Mavericks at Work offers a bold new line of sight into the future of business-- and exciting new answers to the timeless challenges facing leaders in every field: how you make strategy, how you unleash new ideas, how you connect with customers, how your best people achieve great results. Who are these mavericks? They are break-the-mold business units inside giants such as IBM and Procter & Gamble, as well as high-profile innovators such as HBO and Pixar. They are Internet banks and gold mines, fashion retailers and funky sandwich shops. Together, they are creating an inspiring agenda for business--an agenda that every business can put to work.

Business as usual is bust. In industry after industry, the old guard is cutting back and losing ground. Meanwhile, organizations that we once dismissed as upstarts, wildcards - mavericks- are making waves and growing fast. There is a reason: in an age of hypercompetition and non-stop innovation, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for something truly original.

That’s the lesson behind the companies, executives and entrepreneurs you’ll meet in Mavericks at Work. Winning companies don’t just sell competitive products. They stand for important ideas--ideas that shape the future of their industry, ideas that reshape the sense of what’s possible among customers, employees, and investors.

Mavericks at Work offers a bold new line of sight into the future of business-- and exciting new answers to the timeless challenges facing leaders in every field: how you make strategy, how you unleash new ideas, how you connect with customers, how your best people achieve great results. Who are these mavericks? They are break-the-mold business units inside giants such as IBM and Procter & Gamble, as well as high-profile innovators such as HBO and Pixar. They are Internet banks and gold mines, fashion retailers and funky sandwich shops. Together, they are creating an inspiring agenda for business--an agenda that every business can put to work.

INTRODUCTION

The Maverick Promise

PART ONE

RETHINKING COMPETITION

Chapter 1

Not Just a Company, a Cause: Strategy as Advocacy

Chapter 2

Competition and Its Consequences: Disruptors, Diplomats, and a New Way to Talk About Business

Chapter 3

Maverick Messages (I): Sizing UpYour Strategy

PART TWO

REINVENTING INNOVATION

Chapter 4

Ideas Unlimited:Why Nobody Is as Smart as Everybody

Chapter 5

Innovation, Inc.: Open Source Gets Down to Business

Chapter 6

Maverick Messages (11): Open-MindingYour Business

PART THREE

RECONNECTING WITH CUSTOMERS

Chapter 7

From Selling Value to Sharing Values:Overcoming the Age of Overload

Chapter 8

Small Gestures, Big Signals: Outstanding Strategies to

Stand Out from the Crowd

Chapter 9

Maverick Messages (111): BuildingYour Bond with Customers

PART FOUR

REDESIGNING WORK

Chapter 10

The CompanyYou Keep: Business as if People Mattered

Chapter 11

People and Performance: Stars, Systems,and Workplaces That Work

Chapter 12

Maverick Messages (IV): PracticingYour People Skills

APPENDIX

Maverick Material

ENDNOTES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX