Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing: A Slick Re-Packaging of Warmed-Over Ideas
Review: Granted, Hamel is a strategy genius. But there is little in this book that you haven't read before, either by him or others, both in books and the numerous e-commerce magazines. The book has a cool, revolutionary design but its content can be grasped just by reading through the sub-headings. This is a good refresher course on what companies need to do in the face of the Internet revolution sweeping the business world. But those who haven't already got the message are unlikely to "get it" from Hamel's hectoring and rah-rah enthusiasm. If you already "get it" then you really don't need this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Revolutionize new wealth creation through innovation
Review: Professor Hamel's call to revolutionize innovation stretches the mind to develop new business strategies and to explode old corporate myths. By shaking up the old guard business concept development within companies, the revolutionary can create new wealth, not progressive increases to the old. But this system does require the license to operate from the top of the company. For if executives don't nurture and accept the revolutionary, then the innovation will defect to someplace that will. Hamel's new synthesis extends his previous thesis in "Competing for the Future" to a start-up mentality for creating new business in the present. Hamel is leading the revolution today, but one of his readers may be the innovator of strategy that someday takes the top guru spot.
Rating: 
Summary: THE "How To Manifesto" for Innovative Growth
Review: Just about every CEO believes their own company is innovative, by listening to the customer and/or building new products and services to meet customer needs. Hamel doesn't only reject that notion outright, he "changes the game" and instead says that most companies are stuck in the outdated paradigms of innovation that existed in the "age of progress," which is now dead. The age of progress lasted about 500 years, but has now been replaced by the "age of revolution" where progress is no longer linear, but discontinuous and abrupt... blink and you miss. In the age of revolution, we are only limited by our imagination, and never before in history has the gap between imagination and what can be done ever been smaller. Today, billion dollar businesses are created overnight in the blink of an eye. In the historic age of progress, innovation consisted of new products and technology, best practices, continuous improvement, six sigma, and reengineering. While still important, the incremental nature of further gains from these strategies will be relatively minor. Today, only radical business concept innovation (BCI) will propell a company to spectactular shareholder return. Radical new ideas are now the fuel propelling the rocket, not new products and technology by themselves. Ideas are now the currency of success in the age of revolution. Radical new business models that change industries (or society) do not come from executive management, R&D, strategy groups, OR outside consultants. Instead, radical new ideas usually come from the rebel activist, the malcontent, the smart-alec, or diot-savant who is not constrained by existing mental models, but instead leap-frogs over these mental constraints. The only way to create and tap into radical new ideas is to engage your whole company by teaching everyone about the existing business model (which Hamel lays out in detail), and then asking them to challenge the model by becoming dreamers again. In other words, you need to bring the dynamic idea conception ability, and enthusiasm, of Silicon Valley into your own company by breaking down the walls of existing management heirarchy that stagnate new ideas and growth. Hamel's book is a manifesto blue print on the details of HOW to do this, including how to break down the existing cliques that control strategy making.... which is the highest hurdle to establishing radical innovation as an embedded core competency in your company. If top executives ignore the advice provided in this book, and/or reject those who rebel against the existing strategy making processes, then your competitors (or others) who do accept this advice will have an extrordinary advantage in competing against your company.
Rating:
Summary: some good stuff but here we go again.....
Review: While this book is worth reading I have to say I was a little disappointed. For one thing, I had to keep looking at the book jacket to make sure the book was written by Gary Hamel and not Tom Peters. Gary has gone to the mountain top to preach a message that is probably worth repeating but certainly not new. Innovate or die. Revolt or fail. Rebel. Be an activist. Change before it's too late. Like most "mountain-top" books, this one makes a great case for change. It's compelling. It gets you convinced to lead a revolution. In this case toward what Hamel refers to as "business concept innovation" - "the capacity to reconceive existing business models in ways that create new value for customers, rude surprises for competitors and new wealth for investors". Business concept innovation means that wealth-creating champions have unique capabilities, unique assets, unique value propositions, and unique market positioning. Simple product or marketing innovation will not do in the "age of the revolution" according to Hamel. It's a neat concept but this is where the book begins to break down for me. While Hamel claims that radical invention and radical differentiation of the business model is the answer, many of the examples cited in the rest of the book seem to be discrepant with the claim. Hamel cites IBM's Internet undertaking and Sony's PlayStation success as examples. But how could they be considered as examples of creating new business models? Aren't they really just examples of IBM and Sony adapting to clearly established trends? Another example cites (department store) Target's inviting shopping environment but isnt that simply an example of good old-fashioned store merchandising (a.k.a. marketing)? Hamel claims or implies that most companies know how to execute but not how to develop strategy but is this completely true? Sure, GREAT strategy is rare (and difficult to develop for sure) but aren't there also lots of companies that DON'T know how to serve their customers, that don't know how to turn a profit regularly and that can't implement basic systems well? WalMart is another example cited often in the book but isn't their advantage the fact that they are great implementors as well as strategists? And what about the companies over the years that simply create wealth by being great copy-cats and not "revolutionary innovators"? Office Depot, Microsoft, Burger King, ATG, Papa Johns Pizza, Excite, AOL, AMD, Bath and Body Works, E-Trade, etc. etc. etc. etc! Were/are these companies successful because of radical new business models or because of great fundamental execution? Aren't their accomplishments equally commendible if not as admirable? Do we really know? Yea, I get disturbed by all of the "hype-notic" management writing that takes place these days but in the end I'm grateful to read a book and get stimulated. Hamel's book IS STIMULATING and provides much food for thought. A bit overpackaged/overproduced but a worthwhile read anyway. So I give it 4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: you snooze? you WILL lose!
Review: My test of buying an known or unknown author's work is to find the book in a bricks-n-morter bookstore (sorry Amazon), and read the first 5-10 pages. If I don't Feel Something like WOW or REALLY-WOW! by then, I'll shelve that book, and look for something else. (This is how I bought "Circle of Innovation", by Tom Peters) I placed my order for this book based on the article I found in Fortune magazine. About TWO MONTHS in advance of shipment. Once again Mr Hamel has cleared away layers of smoke & mirrors that going-nowhere-fast corporations are using to hide their lackluster (I'm being way to kind here) job performance. Although I've almost finished chapter one, I wanted to tell anyone reading this review that businesses that utilize the completely understandable concepts Mr Hamel posits in "Leading the Revolution" will find it difficult to fail. There's no big math here. The current corporate lazy-boy or lazy-girl lose-lose games are exposed and trumped handily on pages 38 through 57. These pages alone are worth many more times the price of the book. My stock advisor WILL be getting a call from me regarding what & how to invest my funds today, based on the ratio of revenue growth over earning growth ratio that is succinctly described on pages 39-40. For the investors reading this, those 2 pages will really open your eyes. In conclusion, "Leading the Revolution" will be read by the wise, marveled at by the smart, and overlooked by the wave of business losers coming soon to an unemployment line near you.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing--stylish rah-rah, little substance
Review: This book is a very slick production--consultants developing their own book should take a look at the style shown here. In my opinion, though, form is not matched by substance. This book talks about "business concept innovation" (a lot), but doesn't seem to get much beyond noting that successful business concept innovation involves foresight and luck. I think there is less substance here than teh heft of the book would suggest. The book asserts that competition, today and into the future, is now between business concepts. I think that competition is still about understanding and satisfying customer wants and needs. A customer focus allows for a deeper understanding of why businesses succeed or fail. The book's focus on business concepts, by contrast, seems to lead to nothing more than "Fast Company" rah-rah. The book does demonstrate imagination in conceiving of possible new ways to run businesses. Unfortunately, the book's examples of successful innovators include companies that were already headed for extinction as the book was released--arguably because their business concepts were inherently flawed. But this is not the book to explain why one business concept is better than another one--in the reality described here, the most radically different concept is always the best. The book takes a number of gratuitous jabs at other consultants' books, particularly Adrian Slywotzky's "The Profit Zone" and "Profit Patterns." If you are not familiar with these other books, then the remarks will be cryptic. Personally, I found "Profit Patterns" useful (see my review)--much more so than this book.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read about the strategy-innovation link
Review: Although "Leading the Revolution" is something of a re-statement of Hamel's previous works (Competing the Future and Strategy as Revolution in HBR), it is nevertheless a compelling book with important insights around strategy and innovation. Strategy and innovation must go hand-in-hand, something I've been looking at in my own work. Hamel has helped me understand the necessity of radical, discontinuous innovation in my work, something that is not always easy to get others to see. Although I don't work in a Fortune 500 company or even for a for-profit organization, I still see tremendous value in "Leading the Future" and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to think expansively about the future!
Rating:
Summary: An Operations Manual for Corporate Revolutionaries
Review: Hamel is among the most insightful analysts of the contemporary business world. If you and/or your organization needs to be energized (or re-energized), this book is "must reading" ASAP. But a word of caution: The cohesive and comprehensive program Hamel presents is NOT for the faint of heart nor for dimwits. In his Preface, he tells us "This is a book about innovation -- not in the usual sense of new products and new technologies, but in the sense of radical new business models. It begins by laying out the revolutionary imperative: we've reached the end of incrementalism, and only those companies that are capable of creating industry revolutions will prosper in the new economy. It then provides a detailed blueprint of what you [italics] can do to get the revolution started in your own company. Finally, it describes in detail an agenda for making innovation as ubiquitous a capability as quality or customer service. Indeed, my central argument is that radical innovation the [italics] competitive advantage for the new millennium." The material is carefully organized as follows: Part I Facing Up to the Revolution Part II Finding the Revolution Part III Igniting the Revolution Part IV Sustaining the Revolution Hamel concludes with these remarks: "I began this book with a simple observation -- that for the first time in history, our heritage is no longer our destiny. Our dreams are no longer fantasies but possibilities. There isn't a human being who has ever lived who right now, at this moment so pregnant with promise. Among all your forebears, among the countless generations who had no hope of progress, among all those whose spirits were betrayed by progress, you are the one who now stands on the threshold of -- the age of revolution. You are blessed beyond belief. Don't falter. Don't hesitate. You were given the opportunity for a reason. Find it. Lead the revolution." If you and/or your organization are in the doldrums, this is "must reading." But be forewarned: As Hamel explains so carefully, being a revolutionary is to be exposed to constant perils. If you are a dimwit or faint of heart, don't bother to read this book because it was not written for you. Rather, it was written for many of those with whom you compete: People with courage and principle. People who are prudent but passionate risk-takers. Those who are determined to make a difference. Those who understand the challenges which the future offers...and will pounce on them with zeal and elan. Hamel's new book is a stunning achievement.
Rating:
Summary: A extraordinary book on business strategy
Review: Hamel have done it again. Revolutionary, creative, innovative. A must read for those managing business in the new economy. People lyke Hamel, Prahalad, Govindarjan and Stuart Wells are proposing a new view for strategic thinking. If you really want to fire up your thinking about strategy making you've got to read Leading the Revolution and Choosing the Future (from Stuart Wells)
Rating:
Summary: One of the best business books I read recently
Review: Leading the Revolution is a successful effort to warn managers that the digital age is not about adding an "e-" in front of the word "business". It is about reinventing the way companies do business, and new business models. The book also provides the reader with an analysis of the "revolutions" that were implemented by companies such as FedEx and Cemex.
| 
