Learn from them. Whether you're in a global enterprise or a garage startup,Robert E. Mittelstaedt,shows you how.His techniques apply to everything from culture to strategy, customer safety to market share. They won't just help you avoid catastrophe.

The warnings were there. They didn't haveto wreck their companies, their projects, and their careers. But they let it happen. This book can keep it from happening to you.

You will make mistakes. If you don't, you're not taking enough risks. But you can make fewer of them. You can catch them early. Keep them cheap. Learn from them. Whether you're in a global enterprise or a garage startup,Robert E. Mittelstaedt, Jr. shows you how.

His techniques apply to everything from culture to strategy, customer safety to market share. They won't just help you avoid catastrophe: they'll help you improve profitability and business value, too.

Introduction

Chapter 1  The Power of M3 and the Need to Understand Mistakes

  Patterns of Mistakes and Exponential Growth

  Deadly Business Mistakes-Strategy,

  Execution, and Culture

  Can Technology Change the Odds?

  Mental Preparation, Patterns, and Warning Signs

Chapter 2  Execution Mistakes

 "Fly the Airplane"-Christmas Carols

 in the Everglades

 Coca-Cola-Don't Change the Formula,

 Change the CEO

 American Express Surprises the Market with

 Optima-Then Optima Surprises AmEx

 Failing to Learn-Air Florida Flies North

 Breaking the Chain with Skill and Extraordinary

 Luck-The "Gimli Glider"

 Webvan-Do You Want Someone to Deliver

 Your Groceries?

 Why Do We Fail to Learn?

 Insights

Chapter 3 Execution Mistakes and Successes as Catalysts

 for Change

  Intel and the "Father Knows Best" Response

  Tylenol Relieves a Headache

  "We're Not Going to Make the Airport"-

  The Case for CRM

  New Coke-Understanding Customers

  and Capabilities

  Insights: Different Products and Services with

  Similar Lessons for Transformation

Chapter 4 Strategy--How Do You Know It's a Mistake?

  Xerox-No Walk in the PARC

  Motorola's Reinventions-Does a Cat Have

  Nine Lives?

  Kodak-Doing Everything "Right" for 100 Years

  Recognizing Strategy Mistakes and

  Competitive Changes

Chapter 5 Physical Disasters with Cultural Foundations and

 Business Implications

  Titanic

  Three Mile Island

  NASA-Launch Unless Proven Unsafe

  Common Cultural Issues

  Insights

  A Note on Big Ships, Big Planes, and Nuclear Power

  Business Parallels

Chapter 6 Cultures that Create "Accidents"

  Myopia as a Fatal Business Disease

  Ford/Firestone-When the Rubber Leaves the Road

  Enron-Living on the Edge and Loving It

Chapter 7 .. Mistakes as Catalysts for Cultural Change

  Fast Food: Customers Will Have It Their

  Way-Whether You Want Them to or Not

  Rapid Culture Change in the U.S. Navy

  Submarine Force: No Second Chances

  The Grand Canyon Changes Air Traffic Control

  Flying into the Ground-with Everything Working

  Cultural Success: Working Together to Learn in

  an Emergency-United 232

  Marketing Your Culture Change

  Companies/Industries in Need of Cultural

  Change-for Different Reasons

Chapter 8 Economics at Work: Watching Entire

 Industries Lose It

  The World Automobile Industry-Trying to Defy

  the Laws of Economics

  Number 1 or 2 in Your Industry-Where

  Did It Come From?

  Old and New Companies: Convergence,

  Specialization, and Evolution

  Economic Business Visioning-the EBV Model

  Flying High and Broke-Applying EBV in

 Undifferentiated Cutthroat Competition

Chapter 9 Mistakes Aren't Just for Big Companies--Small

 Company Chains

 Choose the Right Idea-Then Change It

 Planning Your Mistakes-The Business Plan

 Financing-Choose Your Poison

 Operations-Implementation Is the Difference

 Stopping the Mistake Sequence in Smaller

 Companies

Chapter 10 Making M3 Part of Your Culture for Success

  Learning to Evaluate and Believe Early Warnings

  Learning to Detect Dangerous Patterns and

  Strategic Blunders

  The Need For Mistakes

Appendix A ,, Summary of Insights

  From Chapter l:

  From Chapter 2:

  From Chapter 3:

  From Chapter 4:

  From Chapter 5:

  From Chapter 6:

  From Chapter 7:

  From Chapter 8:

  From Chapter 9:

  From Chapter 10:

References

Index