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| October 10, 2013 By Best of the Issue
InterviewFerguson's FormulaAnita Elberse with Sir Alex FergusonHe's arguably the greatest coach in history -- in any sport. Before retiring this spring, Alex Ferguson led Manchester United to 38 domestic and international championships in 26 seasons, nearly double the number of trophies racked up by next most successful English football (soccer) club. How did he do it? While most clubs (and companies, for that matter) compete to buy talent, Ferguson set up a system to create it – starting by revamping United's youth program for promising players as young as nine. As his talent factory churned out stars like David Beckham and Ryan Giggs, who from an early age had been taught to play the game systematically at the highest standards, Ferguson was able to constantly strengthen and refresh the roster and count on a team of players who respected his authority and vision. FeatureConsulting on the Cusp of DisruptionClayton M. Christensen, Dina Wang, and Derek van BeverConsulting companies are what's known as "integrated solution shops" – purveyors of complex, interdependent, one-off solutions to unique problems, which clients pay for (handsomely) on a fee-for-service basis. But the winds of disruption are sweeping through the field. Increasingly standardized practices in a maturing industry are giving rise to specialized competitors that sell parts of the process for a smaller fixed fee to increasingly savvy clients, many of whom are ex-consultants themselves. The future is easy to see. Consolidation awaits some firms. Others will find, as IBM did, opportunity in systems integration, as more and more stand-alone offerings hit the market. A daring few, like McKinsey, which is now selling its analytics tools, may find success in self-disruption. But it's certain, the authors argue, that some seemingly impregnable incumbents will be caught by surprise, since nothing make you more vulnerable than entrenched success. (Click here to listen to the authors discuss how their thinking on disruptive innovation has evolved.) The Big IdeaThe Strategy That Will Fix Health CareMichael E. Porter and Thomas H. LeeWe know how to fix the U.S. health care system. In fact its transformation is already well under way, as we move from a system that pays for procedures into one that pays for outcomes. The trouble is that proven solutions are being applied only incrementally. Instead, practitioners should implement them all together in an integrated strategy. To do so, they must organize their services according to patient condition (diabetes, cancer, and so on), not medical specialty (surgery, internal medicine, and the like). They need to track the cost to treat those conditions (rather than the volume of procedures performed), so they can set prices intelligently for doing so. They must rethink where they offer which services—distributing routine care more widely, centralizing treatment centers for highly complex conditions, and increasing their reach geographically to increase both quality and lower costs through higher volumes. And they need to beef up their IT infrastructures to effectively integrate care across all those locations and keep track of all those relevant costs. This is not easy. But the question is no longer how to do it. It's which organizations will lead the way and which will be forced to follow. (You can tune into this webinar to hear the authors discuss their ideas with the HBR community.) Managing YourselfBe Yourself, but CarefullyLisa Rosh and Lynn OffermannEstablishing authenticity is tricky. Fail to open up, and you make yourself inscrutable -- and hard to relate to, understand, or follow. But share too much, and you can easily put people off. For those not naturally endowed with the self-awareness, communication skills, and sense of propriety needed to find the right balance, the authors offer up a five-step process. It begins by identifying your values, getting in touch with your emotions, and correctly judging your competencies and weaknesses. Hard enough. Then, once you get a pretty good handle on who you are, you need consider what you can tell people about yourself – honestly -- that's appropriate to the local culture and will make a (positive) difference to the job at hand. (You can hear coauthor Lisa Rosh offer up effective examples, and some cautionary tales, at HBR.org) |
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FEATURED PRODUCT HBR Guide to Office PoliticsHBR Paperback SeriesEVERY ORGANIZATION HAS ITS SHARE OF POLITICAL DRAMA: Personalities clash. Agendas compete. Turf wars erupt. It can make you crazy if you're trying to keep your head down and get your job done. The problem is, you can't just keep your head down. You need to work productively with your colleagues--even the challenging ones--for the good of your organization and your career. How can you do that without crossing over to the dark side? By acknowledging that power dynamics and unwritten rules exist--and by constructively navigating them. "Politics" needn't be a dirty word. You can succeed at work without being a power grabber or a corporate climber. Whether you're a new professional or an experienced one, this guide will help you. Buy It Now |
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