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THE THREE TENSIONS
BY DOMINIC DODD & KEN FAVARO
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The Three Tensions: Winning the Struggle to Perform Without Compromise hits bookstores January 2007.
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Profitability or growth? Results today or tomorrow? More synergy or better standalone performance? Ask managers which they want and most will tell you both. But, they will also tell you that more progress on one front usually comes with less progress on the other. It's like squeezing a balloon in one place only to find that it expands elsewhere.
Based on four decades of experience working with some of the world's best-known companies, Dominic Dodd and Ken Favaro explore the three tensions every company faces and how to overcome them. They draw on groundbreaking research into the 20-year performance of more than 1,000 companies and on in-depth discussions with 20 chairmen and CEOs of corporations such as Alcan, Barclays, BP, Cadbury Schweppes, Cardinal Health, Dow Jones, Gillette, Reuters, Roche, Textron, and Xerox.
The authors put forward a radically new way to assess company performance: batting average – a measure of how often competing objectives are achieved at the same time. They show how this matters more than any other single measure of operating performance. And they explain how you can raise your batting average to unlock better performance.
Managers in any type of organization, at any level, will find The Three Tensions an invaluable source of new ideas and practical advice.
Early praise for The Three Tensions:
"To win, leaders have to push their companies beyond trade-offs. They must find strong growth at premium returns, not one or the other. They must deliver great results today and build for the future at the same time, not push for earnings that can’t be sustained. The Three Tensions is about having both at the same time more of the time. I recommend it to any manager serious about winning."
— James Kilts, former chairman, CEO and president, The Gillette Company
"Leadership can’t be just about telling people what you expect of them. The Three Tensions sets out a range of helpful tactics leaders can adopt to really engage their people in the search for good performance on many fronts."
— Andrew Cosslett, chief executive, InterContinental Hotels Group plc
"The Three Tensions speaks to fundamental management issues, perhaps the most fundamental. Managers looking for new ideas on how to improve performance will find it very stimulating. I found my own thinking very much influenced by it."
— John Roberts, John. H. Scully Professor of Economics, Strategic Management and International Business, Stanford Business School, and author of The Modern Firm, winner of The Economist’s Best Business Book of 2004
The Three Tensions: Winning the Struggle to Perform Without Compromise (Jossey-Bass, 2007) is available for order through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com and is available in bookstores now. Visit www.thethreetensions.com to learn more.
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