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#Management

How I Choose Which Book to Read Next

#Management #Leadership #Processes

I get asked this question from time to time, and I always say it depends on the context and the current situation. For example, a couple of weeks ago, it flew by. news Cisco Acquires Splunk Company for 28 billion dollars. This is interesting news due to the fact that Cisco is a top company for the production of network devices and not only, and Splunk is one of the leaders in the market of observability platforms. So I decided to find out more about her and, having finished reading the previous books, took a paper book from the shelf.Connecting dots. Leadership lessonsJohn Chambers, ex-CEO of the company 1995 yearly 2015.

In this book, John shares his approach to management with examples from IBM, Wang Laboratories, and mostly Cisco. 20 Over the years, he built a company that 2000 This year it was the most expensive in the world:) One of the chapters is called “My Plan for Successful Acquisitions,” in which John talks about his approach, which is based on the idea of a successful acquisition. 4 keystone

  1. Focus on acquisitions that will allow you to enter or expand into new markets during the transition period.
  2. Listen to customer recommendations
  3. Integrate your company immediately unless you buy it as a standalone business unit.
  4. Persistently align with your culture and values

I wonder what exactly is strategic. takeoverThe success of the project allowed John to become the head of the company, and then turn another one. 179 the acquisitions it has conducted in accordance with the above principles. He went on to share seven golden rules they used to make deals:

  1. Each acquisition must be in line with your vision and strategy.
  2. The focus should be on market transformation and disruptive technology innovation.
  3. Listen to the recommendations of customers when choosing the object of absorption
  4. Create a mutually beneficial situation for both companies, their executives, investors, employees and customers
  5. Give preference to companies and technologies that fit your profile
  6. Choose companies whose culture is very much in line with yours.
  7. Consider geographical proximity to your headquarters or main operations centers

Separately, John says that the merger is a good opportunity for companies of different sizes, where a large company absorbs a small one. But for comparable companies, the best option is a strategic partnership - it is not as risky as a combination, but allows you to get good results. In this case, it should also be of strategic importance for companies, both companies should have the motivation for this partnership, this idea should be shared by the entire top management of the company, and several projects should be initiated within the framework of the partnership so that the overall balance of portfolio value is relatively fairly distributed between companies. John also provides statistics on what 180 Only a third of acquisitions were unsuccessful, and several dozen companies grew into billion-dollar destinations in turnover. It is through acquisitions that Cisco has actively expanded its portfolio of products for “Changing the Way, We Work, Live, Play and Learn.”

P.S. I’m going to write about the whole book, but I’m going to talk about one chapter:) #Management #Leadership #Processes