Only the Paranoid Survive : How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company and Career (AUDIO CASSETTE) [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Andrew S. Grove (Author, Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996

Under Andy Grove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest chipmaker, the fifth-most-admired company in America, and the seventh-most-profitable company among the Fortune 500. You don't achieve rankings like these unless you have mastered a rare understanding of the art of
business and an unusual way with its practice.

Few CEOs can claim this level of consistent record-breaking success. Grove attributes much of this success to the philosophy and strategy he reveals in
Only the Paranoid Survive--a book that is unique in leadership annals for offering a bold new business measure, and for taking the reader deep inside the workings of a major corporation.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Massive change is hitting corporate America at a furious and escalating pace, writes Andrew Grove in Only the Paranoid Survive, and businesses that strive hard to keep abreast of the transition will be the only ones that prevail. And Grove should know. As chief executive of Intel, he wrestled with one of the business world's great challenges in 1994 when a flaw in his company's new cornerstone product -- the Pentium processor -- grew into a front-page controversy that seriously threatened its future. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Keep looking over your shoulder, cautions Grove, president and CEO of Intel Corporation, because the technology that keeps changing the way businesses are run and careers are forged is on the verge of making every person or company in the world either a co-worker or a competitor. And be warned that there's a pattern to the havoc that forces us to regroup whenever we think we have a grip on things. The pattern is based on a series of revolutionary milestones, inevitable and unpredictable, that Grove calls strategic inflection points. They change things. Every significant development from railroads to superstores to computers has been a point of strategic inflection. Businesses and individuals are never the same once these points zero in to alter the status quo. For Intel, a manufacturer of computer works, a strategic inflection point was the transition from memory chips to microprocessors, and a great deal of this book details the way Intel handled this change, including furor that erupted when a minor flaw was discovered in its Pentium processor. Perhaps the quality that lifts this above other business books is its applicability to individuals.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Random House Audio (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553477838
• ISBN-13: 978-0553477832
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,178,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #99 in Books > Books on Cassette > Business > Management

More About the Author

Andrew S. Grove emigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1956. He participated in the founding of Intel, and became its president in 1979 and chief executive officer in 1987. He was chosen as Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1997. In 1998, he stepped down as CEO of Intel, but continues as chairman of the board. Grove also teaches at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area..

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONLY THOSE WHO ABOLISH "STALLED" THINKING SURVIVE, February 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Only the Paranoid Survive (Hardcover)

Business leaders tend to develop a plan and direction for their business that "feels" right and allows them to grow. Seldom do they look around to see if a much better solution is right under their noses. Having grasped the first, most obvious alternative, other alternatives fade into the background. This book suggests that companies should use discomfort with their current position to cause that look around for a better alternative. Like the boy who bent over to pick up a dime while his father looked around first and picked up twenty dollars at the same time, this gives you the chance to be many times more successful. In this book, Intel lost the handle on how to compete in commodity memory chips. An emphasis on profitability caused the organization to self-direct itself into doing more with microprocessors. Because of the inherent value-added being higher in microprocessors, this almost-accidental turn of fate was a wonderful blessing in disguise. Intel's leadership abolished the memory chip business long after the company had abandoned the business. This is one of the few books that appreciates that being satisfied with what one has today is the primary enemy of progress. The lessons of this book could be improved by further considering other ways to get organizations to notice better alternatives than just relying on fear of competition, technological trends and so forth. The concept of "strategic inflection points" developed in this book is a useful addition to the search for better alternatives. Dr. Grove made our company's list of outstanding CEOs 5 of the last 8 years for his outstanding performance in stock-price improvement. That is a powerful testament to the value of these concepts.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Practical Guide For Eliminating Stalls From Complacency, January 24, 1999

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Only the Paranoid Survive (Hardcover)

Complacency is one of the biggest enemies of any organization, but especially for successful ones like Intel. ONLY THE PARANOID SURVIVE provides two powerful observations that will help anyone who reads this book: (1) That changes are lurking out there that need immediate attention inside your organization and (2) That you must be constantly vigilant for large discontinuous changes (such as those driven by microprocessors, Intel's main product). Having the perspective of someone who has been both the beneficiary and the target of discontinuous change, Dr. Grove's lessons become all the more real. At first, I thought this book was a little overdone; but upon reflection, I feel that complacency is probably best overcome by paranoia in the absence of the management process to locate, anticipate, create and adapt to externally-driven discontinuous changes. We cite this book in our own book about how to be more successful, because we believe it is an important work. Please read this book, and take its lessons seriously. But have fun while you are being paranoid!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring guide to get through radical change!, April 10, 1999

By 

inov8v - See all my reviews

This review is from: Only the Paranoid Survive (Hardcover)

This book is an inspirational and thought provoking guide for those that have never been through what Grove classifies as a Strategic Inflection Point. As a leader in an industry going through massive change, I find this book to be one of the few that I will refer back to time and time again.