
7 Powers
The Foundations of Business Strategy
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $26.47
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Joel Richards
-
By:
-
Hamilton Helmer
About this listen
7 Powers breaks fresh ground by constructing a comprehensive strategy toolset that is easy for you to learn, communicate, and quickly apply. Drawing on his decades of experience as a business strategy adviser, active equity investor and Stanford University teacher Hamilton Helmer develops from first principles a practical theory of strategy rooted in the notion of power, those conditions which create the potential for persistent differential returns.
Using rich real-world examples, Helmer rigorously characterizes exactly what your business must achieve to create power. And create power it must, for without it your business is at risk. He explains why invention always comes first and then develops the Power Progression to enable you to target when your power must be established: in the origination, take-off, or stability phases of your business. Every business faces a do-or-die strategy moment: a crux directional choice made amidst swirling uncertainty. To get this right you need at your fingertips a real-time strategy compass to discern your true north. 7 Powers is that compass.
This audiobook was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2016 Hamilton Helmer (P)2024 Echo Point Books & Media, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Outsiders
- Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
- By: William N. Thorndike
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Outsiders, you'll learn the traits and methods striking for their consistency and relentless rationality that helped these unique leaders achieve such exceptional performance. Humble, unassuming, and often frugal, these "outsiders" shunned Wall Street and the press, and shied away from the hottest new management trends. Instead, they shared specific traits that put them and the companies they led on winning trajectories: a laser-sharp focus on per share value as opposed to earnings or sales growth; an exceptional talent for allocating capital and human resources; and the belief that cash flow, not reported earnings, determines a company's long-term value.
-
-
Great summary of the 8 CEOs, lessons to learn from
- By Jason S on 09-04-19
-
The McKinsey Way
- By: Ethan M. Rasiel
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Fortune 100 corporations are stymied, it's the "McKinsey-ites" whom they call for help. Former McKinsey associate Ethan Rasiel lifts the veil to show you how the secretive McKinsey works its magic, and helps you emulate the firm's well-honed practices in problem solving, communication, and management. Both a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most admired and secretive companies in the business world and a toolkit of problem-solving techniques without peer, The McKinsey Way empowers every business decision maker to become a better strategic player in any organization.
-
-
Liiked insider scoop, not so fond of narrator
- By Susan on 05-10-25
By: Ethan M. Rasiel
-
How to Avoid Loss and Earn Consistently in the Stock Market
- An Easy-To-Understand and Practical Guide for Every Investor
- By: Prasenjit Paul
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hundreds of books are there about ""How to make money from stocks?"" Still 80% small investors suffer loss in the stock market. Why? Plenty of free trading tips are available across Television and Internet; still maximum small investors are unable to earn significant return consistently from trading. Why? Why maximum individuals still consider the stock market as a place for gambling? Investing in high-quality business (stock) at the right price and holding them for a reasonable period is the only way for wealth creation.Written in an easy-to-understand and simple language, this book will ...
By: Prasenjit Paul
-
Mastering the Rockefeller Habits (20th Anniversary Edition)
- What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm
- By: Verne Harnish
- Narrated by: Verne Harnish
- Length: 4 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What are the underlying handful of fundamentals that haven't changed for over a hundred years? From Harnish's famous One-Page Strategic Plan to his concise outline of eight practical actions you can take to strengthen your culture, this book is a compilation of best practices adapted from some of the best-run firms on the planet. Included is an instructive chapter co-authored by Rich Russakoff, revealing winning tactics to get banks to finance your business. Lastly, there are case studies demonstrating the validity of Harnish's practical approaches.
-
-
Great refresher to under enforce Business Ops 101
- By Tyler P Reitenbaugh on 03-30-25
By: Verne Harnish
-
De volta ao jogo
- A história de sucesso, dramas e viradas do BTG Pactual
- By: Ariane Abdallah
- Narrated by: Ariane Abdallah
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ambição, conquistas, tombos e guinadas—tudo em alta voltagem. Conheça a trajetória do BTG Pactual, o maior banco de investimentos da América Latina.
-
-
História inspiradora muito bem contada
- By Lucas Ciabotti Tavora on 06-17-25
By: Ariane Abdallah
-
Competitive Strategy
- Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors
- By: Michael E. Porter
- Narrated by: Scott R. Pollak
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now nearing its 60th printing in English and translated into 19 languages, Michael E. Porter's Competitive Strategy has transformed the theory, practice, and teaching of business strategy throughout the world.
-
-
Great Book
- By JohanAE on 12-02-19
-
The Outsiders
- Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
- By: William N. Thorndike
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Outsiders, you'll learn the traits and methods striking for their consistency and relentless rationality that helped these unique leaders achieve such exceptional performance. Humble, unassuming, and often frugal, these "outsiders" shunned Wall Street and the press, and shied away from the hottest new management trends. Instead, they shared specific traits that put them and the companies they led on winning trajectories: a laser-sharp focus on per share value as opposed to earnings or sales growth; an exceptional talent for allocating capital and human resources; and the belief that cash flow, not reported earnings, determines a company's long-term value.
-
-
Great summary of the 8 CEOs, lessons to learn from
- By Jason S on 09-04-19
-
The McKinsey Way
- By: Ethan M. Rasiel
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Fortune 100 corporations are stymied, it's the "McKinsey-ites" whom they call for help. Former McKinsey associate Ethan Rasiel lifts the veil to show you how the secretive McKinsey works its magic, and helps you emulate the firm's well-honed practices in problem solving, communication, and management. Both a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most admired and secretive companies in the business world and a toolkit of problem-solving techniques without peer, The McKinsey Way empowers every business decision maker to become a better strategic player in any organization.
-
-
Liiked insider scoop, not so fond of narrator
- By Susan on 05-10-25
By: Ethan M. Rasiel
-
How to Avoid Loss and Earn Consistently in the Stock Market
- An Easy-To-Understand and Practical Guide for Every Investor
- By: Prasenjit Paul
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hundreds of books are there about ""How to make money from stocks?"" Still 80% small investors suffer loss in the stock market. Why? Plenty of free trading tips are available across Television and Internet; still maximum small investors are unable to earn significant return consistently from trading. Why? Why maximum individuals still consider the stock market as a place for gambling? Investing in high-quality business (stock) at the right price and holding them for a reasonable period is the only way for wealth creation.Written in an easy-to-understand and simple language, this book will ...
By: Prasenjit Paul
-
Mastering the Rockefeller Habits (20th Anniversary Edition)
- What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm
- By: Verne Harnish
- Narrated by: Verne Harnish
- Length: 4 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What are the underlying handful of fundamentals that haven't changed for over a hundred years? From Harnish's famous One-Page Strategic Plan to his concise outline of eight practical actions you can take to strengthen your culture, this book is a compilation of best practices adapted from some of the best-run firms on the planet. Included is an instructive chapter co-authored by Rich Russakoff, revealing winning tactics to get banks to finance your business. Lastly, there are case studies demonstrating the validity of Harnish's practical approaches.
-
-
Great refresher to under enforce Business Ops 101
- By Tyler P Reitenbaugh on 03-30-25
By: Verne Harnish
-
De volta ao jogo
- A história de sucesso, dramas e viradas do BTG Pactual
- By: Ariane Abdallah
- Narrated by: Ariane Abdallah
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ambição, conquistas, tombos e guinadas—tudo em alta voltagem. Conheça a trajetória do BTG Pactual, o maior banco de investimentos da América Latina.
-
-
História inspiradora muito bem contada
- By Lucas Ciabotti Tavora on 06-17-25
By: Ariane Abdallah
-
Competitive Strategy
- Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors
- By: Michael E. Porter
- Narrated by: Scott R. Pollak
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now nearing its 60th printing in English and translated into 19 languages, Michael E. Porter's Competitive Strategy has transformed the theory, practice, and teaching of business strategy throughout the world.
-
-
Great Book
- By JohanAE on 12-02-19
-
The Nvidia Way
- Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant
- By: Tae Kim
- Narrated by: Michael Braun
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nvidia is the darling of the age of artificial intelligence: the company’s chips are powering the generative-AI revolution, and demand is insatiable. For all the current interest and attention, however, Nvidia is not of our time. Founded more than three decades ago in a Denny’s in East San Jose, for years it was known primarily in the then-niche world of computer gaming. In fact, the company’s leather-jacketed leader, Jensen Huang, is the longest-serving CEO in an industry marked by near constant turmoil and failure.
-
-
Don’t Buy This Book Be Forewarned
- By Susan Hess on 12-25-24
By: Tae Kim
-
The Joys of Compounding
- The Passionate Pursuit of Lifelong Learning (Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing Series)
- By: Gautam Baid
- Narrated by: P. Mathai Abraham
- Length: 17 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Value investing is not just a system for success in the market. It is also an intellectual toolkit for achieving a deeper understanding of the world. In The Joys of Compounding, the value investor Gautam Baid builds a holistic approach to value investing and philosophy from his wide-ranging reading, combining practical approaches, self-cultivation, and business wisdom. Distilling investment and life lessons into a comprehensive guide, Baid integrates the strategies and wisdom of preeminent figures whose teachings have stood the test of time.
By: Gautam Baid
-
How to Make a Few Billion Dollars
- By: Brad Jacobs
- Narrated by: Brad Jacobs
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In How to Make a Few Billion Dollars, Jacobs defines the mindset that drives his remarkable success in corporate America—and distills a lifetime of business brilliance into a tactical road map.
-
-
Meh
- By Anonymous User on 09-24-24
By: Brad Jacobs
-
Peak
- How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow (Revised and Updated)
- By: Chip Conley
- Narrated by: Brian Sutherland
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peak is the popular, transformative guide to doing business better, written by a seasoned entrepreneur/CEO who has disrupted his favorite industry not once but twice. Author Chip Conley, founder and former CEO of one of the world's largest boutique hotel companies, turned to psychologist Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs at a time when his company was in dire need.
-
-
Presentation and attention to detail matter
- By Stephen Estelle on 11-05-19
By: Chip Conley
-
Playing to Win
- How Strategy Really Works
- By: Roger L. Martin, A.G. Lafley
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Playing to Win, a noted Wall Street Journal and Washington Post best seller, outlines the strategic approach Lafley, in close partnership with strategic adviser Roger Martin, used to double P&G’s sales, quadruple its profits, and increase its market value by more than $100 billion when Lafley was first CEO (he led the company from 2000 to 2009). The book shows leaders in any type of organization how to guide everyday actions with larger strategic goals built around the clear, essential elements that determine business successwhere to play and how to win.
-
-
The P&G Story
- By lniles on 04-14-15
By: Roger L. Martin, and others
-
Rework
- By: Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who's ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs who want to get out, and artists who don't want to starve anymore will all find valuable inspiration and guidance in these pages. It's time to rework work.
-
-
Simple, Quick, Timely, Contrarian Advice
- By Paul on 06-18-10
By: Jason Fried, and others
-
Where the Money Is
- Value Investing in the Digital Age
- By: Adam Seessel
- Narrated by: Gibson Frazier
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Technological change is reshaping the economy in a way not witnessed since Henry Ford introduced the assembly line. A little more than ten years ago, only two of the ten most valuable publicly traded companies in the world were digital enterprises—today, they comprise eight of the top ten. Investors around the world are struggling to understand the Digital Age and how they can use the stock market to profit from it.
-
-
The best breakdown of Value 3.0 Investing
- By Tremayne on 11-24-22
By: Adam Seessel
-
The Art of Business Wars
- Battle-Tested Lessons for Leaders and Entrepreneurs from History's Greatest Rivalries
- By: David Brown
- Narrated by: David Brown
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on the chart-topping Business Wars podcast, stories, and lessons from history’s greatest business rivalries, interspersed with audio clips from the podcast. Using Chinese military genius Sun Tzu’s strategies as a guide, Brown examines why some companies triumph while others crumble....
-
-
Just a repeat of the pod cast…..
- By Vm2008 on 02-01-22
By: David Brown
-
Foolproof Hiring
- Powerful, Proven Keys to Hiring High Performers
- By: Brad Smart
- Narrated by: Doug Turkel
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In their book Foolproof Hiring, business leaders and hiring experts Brad Smart and Chris Mursau give listeners an easy-to-follow instruction course in Topgrading. This nationally-known and time-tested hiring methodology has been a proven winner in finding A players for thousands of businesses for more than thirty years.
-
-
Hours about nothing
- By reader on 10-23-24
By: Brad Smart
-
Build
- An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
- By: Tony Fadell
- Narrated by: Tony Fadell, Roger Wayne
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone and Nest Learning Thermostat and learned enough in 30+ years in Silicon Valley about leadership, design, startups, Apple, Google, decision-making, mentorship, devastating failure and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopedia.
-
-
Best guide for start up founders, ever!!!
- By Curly Beard on 05-28-22
By: Tony Fadell
-
Thinking in Bets
- Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts
- By: Annie Duke
- Narrated by: Annie Duke
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Super Bowl XLIX, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll made one of the most controversial calls in football history: With 26 seconds remaining, and trailing by four at the Patriots' one-yard line, he called for a pass instead of a handing off to his star running back. The pass was intercepted, and the Seahawks lost. Critics called it the dumbest play in history. But was the call really that bad? Or did Carroll actually make a great move that was ruined by bad luck? Even the best decision doesn't yield the best outcome every time.
-
-
Wasn't For Me
- By ❤️One.Crazy&Cool.Family❤️ on 09-04-18
By: Annie Duke
-
The Crux
- How Leaders Become Strategists
- By: Richard P. Rumelt
- Narrated by: Richard P. Rumelt, Charles Constant
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What passes for strategy in too many businesses, government agencies, and military operations is a toxic mix of wishful thinking and a jumble of incoherent policies. Richard P. Rumelt’s breakthrough concept is that leaders become effective strategists when they focus on challenges rather than goals, pinpointing the crux of their pivotal challenge—the aspect that is both surmountable and promises the greatest progress—and taking decisive, coherent action to overcome it.
-
-
Excellent
- By Brad on 05-29-22
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Understanding Michael Porter
- The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy
- By: Joan Magretta
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michael Porter’s groundbreaking ideas on competition and strategy have unfolded over three decades and are spread across a dauntingly long list of publications. Every manager can name individual pieces of his work - competitive advantage, the value chain, five forces - but no one, not even Porter himself, has put the entire puzzle together to reveal it as an integrated whole. This lucid, concise audiobook does just that. This book provides an engaging summary of Porter’s ideas and an invaluable synthesis of this important body of work....
-
-
Horrible and pompous narration
- By Amazon Customer on 08-28-13
By: Joan Magretta
-
Competition Demystified
- A Radically Simplified Approach to Business Strategy
- By: Judd Kahn, Bruce C. Greenwald
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bruce Greenwald, one of the nation's leading business professors, presents a new and simplified approach to strategy that cuts through much of the fog that has surrounded the subject. Based on his hugely popular course at Columbia Business School, Greenwald and his co-author, Judd Kahn, offer an easy-to-follow method for understanding the competitive structure of your industry and developing an appropriate strategy for your specific position.
-
-
Prof, we need the figures/graphs that’s in the the book
- By sid on 12-25-20
By: Judd Kahn, and others
-
Competitive Strategy
- What Is Strategy
- By: Michael Porter
- Narrated by: Deaver Brown
- Length: 1 hr and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook was created based on Michael Porter's landmark book Competitive Strategy. This was Mr. Porter's synopsis of his book for the Harvard Business Review.
-
-
Tough to listen to this one
- By Rick on 01-26-12
By: Michael Porter
-
Pattern Breakers
- Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future
- By: Mike Maples Jr, Peter Ziebelman
- Narrated by: Mike Maples Jr, Peter Ziebelman
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The breakthrough concepts of Pattern Breakers come from the observations of Mike Maples Jr., a seasoned venture capitalist, who noticed something strange. Start-ups like Twitter, Twitch, and Lyft had achieved extraordinary success despite their disregard for “best practices.” In contrast, other startups deemed highly promising often failed, even when they seemed to do everything right. Seeking answers, Maples and coauthor Peter Ziebelman set out to discover the hidden forces that drive extraordinary start-up success.
-
-
I’ve read 100s of books, this is top 5 all time
- By Calisurf on 12-21-24
By: Mike Maples Jr, and others
-
7 Rules of Power
- Surprising—but True—Advice on How to Get Things Done and Advance Your Career
- By: Jeffrey Pfeffer
- Narrated by: Zac Aleman
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 7 Rules of Power, Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, provides the insights that have made both his online and on-campus classes incredibly popular—with life-changing results often achieved in 8 or 10 weeks. Rooted firmly in social-science research, Pfeffer’s 7 rules provide a manual for increasing your ability to get things done, including increasing the positive effects of your job performance.
-
-
Great advice and evidence based perspective
- By Camilo Velasquez on 06-22-23
By: Jeffrey Pfeffer
-
Loonshots
- How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
- By: Safi Bahcall
- Narrated by: William Dufris, Safi Bahcall - prologue and introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Physicist and entrepreneur Safi Bahcall reveals a surprising new way of thinking about the mysteries of group behavior that challenges everything we thought we knew about nurturing radical breakthroughs. Drawing on the science of phase transitions, Bahcall reveals why teams, companies, or any group with a mission will suddenly change from embracing wild new ideas to rigidly rejecting them.
-
-
Not a fan of the narration style
- By pd park on 04-25-19
By: Safi Bahcall
-
Understanding Michael Porter
- The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy
- By: Joan Magretta
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michael Porter’s groundbreaking ideas on competition and strategy have unfolded over three decades and are spread across a dauntingly long list of publications. Every manager can name individual pieces of his work - competitive advantage, the value chain, five forces - but no one, not even Porter himself, has put the entire puzzle together to reveal it as an integrated whole. This lucid, concise audiobook does just that. This book provides an engaging summary of Porter’s ideas and an invaluable synthesis of this important body of work....
-
-
Horrible and pompous narration
- By Amazon Customer on 08-28-13
By: Joan Magretta
-
Competition Demystified
- A Radically Simplified Approach to Business Strategy
- By: Judd Kahn, Bruce C. Greenwald
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bruce Greenwald, one of the nation's leading business professors, presents a new and simplified approach to strategy that cuts through much of the fog that has surrounded the subject. Based on his hugely popular course at Columbia Business School, Greenwald and his co-author, Judd Kahn, offer an easy-to-follow method for understanding the competitive structure of your industry and developing an appropriate strategy for your specific position.
-
-
Prof, we need the figures/graphs that’s in the the book
- By sid on 12-25-20
By: Judd Kahn, and others
-
Competitive Strategy
- What Is Strategy
- By: Michael Porter
- Narrated by: Deaver Brown
- Length: 1 hr and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook was created based on Michael Porter's landmark book Competitive Strategy. This was Mr. Porter's synopsis of his book for the Harvard Business Review.
-
-
Tough to listen to this one
- By Rick on 01-26-12
By: Michael Porter
-
Pattern Breakers
- Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future
- By: Mike Maples Jr, Peter Ziebelman
- Narrated by: Mike Maples Jr, Peter Ziebelman
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The breakthrough concepts of Pattern Breakers come from the observations of Mike Maples Jr., a seasoned venture capitalist, who noticed something strange. Start-ups like Twitter, Twitch, and Lyft had achieved extraordinary success despite their disregard for “best practices.” In contrast, other startups deemed highly promising often failed, even when they seemed to do everything right. Seeking answers, Maples and coauthor Peter Ziebelman set out to discover the hidden forces that drive extraordinary start-up success.
-
-
I’ve read 100s of books, this is top 5 all time
- By Calisurf on 12-21-24
By: Mike Maples Jr, and others
-
7 Rules of Power
- Surprising—but True—Advice on How to Get Things Done and Advance Your Career
- By: Jeffrey Pfeffer
- Narrated by: Zac Aleman
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 7 Rules of Power, Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, provides the insights that have made both his online and on-campus classes incredibly popular—with life-changing results often achieved in 8 or 10 weeks. Rooted firmly in social-science research, Pfeffer’s 7 rules provide a manual for increasing your ability to get things done, including increasing the positive effects of your job performance.
-
-
Great advice and evidence based perspective
- By Camilo Velasquez on 06-22-23
By: Jeffrey Pfeffer
-
Loonshots
- How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
- By: Safi Bahcall
- Narrated by: William Dufris, Safi Bahcall - prologue and introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Physicist and entrepreneur Safi Bahcall reveals a surprising new way of thinking about the mysteries of group behavior that challenges everything we thought we knew about nurturing radical breakthroughs. Drawing on the science of phase transitions, Bahcall reveals why teams, companies, or any group with a mission will suddenly change from embracing wild new ideas to rigidly rejecting them.
-
-
Not a fan of the narration style
- By pd park on 04-25-19
By: Safi Bahcall
-
The Outsiders
- Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
- By: William N. Thorndike
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Outsiders, you'll learn the traits and methods striking for their consistency and relentless rationality that helped these unique leaders achieve such exceptional performance. Humble, unassuming, and often frugal, these "outsiders" shunned Wall Street and the press, and shied away from the hottest new management trends. Instead, they shared specific traits that put them and the companies they led on winning trajectories: a laser-sharp focus on per share value as opposed to earnings or sales growth; an exceptional talent for allocating capital and human resources; and the belief that cash flow, not reported earnings, determines a company's long-term value.
-
-
Great summary of the 8 CEOs, lessons to learn from
- By Jason S on 09-04-19
-
Value Investing (Second Edition)
- From Graham to Buffett and Beyond
- By: Bruce C. Greenwald, Judd Kahn, Erin Bellissimo, and others
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 18 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beat the market with the tips and techniques from the best value investors in the world. Value Investing, Second Edition is your guide to implementing value investing principles in your own portfolio, complete with a look at the approaches used by the best value investors past and present.
-
-
Sounds more like a textbook than a story
- By Amazon Customer on 04-29-25
By: Bruce C. Greenwald, and others
-
The Most Important Thing
- Uncommon Sense for The Thoughtful Investor
- By: Howard Marks
- Narrated by: John FitzGibbon
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Howard Marks, the chairman and cofounder of Oaktree Capital Management, is renowned for his insightful assessments of market opportunity and risk. After four decades spent ascending to the top of the investment management profession, he is today sought out by the world's leading value investors, and his client memos brim with insightful commentary and a time-tested, fundamental philosophy. The Most Important Thing explains the keys to successful investment and the pitfalls that can destroy capital or ruin a career.
-
-
Five Star Book, two Star Audiobook
- By Johnny on 06-08-15
By: Howard Marks
-
Sam Walton
- Made in America
- By: John Huey, Sam Walton
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet a genuine American folk hero cut from the homespun cloth of America's heartland: Sam Walton, who parlayed a single dime store in a hardscrabble cotton town into Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world. The undisputed merchant king of the late 20th century, Sam never lost the common touch. Here, finally, inimitable words. Genuinely modest, but always sure of his ambitions and achievements. Sam shares his thinking in a candid, straight-from-the-shoulder style. In a story rich with anecdotes and the "rules of the road" of both Main Street and Wall Street, Sam Walton chronicles the inspiration, heart, and optimism that propelled him to lasso the American Dream.
-
-
Capitalism Is The Way
- By Nathan Ruff on 04-14-19
By: John Huey, and others
-
What I Learned About Investing from Darwin
- By: Pulak Prasad
- Narrated by: Shawn K. Jain
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The investment profession is in a state of crisis. The vast majority of equity fund managers are unable to beat the market over the long term, which has led to massive outflows from active funds to passive funds. Where should investors turn in search of a new approach? Pulak Prasad offers a philosophy of patient long-term investing based on an unexpected source: evolutionary biology. He draws key lessons from core Darwinian concepts, mixing vivid examples from the natural world with compelling stories of good and bad investing decisions—including his own.
-
-
Investing in market leaders and hold forever
- By Anonymous User on 12-21-23
By: Pulak Prasad
-
Trillion Dollar Coach
- The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell
- By: Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The team behind How Google Works returns with management lessons from legendary coach and business executive Bill Campbell, whose mentoring of some of our most successful modern entrepreneurs has helped create well over a trillion dollars in market value. Bill Campbell played an instrumental role in the growth of several prominent companies, such as Google, Apple, and Intuit, fostering deep relationships with Silicon Valley visionaries, including Steve Jobs, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt.
-
-
This is a eulogy, not a "playbook."
- By intangiblereverie on 04-17-19
By: Eric Schmidt, and others
-
The Innovator's Dilemma
- When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
- By: Clayton M. Christensen
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
His work is cited by the world's best-known thought leaders, from Steve Jobs to Malcolm Gladwell. In this classic best seller - one of the most influential business books of all time - innovation expert Clayton Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right - yet still lose market leadership. Christensen explains why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation.
-
-
This book is best read, not heard
- By Andrea Rudert on 09-09-17
-
Playing to Win
- How Strategy Really Works
- By: Roger L. Martin, A.G. Lafley
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Playing to Win, a noted Wall Street Journal and Washington Post best seller, outlines the strategic approach Lafley, in close partnership with strategic adviser Roger Martin, used to double P&G’s sales, quadruple its profits, and increase its market value by more than $100 billion when Lafley was first CEO (he led the company from 2000 to 2009). The book shows leaders in any type of organization how to guide everyday actions with larger strategic goals built around the clear, essential elements that determine business successwhere to play and how to win.
-
-
The P&G Story
- By lniles on 04-14-15
By: Roger L. Martin, and others
-
The Diamond Age
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neal Stephenson, "the hottest science fiction writer in America", takes science fiction to dazzling new levels. The Diamond Age is a stunning tale; set in 21st-century Shanghai, it is the story of what happens what a state-of-the-art interactive device falls into the hands of a street urchin named Nell. Her life, and the entire future of humanity, is about to be decoded and reprogrammed.
-
-
The rock could use a bit more polishing
- By Tango on 05-19-13
By: Neal Stephenson
-
Unlocking the Customer Value Chain
- How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption
- By: Thales S. Teixeira, Greg Piechota
- Narrated by: Tom Weitzel
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on six years of research, Harvard Business School Professor Thales Teixeira shows how and why industries are disrupted and what established companies can do to respond - as well as what potential start-ups must master if they hope to gain a competitive edge.
-
-
This Book Is So Good That I Tell No One About It
- By E on 07-19-19
By: Thales S. Teixeira, and others
-
Zero to One
- Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
- By: Peter Thiel, Blake Masters
- Narrated by: Blake Masters
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.
-
-
Seems Insightful Until You Think A Little Deeper
- By Mark Brandon on 10-31-14
By: Peter Thiel, and others
-
HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself, Vol. 2
- HBR's 10 Must Reads Series
- By: Harvard Business Review
- Narrated by: Steve Menasche, Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Get more of the management ideas you want, from the authors you trust. With insights from leading experts, this book will inspire you to identify areas for personal growth; assess your strengths, work preferences, values, and contributions; build your skill set and stay relevant; develop learning agility; map out a plan for where you'd like your career to go - both short and long term; find fulfillment in your work; and prepare for your next opportunity.
-
-
Not Volume 2
- By Amazon Customer on 05-30-21
Bit hard to follow as audiobook
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Note that not all powers need to be used for a successful business strategy, but that when looking at a large sample of successful strategies - there is a pattern of the business using at least of these powers.
The 7 powers are:
• scale economics,
• network economics,
• counter-positioning,
• switching costs,
• branding,
• cornered resource,
process power.
However, while offering the concept of 7 powers and providing a description of them is valuable, the stories and examples behind these descriptions were lacking and sometimes were verging on trying to turn a simple concept much more complex than it should be.
Worth attention but the author tried to make a simple insightful concept too complex
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The book's concepts may be understood by just listening (Joel Richard's narration is very good), but 7 Powers also includes unusually rich supplemental material. The accompanying PDF contains visual material that strongly bolsters understanding of the 7 Powers. Kudos to Helmer and team for releasing the audio of this book for busy professionals and not skimping on the additional material that can be reviewed later to lock in the learnings.
"Simple but not simplistic," 7 Powers is powerful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's actionable, well thought out, rigorous.
I listen to a _lot_ of audio books while out biking, hiking, driving and don't often review. This, combined with Porter's 5 Forces, form a foundation for business strategy and forming a defensive moat, or attacking a much larger incumbent.
Must-Listen / Read for CEOs & founders
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Summary
The author, Hamilton Helmer is a consultant and portfolio manager that created this framework to analyze the companies he invested in. To me it seems like a gathering of some ideas and I don't think there is something really “new”. Maybe the framework and how he uses it to invest might be something innovative… Basically it is resumed in 7 powers including: scale economics, switching costs, cornered resource, counter positioning, branding, network effects, and process.
Scale Economies
I agree that this is one of the most important concepts. Another very good book about this is “Competition Demystified”. In this chapter it mentions some examples like Intel (also a very used example in several other books).
Network Economies
Also a very well known item. No news here.
Below a summary I found on the internet…
Counter-Positioning
Counter-Positioning: A newcomer adopts a new, superior business model which the incumbent does not mimic due to anticipated damage to their existing business.
This chapter introduces Counter-Positioning, the next Power type. “I developed this concept to depict a not well-understood competitive dynamic I often have observed both as a strategy advisor and an equity investor. I must confess it is my favorite form of Power, both because of my authorship and because it is so contrarian. As we will see, it is an avenue for defeating an incumbent who appears unassailable by conventional wisdom metrics of competitive strength.”
But nearly always, these featured the same outcome: the incumbent responds either not at all or too late. The incumbent’s failure to respond, more often than not, results from thoughtful calculation. They observe the upstart’s new model, and ask, “Am I better off staying the course, or adopting the new model?” Counter-Positioning applies to the subset of cases in which the expected damage to the existing business elicits a “no” answer from the incumbent. The Barrier, simply put, is collateral damage. In the Vanguard case, Fidelity looked at their highly attractive active management franchise and concluded that the new passive funds’ more modest returns would likely fail to offset the damage done by a migration from their flagship products.
What are the potential causes of such decrements? They could be numerous, but over several decades of client strategy work, I have noted two that seem common. The first involves two characteristics of challenges to incumbency:
The challenger’s approach is novel and, at first, unproven. As a consequence, it is shrouded in uncertainty, especially to those looking in from the outside. The low signal-to-noise of the situation only heightens that uncertainty.
The incumbent has a successful business model. This heritage is influential and deeply embedded, as suggested by Nelson and Winter’s notion of “routines,” and with it comes a certain view of how the world works. The CEO probably can’t help but view circumstances through this lens, at least in part. Together these two characteristics frequently lead incumbents to at first belittle the new approach, grossly underestimating its potential.
As noted in the Introduction, Power must be considered relative to each competitor, actual and implicit. With Counter-Positioning, this is particularly important, because this type of Power only applies relative to the incumbent and says nothing regarding Power relative to other firms utilizing the new business model.
Though this isn’t always the case, I have noticed a frequently repeated script for how an incumbent reacts to a CP challenge. I whimsically refer to it as the Five Stages of Counter-Positioning: Denial Ridicule Fear Anger Capitulation (frequently too late)
Once market erosion becomes severe, a Counter-Positioned incumbent comes under tremendous pressure to do something; at the same time, they face great pressure to not upset the apple cart of the legacy business model. A frequent outcome of this duality? Let’s call it dabbling: the incumbent puts a toe in the water, somehow, but refuses to commit in a way that meaningfully answers the challenge. Counter-Positioning often underlies situations in which the following developments are jointly observed: For the challenger Rapid share gains Strong profitability (or at least the promise of it) For the incumbent Share loss Inability to counter the entrant’s moves Eventual management shake-up (s) Capitulation, often occurring too late
Such reversals are rare in business, because contests typically take place over extended periods and with great thoughtfulness on all sides. Even a momentary lapse by an incumbent won’t present a sufficient opening. The only bet worthwhile for a challenger is one in which even if the incumbent plays its best game, it can be taken off the board. A competent Counter-Positioned challenger must take advantage of the strengths of the incumbent, as it is this strength which molds the Barrier, collateral damage.
Switching Costs
Switching Costs arise when a consumer values compatibility across multiple purchases from a specific firm over time. These can include repeat purchases of the same product or purchases of complementary goods.
Benefit. A company that has embedded Switching Costs for its current customers can charge higher prices than competitors for equivalent products or services. This benefit only accrues to the Power holder in selling follow-on products to their current customers; they hold no Benefit with potential customers and there is no Benefit if there are no follow-on products.
Barrier. To offer an equivalent product, competitors must compensate customers for Switching Costs. The firm that has previously roped in the customer, then, can set or adjust prices in a way that puts their potential rival at a cost disadvantage, rendering such a challenge distinctly unattractive. Thus, as with Scale Economies and Network Economies, the Barrier arises from the unattractive cost/benefit of share gains for the challenger.
Switching Costs can be divided into three broad groups:
Financial.
Procedural.
Relational.
Switching Costs are a non-exclusive Power type: all players can enjoy their benefits.
Branding
Branding is an asset that communicates information and evokes positive emotions in the customer, leading to an increased willingness to pay for the product.
Benefit. A business with Branding is able to charge a higher price for its offering due to one or both of these two reasons:
Affective valence. The built-up associations with the brand elicit good feelings about the offering, distinct from the objective value of the good.
Uncertainty reduction. A customer attains “peace of mind” knowing that the branded product will be as just as expected.
Barrier. A strong brand can only be created over a lengthy period of reinforcing actions (hysteresis), which itself serves as the key Barrier.
Brand Dilution. Firms require focus and diligence to guide Branding over time and ensure that the reputation created remains consistent in the valences it generates. Hence, the biggest pitfall lies in diminishing the brand by releasing products which deviate from, or damage, the brand image. Seeking higher “down market” volumes can reduce affective valence by damaging the aura of exclusivity, weakening positive associations with the product.
Problem is, the qualities that make Branding a Power also make it hard to change; the considerable risk is dilution or brand destruction.
Type of Good. Only certain types of goods have Branding potential as they must clear two conditions:
Magnitude: the promise of eventually justifying a significant price premium. Business-to-business goods typically fail to exhibit meaningful affective valence price premia, since most purchasers are only concerned with objective deliverables. Consumer goods, in particular those associated with a sense of identity, tend to have the purchasing decision more driven by affective valence. Here’s the reason: in order to associate with an identity, there must be some way to signal the exclusion of alternative identities.
For Branding Power derived from uncertainty reduction, the customer’s higher willingness to pay is driven by high perceived costs of uncertainty relative to the cost of the good. Such products tend to be those associated with bad tail events: safety, medicine, food, transport, etc. Branded medicine formulations, for example, are identical to those of generics, yet garner a significantly higher price. Duration: a long enough amount of time to achieve such magnitude. If the requisite duration is not present, the Benefit attained will fall prey to normal arbitraging behavior.
Cornered Resource
Cornered Resource definition: Preferential access at attractive terms to a coveted asset that can independently enhance value.
Benefit. In the Pixar case, this resource produced an uncommonly appealing product—“superior deliverables”—driving demand with very attractive price/volume combinations in the form of huge box office returns. No doubt—this was material (a large m in the Fundamental Equation of Strategy). In other instances, however, the Cornered Resource can emerge in varied forms, offering uniquely different benefits. It might, for example, be preferential access to a valuable patent, such as that for a blockbuster drug; a required input, such as a cement producer’s ownership of a nearby limestone source, or a cost-saving production manufacturing approach, such as Bausch and Lomb’s spin casting technology for soft contact lenses.
Barrier. The Barrier in Cornered Resource is unlike anything we have encountered before. You might wonder: “Why does Pixar retain the Brain Trust?” Any one of this group would be highly sought after by other animated film companies, and yet over this period, and no doubt into the future, they have stayed with Pixar. Even during the company’s rocky beginning, there was a loyalty that went beyond simple financial calculation.
Our general term for this sort of barrier is “fiat”; it is not based on ongoing interaction but rather comes by decree, either general or personal.
Another way to put this is that a Cornered Resource is a sufficient condition for potential for differential returns.
Process Power
I save it until last because it is rare. I will use the Toyota Motor Corporation as a case.
Perhaps the best way to think of it is this: Process Power equals operational excellence, plus hysteresis. Having said that, such hysteresis occurs so rarely that I am in strong agreement with Professor Porter’s sentiments.
Benefit. A company with Process Power is able to improve product attributes and/or lower costs as a result of process improvements embedded within the organization. For example, Toyota has maintained the quality increases and cost reductions of the TPS over a span of decades; these assets do not disappear as new workers are brought in and older workers retire.
Barrier. The Barrier in Process Power is hysteresis: these process advances are difficult to replicate, and can only be achieved over a long time period of sustained evolutionary advance. This inherent speed limit in achieving the Benefit results from two factors:
Complexity. Returning to our example: automobile production, combined with all the logistic chains which support it, entails enormous complexity. If process improvements touch many parts of these chains, as they did with Toyota, then achieving them quickly will prove challenging, if not impossible.
Opacity. The development of TPS should tip us off to the long time constant inevitably faced by would-be imitators. The system was fashioned from the bottom up, over decades of trial and error. The fundamental tenets were never formally codified, and much of the organizational knowledge remained tacit, rather than explicit. It would not be an exaggeration to say that even Toyota did not have a full, top-down understanding of what they had created—it took fully fifteen years, for instance, before they were able to transfer TPS to their suppliers. GM’s experience with NUMMI also implies the tacit character of this knowledge: even when Toyota wanted to illuminate their work processes, they could not entirely do so.
Good concepts (nothing really new)
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
good for huge companies
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The progression by which the theories are presented and how he ties up everything together at the end is just mind blowing.
It’s not an easy read and I’ll probably have to trade a few times again to ensure understanding and applicability. I’m more than happy to have this book resource available for my managerial toolkit.
Simple… but not simplistic
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Amazing book, but you cannot just listen to it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Simple but not simplistic breakdown of power
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Succinct and application oriented
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.