Business Beyond the Box: Applying Your Mind for Breakthrough Results [Paperback]

John O'Keeffe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 23, 1999

What can I do now to achieve breakthrough results in my business area? Faster rates of change in the business world and in the world around us mean that we need to get out of our boxes just to adapt productively to the changes taking place, let alone to develop a competitive edge for the future. Business Beyond the Box is about developing the ability to create a flow of ideas that will bring about a step-change in actual results. Your mind is a brilliant personal cranial computer which most of us don't know how to operate. The only thinking strategy most of us know is logical analysis; and the only alternative strategy we know is a vague form of brainstorming, which rarely delivers. Business Beyond the Box is about applying your mind to eight thinking strategies which work, based on a new concept called triangular thinking. Linear or vertical thinking was always close to tunnel vision. Then came lateral thinking, which brought a breadth of thought, but often ended up with ideas too impractical for business. Triangular thinking solves these limitations by being directly focused on bottom-line business results. It involves doing three things together: picturing a step-change, building on logic, and using creative thinking-all focused on achieving ground-breaking, real-world results. This is a breakthrough book because the strategies it outlines are surprisingly effective at getting breakthrough results from relatively easy changes. Its techniques are: * Monday morning do-able: everyone can use them today. The book provides many simple examples, tips and exercises to bring the methods to life. * Proven in practice: this book has been written by a practising senior executive in a major multinational company. The strategies, tips, and techniques are proven in the heat of battle. * Direct to results: they focus each individual's thinking and energies directly on how to get breakthrough results in contrast to indirect or interim activities like team-building or empowerment. Business Beyond the Box will give you the secrets of breaking through the box of incrementalism, of the self-imposed limitations you hardly realise are there, and applying new mindsets to achieve breakthrough results. This book will improve you and your organization's ability to innovate rather than administrate; to look at what can be rather than what is; to work with boundaries rather than work within boundaries.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John O'Keeffe has had a fast-track career through marketing and general management, with worldwide experience. O'Keeffe received a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, and started up businesses in the Middle East during his early professional career. In 1995 he was made the President of Health and Beauty Care Products in Europe, and a Group Vice President for Procter & Gamble—one of the world's largest consumer goods companies. Since then, O'Keeffe has become an international speaker and consultant.

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing; Second Edition edition (April 23, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185788213X
• ISBN-13: 978-1857882131
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,136,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Breath of Fresh Air!, April 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Business Beyond the Box: Applying Your Mind for Breakthrough Results (Paperback)

Reading this book is unlike any 'business' book I have read over the last few years. O'Keeffe has a very light-hearted, but serious way with words and "Business Beyond the Box" is a very compelling read.

O'Keeffe takes you through a number of steps and strategies that are practical, applicable and which, I feel, give the reader a sense of ownership. By this I mean that it is very easy for the reader to identify with the situations that O'Keeffe describes. Also, although the main theme running through the book is based around 'step' rather than 'incremental' change, it is very easy for the reader to identify instant work-enhancing changes. For instance, mind-mapping, and six hat thinking.

Business Beyond the Box certainly makes you take a step back from (or a step out of) the traditional business way of thinking and makes you question your own thought processes. O'Keeffe gives you an alternative mindset with which to work and live.

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must" for entrepreneurs, business managers, advertisers., June 5, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business Beyond the Box: Applying Your Mind for Breakthrough Results (Paperback)

Business Beyond The Box: Applying Your Mind For Breakthrough Results is a lively, engaging, thought-provoking and even inspiring approach to innovative, creative, profitable approach for success in today's highly competitive, rapidly evolving marketplace. John O'Keeffe presents eight thinking strategies, utilizing creative thinking, acting on innovative ideas, the value of appropriate and productive mind-sets, and a great deal more. Business Beyond The Box is highly accessible, "must" reading for entrepreneurs, corporate managers, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, advertisers, and anyone else seeking better and more effective ways to promote and sell their services or products.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read!, September 10, 2002

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business Beyond the Box: Applying Your Mind for Breakthrough Results (Hardcover)

John O'Keeffe's book is worth a read for the simple but powerful message that it conveys: Too many people in business today are devoted to incremental improvement when they should be striving for big goals and breakthrough performance. Also of note are the techniques that he describes for cultivating creative thinking within a business. While much of the remainder will seem like a re-hash of basic problem-solving and common-sense creative thinking methodology, we from getAbstract nevertheless recommend this book for its motivational message: Think big.