Don't Jump to Solutions: Thirteen Delusions That Undermine Strategic Thinking (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) [Hardcover]

William B. Rouse (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 078790998X | ISBN-13: 978-0787909987 | Publication Date: January 23, 1998 | Edition: 1st

Strategic planning expert William Rouse cuts to the heart of the most common causes of failed business plans and strategies and shows how to overcome them. He encourages strategic thinkers and planners to spend much more time analyzing a situation instead of jumping to ready solutions. The tone is tongue-in-cheek, but the keen observations and sage advice Rouse offers aptly address a serious subject. It's a fast-track primer in critical thinking and evaluation planners and managers at every level can use to approach their work more effectively.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Powerful, pragmatic, and jolting. A guide for how not to get trapped in one's own beliefs or those of the organization." (John Seely Brown, chief scientist and director, Xerox PARC, and author of Seeing Differently)

"Somehow Bill Rouse always seems to read my mind. His books give me a new perspective for my thinking on the very problems that are deviling our business right then. This latest treatise is no exception!" (Thomas R. Oliver, chairman and CEO, Holiday Inn Worldwide)

"This is a powerful and practical handbook for organizational consultants as well as business leaders." (Joyce L. Shields, Ph.D., managing director, Hay Management Consultants)

"William Rouse has done an excellent job of identifying the key ?delusions' that often undermine strategic thinking. More importantly, he has developed a number of insightful strategies for moving beyond them." (John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., CEO, American Cancer Society)

"Those submitting strategic planning to the dictate of firmly established assumptions will find, while reading this book, the necessity and the courage to fundamentally reconsider those premises." (Christoph Meier, managing director, CIM Center of Western Switzerland)

From the Inside Flap

Reengineering initiatives at last behind them, many companies are again looking boldly to the future, devising strategic plans they hope will ensure growth, prosperity, and a more certain tomorrow. The plans will appear sound--brilliant, even--but many will be fatally flawed; they will hinge on the same set of false assumptions that persistently lead the most experienced strategic thinkers astray. So just what might those assumptions be?According to strategic planning expert Bill Rouse, those false assumptions or "delusions" are generally rooted in the company credo "That's the way we do things around here." They are often invisible, but must be found out before successful planning can take place.Writing with wit and wisdom, Rouse exposes thirteen delusions that commonly derail strategic thinking. He encourages strategic thinkers and planners to spend much more time analyzing a situation instead of jumping to ready solutions. Strategists must learn to uncover delusions and identify the real business challenges that lie between a company and its goals, and Rouse gives them the means to do so.In Don't Jump to Solutions, the author mines his extensive experience as a consultant, university professor, and CEO of his own firm to present companies with a guide they can use to forge strategic plans that deliver in practice what they promise on paper. Readers will discover four rules they can follow to successful strategic planning. They will also find ninety-four central principles and seventy key questions planners and managers can use to move beyond delusions to sound strategic thinking and, ultimately, to long-term success.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (January 23, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078790998X
• ISBN-13: 978-0787909987
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,271,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars too strategic becomes too certain, you are avoiding uncertai, January 7, 2000

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kresnayana yahya (Indonesia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Jump to Solutions: Thirteen Delusions That Undermine Strategic Thinking (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) (Hardcover)

Too many people believe too much on strategic thinking, while they are too certain about everything they really thought they could manage. In reality there are many things uncontrollable. Many factors and many aspects includes and involves uncertainty. So too short sided views and narrow casting creates dis solutions to many problems which require more open mindedness. So strategic thinking ghas to incorporate more system thinking which include uncertainty. Allocating some views with an uncertainty aspects will complete and better development in solutions.