Tactics - The Art and Science of Success - Edward de Bono
Table of Contents
Part I Success
1. Styles and Characteristics of Success
Styles: Creative Style; Management Style; Entrepreneurial Style
Characteristics of Typically Successful Styles: Energy, Drive and Direction; Ego; 'Can-do'; Confidence; Stamina and Hardwork; Efficiency: Ruthlessness; Ability to Cope with Failure.
Success principles; - Positive attitude; - knowing what you want to do; - make the most of your own talent; - energy, persistence, determination & single mindedness seem important in all cases; - Action i.e take a step & then the next step; - a sense of integrity toward oneself & others; - an expectation of success & the ability to think big; - ability to set goals & targets, & also to have dreams; - creativity & the ability to see things differently & to think new thoughts; - Seizing of opportunities & creation of opportunities; - eagerness & enthusiasm & the willingness to make things happen; One should make the most of one's talent in the pursuit of success by honing it. Do not be trapped into one field by some talent for that field - You can find a use for your talent in growing fields.
2. What stimulates success?
Negative Stimulants: Anxieties
Positive Stimulants: Power and Money; Image Improvement; Status; Making Things Happen; Doing Something Worthwhile
3. How far is success within our control?
Early Environment; Born to Succeed; Key Factors: Expectation.
Can You Copy a Style and Become a Success?: Learning by Copying
What Can We Learn from Images?; Role-playing to Success; Role-living and Success; Spot the Phony; When is Artificial Phony?
Does Luck Leave Success Outside our Control? Is There Such a Thing as Luck?: Good Luck or Good Judgment?; Looking for Opportunity in Time and Place.
Part II Prepare for Success
4. Focus I
Self-Knowledge: Strengths/Weaknesses; Self-awareness and Self-correction
5. Focus II
Choice of Field: How They Chose What to Do?; Does the Perfect Job Exist?; Be Ready to Change Targets.
Part III Make it A Success
6. Thinking & Doing
How to Generate Ideas?: Create New Ideas; The Creativity of Innocence; The Creativity of Escape
7. Strategy
Design a Strategy: General Strategy; Detailed Strategy; How Rigid Should a Strategy Be?
Why Strategy is More Than a Plan?: How Strategy can Create the Culture of an Organization
8. Decision-Making
How to Make a Decision?: Category Thinkers; Intuition - Magic of the Muse?
9. Opportunity
No Standing Still - Types of Opportunity: Opportunity Building, Opportunity Seeking.
Assessing Opportunity: Is Technical Advancement Always an Opportunity?; New Technology as Opportunity, A High-risk Area?
Opportunism: The 'Me-too' Philosophy.
Niche Strategy: Play Your Own Game
10. Risk
Are Successful People Risk-takers?: Gambler's Risk; The Risk of Innovation.
Courage to Be at Risk - The Difference between Risk and Adventure
Risk Reduction: Work to Make a Decision Work; Learn to Wriggle.
11. Strategy for People as Resources
How to Choose the Best People?; How to Construct a Balanced Team.
Team Motivation: Use People Wisely; Create a Sense of Involvement; display a Sense of Involvement; You Don't Have to be Like; Communicate Goals, How to Communicate.
Getting Rid of People.
12. Tactical Play
Tactics, Communication and Negotiation: How Far Should You Go?; The Game's the Thinking; Image.
Illusion and Bluff in Negotiation: Thinking on Your Feet; The Merit of Surprise.
Gamesmanship: Psyching Your Opponent.
The Proper Place of Tactics
Epilogue
The Lessons; New Horizons.The Art and Science of Success - Edward de Bono - Summary and Interesting Points
6. Thinking & Doing
How to Generate Ideas?: Create New Ideas; The Creativity of Innocence; The Creativity of Escape
Doers succeed only by thinking and doing. There may be some persons who only think and describe possible products and ways of producing those products. That does not mean that thinking and doing are totally independent activities and does don't think systematically.
Does do think systematically in problems with known ways of solving problems. They also think systematically in problems with no known way of solving it. The second category of problems require intense creative thinking. In the first type of problems also, a bit of creative thinking is employed. But the areas of creative thinking will not be on the solution method itself. In problems where creativity is main component, the solution method itself has to be evolved through creative thinking.
Edward de Bono, author of this book is also author of "Lateral Thinking." He brings into this book two new terms "Creativity of innocence" and "Creativity of Escape."
Creativity of Innocence
Creativity of innocence is displayed and practiced by people who are entering new areas when they learn only basics of the area and allow themselves a creative entry into the new area, let us say, a business with new products and processes. They come out with new products and processes as they evolved them without being aware of the earlier solutions and solutions methods being used by the existing producers.
Creativity of Escape
Creativity of Escape is brought into picture when the person is fully aware of the present ways of solving a problem but intentionally breaks the existing structures and goes for a new structure. This is what is developed and explained in lateral thinking. The new fact, result or data from the business is not fitting with the existing structure of products or processes to give required returns of growth. So the businessman or the strategic thinker has to break the existing structure into more minute parts and look for ways to create a new structure that provides the needed low cost product, product with more benefits, products with more quality, products with more involvement of customers, etc. etc.
7. Strategy
Design a Strategy: General Strategy; Detailed Strategy; How Rigid Should a Strategy Be?Why Strategy is More Than a Plan?: How Strategy can Create the Culture of an Organization.
A strategy provides you with a long-term view and hence the ability to take risks or do things which do not make sense in the short term.
Strategy is not only the manipulation of resources but also the development of those resources.
8. Decision-Making
How to Make a Decision?: Category Thinkers; Intuition - Magic of the Muse?Category thinking relies upon past experience as its input.
10. Risk
Are Successful People Risk-takers?: Gambler's Risk; The Risk of Innovation.
Courage to Be at Risk - The Difference between Risk and Adventure.
Risk Reduction: Work to Make a Decision Work; Learn to Wriggle.
Anyone who takes an initiative or pursues an opportunity is taking some sort of risk.
Risk-taking accompanies innovation.
The capacity for courage is generally thought of as the ability to face up enormous disadvantage ( may be with even very low odds) such as possibility of death in a war.
Any successful person has chosen action as against inaction. In any initiative or opportunity pursuit there is an element of risk.
Updated 9 March 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment