The founders of a respected Silicon Valley advisory firm study legendary category-creating companies and reveal a groundbreaking discipline called category design.
Winning today isn’t about beating the competition at the old game. It’s about inventing a whole new game—defining a new market category, developing it, and dominating it over time. You can’t build a legendary company without building a legendary category. If you think that having the best product is all it takes to win, you’re going to lose.
In this farsighted, pioneering guide, the founders of Silicon Valley advisory firm Play Bigger rely on data analysis and interviews to understand the inner workings of “category kings”— companies such as Amazon, Salesforce, Uber, and IKEA—that give us new ways of living, thinking or doing business, often solving problems we didn’t know we had.
In Play Bigger, the authors assemble their findings to introduce the new discipline of category design. By applying category design, companies can create new demand where none existed, conditioning customers’ brains so they change their expectations and buying habits. While this discipline defines the tech industry, it applies to every kind of industry and even to personal careers.
Crossing the Chasm revolutionized how we think about new products in an existing market. The Innovator’s Dilemma taught us about disrupting an aging market. Now, Play Bigger is transforming business once again, showing us how to create the market itself.

Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets

Business & Money

Maney, Kevin

Lochhead, Christopher

Ramadan, Al

Peterson, Dave

Economics

Harper Business

Thomas J Watson Sr’s motto for IBM was THINK, and for more than a century, that one little word worked overtime. In Making the World Work Better: The Ideas That Shaped a Century and a Company , journalists Kevin Maney, Steve Hamm, and Jeffrey M. O’Brien mark the Centennial of IBM’s founding by examining how IBM has distinctly contributed to the evolution of technology and the modern corporation over the past 100 years. The authors offer a fresh analysis through interviews of many key figures, chronicling the Nobel Prize-winning work of the company’s research laboratories and uncovering rich archival material, including hundreds of vintage photographs and drawings. The book recounts the company’s missteps, as well as its successes. It captures moments of high drama – from the bet-the-business gamble on the legendary System/360 in the 1960s to the turnaround from the company’s near-death experience in the early 1990s. The authors have shaped a narrative of discoveries, struggles, individual insights and lasting impact on technology, business and society. Taken together, their essays reveal a distinctive mindset and organizational culture, animated by a deeply held commitment to the hard work of progress. IBM engineers and scientists invented many of the building blocks of modern information technology, including the memory chip, the disk drive, the scanning tunneling microscope (essential to nanotechnology) and even new fields of mathematics. IBM brought the punch-card tabulator, the mainframe and the personal computer into the mainstream of business and modern life. IBM was the first large American company to pay all employees salaries rather than hourly wages, an early champion of hiring women and minorities and a pioneer of new approaches to doing business--with its model of the globally integrated enterprise. And it has had a lasting impact on the course of society from enabling the US Social Security System, to the space program, to airline reservations, modern banking and retail, to many of the ways our world today works. The lessons for all businesses – indeed, all institutions – are powerful: To survive and succeed over a long period, you have to anticipate change and to be willing and able to continually transform. But while change happens, progress is deliberate. IBM – deliberately led by a pioneering culture and grounded in a set of core ideas – came into being, grew, thrived, nearly died, transformed itself… and is now charting a new path forward for its second century toward a perhaps surprising future on a planetary scale.

Making the World Work Better: The Ideas That Shaped a Century and a Company

Hamm, Steve

O'Brien, Jeffrey M.

Biography & History

IBM Pr

What made Wayne Gretzky the greatest hockey player of all time wasn’t his speed on the ice or the uncanny accuracy of his shots, but rather his ability to predict where the puck was going to be an instant before it arrived. In other words, it was Gretzky’s brain that made him exceptional. Over the past fifteen years, scientists have found that what distinguishes the greatest musicians, athletes, and performers from the rest of us isn’t just their motor skills or athletic abilities—it is the ability to anticipate events before they happen. A great musician knows how notes will sound before they’re played, a great CEO can predict how a business decision will turn out before it’s made, a great chef knows what a recipe will taste like before it’s prepared. In a powerful narrative that takes us from the research in the labs to the implementation of predictive technology inside companies, Vivek Ranadivé and Kevin Maney reveal how our understanding of human mastery is being applied to the way computers "think." In the near future, the authors argue, the most advanced computer systems and the most successful businesses will anticipate the future much like Wayne Gretzky’s brain does. As a result, companies will be able to use a new generation of technology to anticipate customer needs before customers even know what they want, and see production snafus before they occur, traffic jams before they materialize, and operational problems before they arise. Forward-thinking companies will be able to predict the future just a fraction ahead of everyone else with a little bit of the right information at the right time—what the authors call the two-second advantage—and it will transform the way businesses are run and offer companies an enormous competitive edge in the marketplace. In the bestselling tradition of Blink, Sway, and How We Decide, The Two-Second Advantage will change our understanding of what makes a company successful.

The Two-Second Advantage: How We Succeed by Anticipating the Future--Just Enough

Ranadive, Vivek

Management & Leadership

Crown Business

What made Wayne Gretzky the greatest hockey player of all time wasn&rsquo;t his speed on the ice or the uncanny accuracy of his shots, but rather his ability to predict where the puck was going to be an instant before it arrived. In other words, it was Gretzky&rsquo;s brain that made him exceptional. Over the past fifteen years, scientists have found that what distinguishes the greatest musicians, athletes, and performers from the rest of us isn&rsquo;t just their motor skills or athletic abilities-it is the ability to anticipate events before they happen. A great musician knows how notes will sound before they&rsquo;re played, a great CEO can predict how a business decision will turn out before it&rsquo;s made, a great chef knows what a recipe will taste like before it&rsquo;s prepared. In a powerful narrative that takes us from the research in the labs to the implementation of predictive technology inside companies, Vivek Ranadivé and Kevin Maney reveal how our understanding of human mastery is being applied to the way computers "think." In the near future, the authors argue, the most advanced computer systems and the most successful businesses will anticipate the future much like Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s brain does. As a result, companies will be able to use a new generation of technology to anticipate customer needs before customers even know what they want, and see production snafus before they occur, traffic jams before they materialize, and operational problems before they arise. Forward-thinking companies will be able to predict the future just a fraction ahead of everyone else with a little bit of the right information at the right time-what the authors call the two-second advantage-and it will transform the way businesses are run and offer companies an enormous competitive edge in the marketplace. In the bestselling tradition ofBlink, Sway,andHow We Decide, The Two-Second Advantagewill change our understanding of what makes a company successful.

The Two-second Advantage: How We Succeed by Anticipating the Future--just Enough

Education & Reference

CROWN PUB.

Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don't

A Fresh and Important New Way to Understand Why We Buy Why did the RAZR ultimately ruin Motorola? Why does Wal-Mart dominate rural and suburban areas but falter in large cities? Why did Starbucks stumble just when it seemed unstoppable? The answer lies in the ever-present tension between fidelity (the quality of a consumer’s experience) and convenience (the ease of getting and paying for a product). In Trade-Off, Kevin Maney shows how these conflicting forces determine the success, or failure, of new products and services in the marketplace. He shows that almost every decision we make as consumers involves a trade-off between fidelity and convenience–between the products we love and the products we need. Rock stars sell out concerts because the experience is high in fidelity-–it can’t be replicated in any other way, and because of that, we are willing to suffer inconvenience for the experience. In contrast, a downloaded MP3 of a song is low in fidelity, but consumers buy music online because it’s superconvenient. Products that are at one extreme or the other–those that are high in fidelity or high in convenience–-tend to be successful. The things that fall into the middle-–products or services that have moderate fidelity and convenience-–fail to win an enthusiastic audience. Using examples from Amazon and Disney to People Express and the invention of the ATM, Maney demonstrates that the most successful companies skew their offerings to either one extreme or the other-–fidelity or convenience-–in shaping products and building brands.

Industries

Crown

A tale of big ideas . . . big egos . . . and the billions to be won or lost in the exploding communications industry 
"An exciting, well-written, fast paced book on a fascinating topic. It is down to earth, realistic, and important. Kevin Maney artfully demystifies the explosion of new technologies and businesses that are radically changing the way we live, work, and play."—James C. Collins coauthor of Built to Last "Mandatory reading for all who wish to know the key media players and their future playthings. His personality portraits add the intriguing 'spice' that keeps the pages turning. This is an exceptional examination of who is likely to succeed or fail in the future media landscape."— John S. Hendricks Chairman and Chief Executive Officer The Discovery Channel "Megamedia Shakeout by Kevin Maney is a comprehensive overview on the emerging 'new media'. Some of his conclusions are controversial, but this trenchant analysis from a veteran observer provides a paradigm for both insiders and neophytes. Whether you are in the industry as I am or a technology investor interested in unearthing these new opportunities, this book is a thought-provoking, up-to-the-minute analysis of all the players, large and small, poised to dominate the next media revolution."—Mike Bloomberg President, Bloomberg LP "Kevin is one of the nation's most astute commentators on the mergers and alliances which will shape media in the twenty-first century. 'Megamedia' is exactly the right term to describe the multifaceted behemoths now converging, and Kevin has done a fine job of chronicling that convergence."—Ted Leonsis President, America Online Services Company "From behind the scenes, Kevin Maney provides us with an insightful, entertaining ride on the multimedia roller coaster. Kevin's style provides us with provocative insights of the mega personalities which dominate and formulate the megamedia future. This constitutes a 'must read' for anyone who needs a map to the information highway."—Lucie J. Fjeldstad President, Fjeldstad International Former Vice President, IBM The biggest thing to hit the business world since Henry Ford introduced assembly-line production is the concept of megamedia—the merging of the computer, telephone, software, entertainment, and cable TV industries. The technological convergence of companies from all corners of business has sparked the most sensational corporate shakeouts in history. Now in an engrossing tale of big ideas, big egos, and the billions to be won or lost in the exploding communications industry, USA Today reporter Kevin Maney answers these questions and more. This insightful account includes: <ul>
<li>Predictions of the five biggest winners and the five biggest losers in megamedia in the next few years</li> <li>Vivid personality portraits of media moguls at the top of this new industry including Ray Smith (Bell Atlantic), Robert Allen (AT&amp;T), Frank Biondi (Viacom), John Malone (TCI), Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold (Microsoft), Lew Platt (Hewlett-Packard), Barry Diller, Ted Turner, and more</li> <li>Profiles exploring the current and future direction of many of the world's leading companies including Time Warner, Microsoft, Disney, Intel, and IBM</li> </ul>
Writing in a taut, hard-driving journalistic style, Maney takes us behind the scenes at leading companies for the first inside look at the shakeout in the communications industry. Megamedia Shakeout cuts through the hype to bring us a bold vision of the future and a clear-sighted, practical assessment of the exciting business and investment opportunities being opened up by the communications revolution. Kevin Maney has been chronicling the communications revolution for several years now, and he has interviewed all the key players involved. In this book, he pieces together a coherent picture of where the industry is headed, explains the technologies and technological wonders involved, and offers a highly plausible vision of what the future will look like. "Megamedia is the information superhighway, 500-channel cable systems and interactive TV all rolled into one. It is telephone companies, cable companies, entertainment companies and computer companies. All are part of the same converging industry. All will go through astounding change over the next decade as we witness the dawn of the Communications Age."—Kevin Maney "An exciting, well-written, fast paced book on a fascinating topic. It is down-to-earth, realistic, and important. Kevin Maney artfully demystifies the explosion of new technologies and businesses that are radically changing the way we live, work, and play."—James C. Collins coauthor of Built to Last "Mandatory reading for all who wish to know the key media players and their future playthings. His personality portraits add the intriguing 'spice' that keeps the pages turning. This is an exceptional examination of who is likely to succeed or fail in the future media landscape"—John S. Hendricks Chairman and Chief Executive Office Discovery Communications "Maney's working journalist's access to the key players and facts combined with his writing style provides an excellent perspective on today's newest industry the merger of computers, telecommunications, video and entertainment what he dubs Megamedia."—Alan C. Stanford Computer Consultant, Ernst &amp; Young "Megamedia Shakeout by Kevin Maney is a comprehensive overview on the emerging 'new media'. Some of his conclusions are controversial, but this trenchant analysis from a veteran observer provides a paradigm for both insiders and neophytes. Whether you are in the industry as I amor a technology investor interested in unearthing these new opportunities, this book is a thought-provoking, up-to-the-minute analysis of all the players, large and small, poised to dominate the next media revolution."—Mike Bloomberg President, Bloomberg LP "Kevin is one of the nation's most astute commentators on the mergers and alliances which will shape media in the twenty-first century. 'Megamedia' is exactly the right term to describe the multifaceted behemoths now converging, and Kevin has done a fine job of chronicling that convergence"—Ted Leonsis President, America Online Services Company "From behind the scenes, Kevin Maney provides us with an insightful, entertaining ride on the multimedia roller coaster. . .climbing upward as the fevered pitch of mega-mergers grabbed the daily headlines and accelerating down again as many self-destructed and back around again as new players vied for control. Kevin's style provides us with provocative insights of the mega personalities which dominate and formulate the megamedia future. This constitutes a 'must read' for anyone who needs a map to the information highway"—Lucie J. Fjeldstad President, Fjeldstad International Formerly Vice President, IBM

Megamedia Shakeout: The Inside Story of the Leaders and the Losers in the Exploding Communications Industry

wiley

The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM

The first complete look at one of America's legendary business leaders This groundbreaking biography by Kevin Maney, acclaimed technology columnist for USA Today, offers fresh insight and new information on one of the twentieth century's greatest business figures. Over the course of forty-two years, Thomas J. Watson took a failing business called The Computer-Tabulating-Recording Company and transformed it into IBM, the world's first and most famous high-tech company. The Maverick and His Machine is the first modern biography of this business titan. Maney secured exclusive access to hundreds of boxes of Watson's long-forgotten papers, and he has produced the only complete picture of Watson the man and Watson the legendary business leader. These uncovered documents reveal new information about how Watson bet the company in the 1920s on tabulating machines-the forerunners to computers-and how he daringly beat the Great Depression of the 1930s. The documents also lead to new insights concerning the controversy that has followed Watson: his suppos ed coll usion with Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. Maney paints a vivid portrait of Watson, uncovers his motivations, and offers needed context on his mammoth role in the course of modern business history. Jim Collins, author of the bestsellers Good to Great and Built to Last, writes in the Foreword to Maney's book: "Leaders like Watson are like forces of nature-almost terrifying in their release of energy and unpredictable volatility, but underneath they still adhere to certain patterns and principles. The patterns and principles might be hard to see amidst the melee, but they are there nonetheless. It takes a gifted person of insight to highlight those patterns, and that is exactly what Kevin Maney does in this book." The Maverick and His Machine also includes never-before-published photos of Watson from IBM's archives, showing Watson in greater detail than any book ever has before. Essential reading for every businessperson, tech junkie, and IBM follower, the book is also full of the kind of personal detail and reconstructed events that make it a page-turning story for general readers. The Maverick and the Machine is poised to be one of the most important business biographies in years. Kevin Maney is a nationally syndicated, award-winning technology columnist at USA Today, where he has been since 1985. He is a cover story writer whose story about IBM's bet-the-company move gained him national recognition. He was voted best technology columnist by the business journalism publication TJFR. Marketing Computers magazine has four times named him one of the most influential technology columnists. He is the author of Wiley's MEGAMEDIA SHAKEOUT: The Inside Story of the Leaders and the Losers in the Exploding Communications Industry, which was a Business Week Bestseller. Residence: Clifton, VA . "Watson was clearly a genius with a thousand helpers, yet he managed to build an institution that could transcend the genius."-from the Foreword by Jim Collins "Like all great biographers, Kevin Maney gives us an engaging story . . .his fascinating and definitive book about IBM's founder is replete with amazing revelations and character lessons that resonate today."-Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School, bestselling author of Evolve! and When Giants Learn to Dance

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Product Description WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLERA pioneering venture capitalist provides an actionable framework for founders and executives to create innovative, enduring companies built for growth and for societal good.The Milton Friedman philosophy that companies exist only to increase shareholder value is dead and buried. The old Silicon Valley tenets of “move fast and break things,” minimum viable products, and hyper engagement at any cost must be replaced with new principles for an era of responsible innovation. We can no longer manage businesses solely for growth. With innovation comes responsibility: to generate returns beyond profits and to recenter technology as a force for good in the world. This requires a shift in the way organizations approach and value work.A company’s mindset―its intent to do good, avoid harmful consequences, and innovate responsibly―is not enough. That mindset must be supported by a business model, a mechanism that leaders must intentionally and proactively build along with the company from the ground up, one that incentivizes and rewards the organization for fulfilling its intentions. Companies need a new set of KCIs, or key consequence indicators, that measure factors such as its impact on customers’ energy consumption, whether its product is being used equally across socioeconomic groups, or if it is actually solving the social problem it is addressing. Not only is this the right thing to do―increasingly, it is what customers, employees, and shareholders demand of business.In this inspiring, practical, and actionable guide, Hemant Taneja:lays out the argument for why a new model of company building and leadership is necessary―and how it can lead to better performanceexplores why social-good businesses are some of the greatest opportunities today, detailing examples of billion-dollar startups that are addressing inequality, climate change, systemic societal problems, and chronic disease―all while generating profit and positive shareholder returnspresents a topic-by-topic road map that addresses business models, artificial intelligence, ethical growth, culture, governance, and good citizenshipIntended Consequences is designed as the ultimate playbook for founders, entrepreneurs, leadership teams, and investors on how to build and maintain a responsible innovation company. From the Back Cover "Intended Consequences thoughtfully outlines how and why capitalism must change in the twenty-first century. This important book should be required reading in every business school and boardroom in America." —Tom Steyer, investor, activist, and former candidate for US President "Hemant Taneja and Kevin Maney lay out a thoughtful and robust playbook for how business leaders can and should build a culture of responsibility behind the companies and innovations they bring to market. As the authors rightly assert, if your technology disrupts, you must also repair—an approach that benefits not only companies but workers and society as well. Intended Consequences is a must-read." —Penny Pritzker, founder of PSP Partners and former US Secretary of Commerce "Intended Consequences provides a blueprint for founders, investors, and leaders who aspire to build transformative businesses where impact is a fundamental feature. Hemant is a gifted thinker and one of the few people I know with the mind and courage to steer technology in the right direction. This is a must-read for anyone motivated to change the world." —Jim Breyer, founder and CEO of Breyer Capital "A prescription for a healthier society, this book describes a proactive approach to creating durable companies intentionally designed to make the world a better place." —Marc Harrison, MD, President and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare "An urgent book from one of the world's most forward-thinking venture capitalists. The argument in Intended Consequences is built on a searing critique of companies that rush to innovate without consideration

Intended Consequences: How to Build Market-Leading Companies with Responsible Innovation

Taneja, Hemant

McGraw=Hill

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