The business ideas and innovation philosophies of the world’s great entrepreneurs - for anyone to implement in any business
Steve Jobs. Jeff Bezos. Larry Page. Sergey Brin. Zhang Ruimin. Marc Benioff. Millions of words have been written about the great entrepreneurs of the world. This book is not about describing their achievements. Nor is it about their charisma, personal trials, or their place in popular culture. We have all heard or read about them already. This book is about the entrepreneur, the thinker. It is about the grand ideas, the disruptive thoughts, the innovative underpinnings and business philosophies that gave rise to their achievements.
Thank You For Disrupting: The Disruptive Business Philosophies of The World’s Great Entrepreneurs examines 20 of the most significant business leaders of our time. Author Jean-Marie Dru, himself a disruptor who coined the term decades ago, explains not only the impact these leaders have had on their own companies, but also their immense influence on the business world as a whole. Each chapter is replete with in-depth analyses, insightful comments, and personal observations from the author, including discussions covering the experimentation and platforms of Jeff Bezos, to the recruitment policies and core values of Sergey Brin and Larry Page, to the complete CSR and company activism of Paul Polman, and many more. Illustrating how the vision of a disruptive innovator can reach far beyond his or her company, this engaging book encourages and inspires readers to become disruptors in in their own businesses.
The Disruptive Business Philosophies of The World’s Great Entrepreneurs is a must-read for anyone interested in the why and how behind the most significant and influential business achievements of our time.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Thank You for Disrupting xi
Part One Disruptive Company Leadership 1
Chapter 1 Steve Jobs: On User Experience, Design and Timelessness 3
All in One 4
The Art of Reduction 7
Life Lessons 8
Chapter 2 Jeff Bezos: On Experimentation and Platforms 11
Experimentation as a Strategy 12
The Platform Economy 14
Chapter 3 Herb Kelleher: On Human Resources and Operational Quality 19
Employees First 20
The Art Is in the Implementation 24
Chapter 4 Bernard Arnault: On the Management of Creativity and Brand Building 27
Art and Commerce 28
The Luxury Industry as Model 31
Chapter 5 Zhang Ruimin: On Decentralization and Customer-Centricity 35
Everyone Is a CEO 38
Zero Distance with the Customer 41
Chapter 6 Jack Ma: On Chinese Business Models and Disruptive Management 45
A Contrarian Model 46
Embracing Change through Paradox 50
U.S. In, China Out 51
Part Two Disruptive Business Thinking 57
Chapter 7 Jim Collins: On the Search for Excellence and the Management of Alternatives 59
Good to Great 60
The Era of the And 63
Chapter 8 Clayton Christensen: On Disruptive Innovation 67
Bottom-up Disruption 69
The Disruption Controversy 71
Chapter 9 Jedidiah Yueh: On the Behaviors of Companies of the New Economy 75
Lessons from an Entrepreneur 78
Category of One 87
Part Three Disruptive Corporate Culture 91
Chapter 10 Sergey Brin and Larry Page: On Recruitment Policies and Core Values 95
HR as a Science 96
A Fertile Environment 98
Chapter 11 Patty McCord: On Employee Empowerment and Talent Management 101
Disruptive HR Practices 103
A Contrasting Culture 104
Chapter 12 The Disruption Company: On Corporate Culture Components and Disruption 107
Vision, Values, Practices 108
People, Story, Place 110
The Disruption Methodology 112
Part Four Disruptive Brand Building 115
Chapter 13 Marc Pritchard: On Transparency, Accountability, and Creativity 119
Leading Change in the Marketing World 121
Making Brands Serve a Higher Purpose 125
Chapter 14 Brian Chesky: On Brand Building and Disruptive Data 131
Shaping an Iconic Brand 132
The Single Disruptive Data 135
Chapter 15 Lee Clow: On the Power of Great Advertising 139
Big Brand Ideas 140
Creativity, the Advertiser’s Best Bet 143
Chapter 16 Oprah Winfrey: On Building a One-Person Brand 147
The Ultimate Celebrity Brand 148
The One-Person Businesses 152
Chapter 17 Arianna Huffington: On Digital Journalism and Women’s Empowerment 157
The Consecration of Online Journalism 158
Women in Business 161
Part Five Disruptive Social Purpose 165
Chapter 18 Paul Polman: On Complete CSR and Corporate Activism 173
A Force for Good 174
CEO Activism 177
Chapter 19 Emmanuel Faber: On Social Purpose and the Bottom of the Pyramid 183
Side Roads 184
The Bottom of the Pyramid 187
Chapter 20 Marc Benioff and Suzanne DiBianca: On Scaling up Philanthropy 193
A Native Philanthropist 194
Pledge 1% 197
Conclusion: Disruption Ahead 201
Acknowledgments 203
Notes 205
Index 233
