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Reinventing Strategy: Using Strategic Learning to Create and Sustain Breakthrough Performance

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Willie Pietersen's Reinventing Strategy contains the basics of strategy, i.e., how to win, how to align the organization behind the chosen strategies, how to be sure that superior insights drive the strategic process. If that alone were his contribution, this book would be a significant contribution to the strategy literature.

But Pietersen goes much further than that. He shows us how, exactly, to develop these strategies, how he himself developed such strategies and what he learned about leadership in the process.

This book is about strategy, implementation and one man's journey as a leader and life-long learner. The result is an immensely human business book. The singular voice of the author comes through with clarity and humility. I know of no other business book that combines theory and practice with such a strongly personal view. Pietersen talks about the value of developing a leadership credo in his book. This book is, in essence, his own credo from a lifetime of leading and learning.

I am VP at a large consumer products company in Ohio and I found this book very insightful in the areas of creating strategy and leadership. I read a lot of business books and most are very slight in what they have to offer -- a few thoughts, old stories or worn out sayings. However, "Reinventing Strategy" is a real how-to-book and goes through running a successful business step-by-step. This book will definitely help my division be more profitable! In fact, I would love to go and take one of Prof. Pietersen's courses at Columbia University.

I am an executive coach and a former management consultant, so that business strategy is one of my interests. I have found this book by chance browsing on Amazon.
This is a book I have loved. It is an outstanding synthesis of what is business strategy nowdays. The author wonderfully combines a solid theoretical framework (he is a professor at Columbia University now) with a very practical approach (he has been running a company as CEO beforehand and it definitely shows!). It is very well structured, down to earth, straightforward and still accurate and full of in-depth reflections. It is a rare demonstration (especially in business literature) that a book can be essential and to the point, without boring repetitions (typical in business books). It shows there is a real understanding and mastery of the subject matter.
A serious business book written with both the head and the heart. Thank you Mr Pietersen!

Willie Pietersen has managed to pull together what's really important to achieve breakthrough performance. He's done this by telling clearly and convincingly the lessons learned from his years as a chief executive, but explained them from his new role as a Professor of the Practice of Management at the Columbia Business School. I've had the personal pleasure of watching Pietersen in action with business leaders from around the world who have participated in Columbia's Executive Education programs. The overriding comment from these executives is "this guy makes sense and has shown we how to face up to the challenges to my business' survival." Reinventing Strategy: Using Strategic Learning to Create and Sustain Breakthrough Performance is the next best thing to the live program.

If you want to move from Strategy theory to action and have your business survive in the process, read this book.
William M. Klepper, Ph.D.
Academic Director, Executive Education
Columbia Business School

Here is book that takes a practical look at business strategy and helps the business person to streamline his/her thinking.
Written in Willie Pietersens highly readable style,it has heft as well as humor, theory as well as practical examples. Oh that our Business School text books had been written thus!
I would recommend this book to anyone who sells anything.
Read the introductory chapters,grasp Pietersen's premise then go to any of the rich chapters. Concepts are clearly tagged, each making for a delicious informational meal that forces reflection.

In my opinion, "strategy" is an overused term - talk to ten people and you will get ten different definitions. And while many people note the importance of having a strategy, it's difficult to find a clear and compelling explanation of how to actually develop one.

I found this book soon after I moved into a job that required me to lead strategy projects. For me, the book provided an excellent definition of strategy and a method for developing and implementing one. It was exactly what I needed.

The book is well structured. Pietersen immediately establishes his credibility in the introduction, where he describes his career and the factors that influenced him to write this book. The first few chapters establish the need for a process for developing and evolving strategy and offer Pietersen's definition of strategy ("how you will win"). Pietersen devotes the bulk of the book to explaining the process he advocates - Strategic Learning. He provides an overview of Strategic Learning, and then spends several chapters diving deeply into each element of the process. The book concludes with a few chapters that expand beyond the core premise, discussing how Strategic Learning applies within your organization and your personal life.

The book exceeded my expectations - it provided a clear definition of strategy and a compelling process for developing one. It was clear and easy to read. Pietersen's real-world experience shines, as the advice he offers is pragmatic, not academic. The book, particularly the sections that establish the need for a strategy development process, is well-supported by research. The book is loaded with examples, including companies that followed these principles and succeeded as well as companies that did not follow these principles and failed.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding or developing and implementing strategy.

I am a professional business coach and a change management consultant, I have been using Willie Pietersen approach with teams and I have gotten incredibles results. This book is not to debate theoretical points is to make thing happen in a complex and challenging world. For years I was reading the master pieces of strategy until this book arrives to me I really got a systemic view of business from top management.