Beyond Strategy by Robin Speculand – Book Review by Loy Machedo
- Being a school drop out, it is exceptionally important for me to read books, educate myself and keep learning new things. That is why even if I find books that are boring or not to my interest but that which would educate my mind – I will still make an attempt to read through it.
- And that is where books on management & business – even though I personally know that they would not add any value to my life, my practice or my career – I still get curious about what they have teach, train or tutor. I seriously like to know what is it these professionals know or practice that lay people may not be aware off.
So that’s where Robin Speculand’s book comes in.
Beyond Strategy by Robin Speculand – THE REVIEW
FIRST GLANCE
- The book is very nicely designed. I specifically liked the cover, the design & even the title “Beyond Strategy’.
- Recommendations for the author & his book come Steven Hall (CEO, CNBC Arabia), Piyush Gupta (CEO Citi-South East Asia Pacific), David Meerman Scott (Author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR), Patricia Enslow (Managing Director for Asia Pacific UBS Wealth Management, Asia Pacific)
Beyond Strategy by Robin Speculand
What’s The Book About?
- The Leader’s Role in Implementing Strategies laid out by the organization
- Why Strategy implementation is difficult and why it fails
- The myths & false assumptions people believe in or assume about why Strategies fail
- The types of personalities who accept, fight against or play along with the new strategies which are implemented
- The challenges of having a dynamic strategy
- The importance of being consistent with communication at all levels to maintain enthusiasm & leadership stamina
- Why it is important to measure progress – What cannot get measured, cannot be improved upon
- The absolute importance of corporate culture in strategy
- Types of processes & best practices
- How to ensure employee engagement in the Strategy process
- How the review process is conducted and how it should be conducted
Beyond Strategy by Robin Speculand
What’s Did I Like About This Book?
- Being a public speaker, trainer & coach, I am not a big fan of on theory or jargon. Big sounding words and complex statements put me off. However, I believe that if you want to make something stick – Make a Point and then tell a story.
- The author had a few anecdotes to share:
– The story of how the explorers managed to conquer North Pole
– The HP leadership contrast tale where the leadership style of Carly Fiorina versus Mark Hurd
– Herb Keller & how he dealt with a difficult customer - I loved the apt quotes from leaders like Jack Welch, Louis Gerstner, Winston Churchill, Frederick Herzberg, and Bill Gates.
The Interview with Chip Heath (NYT best selling author or Made to Stick, Switch & Decisive) - I really liked the Implementation Compass Framework – which was developed by the author himself and finally the research he has taken into studying & understanding various processes & methodologies in relation to strategies, Quality Control, Productivity, Revenue Generation & Customer Satisfaction.
- The best part of the book was the summary after every chapter.
Beyond Strategy by Robin Speculand
What Did I Not Like About The Book?
- The font used in the book was kind of small to read
- The typical business jargon & complex business language that made me read it again and again and again to understand what the author wanted to say. Seriously speaking – I think the author needs to dumb down the language
- Given how much theory was squeezed into the book – when you moved from one chapter to the next, you forgot what you read before
- The author clearly shows a lot of experience in dealing with companies and the strategy improvement process. However, he is not able to articulate all of it into an imaginative & interesting manner
Beyond Strategy by Robin Speculand
Moment of Truth?
- I have to give the author credit for being someone who has dedicated his life to the field of corporate strategy and where he has personally worked with corporate leaders in implementing new strategies and ensuring that they succeed. The bottomline being to ensure success in coming closer to whatever vision the organization had. And I did feel the author genuinely wanted to share his experiences and knowledge through this book (and yeah – market his company/services also), however, the book is not that interesting in its content. The right word I would use is ‘stickiness’ which the book lacks.
- Overall, because of the authors inability to give engaging and memorable examples, more stories (I think he had only 3 to 4) and because the book had too much of theory, jargon and complex sounding sentences – the book is not one of those types which you would recommend to anyone else.
