Go to Join Raising Readers home

Leap

How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can Be Copied

Leap Open the full-size image

Contributors

By Howard Yu

Formats and Prices

On Sale
Jun 12, 2018
Page Count
288 pages
Publisher
PublicAffairs
ISBN-13
9781610398817

Price

$32.00

Price

$42.00 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. Hardcover $32.00 $42.00 CAD
  2. ebook $17.99 $22.99 CAD
  3. Audiobook Download (Unabridged)

Buy from Other Retailers:

Every business faces the existential threat of competitors producing cheaper copies. Even patent filings, market dominance and financial resources can’t shield them from copycats. So what can we do — and, what can we learn from companies that have endured and even prospered for centuries despite copycat competition?

In a book of narrative history and practical strategy, IMD professor of management and innovation Howard Yu shows that succeeding in today’s marketplace is no longer just a matter of mastering copycat tactics;. companies also need to leap across knowledge disciplines, and to reimagine how a product is made or a service is delivered. This proven tactic can protect a company from being overtaken by new (and often foreign) copycat competitors.    

Using riveting case studies of successful leaps and tragic falls, Yu illustrates five principles that span a wide range of industries, countries, and eras. Learn about how P&G in the 19th century made the leap from handcrafted soaps and candles to mass production of its signature brand Ivory, leaped into the new fields of consumer psychology and advertising, then leaped again, at the risk of cannibalizing its core product, into synthetic detergents and won with Tide in 1946. Learn about how forward-thinking companies, including China’s largest social media app—WeChat, Tokyo-based Internet service provider Recruit Holdings, and Illinois-headquartered John Deere are leaping ahead by leveraging the emergence of ubiquitous connectivity, the inexorable rise of intelligent machines, and the rising importance of managerial creativity.    

Outlasting competition is difficult; doing so over decades or a century is nearly impossible—unless one leaps. In a world marked by rapid breakthroughs in AI and global turbulence, leaders need these lessons more than ever.  Leap is a manifesto for how pioneering companies can endure and prosper in a world of constant change and inevitable copycats. 
 
 
 
 

Genre:

  • A Strategy + Business Best Business Book 
    A Financial Times Best Business Book
    An Inc. Top 10 Best Business Book 
    An 800 CEO READ Business Book to Watch
    Winner of an Axiom Business Book Award in the Business Intelligence/Innovation category
  • “Yu’s research exemplifies how management theory is rigorously built and improved. He carefully documents how companies in the past have spotted and seized opportunities for growth. I find the case studies compelling and the principles intriguing for all business leaders.”
    Clayton Christensen, author of How Will You Measure Your Life?
  • “Leap shows you how to go about deliberately thinking about adapting your business, and investigates the technological forces at work. Every leader can benefit from the wisdom found in this book.”
    Jørgen vig Knudstrop, executive chairman, The LEGO Group
  • “Howard Yu argues that, even in a future age of machine intelligence, the human ability to innovate will be the primary factor enabling companies to thrive. His advice will be invaluable to managers and CEOs worldwide.”
    V.G. Govindarajan, author of New York Times bestseller Reverse Innovation
  • “At a time when big business is challenged by start‑ups, when 100‑year‑old business models have run out of steam, and when your next competitor can come from a totally unrelated industry, Howard Yu offers important guidance on how to reinvent corporations and the need for top leaders to show compassion, pride, solidarity, and vulnerability as organizations embark on the process. The marriage of big data and humanity can fundamentally change business. I can't recommend this book highly enough.”
    Poul Weihrauch, CEO and Office of the President, Mars
  • “As technology’s tectonic shifts reshape how companies win, Howard Yu shows the criticality of good management today. In Leap, he’s written a valuable guide to help managers prepare their companies for long and successful lives.”
    Keith Ferrazzi, author of New York Times bestseller Never Eat Alone
  • “A deeply thoughtful journey on why human curiosity and creativity matter more, not less, than ever in the new brave world of ubiquitous connectivity and smart machines. And why and how we as leaders need to learn to leap ‑ and not just incrementally extrapolate what we already know.”
    Jouko Karvinen, Chairman, Finnair
  • “A truly remarkable book that addresses the fundamental challenge facing managers who seek to sustain growth. Powerful case examples illustrate important concepts drawn from science and sociology as well as business.”
    Joseph L. Bower, Harvard Business School

You May Also Like

The Crux
The Crux $32.00 $42.00 CAD
The Interaction Field
The Interaction Field $28.00 $35.00 CAD
Pivot to the Future
Pivot to the Future $28.00 $36.50 CAD
Unsafe Thinking
Unsafe Thinking $36.00 $46.00 CAD
The Signals Are Talking
The Signals Are Talking $19.99 $25.99 CAD

Howard Yu

About the Author

Howard Yu is the LEGO professor of management and innovation at IMD business school in Switzerland, and director of the Advanced Management Program (AMP), a three-week executive course. Yu was selected by Poets&Quants in 2015 as one of “The World’s Top 40 Business Professors Under 40,” and in 2018, he appeared on the Thinkers50 Radar list of thirty management thinkers “most likely to shape the future of how organizations are managed and led.” Yu received his doctoral degree from Harvard Business School.

Learn more about this author