Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action [Hardcover]

Rich Horwath (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2009 | ISBN-10: 1929774826 | ISBN-13: 978-1929774821 | Edition: 2

The inability to set good strategy can sink a company - and a leader's career. A recent "Wall Street Journal" study revealed that the number one most sought after executive skill by organisations is strategic thinking, but few leaders have that skill set. In this book, Rich Horwath dissects the three most important elements of strategic thinking, breaks them down into simple and attainable skills, and shows readers how to apply them every day. He provides managers with a clear path to mastery of three disciplines: Acumen - generate critical insights through a step-by-step evaluation of the business and its environment; Allocation - focus limited resources of time, talent, and money; and, Action - implement a system to guarantee effective execution and communication of strategy throughout the organisation. This book is based on research with senior executives from more than 150 companies and Horwath's own experience as a professional strategist. Armed with the knowledge from this book, every reader can become an expert strategist and an invaluable member of his or her organisation.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press; 2 edition (August 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929774826
• ISBN-13: 978-1929774821
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 1 x 5.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Systems & Planning

More About the Author

Rich Horwath helps people live strategically--to get more out of their business and more out of their life. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best selling author on strategy. As the CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute, he leads executive teams through the strategy process and has helped more than 50,000 managers around the world develop their strategic thinking skills. As a former chief strategy officer and professor of strategy, he brings both real-world experience and practical expertise to help groups build their strategy skills. Rich's work has been profiled on CNBC, Investor's Business Daily, CBS, NBC and FOX TV. His most recent books include "Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy" and "Strategy for You: Building a Bridge to the Life You Want."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Another 20-20 hindsight business book... December 18, 2009

By R Schmidt VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

In business, have a plan. Apply strategic thinking to the plan. Implement.

That about sums up this common sense book.

Books that tout a methodology for business success are always problematic, in my view. They point out failed companies because they've failed, saying, "See, if the company's leaders only did x, y, and z, they'd still be in business." And, "Now, these companies, still in business, are obviously applying x, y, and z correctly." 20-20 hindsight.

Take General Motors. In 2009 General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Before this time, it was an example of a company with a strategic plan (which apparently was to sell large, gas-guzzling cars and trucks). You hear that call from the stands for fuel efficiency? Author Rich Horwath writes that Bob Lutz, former chairman of GM, stated "The customer is at best just a rear-view mirror. He can tell you what he likes among the choices already out there. But when it comes to the future, why expect the customer to be the expert in clairvoyance or in creativity? After all, isn't that really what he expects us to be?" (p. 64). The Wall Street Journal lamented, "For the many individual General Motors Corp. shareholders wondering what their stock is still worth, the answer looks pretty bleak." So, what does this mean? Before, they were strategic thinkers, and then they were not strategic thinkers, and then they failed, and if they reemerge from their new organizational structure then they must be strategic thinkers again?

I have a diver's headache.

Here's what I want, one time. I want authors like Horwath to make predictions. "Companies A, B, and C are not applying the type of strategic thinking that I believe is required for their success.... Ninety percent of their employees don't even know that they have a strategic plan. Therefore, they will fail, or fail to grow." And "Companies D, F, and G are applying the type of strategic thinking that I believe is required for their success. Ninety percent of their employees know that they have a strategic plan. Therefore, they will succeed, and grow."

Is that asking too much? After all, this book IS subtitled "...The Proven Method..."

Horwath also tries too hard to use the "dive" analogies throughout. It feels like an scheme to make his diving hobby a legitimate business-related expense. Seriously! And I winced at his attempts to co-mingle biological concepts into the discussion. For example:

For microorganisms in a test tube, "If the animals were of the same genus and a different species, they were able to live together peaceably. However, if the animals were of the same genus and the same species, they were not able to coexist. This led to the Principle of Competitive Exclusion (POCE), which states that no two species can coexist that make their living in the identical way. Open the newspaper and read about the companies that are struggling and it's a good bet one of the reasons is their failure to heed the Principle of Competitive Exclusion" (p. 29). The principle really states that two species that compete for the exact same resources cannot stably coexist. So two different species, using the same exact (and limiting) resources, cannot coexist. Horwath wrote, "If the animals were of the same genus and a different species, they were able to live together peaceably." No, that's not what the POCE says... they DON'T coexist. And he writes, "However, if the animals were of the same genus and the same species, they were not able to coexist." No, that's not what the POCE says... if they are the same species, they are... the same species! There's no interspecific competition by definition! So when Horwath states, "Open the newspaper and read about the companies that are struggling and it's a good bet one of the reasons is their failure to heed the Principle of Competitive Exclusion," this may or may not be true. However, clearly Horwath doesn't understand the concept. Ecology 101.

Frogs changing "... into another form of life..." (p. 36)? I think they are still frogs, not domestic aliens. Horwath also stated "Failure to understand and adapt to the changing context can ruin even the most successful of companies. As Charles Darwin said, 'It's not the strongest of the species who survive, nor even the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change'" (p. 56). Darwin was not discussing business strategy. Natural selection works because more organisms are produced than can survive, and there is differential mortality and reproduction based on heritable characteristics. There is no Darwinian goal to be the most successful company.

Finally, Horwath uses an example from an alleged 2500 year old story about Chinese General Sun Tzu executing two women to make a point to the king (p. 115). Horwath concludes "Now that's strategy execution" (execution is italicized). It is difficult for me to understand why Horwath would use the horrific execution of women (as concubines, they were probably slaves), to make a point. There's a level of insensitivity here that bothers me.

Another 20-20 hindsight business book... Read more ›

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Diving for Insight January 11, 2010

By Marcus Cadell

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Having worked with management in different industries in various parts of the country it has become apartent to me that strategic thinking occurs significantly less than I first thought. Business leaders over the past couple of years seem to be very short term thinkers. While times were good it was easy to cover up bad decisions but now that revenues are down it is very obvious that their acumen was overestimated. I was some what surprread in Rich Horwath's book that 85% of executive leadership spends less than an hour a month discussing strategy, what are they doing the rest of the month? I believe all leaders can use further development in the strategic thinking arena to keep their skills sharp and to enhance their companies performance. Rich Horwath offers in his latest book, "Deep Dive", a plunge into waters of business creativity, and the unseen jewels that reside beneath the surface.

Complacency has caused more damage in corporate America than foreign competition. New strategies and ways of thinking are how we can turn things around. During an economic downturn, when all of your instinct tells you to hold onto your business model at all costs, this is the precise moment when new strategies are needed the most. What "Deep Dive" does is to identify how to maximize the productivity of a brain storming sessions and eliminate any unnecessary risk when implementing a new strategy.

Several great strategic thinking concepts and methods are introduced in "Deep Dive" and are summarized at the end of each chapter. These examples given through out the book can be utilized across any organization in any functional area. Tools such as the OODA Loop and Contextual Radar methods reveal the context in which particular ideas need to flourish.... Rich drives home the fundamentals of his program, stating and restating his three central strategic points, `Acumen, Allocation, Action', which form the outline of his chapters.

Rich Horwath has created a wonderful compilation of methods for businesses that make strategic thinking more clear in this complex global marketplace we live in. He provides a complete list of references given where readers can find further information on the particular methods that suit them or their company best. What "Deep Dive" provides is a sense of focus on the importance of constantly shifting the way a business rides the rough and tumble waters of our economic reality.

"Deep Dive" is about being objective and not just following the school of fish swimming along the surface. Leaders looking to delve down below the surface and open their eyes to see what is going on around them will be justly rewarded. Read more ›

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Without a good strategy, a company can quickly fail September 24, 2009

By Susanna Hutcheson TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

In Deep Dive, the author takes us into the offices of senior executives from more than 150 companies. He gives the reader the information he needs to generate critical insights, to focus limited resources and to implement a system that guarantees effective execution. You learn how to communicate your strategy throughout your company.

In my own business, writing sales copy for all types of businesses, I've learned that developing a strategy and executing it, communicating it, is perhaps the main downfall of most businesses. Armed with the information in this book, you can save your company from this disaster.

Highly recommended.

- Susanna K. Hutcheson

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly Simple.... August 13, 2009

By Jim

Format:Hardcover

Whether you're working for yourself or in a Fortune 500 organization, there is something in this book for you. Rich is one of the few authors who can take complex business problems and ideas and break them down using stories and analogies.

As someone who has spent years assessing the strategic thinking ability of job applicants, I can say unequivocally it is a skill set in short supply. This book will help put you on the right track.

Highly recommended!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Strategy Made Clear and Understandable December 8, 2010

By Dan Coughlin

Format:Hardcover

Deep Dive is a terrific example of how to make the complicated clear and understandable. Rich Horwath does a great job of defining words clearly and then breaking the definitions down into even smaller and more manageable parts. He has taken the topic of strategy, which is one of the most confusing words in business, and has laid out his explanation of how to make strategy useful in generating sustainable improvement in your key business results.

I particulary liked his explanation of the three major disciplines of strategy: acumen, allocation, and action. Within these three primary areas he was able to emphasize the importance of working for real understanding before establishing a strategy, the careful placement of your resources where they can most effectively support that strategy, and the critical importance of execution, which is where any strategy comes to life or fades way.

Even though I'm not an underwater diver, I found Horwath's analogy of deepwater divers to be effective in understanding his thoughts on strategy. He uses that analogy just enough througout the book to support his points, but not to the point of overkill.

I found his insights on strategic thinking and on team diving to be practical and filled with real-world advice. Another strength of this book is the comprehensive explanation of some of the best ideas from some of the world's best thinkers on strategy over the past 60 years. If you are responsible in your organization for establishing the types of strategy that will drive sustainable improvement in your most important desired business results, then I strongly encourage you to read Rich Horwath's "Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action."