Let me start with giving some background information for the author. Andrew(Andy) S. Groove emigrated to the U.S from Hungary in 1956. He is one of the co-founder member of INTEL(Integrated Electronics).In 1979 he became the president of INTEL and eventually in 1987, the Chief Executive.
Well INTEL certainly does not need any introduction or background. Being one of the worlds largest Computer Chip producer and Semiconductor company, more than 50 percent of world’s Computer are powered by their Microprocessors. Microprocessors are said to be the brain of the computer(Personal Computer)or PC.
So coming back to the book, "Only the paranoid survives" as the name suggests, is a book on the changes which happens in any type of business. No business goes smooth enough as always there are some ups and downs. But sometimes these ups and downs cross their limits. The conditions or the change, that occur is so drastic that it makes difficult to even survive in the market. It is this time, that an organization is tested for its quality and process. Basically this book tells us how to cope up with this crisis. Such crisis are termed by the author as "Strategic Inflection Points" (SIP).
The book’s description perfectly fits with the cliché "Short and Sweet". Really the book has very less number of pages, as compared to the topic, also it is neatly organized. Even the font and font size used helps us to read the book more easily. The best part of the book is, it has only 9 chapters. In those 9 chapters Andy, has very effectively put down his point. One more thing that is nice about the book is, each chapter is divided into small(1 or 2 page) topics. Hence, the author has made a point to explain things under categorized headings, also seeing to it that the topic is not long enough to make it boring and heavy.
Now coming to the need or the concept of the book. The concept is not so different from the past. If you people read any of the books from such business barons the conclusion you can make is "change is the only constant in business". Any book that you read indirectly comes to one point, how to survive the crisis. Changes do come while you run a business and it prevails. You cannot avoid it, but you should intelligently accept and blend with it. Change can be anything, technological break through, business policy change or change in customer orientation.
The thing that make this book a different case is, it is neither an Autobiography like "Lee Iacocca", nor a single case study on the author’s company like "Odyssey". Andy has given example of SIP occurring across different verticals of business. From the silent movie era to this point of time he covers it all. He has explained with live example that companies which survive over a period of time, are those who bow down to and accept the change. But such dramatic are these changes that it influences the whole world market. The force that make such a change is termed as 10x force from Andy’s point of view. This is because, everything it changes is 10 times or 10 fold.
Hence throughout the book Andy has explained how 10x change effects a business. He gives example of his own company, plus some other examples. He explains what are the reasons that leads to such a change. How should we recognize such a change and react accordingly? What happens if an organization over looks such SIPs? Can we cope up, if we are late? What if we are paranoid and start early by anticipating such SIP?
For an organization to survive, as we all know theoretically, it is a group effort that withstands such problems. Author explains how should we keep ourself as a group. What things should be done so that we stay close? How should people at senior management should keep those ears alert? What are the duties of middle management. Middle management are the glue between lower level and upper level says the author? Also what should be the duties of lower level employees?
The best comes now. During crisis to hold the company as a single organization, we need a leader. Which will at least take the organization to a particular direction at times, even its wrong from the current scenario. This will boost confidence throughout the organization, which is the need for the moment. He/She should be the "TORCH BEARER" in the darkness of CRISIS.
Concluding on the book, initially as a small startup the company grows, during this the organization molds it self in a particular direction and method. As company succeeds futhur, its processes get older and older. Therefore, their develops a certain way of business, some unwritten rules. But after every, say 10 years approx, a major change occurs. For example it could a mini computer revolution for mainframes, or PC revolution for mini computers. Now since this organization has followed on particular direction over past and succeed, there are 3 possibilities:
1: Either it is adamant to change and feels that their current way of business is correct, hence they continue in same old fashion and "DIE"
2: Or the company foresees the change as an opportunity or new line of business. It will then
adapt to change and hence, it survives and become successful or even a market leader like "INTEL".
3: Or the company can not make out what to do, but understands that change is the only option to survive. Still their are 2 possibilities :-
3.1: It is too late, it cannot handle the change and "DIES"
3.2: Or It some how manages the change on the border line and "SURVIVES".
Thats it guys. Please feel free to comment on my reviews.
Some Excerpts:
01 - I believe that against other people’s attacks and to inculcate this guardian attitude in the 01
people under his or her management
02 - Inflection point is a time in the life of a business when its fundamentals are about to change.
03 - Business fail either because they leave their sutomers, i.e., they arbitarily change a strategy
that worked for them in the past( obvious change), or because their customers leave them
(subtle one).
04 - Whether a company became a winner or a losser was related to its degree of adaptability.
05 - I also learned that strategic inflection points, painful as they are for all partiicpants, provide an opportunity to break out of a plateau and catapult to a higher level of achievment.
06 - Sometimes a Cassandra brings out tidings of a disaster but a new way of looking at things.