Must-Win Battles: Creating the focus you need to achieve your key business goals (Financial Times Series) - Hardcover

Killing, Peter; Malnight, Thomas; Keys, Tracey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0273704575 ISBN 13: 9780273704577

Publisher: Pearson Education Canada, 2005

Synopsis

Must Win Battles shows business leaders how to identify and agree on the key critical challenges that will make or break their business, and helps them to mobilize their people and resources to achieve those goals.

 

• The book is structured like the executive programme at IMD upon which it is based, and is full of the real voices of participants who have made the MWB "journey".
• It is positioned squarely in the growing execution/delivery space in the market, and plays to the personal and performance approaches that are dominating leadership.
• Reveals a tested framework for deciding what is "must-win," as opposed to merely urgent or everyday.
• Shows how to focus people, resources and time on the most decisive activities and challenges.
• Real leaders and managers speak directly from the pages to the reader, describing their whole MWB journey.
• Positioning: Unique. Unlike other books, Must-Win Battles bridges the gap between strategy development and implementation by tackling the intellectual and emotional challenges simultaneously. 

About this title

From the Back Cover

 

Must-Win Battlesis an essential companion for leaders who want to cut through an array of uncoordinated initiatives, and bring focus and renewed energy to their organizations.

 

“Moving a company to the next level requires confronting the right challenges, and Peter Killing, Thomas Malnight, and Tracey Keys show how to pick your battles and then how to win them.  Their Must-Win Battles provides a practical playbook for unleashing and aligning the intellectual and emotional energies essential for any business triumph.” 

Michael Useem, Director-Center for Leadership and Change Management, The Wharton School and author of The Leadership Moment

 

 “In Must-Win Battles Peter Killing and Thomas Malnight have distilled their richly varied experiences drawn from many organizations over many years.  Together they have created a practical handbook for all managers who are interested in re-energizing and improving their business performance.  Must-Win Battles is easy to read and brimful with practical advice; well worth a few hours of your time.”

Iain Ferguson CBE, Chief Executive, Tate & Lyle PLC

Named European Businessman of the Year by Forbes Magazine, 2005

 

 “Working with must-win battles has fundamentally changed our approach to where we seek growth in the market and the way we engage our people in realizing these goals. Must-win battles are the glue that ties the business together globally, that everyone understands and can contribute to.  The process clarifies for everyone the long-term vision and business direction, where to allocate resources and why it is important to get aligned.” 

Diego Bevilacqua, President, Foodsolutions, Unilever

 

“Every executive knows that there are certain battles that must be won for the business tobe successful.  This great new book provides a real-world, step-by-step approach to choosing the right battles in a way that helps unleash the organizational will to achieve them.  Must Win Battles is a wonderful contribution to the art and science of management!  So much so that it’s inspired me to launch my own MWB journey.”

Bob Rieder, President & CEO Cardiome Pharma Corp.

 

About the Author

Peter Killing and Tom Malnight are Professors of Strategy at IMD. The ideas in this book come directly from their extensive work with management teams across many countries, and in both large and small organizations, who are creating winning strategies using the must-win battle concepts.  From these experiences it is abundantly clear that the "intellectual" approach to strategy is not enough. What Peter, Tom and the managers highlighted in this book believe is that "strategic priorities with heart" will win the day.

At IMD Peter runs company-specific programs for companies such as Nestlé, BMW, PepsiCo International, Scottish & Newcastle, Tetra Laval and Tate & Lyle. Tom’s experience includes work with companies including Unilever, A.P. Moller - Maersk Group, Masterfoods, Firmenich, Carlsberg and Adecco. He also directs IMD's Booster program, an intensive program focusing on accelerating project and team development, while Peter runs the Breakthrough Program for Senior Executives and Mastering New Challenges, a program for managers about to take on new responsibilities.

Both Tom and Peter have written widely on the topics of strategy, change and leadership, in publications ranging from the Harvard Business Review to the Academyof Management Journal. Peter is a co-author of a strategy text, Strategic Analysis and Action, which is currently in its sixth edition.

 

Tom has a DBA from the HarvardBusinessSchooland was on the faculty of The Wharton School for seven years before joining IMD.  Before his doctorate, he spent ten years with Mitsubishi International Corporation, including two years in Japan.  Peter holds a PhD from the IveyBusinessSchoolin Canada, where he taught for twenty years and was Associate Dean of Executive Education at the time he came to IMD.

 

Tracey Keys  has twenty years of experience as a consultant and manager, focused on complex strategy and organisational issues.   She has worked with companies in the media, consumer goods, finance and new media sectors across Europe, the USand Africa.  Previously, Tracey has held senior roles at the BBC, where she was Head of Corporate Planning, Booz ½Allen ½Hamilton, and Deloitte & Touche/ Braxton Associates.  She has also been an active advisor to start-ups, several of which have been launched successfully in the technology, publishing, wine and consulting fields.  Tracey is a Fulbright Scholar and holds an MBA from The Wharton School where she was distinguished as a Palmer Scholar.

 

Edition details

• Publisher: Pearson Education Canada
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0273704575
• ISBN 13: 9780273704577
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248