Product Description

Business today is faster and fiercer than ever, and who knows more about speed and fury than an F-15 fighter pilot! In this remarkable book based on his highly successful Afterburner business seminars, James D. Murphy - a veteran of the business world as well as the air force - offers a line-up of top-gun, proven business strategies based on the survival skills and performance tactics of fighter-pilot training programs. With emphasis on task management, teamwork, and mutual support, Murphy shows how the ability to assess risk, prioritise, and overcome challenges is increasingly important in the warlike, high-tech world of contemporary business. Murphy's Afterburner Seminars have assisted top executives at many well-known corporations, including IBM, PepsiCo, and Home Depot.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #369171 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Advocating the use of military training techniques in motivating sales people, Murphy walks his talk as a sales consultant and F15 fighter pilot for the Air National Guard. Having started in sales as a high school student working for a family office-supplies business, he contends that he has successfully divided his time between work and the military for a number of years because of the similarities between the two fields. In his view, both fighter pilots and sales people require mission statements that "must be absolutely clear and understandable measurable achievable and must support the overall objectives of the organization." In addition, just as fighter pilots must take a specific sequence of steps in the course of each flight, sales people need a concrete action plan for accomplishing their goals, such as focusing on their key objective and eliminating the unnecessary clutter: "Listen, don't talk. Know when to abort and establish a sense of value to the mission." Writing in a friendly, anecdotal tone, rather than that of a military commander, Murphy offers some helpful advice, although it would be more effective if he had supplemented his own experiences with additional examples from the real world of sales. 50-city radio tour. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Murphy, a former military officer and salesman, has turned his military experiences into a successful business. The founder (in 1996) and president of Afterburner Seminars, he uses his expertise and that of other military pilots to create a unique training program, to which both large and small firms have sent employees to improve their personal and business skills. This book is essentially a manual to help individuals and companies improve business and communications skills. The author explains how each step in planning and executing a combat mission can be adapted to the business world and includes his "six steps to combat mission planning," which is a very useful tool. The text is quite readable, and the combat anecdotes and real-life scenarios should speak to most readers. Enjoyable if just for its combat stories, this book is recommended for public libraries. (Readers may even consider taking the seminar.)-David M. Alperstein, Queens Borough P.L., Valley Stream, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The analogy likening business strategy to military strategy is a recurring one in popular books devoted to management. The writings of Sun Tzu, a Chinese general from the 4th century B.C., are perennially in demand. Within the past year, three different books have advised executives to emulate (take your pick) generals George S. Patton, Robert E. Lee, and Ulysses S. Grant, respectively. Now Murphy updates the comparison to account for the high-tech, fast-paced demands of business today. Murphy, who was a fighter pilot for eight years, created Afterburner Seminars in 1996. Those workshops simulate a battlefield for Murphy's clients, including a mock attack by business competitors complete with camouflage netting, parachutes, and sandbags. The image of a roomful of accountants grabbing helmets and hitting the floor to duck incoming missiles fired by rival CPAs gives pause, if nothing else. What Murphy's seminars do demonstrate, and what he emphasizes here, is that success in today's business environment requires speed, precision, teamwork, decisiveness, accurate (competitive) intelligence, and good communications. David Rouse

Customer Reviews

Best ROI in 2000!
I purchased James Murphy's book in 2000, we just completed our financials and I am pleased to report that we doubled our revenues. We contribute this increase to a single statement we found in the book, Business is Combat. "All of our resources in the Air Force are alligned like a shaft of a spear, pushing the "pointy end forward". We did that in our business and the results were dramatic. We have become great planners, we execute efficently and we now debrief, all of this we learned from Mr. Murphy's book. I keep it on my desk and refer to it often because it makes us money.

A Book About Getting Things Done
Many business books are long on theory, but short on providing any insight about actually executing. And face it, theories come and go, but getting things done is never out of style.

James Murphy has written a book about getting things done. His style is informal and accessible ... he writes as if he's sitting across the table talking to you. And he remains focused on his message: the planning, execution and debriefing required to build a successful business or organization.

Getting into this book requires the reader to accept that the skills taught to fighter pilots apply to business. The amazing thing is that they actually do. I've not received this training, but I have been in business for a long time. And the information imparted in this book can help anyone run a business better. From handling 'task saturation' to staying focused, this book provides useful insights in an entertaining way.

If you're looking for a book on the latest theory on business, skip "Business is Combat." If you want to pick up some ideas you can start using immediately to get things done, I highly recommend it.

Tactics to put into action right away!
Jim Murphy's book is dead on. As an entrepreneur, one can tend to overlook planning on a day to day scale... this book brings the necessity of a plan back to the center of your business. The best thing you can do for your business or life... finally something that you can read and then put into action RIGHT AWAY. Just what I needed.