Only the Paranoid Survive

Massive change is hitting corporate America at a furious and escalating pace, writes Andrew Grove in Only the Paranoid Survive , and businesses that strive hard to keep abreast of the transition will be the only ones that prevail. And Grove should know. As chief executive of Intel, he wrestled with one of the business world's great challenges in 1994 when a flaw in his company's new cornerstone product -- the Pentium processor -- grew into a front-page controversy that seriously threatened its future. From Publishers Weekly Keep looking over your shoulder, cautions Grove, president and CEO of Intel Corporation, because the technology that keeps changing the way businesses are run and careers are forged is on the verge of making every person or company in the world either a co-worker or a competitor. And be warned that there's a pattern to the havoc that forces us to regroup whenever we think we have a grip on things. The pattern is based on a series of revolutionary milestones, inevitable and unpredictable, that Grove calls strategic inflection points. They change things. Every significant development from railroads to superstores to computers has been a point of strategic inflection. Businesses and individuals are never the same once these points zero in to alter the status quo. For Intel, a manufacturer of computer works, a strategic inflection point was the transition from memory chips to microprocessors, and a great deal of this book details the way Intel handled this change, including furor that erupted when a minor flaw was discovered in its Pentium processor. Perhaps the quality that lifts this above other business books is its applicability to individuals. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Grove, CEO of Intel Corporation, offers an insider-at-the-top perspective of what happened at Intel Corporation before, during, and after the "Pentium processor-flaw crisis." As quality management courses teach, the lower echelon employee and middle management are the first to know there is a problem; the CEO should listen to and value their input. Based on his experience, Grove recommends letting the employees question management again and again during transitions until all questions are answered. His book will be useful for readers who want a background in the history of computer companies, Intel in particular, but it is a limited resource for senior and middle-management and front-line employees who want to see and prepare for changes in the developing business. For a broader view of developments in computer technology, refer to Bill Gates's The Road Ahead. Recommended for general libraries with an ample business collection, but most suitable for corporate libraries.?Peggy D. Odom, Texas Lib. Assn., WacoCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Grove is CEO at Intel, the world's largest producer of microprocessors; the shibboleth that is this book's title has become his trademark. Grove admits that he cannot remember when he first used the phrase, but it has served him well. Different from his High Output Management (1983), an earlier look at the basics of management, which was reissued and slightly revised last year, this new book looks at strategic planning and organizational change. Grove warns that for organizations to survive they must heed "strategic inflection points," which are "full-scale changes in the way business is conducted." He begins with a most personal illustration, his company's controversial handling of the discovery of a flaw in its Pentium processor, but also uses as examples the change in structure of the computer industry from vertical to horizontal and the still uncertain role of the Internet. Grove cautions that not all changes become strategic inflection points and provides guidelines for helping determine whether they will. David Rouse "This terrific book is a dangerous book. It will make people think."--Peter Drucker"This books is about one super-important concept. You mustxa0xa0learn about Strategic Inflection Points, because sooner or later you are going to live through one." --Steve Jobs, Pixar Animation Studios From the Publisher "This terrific book is a dangerous book. It will make people think."--Peter Drucker "This books is about one super-important concept. You must learn about Strategic Inflection Points, because sooner or later you are going to live through one." --Steve Jobs, Pixar Animation Studios From the Inside Flap rove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest chipmaker, the fifth-most-admired company in America, and the seventh-most-profitable company among the Fortune 500. You don't achieve rankings like these unless you have mastered a rare understanding of the art of business and an unusual way with its practice.<br><br>Few CEOs can claim this level of consistent record-breaking success. Grove attributes much of this success to the philosophy and strategy he reveals in <i>Only the Paranoid Survive--</i>a book that is unique in leadership annals for offering a bold new business measure, and for taking the reader deep inside the workings of a major corporation. Grove's contribution to business thinking concerns a new way of measuring the nightmare moment every leader dreads--the moment when massive change occurs and all bets are off. The success you had the day before is gone, destroyed by unforeseen changes that hit like a stage-six rapid. Grove calls such moments Strategic Inflection Po rove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest chipmaker, the fifth-most-admired company in America, and the seventh-most-profitable company among the Fortune 500. You don't achieve rankings like these unless you have mastered a rare understanding of the art of business and an unusual way with its practice.Few CEOs can claim this level of consistent record-breaking success. Grove attributes much of this success to the philosophy and strategy he reveals in Only the Paranoid Survive-- a book that is unique in leadership annals for offering a bold new business measure, and for taking the reader deep inside the workings of a major corporation. Grove's contribution to business thinking concerns a new way of measuring the nightmare moment every leader dreads--the moment when massive change occurs and all bets are off. The success you had the day before is gone, destroyed by unforeseen changes that hit like a stage-six rapid. Grove calls such moments Strategic Inflection Po Andrew S. Grove emigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1956. He participated in the founding of Intel, and became its president in 1979 and chief executive officer in 1987. He was chosen as Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1997. In 1998, he stepped down as CEO of Intel, but continues as chairman of the board. Grove also teaches at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. From the Trade Paperback edition. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. I'm often credited with the motto, "Only the paranoid survive." I have no idea when I first said this, but the fact remains that, when it comes to business, I believe in the value of paranoia.xa0xa0Business success contains the seeds of its own destruction.xa0xa0The more successful you are, the more people want a chunk of your business and then another chunk and then another until there is nothing left.xa0xa0I believe that the prime responsibility of a manager is to guard constantly against other people's attacks and to inculcate this guardian attitude in the people under his or her management.The things I tend to be paranoid about vary.xa0xa0I worry about products getting screwed up, and I worry about products getting introduced prematurely.xa0xa0I worry about factories not performing well, and I worry about having too many factories.xa0xa0I worry about hiring the right people, and I worry about morale slacking off.And, of course, I worry about competitors. I worry about other people figuring out how to do what we do better or cheaper, and displacing us with our customers.But these worries pale in comparison to how I feel about what I call strategic inflection points.I'll describe what a strategic inflection point is a bit later in this book. For now, let me just say that a strategic inflection point is a time in the life of a business when its fundamentals are about to change.xa0xa0That change can mean an opportunity to rise to new heights.xa0xa0But it may just as likely signal the beginning of the end.Strategic inflection points can be caused by technological change but they are more than technological change.xa0xa0They can be caused by competitors but they are more than just competition.xa0xa0They are scale changes in the way business is conducted, so that simply adopting new technology or fighting the competition as you used to may be insufficient.xa0xa0They build up force so insidiously that you may have a hard time even putting a finger on what has changed, yet you know that something has.Let's not mince words: A strategic inflection point can be deadly when unattended to.xa0xa0Companies that begin a decline as a result of its changes rarely recover their previous greatness.But strategic inflection points do not always lead to disaster.xa0xa0When the way business is being conducted changes, it creates opportunities for players who are adept at operating in the new way.xa0xa0This can apply to newcomers or to incumbents, for whom a strategic inflection point may mean an opportunity for a new period of growth.You can be the subject of a strategic inflection point but you can also be the cause of one.xa0xa0Intel, where I work, has been both.xa0xa0In the mid-eighties, the Japanese memory producers brought upon us an inflection point so overwhelming that it forced us out of memory chips and into the relatively new field of microprocessors.xa0xa0The microprocessor business that we have dedicated ourselves to has since gone on to cause the mother of all inflection points for other companies, bringing very difficult times to the classical mainframe computer industry.xa0xa0Having both been affected by strategic inflection points and having caused them, I can safely say that the former is tougher.I've grown up in a technological industry.xa0xa0Most of my experiences are rooted there.xa0xa0I think in terms of technological concepts and metaphors, and a lot of my examples in this book come from what I know.xa0xa0But strategic inflection points, while often brought about by the workings of technology, are not restricted to technological industries.The fact that an automated teller machine could be built changed banking.xa0xa0If interconnected inexpensive computers can be used in medical diagnosis and consulting, it may change medical care.xa0xa0The possibility that all entertainment content can be stored, transmitted and displayed in digital form may change the entire media industry.xa0xa0In short, strategic inflection points are about fundamental change in any business, technological or not.We live in an age in which the pace of technological change is pulsating ever faster, causing waves that spread outward toward all industries.xa0xa0This increased rate of change will have an impact on you, no matter what you do for a living.xa0xa0It will bring new competition from new ways of doing things, from corners that you don't expect.It doesn't matter where you live.xa0xa0Long distances used to be a moat that both insulated and isolated people from workers on the other side of the world.xa0xa0But every day, technology narrows that moat inch by inch.xa0xa0Every person in the world is on the verge of becoming both a coworker and a competitor to every one of us, much the same as our colleagues down the hall of the same office building are.xa0xa0Technological change is going to reach out sooner or later change something fundamental in your business world.Are such developments a constructive or a destructive force?xa0xa0In my view, they are both.xa0xa0And they are inevitable.xa0xa0In technology, whatever can be done will be done.xa0xa0We can't stop these changes.xa0xa0We can't hide from them. Instead, we must focus on getting ready for them.The lessons of dealing with strategic inflection points are similar whether you're dealing with a company or your own career.If you run a business, you must recognize that no amount of formal planning can anticipate such changes.xa0xa0Does that mean you shouldn't plan? Not at all.xa0xa0You need to plan the way a fire department plans: It cannot anticipate where the next fire will be, so it has to shape an energetic and efficient team that is capable of responding to the unanticipated as well as to any ordinary event. Understanding the nature of strategic inflection points and what to do about them will help you safeguard your company's wellbeing.xa0xa0It is your responsibility to guide your company out of harm's way and to place it in a position where it can prosper in the new order.xa0xa0Nobody else can do this but you.If you are an employee, sooner or later you will be affected by a strategic inflection point.xa0xa0Who knows what your job will look like after cataclysmic change sweeps through your industry and engulfs the company you work for? Who knows if your job will even exist and, frankly, who will care besides you?Until very recently, if you went to work at an established company, you could assume that your job would last the rest of your working life.xa0xa0But when companies no longer have lifelong careers themselves, how can they provide one for their employees?As these companies struggle to adapt, the methods of doing business that worked very well for them for decades are becoming history.xa0xa0Companies that have had generations of employees growing up under a no-layoff policy are now dumping 10,000 people onto the street at a crack.The sad news is, nobody owes you a career.xa0xa0Your career is literally your business.xa0xa0You own it as a sole proprietor.xa0xa0You have one employee: yourself. You are in competition with millions of similar businesses: millions of other employees all over the world.xa0xa0You need to accept ownership of your career, your skills and the timing of your moves.xa0xa0It is your responsibility to protect this personal business of yours from harm and to position it to benefit from the changes in the environment.xa0xa0Nobody else can do that for you.Having been a manager at Intel for many years, I've made myself a student of strategic inflection points.xa0xa0Thinking about them has helped our business survive in an increasingly competitive environment.xa0xa0I'm an engineer and a manager, but I have always had an urge to teach, to share with others what I've figured out for myself.xa0xa0It is that same urge that makes me want to share the lessons I've learned.This book is not a memoir.xa0xa0I am involved in managing a business and deal daily with customers and partners, and speculate constantly about the intentions of competitors.xa0xa0In writing this book, I sometimes draw on observations I have made through such interactions.xa0xa0But these encounters didn't take place with the notion that they would make it into any public arena.xa0xa0They were business discussions that served a purpose for both Intel and others' businesses, and I have to respect that.xa0xa0So please forgive me if some of these stories are camouflaged in generic descriptions andxa0xa0anonymity.xa0xa0It can't be helped.What this book is about is the impact of changing rules.xa0xa0It's about finding your way through uncharted territories.xa0xa0Through examples and reflections on my and others' experiences, I hope to raise your awareness of what it's like to go through cataclysmic changes and to provide a framework in which to deal with them.xa0xa0As I said, this book is also about careers.xa0xa0As business are created on new foundations or are restructured to operate in a new environment, careers are broken or accelerated.xa0xa0I hope this book will give you some ideas of how you can shepherd your career through these difficult times.Let's start by parachuting into the middle of a strategic inflection point, when something is changing in a big way, when something is different, yet when you're so busy trying to survive that the significance of the change only becomes clear in retrospect.xa0xa0Painful as it is, let me relive the story of a problem that Intel had with our flagship device, the Pentium processor, in the fall of 1994. Read more