Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win

by William C. Taylor and Polly G. LaBarre

Book Overview

Business as usual is a bust . . .

In industry after industry, organizations that were once dismissed as upstarts, wildcards--mavericks--are making serious waves and growing fast. From high-profile innovators such as HBO and Google to funky sandwich shop chains, the truly imaginative and unconventional businesses are changing the way things are done--providing new approaches, strategies, and outlooks, as well as better ways to compete, lead,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060779624
• ISBN13: 9780060779627
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Become a Maverick

"Mavericks at Work" hit a home run for me. I love to think and act like a Maverick. I love to do "work that matters". This book introduced me to others who think like I do and have found business success. Thanks! "Mavericks at Work" starts off with great a great introduction and keeps on going. I love the quote from Alan Kay (introduction): "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." Why does business spend so much time trying to figure out what the competition will be bringing to the market place instead of trying to "invent the future"? Why not invent the market? Then you don't have any competition! My favorite chapters were Chapters 1, 3, 4, and 10. Chapter One - "Not Just a Company, a Cause: Strategy as Advocacy." This chapter does a great job of explaining why YOU need to create a Cause, not just a company. Causes make raving fans. Raving fans bring profits Chapter Three - "Maverick Messages (1): Sizing Up Your Strategy". Take notes on this chapter, you will be glad you did. The authors give five questions every company should ask when sizing up your strategy. Chapter Four - "Innovation Inc.: Open Source Gets Down to Business". Do you need some "innovative" ideas on how to get your company to embrace innovation as a way of life? This chapter shows you how. Don't be shy about putting some of these ideas to work. Chapter Ten - "The Company You Keep: Business as if People Mattered". Great chapter on TALENT! Business today needs to put Talent at the top of the agenda for every strategy meeting, every business plan, every performance review, etc... All company's say that their people are their most important asset. Few prove it through their actions. This chapter shows some organizations that know and act as if People Matter and the payoff are increased profits. Larry Kevin Adams Author of "Selling: Powerful New Strategies for Sales Success". theactionator.com

The Small Business Mavericks Manifesto - For Small Business Owners, it's a Whole New Game

This book is applicable whatever size business you happen to run, but it's particularly important for small business owners who want to grow their companies. The authors do a great job of outlining why declaring the ideas you stand for is critical to your small business success. Without a sense of purpose - that passion to do what it is you do ever day that infects every single area of your life - not only will you be miserable, your business will suffer as a result. This book is filled with concrete examples of how the companies the authors profiled have done just that. A key message they bring out that I haven't heard many people mention in regard to Mavericks at Work is that it's often "the road not taken" that determines your success. Being able to pass on short term opportunities to stay focused on your long-term mission takes guts and determination, but ultimately was a critical factor in the success of the companies they interviewed. Small business owners: get this bok and read it with a highlighter, pen and paper in hand. The future is going to look very different - consider this a lucky peek behind the Web 2.0 curtain and a wake up call if you aren't already implementing a Web 2.0 strategy for your company.

Excellent information backed up with solid, real-world examples

I generally rate business book by two factors: How many pages I've highlighted by folding them over and whether it causes me to stop and think about how the content applies to my world. Mavericks at Work scores very high on both points. Here are some of the more interesting excerpts I flagged as I read this one: * Southwest didn't flourish just because its fares were cheaper...Southwest flourished because it reimagined what it means to be an airline. * If you want to renew and re-energize an industry...don't hire people from that industry. * If your company went out of business tomorrow, who would really miss you and why? * The most effective leaders are the ones who are the most insatiable learners, and experienced leaders learn the most by interacting with people whose interests, backgrounds and experiences are the least like theirs. * We must begin all things in ignorance...otherwise we never start at the beginning. * The next frontier for making products more emotional is to turn them into something social -- to create a sense of shared ownership and participation among customers themselves. * Why would great people want to work here? You could (and probably should!) spend hours thinking about the answers to those two questions (If your company went out of business... and Why would great people want to work here?). I also found the authors' thoughts on the use of ad-hoc teams to build new products/services within an existing business, and thereby avoid The Innovator's Dilemma, to be very helpful. The authors have a very readable style and provide loads of examples from companies and executives they interviewed for the book. Highly recommended.

Bloody Brilliant!!

What good is a book full of insightful and exciting information if it's too boring and complicated to read? This book gets to the point and does it in an entertaining way. Awesome details on what makes great companies stand out in an overcrowded me-too, over-supplied world. Thank God for authors who not only want to make a great point but want to do it in a plain and easy to read manner. Best book I've read in years!

Among the Best Business Books you will ever read - BUY IT NOW!!!!

This book is nothing short of wonderful. It is enthralling. You will probably not be able to put it down. The bottom line is that this book is about BEST PRACTICES in younger companies, some of which are not so young. You won't find the secrets of IBM's turnaround here, but you will find other secrets of IBM that are mind-blowing. This book is about cutting edge people doing cutting edge things. They are innovators. They are exciting. They are making things happen. It's about a unique group of people finding BEST PRACTICES and IMPLEMENTING THEM. I read at least a book a day. I run money for a living, and it has afforded me the opportunity to do what I want. What I love to do is just absorb information from a multitude of disciplines. You have to be efficient about it. I strive to not be involved with repetitive tasks. I NEED the new and innovative constantly. Most people unfortunately spend their days doing the same thing over and over again. Even heart surgery becomes ROUTINE after a while. In the business world, companies seek to develop routines and then have their employees fit into the routine, and do the same thing over and over again. Donald Trump, years ago mentioned in a meeting, "Your business is fascinating, it's Wall Street, it's something new every day. My business is the same thing over and over again. I know the price of a pound of concrete, and a pound of steel, but your business changes all the time." He was completely right, which brings us to Mavericks at Work. The reason why you want to read this book is because it is going to VASTLY ACCECELERATE your understanding of BEST PRACTICES in the business world. You will meet the Chairman of Commerce Bank, one of the fastest growing banks in the United States. In the book, he states that his favorite book is Built from Scratch: How a Couple of Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion, written by Bernie Marcus, and Arthur Blanc the two gentlemen that started Home Depot. How valuable it is to have that input. This alone was worth the entire price of the book. Commerce Bank gives the book to everyone they hire. It is required to read it from cover to cover. Some of the fantastic concepts you will learn about in Mavericks at Work include: · Why does your company exist? Most companies can't even answer the question. The answer usually given is to make money, which clearly is not the right answer. · The magic of OPEN SOURCE thinking. A Canadian gold mining company has to try to figure out how to spend $10 million looking for additional gold on their properties. What do they do? They violate every rule in the book by putting a contest on the Internet asking all the great geologists of the world to enter into a contest to submit a plan as to how to spend the $10 million. The company sets aside $500,000 to allocate prize money, plus an awards dinner for the best submissions. The results blow away the expectations. This is open source thinking at its best. In the futur