Robert I. Sutton

Huggy Rao

Hayagreeva Rao

"In Scaling Up Excellence, bestselling author Bob Sutton and Stanford colleague Huggy Rao tackle the topic that obsesses businesses large and small, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies--how to scale up their businesses and spread excellence throughout the organizational culture"--

Getting to More Without Settling for Less

Scaling Up Excellence

Scaling up excellence is the key to creating a great organisation. Itâe(tm)s how a small enterprise expands without losing focus. Itâe(tm)s how a brilliant new idea or plan developed by the few goes on to be adopted by the many. And, in hard times and tough situations, itâe(tm)s how pockets of smart new thinking overcome cultures of indifference or negativity. An organisation that doesnâe(tm)t know how to scale up what is best within it wonâe(tm)t achieve long-term success. Bestselling author Robert Sutton and his Stanford colleague Huggy Rao have devoted nearly a decade to uncovering what it takes to create and spread outstanding performance, and in Scaling Up Excellence they share the fruits of their research. Drawing on case studies that range from Silicon Valley enterprises to non-profit organisations, they provide crucial insights into corporate cultures, both good and bad, and offer a road map for establishing and stimulating excellence. In the process, they show how to use âe~premortemsâe(tm) when making big decisions about change. They reveal why seven is so often the magic number when it comes to team size. They examine successful and unsuccessful quests for improvement âe" in hospitals, schools and elsewhere. And they discuss when a single corporate mindset is best (âe~Catholicismâe(tm)) and when local variation is preferable (âe~Buddhismâe(tm)). Scaling Up Excellence is the first management book devoted to what is âe" or should be âe" a core priority for every organisation. As such it is destined to become the standard bearer.

Scaling up excellence is the key to creating a great organisation. It’s how a small enterprise expands without losing focus. It’s how a brilliant new idea or plan developed by the few goes on to be adopted by the many. And, in hard times and tough situations, it’s how pockets of smart new thinking overcome cultures of indifference or negativity. An organisation that doesn’t know how to scale up what is best within it won’t achieve long-term success. Bestselling author Robert Sutton and his Stanford colleague Huggy Rao have devoted nearly a decade to uncovering what it takes to create and spread outstanding performance, and in Scaling Up Excellence they share the fruits of their research. Drawing on case studies that range from Silicon Valley enterprises to non-profit organisations, they provide crucial insights into corporate cultures, both good and bad, and offer a road map for establishing and stimulating excellence. In the process, they show how to use ‘premortems’ when making big decisions about change. They reveal why seven is so often the magic number when it comes to team size. They examine successful and unsuccessful quests for improvement – in hospitals, schools and elsewhere. And they discuss when a single corporate mindset is best (‘Catholicism’) and when local variation is preferable (‘Buddhism’). Scaling Up Excellence is the first management book devoted to what is – or should be – a core priority for every organisation. As such it is destined to become the standard bearer.

Scaling up Excellence

Great individuals are assumed to cause the success of radical innovations--thus Henry Ford is depicted as the one who established the automobile industry in America. Hayagreeva Rao tells a different story, one that will change the way you think about markets forever. He explains how "market rebels"--activists who defy authority and convention--are the real force behind the success or failure of radical innovations. Rao shows how automobile enthusiasts were the ones who established the new automobile industry by staging highly publicized reliability races and lobbying governments to enact licensing laws. Ford exploited the popularity of the car by using new mass-production technologies. Rao argues that market rebels also establish new niches and new cultural styles. If it were not for craft brewers who crusaded against "industrial beer" and proliferated brewpubs, there would be no specialty beers in America. But for nouvelle cuisine activists who broke the stranglehold of Escoffier's classical cuisine in France, there would have been little hybridization and experimentation in modern cooking. Market rebels also thwart radical innovation. Rao demonstrates how consumer activists have faced down chain stores and big box retailers, and how anti-biotechnology activists in Germany penetrated pharmaceutical firms and delayed the commercialization of patents. Read Market Rebels to learn how activists succeed when they construct "hot causes" that arouse intense emotions, and exploit "cool mobilization"--unconventional techniques that engage audiences in collective action. You will realize how the hands that move markets are the joined hands of market rebels. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Hayagreeva Rao

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