Book Review: Only the Paranoid Survive by Andy Grove
One of my all-time favorite business books, and a big influence on my leadership philosophy is Andy Grove’s Only the Paranoid Survive.
Grove participated in the founding of Intel, and went on to become President, then CEO and Chairmen. Under his leadership, Intel became the 7th most profitable company among the Fortune 500, and he was Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 1997.
In this book, Grove discusses strategic inflection points, how leaders must identify them, and lead their teams through them.
What is a “strategic inflection point?”
Grove defines a strategic inflection point as a time in the life of a business or project when its fundamentals are changing significantly. Often, “point” is really a misnomer, and it’s actually a long, sometimes painful, period of change.
To me, strategic inflection points are those times and decisions that make or break your business, your project, your Client relationship, your Executive’s view of you, etc.
You could also look at Strategic Inflection Points as tipping points as well (based on Malcolm Gladwell’s popular book The Tipping Point, another must-read).
