[ON magazine, Number 1, 2008]
Jim Champy Q & A
Outsmart! How Today’s Innovative Companies Succeed
Exploring what it takes to win in today’s global Internet economy
In Outsmart!, consultant and best-selling author Jim Champy profiles nine high-growth companies that are leveraging the global IT infrastructure and new business models to redefine existing markets and create new ones. ON Editor Gil Press and managing editor Chris Kane recently spoke with Champy in his office.
Gil Press: What’s the central theme of the book?
Jim Champy: The underlying idea is that there really isn’t a lot new in management, but there’s a lot new in business. What Peter Drucker wrote in the mid-1950s is still valid, still the basic principle by which we run companies—and should run companies. However, because of the rise of the global IT infrastructure, there are many companies that are achieving success by operating in fundamentally different ways. When you look today at companies that outsmart their competitors, it’s a lot about how they’re executing. The classical strategist doesn’t believe that how you do work can be a competitive advantage. Their assumption is someone can easily copy that. I’ve never believed that.
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