Beyond Performance: How Great Organizations Build Ultimate Competitive Advantage

The secret of achieving and sustaining organizational excellence revealed

In an ever-changing world where only a third of excellent organizations stay that way over the long term, and where even fewer are able to implement successful change programs, leaders are in need of big ideas and new tools to thrive. In Beyond Performance, McKinsey & Company's Scott Keller and Colin Price give you everything you need to build an organization that can execute in the short run and has the vitality to prosper over the long term.

Drawing on the most exhaustive research effort of its kind on organizational effectiveness and change management, Keller and Price put hard science behind their big idea: that the health of an organization is equally as important as its performance. In the book's foreword, management guru Gary Hamel refers to this notion as "a new manifesto for thinking about organizations."

• The authors illustrate why copying management best practices from other companies is more dangerous than helpful
• Clearly explains how to determine the mutually reinforcing combination of management practices that best fits your organization's context
• Provides practical tools to achieve superior levels of performance and health through a staged change process: aspire, assess, architect, act, and advance. Among these are new techniques for dealing with those aspects of human behavior that are seemingly irrational (and therefore confound even the smartest leaders), yet entirely predictable

Ultimately, building a healthy organization is an intangible asset that competitors copy at their peril and that enables you to skillfully adapt to and shape your environment faster than others—giving you the ultimate competitive advantage.

Scott Keller is a director in the Southern California office of McKinsey & Company, and leads its transformational change practice inthe Americas. He has published several articles on change management and organizational behavior, as well as a book for colleagues and clients. He holds an MBA and a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and has worked as a manufacturing manager with Procter & Gamble and a photovoltaic engineer for the U.S. Department of Energy. Outside McKinsey, Scott is a cofounder of Digital Divide Data, an award-winning social enterprise that utilizes a sustainable IT service model to benefit some of the world's most disadvantaged people.

Colin Price is a director in McKinsey's London office, and leads its organization practice worldwide. He has advised many of the world's largest corporations, several national governments, and a number of charitable institutions. His booksinclude Mergers (with his colleague David Fubini and Maurizio Zollo of INSEAD), and Vertical Take-Off (with Sir Richard Evans, former chairman of British Aerospace). He holds degrees in economics, industrial relations and psychology, and organizational behavior. He is an associate fellow at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and a visiting professor at Bath University.