0.8125 in
The business ideas and innovation philosophies
DRU
of the world’s great entrepreneurs—for anyone
to implement in any business
Steve Jobs. Jeff Bezos. Larry Page. Sergey Brin. Zhang Ruimin. Marc Benioff.
T
Mil ions of words have been written about the great entrepreneurs of the world.
H
This book is not about describing their achievements. Nor is it about their
charisma, personal trials, or their place in popular culture. We have all heard
A
or read about that already. This book is about entrepreneurs as thinkers. It is
about the grand ideas, the disruptive thoughts, the innovative underpinnings and
N
business philosophies that gave rise to their achievements.
Thank You For Disrupting: The Disruptive Business Philosophies of The World’s K Y
Great Entrepreneurs examines 25 of the most significant business leaders of our time. Author Jean-Marie Dru, himself a disruptor who was the first to use
the term “disruption” in the business context decades ago, explains not only the
impact these leaders have had on their own companies, but also their immense
O
influence on the business world as a whole. Each chapter is replete with in-depth analyses, insightful comments, and personal observations from the author,
U F
including discussions covering the experimentation and platforms of Jeff Bezos,
to the recruitment policies and core values of Sergey Brin and Larry Page, to the complete CSR and company activism of Paul Polman, and many more. Il ustrating
how the vision of a disruptive innovator can reach far beyond his or her company, O
this engaging book encourages and inspires readers to become disruptors in
their own businesses.
R D
Thank You For Disrupting is a must-read for anyone interested in the why and how behind the most outstanding and influential business achievements of our time.
JEAN-MARIE DRU is Chairman of TBWA, a leading advertising network with
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over 11,000 employees across 275 offices in 95 countries. TBWA has been
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named in 2019 one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company
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and in 2018 Global Agency of the Year by Adweek. Jean-Marie Dru is the author of six books including Disruption, Beyond Disruption, and The Ways to New, and U
the inventor of TBWA’s landmark 1992 DISRUPTION® method to help companies
develop business-changing ideas. Jean-Marie Dru is also President of UNICEF
P
France and President of the French Academy of Medicine Foundation.
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BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/
IN
Strategic Planning
$28.00 USA/$33.99 CAN
Cover Design: Zakka Design Agency, Paris
G
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Thank
You
for
Disrup
Ting
Thank
The DisrupTive
Business philosophies
of The WorlD’s
You
GreaT enTrepreneurs
for
Disrup
TiJeann
-Marie Dru g
Cover design: Zakka Design Agency, Paris
Copyright © 2019 by Jean-Marie Dru. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750–8400, fax (978) 646–8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748–6011, fax (201) 748–6008, or online at
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Dru, Jean-Marie, author.
Title: Thank you for disrupting : the disruptive business philosophies of the
world’s great entrepreneurs / Jean-Marie Dru.
Description: First Edition. | Hoboken : Wiley, 2019. | Includes index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2019011645 (print) | LCCN 2019019826 (ebook) | ISBN
9781119575634 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119575665 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119575658
(hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Entrepreneurship—Case studies. | Businesspeople—Case
studies. | Strategic planning—Case studies. | Corporate culture—Case
studies. | Creative ability in business—Case studies. | BISAC: BUSINESS &
ECONOMICS / Strategic Planning.
Classification: LCC HC29 (ebook) | LCC HC29 .D78 2019 (print) | DDC
658.001—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019011645
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Marie-Virginie
To my children
To my grandchildren
Contents
Introduction: Thank You for Disrupting
xi
PART one DisruPtive CoMPAny LeADershiP 1
Chapter 1 steve Jobs: on user experience, Design
and timelessness
3
All in one
4
the Art of reduction
7
Life Lessons
8
Chapter 2 Jeff Bezos: on experimentation and Platforms 11
experimentation as a strategy
12
the Platform economy
14
Chapter 3 herb Kelleher: on h
uman resources and
operational Quality
19
employees First
20
the Art is in the implementation
24
vi
Contents
vii
Chapter 4 Bernard Arnault: on the Management of
Creativity and Brand Building
27
Art and Commerce
28
the Luxury industry as Model
31
Chapter 5 Zhang ruimin: on Decentralization and
Customer-Centricity 35
everyone is a Ceo
38
Zero Distance with the Customer
41
Chapter 6 Jack Ma: on Chinese Business Models and
Disruptive Management
45
A Contrarian Model
46
embracing Change through Paradox
50
u.s. in, China out
51
PART Two DisruPtive Business thinKinG 57
Chapter 7 Jim Collins: on the search for excellence
and the Management of Alternatives
59
Good to Great
60
the era of the And 63
Chapter 8 Clayton Christensen: on Disruptive
innovation 67
Bottom-up Disruption
69
the Disruption Controversy
71
viii CONTENTS
Chapter 9 Jedidiah yueh: on the Behaviors of
Companies of the new economy
75
Lessons from an entrepreneur
78
Category of one
87
PART ThRee DisruPtive CorPorAte CuLture 91
Chapter 10 sergey Brin and Larry Page: on
recruitment Policies and Core values
95
hr as a science
96
A Fertile environment
98
Chapter 11 Patty McCord: on employee empowerment
and talent Management
101
Disruptive hr Practices
103
A Contrasting Culture
104
Chapter 12 the Disruption Company: on Corporate
Culture Components and Disruption
107
vision, values, Practices
108
People, story, Place
110
the Disruption Methodology
112
PART fouR DisruPtive BrAnD BuiLDinG 115
Chapter 13 Marc Pritchard: on transparency,
Accountability, and Creativity
119
Leading Change in the Marketing World
121
Making Brands serve a higher Purpose
125
Contents
ix
Chapter 14 Brian Chesky: on Brand Building and
Disruptive Data 131
shaping an iconic Brand
132
the single Disruptive Data
135
Chapter 15 Lee Clow: on the Power of Great
Advertising 139
Big Brand ideas
140
Creativity, the Advertiser’s Best Bet
143
Chapter 16 oprah Winfrey: on Building a
one-Person Brand
147
the ultimate Celebrity Brand
148
the one-Person Businesses
152
Chapter 17 Arianna huffington: on Digital Journalism
and Women’s empowerment
157
the Consecration of online Journalism
158
Women in Business
161
PART fIVe DisruPtive soCiAL PurPose 165
Chapter 18 Paul Polman: on Complete Csr and
Corporate Activism 173
A Force for Good
174
Ceo Activism
177
Chapter 19 emmanuel Faber: on social Purpose and
the Bottom of the Pyramid
183
side roads
184
the Bottom of the Pyramid
187
x CONTENTS
Chapter 20 Marc Benioff and suzanne DiBianca:
on scaling up Philanthropy
193
A native Philanthropist
194
Pledge 1%
197
Conclusion: Disruption Ahead
201
Acknowledgments 203
Notes 205
Index 233
Introduction
Thank You for Disrupting
Thank You for Disrupting is about the entrepreneur as thinker.
It’s about how the most disruptive business builders in the
world think and do things.
This book is not intended to relate their great achievements.
Most of us have already heard or read about that. Rather, the
intention here is to look behind these achievements to under-
stand the big ideas and disruptive thinking that brought them
into existence.
By fusing hardware and software 40 years ago, Steve Jobs was
the first corporate leader who embodied, in an unprecedented
way, the concept of “design thinking,” which is today’s domi-
nant strategic framework. By launching the 1–1–1 philanthropic
model,1 Salesforce’s co-founder Marc Benioff has become one of
the most influential and outspoken voices on social issues, and
has emerged as a corporate social responsibility ringleader. By
creating, within the Haier company, over 2,000 independent
teams2 that have the liberty to talk directly with private equity
firms, Zhang Ruimin has taken decentralization to an unimag-
inable level. By systematically disrupting existing HR policies,
Patty McCord has forged Netflix’s corporate culture, which is
not only unique, but also emblematic of businesses born into
the new economy. By rendering luxury accessible, while at
the same time increasing the prestige of the LVMH brands,
xi
xii INTRODUCTION
Bernard Arnault has achieved a seemingly impossible task.
He excels at managing creativity. By inventing a new business
model for online journalism, Arianna Huffington has disrupted
the conventional news delivery and made digital news reporting
respectable. By being one of the first entrepreneurs in America
to make social purpose and business work together, Sarah
Breedlove was a pioneer in peer-to-peer marketing, community
marketing, and cause marketing.
It’s impossible to be exhaustive when devoting only a dozen
or so pages to such avant-garde figures. I take a historical look
at major disrupters from across the globe in recent decades. The
reality is, the majority of them are men; but, fortunately, the
business world is changing. I have no doubt that, in the very
near future, more women will come forth as world-renowned
disrupters.
Each domain of activity prompts fresh currents of thought.
New concepts appear; paradigms emerge. Bodies of knowledge
accumulate, collections of ever-evolving experience build up over
time and are made available. It’s true in science, where discover-
ies are made through challenging the mainstream thinking. It’s
true in art, where each period has seen new schools of thought
arise, breaking with what former decades had celebrated. It’s also
true in political or social sciences, or in literature. In this wa
y
milestones are established, new directions given, tipping points
created.
The same applies to the world of business. Business is an
open forum where ideas circulate, where companies can contin-
ually inspire each other, and where people spread inspiration by
moving from one company to another.
Introduction
xiii
The 25 great entrepreneurs I talk about in this book have
visions that extend beyond the frontiers of their business. In addi-
tion to the impact they have had on their own companies, they
have also profoundly influenced the business world in general.
This is a celebration of truly disruptive spirits. To them, I
say: Thank you for disrupting. Thank you for advancing our collec-
tive thought process and making the world of business better and more
interesting every day.
PART
ONE
DISRUPTIVE
COMPANY
LEADERSHIP
Some of the leaders we discuss here come from the old busi-
ness world, while others are part of the new landscape.
All of them have left a mark that stretches beyond their own
industries.
My goal is to recognize really disruptive business philoso-
phies. They come from Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Herb Kelleher,
Bernard Arnault, Zhang Ruimin, and Jack Ma. All of them have
refused to conform to rigid ways of thinking and acting. They
have shown themselves to be free spirits, not limited by con-
ventional thinking and not tolerant of any barrier to their goals.
They all have the intrinsic qualities of great leaders: clear vision,
technical competence, and the capacity to make quick decisions.
1
2
THANK YOU FOR DISRUPTING
Steve Jobs laid the milestones of what will remain the most
disruptive business model of our time. He built an innovative
ecosystem and shaped what we have come to know as the New
Economy. For many people, Apple’s boss embodies the most
brilliant and inventive spirit that the world of business has known.
It would have been simply impossible to start with someone else.
Chapter 1
Steve JobS
ON USER EXPERIENCE, DESIGN AND
TIMELESSNESS
When Steve Jobs passed away, Bill Gates said that Jobs’s
influence would be felt for “many generations to come.”1
Tim Cook, who succeeded Jobs at Apple, went even further,
speaking of “thousands of years from now.”2
History will remember Jobs for the seismic impact he had
on the world of computers, especially in making them popu-
lar and accessible to all. What is also extraordinary is the way
in which he was able to pivot his company several times. As
Thank You for Disrupting Page 1
