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August 2016 Vol. 53 No. 12

In this book, O’Reilly (Stanford Univ.) and Tushman (Harvard Business School) warn against believing that success begets success. Today's winning game may be irrelevant when competing with tomorrow's disruptive innovators.  The authors give many examples: from traditional taxis confronted by ride-sharing firms, to banks confronted by online banking, to department stores finding Amazon to be a growing competitor, to low-cost distance learning portals confronting universities.  They credit 20 years of consulting and teaching in executive programs for contacts with senior executives who have helped them understand the dynamics of ambidextrous firms.  Ambidexterity involves designing organizations that can succeed as mature businesses through continuous improvement, being customer driven, and executing plans with rigor, while at the same time competing in new emerging businesses requiring agility, flexibility, and tolerance for mistakes.  They note the book is built on a large body of academic research that they do not cite, since it would exhaust the practicing managers who are the intended readers.  Geoffrey A. Moore’s Zone to Win: Organizing to Compete in an Age of Disruption (2015) shows how digital disruption can be used by anyone in any industry.

--C. Wankel, St. John's University, New York

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Professionals.