How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company

Interesting book from the point of view of Andrew Grove about the strategic shift in Intel from memories to microprocessors. Andrew Grove takes the Intel case as a starting point and makes a compelling general approach to inflection points in business and in one's professional life.

Even though it says "and Careers" in the title of this book, the words are largely about Intel. I think that "and Careers" could have come first because of the importance of this book to individuals. Each of us is truly a corporation, our careers are our product, and we must make decisions about direction, allocate resources to meet unexpected demands, plan for acquisitions (like a spouse or children). Each of us has our SIPs (strategic inflection points) just as Intel did. And very much the same methods are appropriate; get information, explore possibilities, and finally establish a course of action. Much of the pain of change can be turned into pleasure!! Recommended for all!

Andrew Grove does a really nice job of presenting the story of Intel and others in the context of his 'strategic inflection point' idea. I thought the book was well-written, insightful, and engaging.

I started to get a little bored in the second half of the book though. In all fairness, the book was written 16 years before I read it. That is, it would have been really good (five stars) if I had read it then. Sixteen years later, I still found it to be worth reading -- but the stars start to fade over time.

Like many popular management books, Andy Grove's "Only the Paranoid Survive" is unlikely to knock your socks off with its insightful business advice. Rather, the book is chock full of common sense, backed up with case studies from the world of successful -- and not so successful -- American businesses. Although Grove wrote this book during the early days of the Internet bubble, he clearly did not get wrapped up in the all of the excitement of that era, much to his credit. His thoughts are measured, sensible and coldly rational, as befits an industry titan and the ex-CEO of the most successful chip company on the planet.
If you haven't read this book, now is as good a time to do so as any. Today's readers have the benefit of knowing how technology and business have evolved since "Only the Paranoid Survive" was published in 1996. The seven years that have since elapsed reveal that Grove really knows what he's talking about. His understanding of how the Internet would affect Intel underscores his management prescience. And his skepticism regarding gee-whiz technological innovations like "Internet appliances" provides an interesting example of how Intel maintained its strategic focus, and emerged from the bubble as strong as ever.
"Only the Paranoid Survive" breaks no new ground in the business-management genre. But the book is well written, well organized, and well worth the read for those who want a glimpse inside the mind of an incomparable American success story.

Complacency is one of the biggest enemies of any organization, but especially for successful ones like Intel. ONLY THE PARANOID SURVIVE provides two powerful observations that will help anyone who reads this book: (1) That changes are lurking out there that need immediate attention inside your organization and (2) That you must be constantly vigilant for large discontinuous changes (such as those driven by microprocessors, Intel's main product). Having the perspective of someone who has been both the beneficiary and the target of discontinuous change, Dr. Grove's lessons become all the more real. At first, I thought this book was a little overdone; but upon reflection, I feel that complacency is probably best overcome by paranoia in the absence of the management process to locate, anticipate, create and adapt to externally-driven discontinuous changes. I often cite this book in our writings about how to be more successful, because I believe it is an important work. Please read this book, and take its lessons seriously. But have fun while you are being paranoid!

With so many good books out there on management and business there is no reason to read this boring book. The only advantage in reading it is that it rounds out the picture you get of Andy Grove by reading his first book, High Output Management, and Tim Jackson's book, Inside Intel. Grove is definately an interesting business figure, and unquestionably a top manager. However, you do not get any insights into him or his management style by reading this book. High Output Management is much better for this. In addition, I have no clearer idea about how to recognize strategic inflection points now than I did before I read the book. I don't think Grove does either, as proved by the way he handled the switch from manufacturing memory chip or the way he handled the floating point Pentium problem. Intel's recent troubles in dealing with low cost computers further underscores their inability to recognize strategic inflection points. What Grove and Intel are good at is ex! cellent organization and management, as well as being fierce and ruthless competitors. Tim Jackson describes this much better than Grove. If you want to read a good book on management, read Harold Geneen's classic "Managing". If you want to read a good book on someone who recogized strategic infection points, read Titan.
P.S. Grove's preoccupation with the comany's switch from making memory chips to microprocessors gets very old.

Only the Paranoid Survive will never be compared with Churchill's memoirs in terms of literary mastery, but Andrew Grove's book does succeed where many other business tell-alls fail: It illustrates the lessons that you can learn from the challenges that its protagonist has overcome. In other words, this book teaches you something. By focusing on the make-or-break turning points that determined Intel's fate, Grove shows how to manage crises in order to seize the opportunities that they so often provide. For this simple lesson, we from getAbstract recommend this book to all business readers.

Andy Grove has verbalized the mindset that we must all develop to survive in the 21st Century. While his idea of constantly looking over your shoulder has always been applicable, the speed of the Internet economy requires that we do it much more frequently and penalizes us much more quickly if we do not.
Grove does a great job of showing how one man's crises is another's opporuntity and uses the term strategic inflection points to describe these periods of 10x change.
This book is a good reminder for anyone who thinks that what made them successful to this point is any guarantee that they will be successful in the future.

This is not just another business book

"Foresight is not a gift--it's learned. You must see the future in your head first before doing it"

The author is giving us clarity, writing another page in the instruction book of life--we have no manuals to guide us through it at the outset. Other reviewers are missing the point here, it's not only regarding business, but as one reviewer saw it--sound and practical advice. And if you follow a simple paradigm of rules in life and set goals with continued awareness your purpose here will be solidified. My discernment reading other reviews is typical of academic intelligence and the breeding of what to think and not how to think. Our whole life is a business, and people like Andy Grove are very unselfish, adducing as evidence tools to cultivate continually our growth. Andy is apostolic providing such humanistic qualities that can quickly shift the constellation of power in all of us. The only thing that holds any of us down from growing is our lack of candor to life's recipes with our constancy of pessimism. Any person that wants to understand the purpose here and relationships in their life--whatever they are, should read this other brilliant passage that we didn't receive at birth. These are the kinds of books that need to be read. It provides you with an understanding that acquiescing in our mistakes is the acumen necessary to be successful in life, and that the impetus for growth is found in our volitions. This opens up another window, and this freshet of wisdom will stretch your mind and brighten your outlook--a necessary, acknowledging, and absolutely uplifting read.

This book is an enjoyable read that is written by the CEO of Intel, this book is noteworthy in that it describes in detail a rare event: the successful change in business models of an already large and successful company. Grove describes the influences of the overall business environment (and in particular addresses the concept of a "strategic inflection point"), the political dynamics and drama within Intel, and a candid view of what went on in his own head as Intel faced a crisis that could well have ended in disaster rather than triumph. Grove does a great service to other executives by reflecting on what he learned from this and related events at Intel. There is much to learn from here.

Only very few people are frank to share their experiences leading to success without being pathetic; Andy Grove is one of them.
His insides and his management style definitely create a new kind of role model manager. His advice is very applicable, and if realized would enhance the business atmosphere most probably in any company.
My critique on his book is that he did not even bother to mention where most of his ideas came from. For instance, his paranoia can be traced back to Igor Ansoff who developed the early warning systems, first for defence purposes later for business. Grove' s point of reigning in chaos has already been propagated by Tom Peters, and the loose organizational structure are at home at Henry Mintzberg.
One can appreciate the fact that these concepts have been applied in reality, although, a mentioning of these business gurus in a footnote would have been welcome. One has to remember that his book is a "How to do" manual and not a "Where it came from" encyclopedia, therefore it cannot become an academic textbook.
Nevertheless, very few business leaders are entering the hall of fame and are contributing to the business conduct as Andy Grove does.

Written by theformer president and CEO of Intel Corporation, located here in Santa Clara, California. I could not put this book down. The 10X power concept and Strategic Inflection Points apply to all of us in business. Well-written, fascinating, easy to understand; a reflection of the company. Also very thought provoking. If you are an executive or entrepreneur or in a decision making position, I strongly recommend you read this book. You will not forget what you read here.

This a good book based on facts. Andrew Grove goes on describing how Intel managed to shift from a semiconductor to the microprocessor company while he was the CEO... (now it is shifting again under Paul Otellini).

Although the example a bit outdated since it was written in 1996, the same principles still apply. A must read if you want to understand why some great and big companies suddenly go down while others emerge quickly.

You always need to learn the history to understand the future.

As seen from the other comments, there are definitely certain things this book provides that are great, and others that it doesn't.
Read this book for the following:
A Good, quick, story summarizing the deintegration of the computing value chain. About the emergence of a zone of 'No Profit' in memory chips in the 80s. About the importance of looking out on the periphery. About drawing your industry landscape. About being open to drastic shifts in your industry. About managing change in your oganization (a high-level perspective).
Don't read it for anything else.

Andrew Grove has clearly explained and illustrated the 10X factor and "self-inflection point"; his expertise not only took Intel ahead but also earned him the respect and admiration of different people in the industry. He was also Time magazine's Man of the Year.

This book gives you a insight into the working of a multinational company like Intel. Through the nine chapters you will learn how the Grove felt the changes, recognised them and reigned them for the benefit of Intel. It shows the foresightedness of the company executives, how they changed from memory business to microprocessor and become leader in the new field too.
With the help of Strategic Inflection Points, Grove has clearly described, how a problem can be solved.
Handling the Floating Point problem of microprocesser chip, speaks well of the quality conciousness of Intel.

This book covers the history of Intel, some great stories, his management approach and even the daily regime of a business warrior. I highly recommend. And another thing I like - it is relatively short.

Andrew Grove builds an excellent case for developing and communicating a focused vision for your organization in the midst of great external change. While he focuses on the high-tech semiconductor indsutry, his advice applies to any organization, including government agencies, non-profit organizations, and churches.

Andy Grove's down-to-earth management style and no nonsence perception of today's competitive environment is evident throughout this inspiring book. Filled with practical applications that fit every business, this book is a must read!!!

Maybe I haven't read enough "management" books (though I do have an MBA), but if this is considered "great" for this genre- WOW. This entire book could have been summed up in a couple pages without losing any major points, but I guess you can't have a bestseller that way! One reviewer said it was too technical. Are you living in a cave? I found it condescendingly written- absurdly simple and dumbed down. Granted, it's over a decade old, but I doubt everyone was really that much stupider ten years ago.

This book could have been ONE chapter, but I guess that's hard to sell! I have no idea why this has such a high rating. It's repetitive, internally inconsistent, and so vague as to basically be a bunch of handwaving. If you want a hopelessly out-of-date book about a CEO patting himself on the back, go for it. Bonus- tons of boring anecdotes! (Gotta fill up the pages somehow!)

I enjoyed the inside perspective on Intel that Andy provides and agree with the basic premise of the book. But its the same old paradigm shift stuff just repackaged under a different name - strategic inflection point.
If you haven't read much on paradigm shifts then you should read this book. But if you have, you'll probably find it boring.

I find the book stimulate people to alert the environmental change, it is not only useful for business, bu also it is more useful for personal career development especially in the internet age. Andy's presentation is simple and to-the-point, I finish the book in a non-stop 8 hours. I think all the readers can benefit from the idea in the book.

Andy Grove helped to build Intel into the behemoth it has become. On the other hand, he didn't sell IBM on the X86 which was the critical moment nor resolve all the manufacturing processes they had in different fabs (Craig B's watch did that).

This is a relatively short book and could be a lot shorter. Inflection points... yeah, I get it. Now, please move on Andy.

If you are a high-tech sales or marketing executive and read books like this and are awed by them, you are the probably not the sharpest tool in the drawer.

Cari amici imprenditrori Italiani, leggete anche voi questo libro che sicuramente vi darà degli interessanti spunti per le vostre aziende.E state attenti .... la meteora prima o poi arriverà anche per Voi !!! Andrea Polo

Read the book during times we were undergoing changes of strategy in my business and it felt like reading a howto manual written in an easy to read through, fun way.
I read it in parallel with The signal and The noise: the art of prediction.

Andy Grove helped to build Intel into the behemoth it has become. On the other hand, he didn't sell IBM on the X86 which was the critical moment nor resolve all the manufacturing processes they had in different fabs (Craig B's watch did that).

This is a relatively short book and could be a lot shorter. Inflection points... yeah, I get it. Now, please move on Andy.

If you are a high-tech sales or marketing executive and read books like this and are awed by them, you are the probably not the sharpest tool in the drawer.

The microporcessor industry has been the most explosive industry in history and Andy Grove was in the middle of it all. While many seen Intel as unstoppable - it had its problems and overcame them. Good advice for any company. Easy to read and understand. Will make you want to learn all you can about Intel!

Cari amici imprenditrori Italiani, leggete anche voi questo libro che sicuramente vi darà degli interessanti spunti per le vostre aziende.E state attenti .... la meteora prima o poi arriverà anche per Voi !!! Andrea Polo

Read the book during times we were undergoing changes of strategy in my business and it felt like reading a howto manual written in an easy to read through, fun way.
I read it in parallel with The signal and The noise: the art of prediction.

I picked up this book after seeing some good reviews about it.

The whole book is about "Strategic Reflection Point".

I was disappointed that Andy Grove didn't try to explain SRP in a more concrete manner. After finishing the book, I still have very vague & abstract knowledge on SRP.

Nevertheless, Andy Grove is still one of the best CEOs I admired.