Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win

Rating:
Summary: A winner
Review: Excellent and concise...a very readable management text on setting up hardball initiatives in your organization with plenty of applicable and eye-opening real-life case scenarios of companies that have implemented these strategies and met tremendous success because of them. I read this book in one sitting and have filed away several strategies that I hope to use in my own business dealings.

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Summary: Thought provoking ways to evaluate your strategy
Review: Fantastic Book! It has excellent real examples of what works and what does not work in today's business climate. It reiterates the importance of being vigilant to developing strategies to meet the ever changing market conditions and provides viable alternative actions that can be taken. Finally it lists examples and ideas regarding how to evaluate your strategies.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Hardball is a refreshing, unapologetic return to what drives success - strategy. The authors do a great job laying out the precepts and the supporting case histories are clear and compelling. It is a driving read and it rewards rereading.

Rating:
Summary: Staying focused
Review: I learned alot about staying focused in business, playing agressively, and operating close to the line without stepping over it. Authors give good illustrations, seem to have deep experience across many industries, and talk directly to the reader in a no-nonsense style. Lots of good tips I can apply to my own business dealings.


Rating:
Summary: Provocation and substance
Review: I wasn't sure about Stalk's thesis here but looked forward to the book based on his granite reputation. Last thing we need is more empty admonitions about the Relentless Pursuit of Whatever. Gratefully, this is a fine book. Its power is not just its viewpoint, but the practical substance that backs it up. You will plan, decide, and act more successfully having read this--which is the only real reason to read a business book.

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Summary: A Full-count Change-up
Review: If you want to rip through the stalemates you find yourself in with competitors (driven by lower risk, "best in class" strategies) ... read the book: A "how to" in picking the unexpected pitch, even at the most risky of times. Those with the fortitude to act will be marketplace winners over the long run.

Rating:
Summary: Otherwise, why keep score?
Review: It is important to make a distinction between recreation and competition, both of which can have great value and are most obvious in athletics as well as in the business world. According to Stalk and Lachenauer, "Softball players have no competitive advantage or, if they have one, may not know what it is or may be unable to exploit it. Often softballers can drift along for years, finding ways -- through trade loading, for example, or cost cutting -- to stay afloat from quarter to quarter. A few may seek to disguise their poor performance through activities -- such as creating shell customers -- that are questionable, if not illegal. In the parlance of pitching, such companies are throwing junk."

The focus of this book is on winners in business who have always played hardball: those who "use every legitimate resource and strategy available to them to gain advantage over their competitors...[and by doing so] attract more customers, gain market share, boost profits, reward their employees, and weaken their competitors' positions." Hardballers are wholly committed to winning "the game" and do so, key point, by always playing by its "rules." Their goal is always decisive victory so as to sustain dominance. With regard to social responsibility, it is noteworthy that Stalk and Lachenauer quote Milton Friedman's observation that there is "one and only one" in business: "...to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud."

In a company playing hardball, it is the leader's main role to keep alive the quest for competitive advantage and engage everyone else in that quest, constantly maintaining total focus on what Stalk and Lachenauer refer to as "the heart of the matter --- a very small set of vital issues whose resolution will determine the future of the organization." Obviously, Stalk and Lachenauer take a no-nonsense approach to playing to win. "Sometimes hardball players have to play a little rough and, when they do, they don't apologize for it." It is important to remember that the hardball perspective includes employees as well as customers, vendors, and service providers as well as competitors. Expectations are high and there is zero-tolerance of anything less than a best effort. When creating discomfort for others, hardballers must be willing and able to tolerate it themselves. They know what it means when claiming "We mean business." They do.

Think about the most successful professional teams such as the Boston Celtics, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Yankees, and Montreal Canadiens. Members of each of their championship teams made all manner of personal sacrifices to achieve their team's success. I recall Jack Dempsey's comment that "champions get up when they can't." The most successful athletic teams are renowned for gaining and then sustaining dominance over an opponent. They work harder and they play smarter. And they always play by the rules, viewing with contempt those who don't. The same is also true of those whose names reappear year after year on the list of the Fortune 500 Companies.

I expect this book to generate a great deal of discussion because Stalk and Lachenauer take a hardball attitude toward their reader: "Are you playing to play or playing to win?" Hardballers know who they are. For them, this book states what is already obvious to them. As for softballers, this book can serve as a reality check. Hopefully they will read it and learn from it before it is too late, then make necessary adjustments of their mindset and behavior.

Rating:
Summary: Good Strategy Book
Review: There are not many good book on "hard-issues" that is readable and applicable. This is a very good book on strategy. It shows how hardball players win bigtime all the time. Hardball players push the envelope and make decisive competitive advantage strategy. I think all MBA students of Competitive Strategy should read this one.

When Hewlett Packard announced weak results because of price competition in PCs, DELL announced an across-the-board price cut - delivering a swift kick to its rival when it was down. Dell is a hardball player. No other PC maker approach DELL's market share or profitability. Wal-Mart, Toyota, Frito-lay, Cisco are all harball players.

There are 5 principles of hardball players: They focus relentlessly on competitive advantage, They strive to convert competitive advantage into decisive advantage, They imploy indirect attack, They exploit their employees' will to win, and They draw a bright line in the cautious zone.

6 Hardball startegies layed out clearly with samples clearly defined and described. Unlease massive and overwhelming forces. Exploit Anomalies. Threaten your competitor's profit sanctuaries. Take it and make it your own. Entice your competitor into retreat. and Break Compromise.

I particularly love Break Compromise. It is the most powerful source of growth. It is based on innovation and startegic intent.

Written by two Boston Consulting Group people should make this book credible. Lots of the samples are quiet clear on the explanation it feels like I am back to school again. I love it and I think this book will become a classic.

Rating:
Summary: Rallying Cry
Review: This book got me out of my comfortable chair. The case studies are compelling, the strategies are impactful and the challenge is direct. It's clear that Stalk and Lachenauer love the sport of business and want to help build some new championship teams. They have a passion for commerce, competition and excellence. Beyond the sports analogy, I felt like I was reading one of Shakespeare's great rally cries: "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more..."

Rating:
Summary: Very good business stories.
Review: Using baseball vernacular, the authors of this book say that the most successful companies are those that keep their mind on developing strategies that gain them competitive advantage, which in turn will bring them substantial sales margins, above-average profit margins and earnings, lower-than-average debt, higher-than average credit ratings, and most important, leading market share. How can you possibly argue with that.

But then they talk about drawing a bright line in what they call the caution zone. That's the point where society clearly says stop: up say, until someone finds you've created a Love Canal; a Bhopal, India gas leak; or of course that lovely morning when the Justice Department's Anti Trust Folk come calling.

I could do without the sports comparisons, but the descriptions of the actions of various companies, the anecdotes of success, how the game is played in the major leagues (sorry, I had to) is quite interesting and well worth the low cost of the book. All you need is one or two good ideas to make up your cost and time.