Beat the Odds: Avoid Corporate Death and Build a Resilient Enterprise

by Robert A. Rudzki

Beat the Odds fills a crucial void in the current business literature. It clearly illustrates why great organizations slip from leader to follower to road-kill, and how organizations can Beat the Odds... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932159681
• ISBN13: 9781932159684
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: J. Ross Publishing
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A must-read for any business executive or manager

In Beat the Odds, Robert Rudzki presents a method of strategic planning that is based on his own corporate experience plus an astute analysis of the best and worst application of corporate strategy. The book describes a set of nine fundamental principles that provide a solid strategic framework for business planning and execution in practically any industry sector. I particularly like the structure of the book. The chapters give a brief synopsis of corporations that apply each of the nine individual principles well. Rudzki then reinforces the principles discussed in the chapters with checklists that help determine if these principles are effectively being applied. He even anticipates the "but my firm is different" arguments and defends the principles against complacency. I also find that the self-assessment guides for top management, future leaders, employers, suppliers, and customers are valuable tools to conduct a 360 degree evaluation of a corporation's activities. I highly recommend Beat the Odds to any business executive or manager.

A Book to Complement Good to Great

BEAT THE ODDS is a call to take business back to the often-forgotten basics, particularly in an era where senior managers are consumed by managing complexity in their daily jobs. It takes the complex world of business and simplifies it to nine core principles, without which a business is likely to fail. With vivid corporate examples, this book does what others have failed to do: offer a complete prescription for corporate health (with a comprehensive diagnostic process), not a dose of the latest management fad. With ample examples of companies that have failed, or experienced near-death due to ignoring one or more of the nine principles, this book is a natural complement to such earlier classics as Built to Last, and Good to Great. BEAT THE ODDS should be a must read in the executive suite, and in executive education programs. The Nine Principles, combined with the Diagnostic process and the Quotable Quotes (in the Appendix), will provide executives and managers with an on-going resource throughout their careers.

Seven Principles for Highly Effective Businesses

This is the Seven Principles restated with some interesting twists. To the extent that I consider business operations and risk every day some of what Mr. Rudzki says may be more evident to me than to most people; however, the book was still very useful from the viewpoint of tuning up my framework for analysis. I actually added some thoughts to my regular business health questionaire. This is certainly worth the read.

Beat The Odds:Avoid Corporate Death and Build a Resilient Enterprise

Beat the Odds takes a holistic approach to addressing organizational effectiveness. Too many books in this genre simply provide a philosophical presentation about organizational success in today's world, or take a limited look at one piece of the puzzle. This book combines the necessary "conceptual" model describing the elements or principles that define high performing organizations with additional tools that are helpful in testing your understanding, assessing your situation, and providing you with some comprehensive examples of the principles in action. I found that to be valuable in enabling me to examine my organization accurately, recognize the differences between what my current situation is and what would be most effective, and it provided a subtle nudge to encourage a commitment to take action. Like any worthwhile how-to business book, Rudzki provides a thoughtful model based on key principles. His 9 principles give any leader a comprehensive description of what it takes to have an effective organization over the long term. Jim Collins talks about the critical need to focus on the choices a leader makes and the discipline to act on those choices if you want to be great. Beat the Odds does a really good job of putting definition to what Collins calls "discipline"; and that's what I need if I'm a leader starting a journey toward greatness, or trying to reverse the decline of a formerly-great company. Given my experience in consulting to organizational change, the assessment tools do a good job of targeting the key areas that typically impact whether an organization is functioning effectively. In addition, I found Rudzki's questions thought-provoking and clearly on target as they related to challenging a leader to actually take action. I recommend Beat the Odds as a must read.

A prescription for keeping the company healthy

Do you really need to read one more book about why businesses succeed? If you have management responsibilities in an organization and you want to contribute to its long-term success, the answer is: yes, you do, and this is the book. BEAT THE ODDS makes a compelling case for "nine principles" which, its author argues, are essential to the "long-term viability and success" of organizations if they are to survive the myriad challenges endemic to today's business environment. The starting point for this text is the commonplace fact that many organizations do not age well, including some of the "great" companies previously lionized as `built to last'. The metaphor of "organization as a living entity" that runs through the narrative is not merely a literary convenience. Rather, it is at the very heart of Rudzki's prescription for ensuring that a corporation has a long and useful life that benefits all its key stakeholders, including the community at large. Rejecting the limiting notion of an organization as merely a "moneymaking machine" in favour of a view of it as a "living thing," the text offers a practical strategy for diagnosing the threats to corporate health. The "nine principles" for organizational fitness are explained in a workmanlike manner, each illustrated with case studies including examples of companies that, to their peril, have neglected one of more of the principles which, the text argues, are present in companies that enjoy long and vital lives. With its straightforward templates for self-assessment and diagnosis at real organizations, this is a book that is meant to be put to work. If you are concerned with building a business and contributing to a truly meaningful vision of its long-term health, then this is the `one more book' you have to read. Vicki McBryde, BA, CPP, CPM