Customer Reviews

Winning in FastTime: Harness the Competitive Advantage of Prometheus in Business and Life

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If Sun Tzu had been an entrepreneur this book would have been written centuries ago.

Using a concise war-winning paradigm, Warden and Russell have successfully captured the essence of designing a business strategy that will work every time. There are three things that make this book a proverbial "must read."

- It cuts to the chase by explaining what a business strategy needs to provide to everyone in the organization and does this in way that everyone from the mail clerk to the CEO can understand.
- It proves the KISS principle doesn't have to produce a "Business for Dummies" approach.
- You can start reading the book on Monday, finish it on Tuesday, begin to institute change on Wednesday, and by Friday be making a difference.

Frankly, I think it's the best book I've read since "Thriving on Chaos" by, Tom Peters.

John Warden has gathered a few stories and other materials to describe two or three interesting, yet rather simple concepts: Determine your desired outcomes, understand the system you are trying to influcence, act on the points where you can leverage your efforts, and drive the process down throughout the implementation engine. Nothing really new. Just a different title. This book is intended to sell his services. It says this is the method. It doesn't say here is how to do this. For the most part I didn't get anything useful to me.

In this volume, Warden and Russell propose "a new way of running an enterprise in a warp-speed world." Those who have already read Sun Tzu's The Art of War will soon realize that Warden and Russell also read it and, indeed, read it with great care. They agree with Sun Tzu's emphasis on the importance of speed, applying maximum force at an opponent's point of vulnerability, and preparation. (Re the last point, Sun Tzu insisted that every battle is won or lost before it is fought.) Given Warden and Russell's military background, it is understandable why they would frame their ideas within a military context and invoke military nomenclature. They assert that what they offer -- the Prometheus Process - "is a mindset and a method for rapid, decisive strategic action." However different military history's most successful leaders have been, all of them had this same mindset.

Why Prometheus? Because he realized that "man could prevail against stronger, faster adversaries only if he could outthink them; thus his first gift to mankind was forethought, the capacity to think ahead." Later, he realized that forethought alone was insufficient; man needed something else: fire, "a source of energy and light so important that the gods kept it for themselves." So Prometheus stole it and gave it to man. In this volume Warden and Russell explain how forethought and fire (passion) "fuel high-performing organizations. Those whose leaders "think strategically and execute passionately have the ultimate competitive advantage - the power to spark their own success, illuminate the future, and ignite the energy of all of their stakeholders." In other words, the spirit of Prometheus is to create the future rather than await it with fear while others create it. Warden and Russell explain how to plan and then execute initiatives which are guided, informed, and sustained by that spirit. To them, winning in "FastTime" requires leaders to decide what they want their organization's future to be, and then make it happen faster than the rate of changes in their organization's competitive environment.

They offer a step-by-step plan which begins with "designing the future" in terms of its environment, what it will look like, which guiding precepts are needed, and what the "measures of merit" will be. They explain how to select appropriate "targets" for ultimate success, how a campaign to achieve success can proceed with parallel campaigns which are organized and coordinated for success, and then how to "finish [the campaign] with finesse." In essence, this is the Prometheus Process which, as Warden and Russell note, occurred to them as a benchmark for "a new solution for doing business in the hyper-speed age" as they observed the Desert Storm air campaign in January of 1991.

I was especially interested in what Warden and Russell have to say about several core concepts which are relevant both to the business world and to the military. For example, "Prime Directives" which are so important that violation of them is intolerable. They define an organization and everyone involved in it, top to bottom. Prime Directives imply a promise and a commitment: "This is who we are, this is what we do, and this is how we do it." For years, all GE executives carried with them a laminated card on which "Jack's Rules" were listed. Warden and Russell recommend no more three or four. "If a rule is considered important, but violating it is not grounds for dismissal, then it doers not rise to the level of a Prime Directive. It is something more temporary - a Rule of Engagement. Like Prime Directives, Rules of engagement are there to be followed, but they may chance over time when circumstances warrant. Rules of Engagement are useful in establishing boundaries for behaviors and decisions within a specific operations context."

The complete Prometheus Process is probably not appropriate for all organizations at each stage of their development but the mindset that underlies its insight and power seems to me appropriate for decision-makers in any organization. Warden and Russell correctly stress the importance of seeing with absolute clarity the desired future, whatever its specific nature may be, then creating that future faster than the rate of change within the given organization's competitive environment. They advocate what they call "Instant Thunder," high-velocity initiatives requiring strategic thinking, a sharp focus, and especially, speed. A winning strategy and an integrated plan to execute it will enable an organization to create its own rules (terms of engagement) rather than be limited by rules dictated by others.

With regard to "Centers of Gravity," every organization has them. Warden and Russell correctly emphasize the need to understand what they are and how they operate, then leverage them to maximum advantage. However, in today's business world change is the only constant. The nature and extent of a given organization's Centers of Gravity will change continuously, and sometimes unexpectedly because of external circumstances.

It is certainly possible to win in FastTime but also to lose. For many organizations, harnessing the competitive advantage of Prometheus - to think strategically and execute passionately -- may well prove to be the difference between success and failure.

If Sun Tzu had been an entrepreneur this book would have been written centuries ago.

Using a concise war-winning paradigm, Warden and Russell have successfully captured the essence of designing a business strategy that will work every time. There are three things that make this book a proverbial "must read."

- It cuts to the chase by explaining what a business strategy needs to provide to everyone in the organization and does this in way that everyone from the mail clerk to the CEO can understand.
- It proves the KISS principle doesn't have to produce a "Business for Dummies" approach.
- You can start reading the book on Monday, finish it on Tuesday, begin to institute change on Wednesday, and by Friday be making a difference.

Frankly, I think it's the best book I've read since "Thriving on Chaos" by, Tom Peters.

From a business stand point I love this book. There are many tools that I can use and many ideas worth thinking about. However, I remember that the author began critizing clausewitch in the book. Totally unfounded and disrespectful, the guy hasn't even got a oppurtunity to defend himself since he has been dead for some 200years.
In my opinion the author sets his own work to highly, his ideas hasnt matured ayet but they are on a good way in doing so. As from a businessman myself his examples around business are sometimes funny and unrealistic. Maybe they were in a hurry to finish writing the book and let quality slip a bit.
However, my biggest complaint about this book is his critisim of clausewitch and his ideas about Center Of gravity. The author says that there exist many Centers of Gravities while he says clausewitch only said that there were one. This is totally wrong, clauswitch never said so. Clausewitch did more work to "shoot at a persons heart" concentrating on one particular point....which is nothing wrong cause you only need to hit the most important center of gravity to kill.
The author does however present an very itresting idea of system overload where you hit all the center of gravities at the same time.
Overall, this book is fantastic!!!
And I really hope on a sequel to this book, it would be awesome!

This book tackles the question on how to create change in a very short time span, with impact and lasting results. It provides a blueprint on how to make change happen and to plan strategically in an environment that can change in the twinkling of an eye.

Furthermore it is a proven model: The desert storm air campaign (planning and plan execution) followed this model. Impressive to know is that the plan was ready for approval within 48h.

The model itself is straightforward explained and ready for use. The steps itself might seem very logic (keep the end in mind, map relevant systems, pareto law in picking centers of gravity etc..) but honestly I haven't seen them used in the combination as described here.

Winning in Fast Time follows 4 steps:
- Design the Future: Scope the environment, paint the future picture, engrave the guiding precepts and establish the measure of merit
- Target for Success: Map the relevant systems, identify the centers of gravity, and determine desired effects.
- Campaign to Win: Operate in parallel, organize to win, and orchestrate resources
- Finish with Finesse: Define exit points, terminate, and reconstitute

This book came as a nice surprise. I loved to read this book and it did give me a fresh look on how to create lasting change fast!

Contents:

Preface: Hyper-Change

Prometheus Touchstones
1. The Prometheus Process
2. Instant Thunder
3. Changing the Game
4. Centers of Gravity

Design the Future
5. The Environment
6. The Future Picture
7. Guiding Precepts
8. Measures of Merit

Target for Success
9. The Five Rings
10. Desired Effects

Campaign to Win
11. Parallel Campaigns
12. Organizing for Success

Finish with Finesse
13. The Endgame
14. Cardinal Rules
15. Prometheus @ Work

Bibliography
Acknowledgements

John Warden was the architect for the most successful campaign in the 90 year history of air combat. He has brought his insights to the corporate world. A truly original thinker, Warden not only thinks outside the box but helps others do so. Highly recommended for leaders at all levels and for courses at business schools and corporate universities.