Product Description

If you cut off a spider's head, it dies. But if you cut off a starfish's leg, it grows a new one, and that leg can grow into an entirely new starfish. Traditional top-down organizations are like spiders, but now starfish organizations are changing the face of business and the world.

What's the hidden power behind the success of Wikipedia, Craigslist, and Skype? What do eBay and General Electric have in common with the abolitionist and women's rights movements? What fundamental choice put General Motors and Toyota on vastly different paths? How could winning a Supreme Court case be the biggest mistake MGM could have made?

After five years of ground-breaking research, Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom share some unexpected answers, gripping stories, and a tapestry of unlikely connections. THE STARFISH AND THE SPIDER argues that organizations fall into two categories: traditional "spiders," which have a rigid hierarchy and top-down leadership, and revolutionary "starfish," which rely on the power of peer relationships.

It reveals how established companies and institutions, from IBM to Intuit to the U.S. government, are also learning how to incorporate starfish principles to achieve success. Find out:

* How the Apaches fended off the powerful Spanish army for 200 years.
* The power of a simple circle.
* The importance of catalysts who have an uncanny ability to bring people together.
* How the Internet has become a breeding ground for leaderless organizations.
* How Alcoholics Anonymous has reached untold millions with only a shared ideology and without a leader.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #536467 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-03
• Formats: Audiobook, Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 6.00" h x 1.25" w x 5.25" l, .40 pounds
• Binding: Audio CD

From Publishers Weekly
Brafman and Beckstrom, a pair of Stanford M.B.A.s who have applied their business know-how to promoting peace and economic development through decentralized networking, offer a breezy and entertaining look at how decentralization is changing many organizations. The title metaphor conveys the core concept: though a starfish and a spider have similar shapes, their internal structure is dramatically different—a decapitated spider inevitably dies, while a starfish can regenerate itself from a single amputated leg. In the same way, decentralized organizations, like the Internet, the Apache Indian tribe and Alcoholics Anonymous, are made up of many smaller units capable of operating, growing and multiplying independently of each other, making it very difficult for a rival force to control or defeat them. Despite familiar examples—eBay, Napster and the Toyota assembly line, for example—there are fresh insights, such as the authors' three techniques for combating a decentralized competitor (drive change in your competitors' ideology, force them to become centralized or decentralize yourself). The authors also analyze one of today's most worrisome "starfish" organizations—al-Qaeda—though that group undermines the authors' point that the power of leaderless groups helps to demonstrate the essential goodness and trustworthiness of human beings. (Oct. 5)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Ori Brafman is a lifelong entrepreneur. His adventures include a wireless start-up, a health-food advocacy group, and a network of CEOs working on public benefit projects, which he co-founded with Rod A. Beckstrom. He holds a BA in peace and conflict studies from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford Business School. He lives in San Francisco.
Rod A Beckstrom is a serial start-up entrepreneur. He founded CATS Software Inc., which he took public, and has helped start and build other high-tech firms. Rod has served on various private and nonprofit boards. He holds a BA and an MBA from Stanford and was a Fulbright Scholar. He lives in Palo Alto.