Rating: 
Summary: Great Framework for Leading Change in the Face of Adversity
Review: Revival of the Fittest is the best business book I have read in years. Its findings were rigorously researched and explained with unpretentious simplicity. I have used his findings, especially the framework of transformational commitments to overcome inertia, in my consulting work with distressed companies. It has been enormously helpful. I had read other books, which describe root causes of corporate failure. Sull goes beyond this by looking at successful corporate transformations. Companies which, when faced with a devastating shock, managed to reinvent themselves. Successful transformations require major commitments and Sull gives us a framework to think about which type of commitment may work as anchor for a given situation. He illustrates his points with carefully selected pairs of companies from different industries in three continents. The findings are not only interesting. They are also backed up by serious research! As I have thought about the commitments I have come realize the applicability to personal life - not just corporate transformations. Given the state of the economy for the last few years, people have had to reinvent careers, just like companies have been forced to reinvent their businesses. I am struck by how well Sull's framework of commitments can be applied to personal life.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing look at the rise, fall, rebound of companies
Review: This is an excellent, pragmatic, and thoroughly engaging book on how successful companies can find themselves at risk for failure due to what Sull coins as "active inertia". This concept is illustrated with a great set of corporate examples which are different from the ones used in many other business texts -- and this is a key feature which sets the book apart from its competitors. Sull walks the reader through some very useable steps for how companies can transform themselves and avert obsolescence. A great book, greatly written.
| 
