Winning in Fast Time: Harness the Competitive Advantage of Prometheus

by Leland Russell and John A. Warden III

Book Overview

Developed at warp-speed and designed for overwhelming victory, the Desert Storm air campaign lit up the skies of Baghdad and changed strategic thinking forever. Now, John Warden - architect of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971159149
• ISBN13: 9780971159143
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Venturist Publishing
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Good but not great

From a business stand point I love this book. There are many tools that I can use and many ideas worth thinking about. However, I remember that the author began critizing clausewitch in the book. Totally unfounded and disrespectful, the guy hasn't even got a oppurtunity to defend himself since he has been dead for some 200years. In my opinion the author sets his own work to highly, his ideas hasnt matured ayet but they are on a good way in doing so. As from a businessman myself his examples around business are sometimes funny and unrealistic. Maybe they were in a hurry to finish writing the book and let quality slip a bit. However, my biggest complaint about this book is his critisim of clausewitch and his ideas about Center Of gravity. The author says that there exist many Centers of Gravities while he says clausewitch only said that there were one. This is totally wrong, clauswitch never said so. Clausewitch did more work to "shoot at a persons heart" concentrating on one particular point....which is nothing wrong cause you only need to hit the most important center of gravity to kill. The author does however present an very itresting idea of system overload where you hit all the center of gravities at the same time. Overall, this book is fantastic!!! And I really hope on a sequel to this book, it would be awesome!

How to think strategically and then execute passionately

In this volume, Warden and Russell propose "a new way of running an enterprise in a warp-speed world." Those who have already read Sun Tzu's The Art of War will soon realize that Warden and Russell also read it and, indeed, read it with great care. They agree with Sun Tzu's emphasis on the importance of speed, applying maximum force at an opponent's point of vulnerability, and preparation. (Re the last point, Sun Tzu insisted that every battle is won or lost before it is fought.) Given Warden and Russell's military background, it is understandable why they would frame their ideas within a military context and invoke military nomenclature. They assert that what they offer -- the Prometheus Process - "is a mindset and a method for rapid, decisive strategic action." However different military history's most successful leaders have been, all of them had this same mindset. Why Prometheus? Because he realized that "man could prevail against stronger, faster adversaries only if he could outthink them; thus his first gift to mankind was forethought, the capacity to think ahead." Later, he realized that forethought alone was insufficient; man needed something else: fire, "a source of energy and light so important that the gods kept it for themselves." So Prometheus stole it and gave it to man. In this volume Warden and Russell explain how forethought and fire (passion) "fuel high-performing organizations. Those whose leaders "think strategically and execute passionately have the ultimate competitive advantage - the power to spark their own success, illuminate the future, and ignite the energy of all of their stakeholders." In other words, the spirit of Prometheus is to create the future rather than await it with fear while others create it. Warden and Russell explain how to plan and then execute initiatives which are guided, informed, and sustained by that spirit. To them, winning in "FastTime" requires leaders to decide what they want their organization's future to be, and then make it happen faster than the rate of changes in their organization's competitive environment. They offer a step-by-step plan which begins with "designing the future" in terms of its environment, what it will look like, which guiding precepts are needed, and what the "measures of merit" will be. They explain how to select appropriate "targets" for ultimate success, how a campaign to achieve success can proceed with parallel campaigns which are organized and coordinated for success, and then how to "finish [the campaign] with finesse." In essence, this is the Prometheus Process which, as Warden and Russell note, occurred to them as a benchmark for "a new solution for doing business in the hyper-speed age" as they observed the Desert Storm air campaign in January of 1991. I was especially interested in what Warden and Russell have to say about several core concepts which are relevant both to the business world and to the military. For example, "Prime Directives" which are so i

Great practical advice from America's top strategic thinker

John Warden was the architect for the most successful campaign in the 90 year history of air combat. He has brought his insights to the corporate world. A truly original thinker, Warden not only thinks outside the box but helps others do so. Highly recommended for leaders at all levels and for courses at business schools and corporate universities.

Great book for leaders and future leaders

John Warden is the unsung hero of the Gulf War. He was the architect of the air campaign that brought a million man Iraqi army to its knees in 38 days. He now has taken this great ideas to the corporate and non-profit worlds. Probably the best strategic thinker in the world today, you can see and hear Warden on all the networks commenting about the war against terrorism. Great book--easy to read. Highly recommended.

If Sun Tzu had been an entrepreneur:

If Sun Tzu had been an entrepreneur this book would have been written centuries ago. Using a concise war-winning paradigm, Warden and Russell have successfully captured the essence of designing a business strategy that will work every time. There are three things that make this book a proverbial "must read." - It cuts to the chase by explaining what a business strategy needs to provide to everyone in the organization and does this in way that everyone from the mail clerk to the CEO can understand.- It proves the KISS principle doesn't have to produce a "Business for Dummies" approach.- You can start reading the book on Monday, finish it on Tuesday, begin to institute change on Wednesday, and by Friday be making a difference.Frankly, I think it's the best book I've read since "Thriving on Chaos" by, Tom Peters.