BOOK SPECIAL The Selfie Strategy
The
photograph of the three tuxedo-clad titans of industry on the cover ofStrategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates,
Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs (HarperBusiness, 2015) could have just
as easily been taken in 1898 as 1998. In the only picture of the three CEOs
together, Gates, Grove, and Jobs smile out at us as if from the pantheon of
business. As long as you remember names like Rockefeller, Edison, and Ford,
they seem to be thinking, you will remember us, too.
Rightly so. When the
photo was taken, Andy Grove had just been named “Man of the Year” by Time
magazine. He was getting ready to step down as the CEO of Intel, where, à la
Ford, he had dominated his industry by continuously bringing cheaper, more
powerful microprocessors to market. Bill Gates — the Rockefeller of his era —
was the head of the world’s most powerful software company, an accused
monopolist, and already the richest person on earth. Steve Jobs had returned
Apple to profitability after a decade in exile, and was just beginning a run of
disruptive innovation that would have made Edison envious.
Given the shelves of
books that have already been written about the three CEOs who were most
instrumental in shaping the personal computer era, it’s hard to imagine the
need for yet another book about any of them. But the authors of this first comparative study
of the three men, b-school profs David Yoffie and Michael
Cusumano,
are convinced otherwise:
“We concluded that their approaches could help managers and entrepreneurs think
more systematically about strategy, as well as execution, because they tackled
key problems in similar ways,” they write. And they know whereof they speak:
Yoffie teaches international business administration at Harvard Business School
and Cusumano is a management professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
For the most part, the
strategic similarities of the CEOs are unsurprising. Yoffie and Cusumano tell
us that each had a long-term vision for his company, but then took the
essential second step of connecting vision to action. They made big, bold bets,
but stopped short of all-or-nothing wagers that risked the survival of
enterprises. They developed platforms and ecosystems rather than just products
and services. They deployed the considerable leverage and power at their
disposal to create competitive advantage (perhaps overly so, given that each of
these companies attracted the unwelcome attentions of antitrust regulators).
The final similarity
shared by Gates, Grove, and Jobs, however, is one that comes with warnings. The
authors call it a personal anchor: “the leader’s unique skills and business
insights.” For Gates, it was programming chops and a deep understanding of
software. For Grove, it was engineering excellence and discipline. And for
Jobs, it was an obsessive focus on design and user experience.
Although their
personal anchors were very different, each CEO used them in the same ways,
according to Yoffie and Cusumano. “The anchors drove their day-to-day focus as
CEOs and guided strategic thinking as well as helped them make decisions
ranging from who to recruit and how to delegate authority,” they write. The
values and priorities they embodied became elevated into organizational
routines and competencies that remain in place even today at Microsoft, Intel,
and Apple.” In other words, these three leaders built their companies in their
own images — and built them to last far beyond their tenures at the helm.
Despite the profitable
persistence of these three companies, I couldn’t help but be troubled by this
argument. The idea that you — or any leader — should “shape the organization
around your personal anchor” is a dangerous one. The authors admit that it is a
double-edged sword: “We can trace many of the limitations that Microsoft,
Intel, and Apple have displayed in recent years to the decisions that Gates,
Grove, and Jobs made as well as to the cultures and business models that they
established.” Microsoft’s focus on programming and software, for example, is
one reason its forays into other markets — like search, smartphones, and social
networking — have been “slow and awkward.” Intel is still tied to Moore’s Law
and the PC market even as the demand for microprocessors has expanded into
mobile devices and the Internet of Things. And like its founder, Apple — now
the world’s largest company by market capitalization and its most valuable
brand — seems unable to move beyond serial innovation and the risks that
entails.
In fact, much of the
discussion in the book around utilizing your personal anchor is focused on how
to temper its effects. Anchors provide much-needed ballast and stability. But
they also limit movement, and if they become too large, or are moved too
swiftly, they can cause the ship to capsize. Just so, you need to become aware
of how your personal anchor can drag you and your company down, the authors
warn. You need to build a leadership team that balances its weaknesses and
distributes executive power. You need to cast a wide net for information and
continually test the logic behind your decisions.
Gates, Grove, and Jobs
certainly possessed weighty personal anchors, and they happened to appear in
the right place and time to put them to profitable use. But you should think
twice before you tie your personal anchor to your company and chuck it
overboard.
Theodore Kinni
Theodore Kinni is a
contributing editor for strategy+business.
http://www.strategy-business.com/blog/The-Selfie-Strategy?gko=f5090
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