I had the privilege of attending a presentation given by author Geoffrey Moore two weeks ago. He is working on a new book, and was sharing one of the core ideas with the audience. It wasn't as amusing as when I was at Catch a Rising Star in New York in 1983 and Eddie Murphy came in to try out new material, but it was a close second :). His book is about the 'Hierarchy of Powers'. The Powers he detailed were: Category Power, Company Power, Market Power, Offer Power, and Performance Power. He focused his discussion on Category Power - the total economic potential to generate future returns. In particular he detailed, 'Horizon 2', where new businesses developing within a medium to large company have a 12 to 36 month window of opportunity to succeed. Drawing on his early famous work, he referred to Horizon 2 as crossing the chasm inside the belly of a whale. In other words, its hard. Because $10M is too small a business for a large company, and you need to get to $100M to get noticed. As a result, established enterprises kill new category investments in Horizon 2, trapping the company in legacy. He then went to to explain how a large company could roll out a new successful business. There are 7 vectors, that he referred to as The" Seven S" Model". The Seven S's are Strategy, Style, Skills, Structure, Systems, Staff, and Shared Values. A few of the key points he made include:
- Structure: All functions report directly to GM - but the organization is temporary, and will dissolve itstelf into the normal corporate structure.
- Strategy: Focus everyone on hitting objective, market confirmed milestones in the shortest possible time.
- Style: GMs should be given unusual latitude in shaping assignments and reporting relationships , recruiting from other organizations, and replacing staff who are failing to make commitments.
