Flip: How to Survive and Thrive by Turning Your Business on Its Head [Paperback]

A fairly average sort of management book that could just as easily say what it needs to in a few pages rather than 300. However, it's a useful reminder of the way the business has changed, customer expectations have increased, and the market won't wait. It is an easy read and does stimulate some ideas; a good book to take on a business trip.

Peter Sheahan defines "flip" as "to act against the prevailing wisdom, turning traditional business paradigms upside down," and a "flipstar" as a "leader, manager or company that accepts that in the modern, rapidly changing world, success is often best achieved trough freedom from convention." To be a flipstar, you have to take a risk.

He opens the book by talking about the forces of change in the marketplace, primarily increasing complexity, transparency and expectations and shortening of timescales. This is a useful summary.

He encourages action. The market today doesn't allow for a thorough, traditional analysis, and businesses should get on with it; strategy is essential, but he advises "strategy on the go" with rapid business decisions and, importantly, flexibility. Grasp opportunities! Avoid "if only". If it's a wrong decision, then move on. However, key is to remember the fundamentals of the business - forget those, and you'll fail. This is certainly good advice.

Sheahan continues with strap lines: ""Fast, Good, Cheap: Pick Three - then add something extra" and "Think AND, Not OR". Market forces demand that, to succeed, a business must have a clear competitive advantage. Sheahan reminds the reader that, with today's markets forces, advantage is soon copied. You always need that something extra.

He also reminds the reader that business is personal: customer relationships are key. This is easily forgotten, and he gives the example of call centres being off-shored and thereby alienating the customer. Costs savings can, and should, be made, but never in customer-facing functions - very good advice indeed!

At the end of each chapter, Sheahan does give a list of things that the reader should now do. Who will do that? Well, I didn't. I gave them a quick read, thought for a few minutes and then kept the pace going by going straight to the next chapter.

My major criticism of the book is that, although he does give numerous examples, they are all the usual, successful suspects. OK, they are companies we've all heard of, but I would have liked to see more examples of where businesses have failed. This positive approach is good for motivation, but to be a flipstar is risky and maybe only a few attempts will be successful. A reality check would have been useful, but still encouraging the reader to flip.

Peter Sheahan's last line is "Get up off your ar** and do something!!!" Excellent advice. Don't end up in the "if only" pit" of regret.

As I was reading this, I was struck by how similar this book is to the messages from Peters and Waterman in the 80's/90's - do everything faster, quality is a given, the age of mass customisation etc. The examples in Flip may be from the Internet age, but the message is the same - outsourcing to China instead of SE Asia.

It felt as if this book could have been covered in 30 pages rather than 300. Read In Search of Excellence or Thriving on Chaos: Handbook for a Management Revolution instead, and Flip this one to someone else.

There seems to be a definite fashion for one word titles at the moment - and I think I would have preferred something a little less 'flippant' for this book, perhaps 'Change' or 'Watch out'(all right, that's two...). Perhaps I am just getting too old, but although this is a very competent look at the need to remain open to new ideas I wasn't entirely convinced he was on to something new. The book hit my brain not so much as a Bolt of Enlightenment From the Blue as a distant nagging voice that I have heard many times before. However, the message is still a vital one and if this book finds a reader who has not heard it before, then I suppose it has done its job.