Customer Reviews

Going the Distance: Why Some Companies Dominate and Others Fail

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If Kevin Kennedy leads like he writes, he must have been one of the most mediocre executives at Cisco. This book is a hair-ball of rambling thoughts and jingo-isms and its assertions are neither clear nor connected in any manner that demonstrates business acumen. I suspect this is one of those vanity books that masquerade as a business book. In the alternative, consider leadership books by Jack Welch, Larry Bossidy, and Rudy Guiliani. Whoever edited this book should be sent back to community college to read Strunk & White 'elements of style' on the merits of clear, concise and declarative writing. In this effort, I am afraid the English language was Mr. Kennedy's enemy, not his friend.

This book is just too long. If it were condensed to sub-100 pages it might be worthwhile as it contains some interesting ideas. Unfortunately most of the examples begin with "Cisco decided to..", "At Cisco we..., "The Cisco method of..." ......you get the idea. The authors cite "Good to Great" which is a real contrast, because the Collins team examines a wide variety of companies and industries rather than simply concentrating on Cisco. The book is also packed with graphics that -- let's face it folks -- are simply meaningless. I do not understand the reason for the other glowing reviews. Mediocre "at best".

The authors definitely "go the distance" ... in demonstrating that Scott Adams' cast of Dilbertian characters is still alive and well in Silicon Valley!! For example, Leadership DNA = authenticity + orientation to service + bias for learning. Please. Save your hard earned cash, and re-read a real leadership book like Giuliani's or Jack: Straight from the Gut.

I thought Silicon Valley was for smart people. A Stanford professor and a retired Cisco executive have managed to write one of the most indecipherable business tombs in recent memory. I was asked to review this book for graduate school and I found it mostly incoherent business babble. "Billiard Ball Management." "Shallowly Rooted Strategic Vectors." "Kinetic Structures Prevail." What kinds of business leaders talk like that today? I often find the best business books package challenging business problems with no non-sense solutions. Save your money. This book is a tower of babble.

This book outlines clear and consise ways to assess the health of any corporate organization and in economic times likes these catching problems early is imperative. This book is helpful to any executive, or aspiring executive. I highly recommend this book.

Kevin knows how to run the largest businesses in the world efficiently with his no BS approach. The interesting thing about this book is that it shows not only how companies can succeed from the startup phase to being the most valuable corporation in the world (his experience from working with Cisco as a handful of employees to the day it topped both GE and Microsoft for #1 is unique), but also how to view and manage risk in several forms. These risks include everything from external threats such as technological disruption in the industry to internal threats such as a culture where employees and managers are complacent with what they have already accomplished and who no longer add value to the corporation.

There is a reason this book is quickly becoming a favorite among business leaders trying to understand how their dominate positions in their traditional industries are changing and how their organizations can expel factions and processes that are serving solely as a resource drain, not as a value add to the business. Since the dot com collapse, it has been shown that the only companies who survive are those who are willing to take drastic internal streamlining and cultural approaches to take advantage of existing and future opportunities. This book serves as a resource on how to change an organization so that it is able to recognize new opportunities, and at the same time recognize internal inefficiencies that need to be purged in an organization before they infect the population and kill a once dominate company.

Kevin Kennedy and Mary Moore have put together a book that is interesting, thought provoking, and extremely knowledgable and comprehensive. Although the book uses high-tech examples, Kennedy successfuly makes a correlation to other industries helping the reader understand the in-depth information. Furthermore, there is a constant focus asking the reader to question their own business adventures. This allows them to gain insight and help improve their own businesses. The knowledge that Kennedy and Moore share is backed by years of experience and success in the business world and should be looked at carefully because it is very valuable.

"Going the Distance, Why Some Companies Dominate and Others Fail" is an extremely valuable tool, whether you're working for a start up or Fortune 500 company. This books answers the question of why companies fail, and more importantly, how to stop them from failing. The ideas are clearly presented and easily digestable. I wish I had read this book earlier in my career.

This book is different than other business books that I have read in that
it offers practical advice easily applied to real every day situations. The
authors have lived these topics in real corporations instead of just
studying what others have done. It goes into great detail on how complexity
develops and how to protect innovation and develop learning cultures when it
does with "constant vigilance and adaptation". It outlines the ingredients
for leadership DNA and how that changes over time. It reviews the pitfalls
of corporate governance today and how to fix it for the future. "Going the
Distance: Why Some Companies Dominate and Others Fail" belongs in any
serious business persons library.

Going the Distance is a practical guide to facing complex business challenges in today's environment. The book uses easy to understand examples and graphic images to illustrate principles discussed in the book. The eight predictable challenges outlined along with the diagnosis tools provide an excellent sanity check. Chapters 10 & 11, which center on corporate governance and board oversight are must reads for any CEO. I'm recommending it to all of my clients.