want a clue into the future? take a peek into the mind of bill gates.
when he held his annual ceo summit a little while ago, he recommended five books to the attendees:
1… “the trendmaster’s guide: get a jump on what your customer wants next” by robyn waters
2… “blue ocean strategy: how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant” by w. chan kim and renee mauborgne
3… “the only sustainable edge: why business strategy depends on productive friction and dynamic specialization” by john hagel iii and john seely brown
4… “fab: the coming revolution on your desktop–from personal computers to personal fabrication” by neil gershenfeld
5… “marketbusters: 40 strategic moves that drive exceptional business growth” by rita gunther mcgrath and ian c. macmillan
all have a few common themes:
— tough competition
— relentless change
— unflinching standards
of course, this may just be version 1.0 of the list. should we wait for 2.0?
one response to “what’s bill gates thinking now?”
dennis howlett
rick – this has to qualify as the most unfortunate headline of the day given the ruckus over how outlook 2007 runs like treacle under vista.
i’ve read some of these books. assuming bill has, then i’d suggest the messages haven’t really sunk in. this is a company demonstrating many of the characteristics of ibm in the late 1980s. fat, happy and lazy. look what happened next?