplified premisesthe choice of a particular CEO or a late product transition or a failed merger, for instancebut it also appears to blame the symptoms rather than the causes. What underlies these failures? What early signs might be read before the last straw breaks the camel's back? How can management do a better job of learning from the past to improve the future?In a meeting some time ago with one of the authors, I posed this question: "Why do great companies fail?" This was at the beginning of the current economic downturn, and given the graveyard of historical failures, it seemed to me none too soon to pose the question. Imagine my surprise when I received an email almost two years later, requesting that I review a book that offers real answers to that very question.A distinguishing feature ofGoing the Distanceis that it avoids the oversimplification of offering a single principle that promises salvation. In fact, this book effectively organizes the experience and observations of two people who have collectively logged more than 50 years in complex organizations. The complexity that gradually develops in a successful company brings with it both opportunity and perilit is a double-edged sword that can make the difference between winning and losing. The authors describe two categories of challengegovernance and executionthat provide guideposts to longevity or, if neglected, become the fault lines of eventual failure. These two categories encompass eight critical challenges in all. This presentation makes it clear that it is seldom a single occurrence or characteristic that brings a company to its knees; rather, the book makes clear that it is the buildup of unmet challenges that choke a company over time.A second distinguishing feature of this book is its description of stages of evolution of companies, contrasting the nature of challenges experienced in startups, in companies on the rise, and in well-established, multibillion-dollar companies. These challenges are possible during all stages of a company's evolution, but some are far more likely to present themselves at certain stages than at others. Just as important, some challenges, such as establishing a learning culture and a bias for constant innovation, are critical to meet early, as they are very difficult to address once the wrong DNA culture is formed. In fact, it is notable that throughout this book, the authors emphasize the importance of a learning organization as central to the adaptability necessary to survive quickly changing markets at a