Jumping the S-Curve

Recently,bestsellingmanagementbookshavefocusedonprovidingarecipeforgreatness.Othershavesoughttounlockthesecretsoflong-termsuccess.Butadetailedanalysisattheintersectionofthetwo,onethatexplainshowsomecompaniesmanagetoachieverepeatedpeaksofbusinessperformance,hasbeenmissing—untilnow.Accenture’sPaulNunesandTimBreenehavefoundthatwhatmattersisnotjustwhatyoudotoreachthetopofonesuccessfulbusiness—climbingyourcurrentS-curve.Equallyimportantarethemovesyoumustmakeonthewaytoyournextbusiness—makingthejumptoyourfutureS-curve.JumpingtheS-Curverevealscrucialinsightsformakingsuchtransitions,including:--Whytraditionalstrategicplanningwon’tallowyoutofindthe“big-enough”marketinsightsthatarecriticaltosuperiorperformance--Whyyourtopteammustberefreshedbeforeperformancestartstowane--Whyyouneedmuchmoretalentthanyouthink,especially“serioustalent”thatwillfindyouworthyoftheirtimeFilledwithoriginalpracticaladvice,JumpingtheS-Curvedemystifieshowcompaniescanthrivewithonesuccessfulbusinessafteranother,throughbothgoodtimesandbad.自我改造成功的公司有个共同点，它们多半会将注意焦点，扩大到财务S曲线之外，设法管理另外三条为期较短、却十分重要的隐藏S曲线：追踪所属产业内的竞争基础、翻新既有的能力，以及培养随时能派上用场的人才。基本上，它们颠覆了一般的认知，学习把重心放在动手整修看起来还没坏的东西。