Sculpting Air: The Executive's Guide to Shaping Strategy [Hardcover]

Rich Horwarth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 2005

Strategy development can be likened to sculpting, both of which require the vision to foresee the finished form and the skill, insight and craftsmanship to create it. Sculpting Air: The Executive's Guide to Shaping Strategy provides managers with a simple, clear and effective roadmap for continuously developing winning strategy at any level.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A comprehensive yet concise roadmap that includes all the necessary tools to help executives develop and execute successful strategies. -- Rob Schneider, General Manager, Category Marketing, Omron Healthcare, Inc.

A must read for any general manager, marketer and strategist, translating strategy concepts into tools that you can actually use. -- Dean Gregory, Vice President, Strategy and New Business Development, Transfusion Therapies, Baxter Healthcare Corp.

Shows how to create strategy in a corporate environment that thrives on establishing and maintaining a competitive edge. -- Dan Linden, Senior Director, Account Planning, Pfizer, Inc.

About the Author

Rich Horwath is the president of Sculptura Consulting. He is a former Chief Strategy Officer and serves as a professor of Strategy at the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. Horwath has authored two books and dozens of articles on business strategy. Horwath earned an MBA with Distinction from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University and has completed post-graduate studies in strategy at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 141 pages
• Publisher: Sculptura Consulting, Inc. (November 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974711411
• ISBN-13: 978-0974711416
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,888,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ...still worth to be read & to be included in your 'Strategic Thinking' bookshelf!, February 10, 2007

By 

Lee Say Keng "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURER/TECHNOLOGY... (Ho Chi Minh City/Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sculpting Air: The Executive's Guide to Shaping Strategy (Hardcover)

Sculpting Air: The Executive's Guide to Shaping Strategy
by Rich Horwarth

A few months ago, I have reviewed 'Storm Rider: Becoming A Strategic Thinker', by the same author. The author is Rich Horwath, Chief Strategy Officer of his own consulting firm, Sculptura Consulting. (According to his corporate website, he has apparently renamed this firm as 'The Strategic Thinking Institute'.) To recap, the earlier book outlines five essential skill sets for managers to become strategic thinkers:

- discovering purpose;
- creating differentiation;
- decision making;
- problem solving;
- sculpting strategy;

This time, he outlines the essential skill sets for senior managers in the new book as follows:

- Discovery;
- Strategic Thinking;
- Strategic Planning;
- Strategy Rollout;
- Strategy Tune-up;

From the intellectual standpoint, there is absolutely no basic difference between the earlier book & this book. It seems the author has now put in a little more emphasis on the 'sculpting strategy' part & uses the metaphor of a sculptor in shaping a model. He writes: "Strategy is to business as air is to life - essential, yet unseen. Properly channled, air becomes wind & strategy becomes intelligent action - both unleashing unparalleled power visible to all." I don't deny that.

Just like the earlier book, the author again takes the opportunity to promote his series of proprietary 'strategy shaping' tools, like StrategySphere, StrategyPrint systems. Nevertheless, the author has quite an impressive Fortune 100 client list.

I must add: something really stands out from the author & his consulting firm. Unlike others, his firm offers a very well-structured & systematically-configured 'Strategist Training System', from beginner to advanced level. They consist of nine different programs delivered in an interactive workshop format. The author's two books apparently form a strategic part of the curriculum.

One of the author's many observations catches my eye: "Research shows that the most important competency for a leader to possess is the ability to develop strategy. Unfortunately, only 4% of leaders at all levels of organisations are effective strategists." This is certainly very interesting. The author issues this ultimate challenge at the end of his book: "Will you or your competitor be holding the chisel?"

I guess all senior managers out there better shape up or else you will get beaten.

On the whole, & to end this review, I still reckon that the two books mentioned in this review are worth to be read & to be included in your 'Strategic Thinking' bookshelf.