Battling for Competitive Advantage

by Kenneth Allard

Overview

Praise for Battling for Competitive Advantage

"[Battling for Competitive Advantage] systematically unravels and explains the complexities of modern business and warfare. This excellent book will prove helpful to business leaders as well as the academic community charged with explaining successful leadership of large organizations."
-General Barry R. McCaffrey, U.S.A. (Ret.), Professor of International Security Studies at West Point and NBC News Commentator

"Colonel Ken Allard doesn't just have supreme military intelligence, his operational brilliance extends to the business world as well. Battling for Competitive Advantage teaches you that business is war and that Ken is the perfect commander-in-chief to follow into your business battles."
-Ron Insana, Coanchor, CNBC's Business Center

"In war, they don't give out medals for second place. In business, as in war, you can't win without first surviving. [This book] offers the hard-won wisdom from one warrior's world to another. Read, laugh, squirm, survive, and win!"
-Scott A. Snook, Associate Professor, Organizational Behavior Harvard Business School

"In the post-9/11, post-Enron environment, Ken Allard's Ten Commandments of Military Leadership are directly applicable to today's business CEOs."
-Tom Petrie, Chairman and CEO, Petrie Parkman & Co.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780471715528
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	06/30/2005
Pages:	243
Product dimensions:	5.61(w) x 8.86(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

KENNETH ALLARD, a former army colonel, is a well-known commentator on international security issues, strategy, and military matters, regularly appearing on NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC. As one of the star attractions of Leading Authorities, Inc., a major speakers bureau, he appears before a wide range of business audiences around the country. He is an adjunct professor in the National Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. Dr. Allard holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and an MPA from Harvard University. He was dean of students, National War College (1993–1994).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.

PART I: BUSINESS AS WAR

2. Worlds Apart?

3. War As An Audit.

4. Building Leaders of Character.

PART II: LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS AND WAR.

5. Strategy: Deliver Us From Process.

6. Organizing For Victory: While Shooting As Few Bureaucrats As Possible.

PART III: THE TOOLS.

7. Business Intelligence: Another Damned Ting They Didn't Teach You In B School.

8. The other Side of the Coin: Enterprise Security.

9. Testing Your METL: Or What To Do When The Mission Really Is Essential.

10. Putting It All Together.

Epilogue: The After Action Review (AAR).

Notes.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

The author, a former army colonel currently featured as a military analyst on MSNBC and NBC News, is convinced that corporate America can learn vital lessons from the U.S. military. Business executives, according to Allard (Command, Control and the Common Defense), today function in a chaotic atmosphere dominated by globalization and rapidly changing information technology. He argues that recent corporate scandals such as the collapse of Enron as well as the high salaries of CEOs are symptomatic of the lack of leadership in industry, a loss that seriously impedes business success. Drawing on myriad examples from the military, Allard provides a series of war plans that he believes can change the corporate environment. Included is a recommendation to emulate the training followed at West Point to build idealistic managers, to devise overall military-like strategies rather than marketing plans and to be aware of and responsible for security programs to combat electronic terrorism. While Allard’s proposals to improve business leadership have merit, many of the military analogies are repetitive and forced. Much of his advice is delivered in an off-putting, hectoring tone that sometimes borders on bragging, and his potshots at former president Clinton feel inappropriate for a business manual. (Jan.) (Publishers Weekly, January 12, 2004)

From the Publisher