| Microsoft Executive Leadership Series: Series Foreword | p. xi |
| Preface | p. xiii |
| Chapter 1 Responsiveness Trumps Efficiency | p. 1 |
| The World Behaves Like a Stock Market | p. 2 |
| Efficiency Is Only Half of the Equation | p. 4 |
| Traditional Business Models Are Coming Up Short | p. 6 |
| Efficiency without Responsiveness Will Kill Your Company | p. 7 |
| Customer Relationships Are the Most Valuable Asset | p. 8 |
| The Value-Added Paper Cup | p. 9 |
| A Most Amazing Innovation | p. 11 |
| Using Information Technology to Make Money | p. 13 |
| All Products and Services Have Two Components | p. 14 |
| Notes | p. 15 |
| Chapter 2 Generating Alpha | p. 17 |
| Value-Added Services and Entrepreneurial Employees Generate Alpha | p. 18 |
| Escape from the Trap of Commoditized Jobs | p. 20 |
| Welcome to the First World-Now Your Labor Rates Are Too High | p. 22 |
| New Opportunities to Create Value | p. 23 |
| Responsiveness Enables a Higher Standard of Living | p. 24 |
| Fix the Opportunity Gap | p. 25 |
| Profit Potential of the Self-Adjusting Feedback Loop | p. 30 |
| Toward a Responsive Business Operating Strategy | p. 31 |
| Use People and Computers Each for Their Strengths | p. 32 |
| Notes | p. 34 |
| Chapter 3 Principles of the Responsive Organization | p. 35 |
| More Coordination, Less Control | p. 36 |
| End of Control As We Know It-The Dynamics of Swarming | p. 39 |
| Leadership for the Responsive Organization | p. 45 |
| Dynamics of the Responsive Organization | p. 47 |
| Structure of the Responsive Organization | p. 52 |
| Notes | p. 54 |
| Chapter 4 Speed, Simplicity, and Boldness | p. 55 |
| Five Themes from The Art of War | p. 56 |
| Insights from People Who Have Been There | p. 59 |
| Observe-Orient-Decide-Act | p. 62 |
| Maneuver Warfare | p. 65 |
| Modern Warfighting | p. 69 |
| Notes | p. 73 |
| Chapter 5 Strategically Focused, Tactically Responsive | p. 75 |
| Awareness Drives Effective Strategy (Loop 1) | p. 76 |
| Balancing Means Continuous Improvement (Loop 2) | p. 77 |
| Agility Means Move It or Lose (Loop 3) | p. 81 |
| Reinforcing Feedback for Creating Something New | p. 85 |
| Pulling It All Together | p. 86 |
| A Formula to Measure Business Responsiveness | p. 89 |
| Thoughts on a Formula for Business Responsiveness | p. 92 |
| Serious Games | p. 94 |
| Notes | p. 95 |
| Chapter 6 Thriving in a Competitive, Fast-Paced World | p. 97 |
| Leadership in the Old World and the New | p. 99 |
| Agility and Innovation Are Related to Leadership Practices | p. 100 |
| Three Applications with Great Potential | p. 104 |
| Principle of Combined Arms Applied to Business | p. 106 |
| A Supply Chain Game | p. 107 |
| Agile Systems for Responsive Operations | p. 108 |
| IT Agility Enables Business Innovation | p. 111 |
| Notes | p. 117 |
| Chapter 7 Ya Gotta Wanna | p. 119 |
| We Are Capable of Great Things | p. 120 |
| Executive Behavior Defines the Workplace | p. 123 |
| Thoughts on the Practice of Agility | p. 126 |
| Agile Is Not Easy | p. 126 |
| The 30-Day Blitz: IT Agility in Action | p. 128 |
| Agility Means Simple Things Done Well Not Complex Things Done Fast | p. 131 |
| Agility Has a Tempo that Ebbs and Flows | p. 133 |
| Notes | p. 134 |
| Chapter 8 The Essence of Innovation | p. 135 |
| How to Get Inspired | p. 136 |
| The Challenge of Making Something New | p. 137 |
| Art, Sports, and Business All Blend Together | p. 138 |
| Innovation is a Constant Mixing of Ideas | p. 140 |
| Picture of a Responsive Company | p. 142 |
| Five Key Characteristics of the Responsive Organization | p. 143 |
| Sustainable Prosperity | p. 149 |
| Note | p. 150 |
| Appendix A Executive Checklist for Monitoring Development Projects | p. 151 |
| 1 Goodness of System Design | p. 152 |
| 2 Progress Made Developing the System | p. 154 |
| 3 Competence and Confidence of People on the Project | p. 155 |
| Notes | p. 156 |
| Appendix B Seven Strategic Guidelines for Designing Systems | p. 157 |
| Note | p. 158 |
| Index | p. 159 |