Outsmart! by Jim Champy
September 17th, 2008Title: Outsmart!
Author: Jim Champy
Publisher: FT Press (2008)
I’m a big fan of business books. I’ve always enjoyed talking about theoretical business breakthroughs or companies that are truly spectacular, no mater their industry. That’s one of the reasons I majored in business in college (also, I only had to take 1 math class and no foreign language). So I tend to read a lot of books about business. Some are really good and some are really bad. In this case, Outsmart!: How to Do What Your Competitors Can’t by Jim Champy leans more on the good side.
The basic premise of Outsmart! takes you through nine chapters of case studies of companies that found a way to outsmart their competition. Each chapter explains one way to compete: by seeing what others don’t, thinking outside the bubble, using all you know, simplifying complexity, etc… Some of the chapters are more interesting than others, but in general the book reads very quickly. Champy makes these concepts easy to understand and repeats important nuggets of information multiple times.
I thought the most interesting chapter was about MinuteClinic, a kiosk based medical clinic. The folks at MinuteClinic saw an opportunity in the medical world: a lot of medical treatments and diagnosis do not require a long and expensive trip to the doctor. They can be performed by a well trained nurse practicioner. This follows the same basic premise as Jiffy Lube…you don’t need an ASE trained mechanic to change your oil. (although, that may not be the best analogy to make. It seems like Jiffy Lube messes up an awful lot.)
So MinuteClinc has kiosks set up in stores like Target and CVS around the country. You can stop in when not feeling well, get a diagnosis, and assuming it isn’t something severe, get some sort of treatment like a prescription. There is a predetermined cost depending on what needs to be done, and this cost is always cheaper than going to the doctor’s office. MinuteClinic says they can accept any insurance that exists beacuse they are able to save the insurance companies money. Everybody saves money! But at first, not everybody was pleased about this. It took a while for most doctors to get on board with what MinuteClinic was doing. It took a lot of convincing and proving that the medical care was above par to get their support. A lot of the doctors are very happy with what MinuteClinic is doing because it opens up a little more time to spend on serious health issues.
There are 8 other stories like this one in the book, which are all very interesting. Champy ends each chapter with some questions for the reader to answer and ponder how they can use what they have learned to affect their business, or even come up with new business ideas!
The only negative I found about this book was the fact that, without the formatting it is written in, it could be shorter. The margins on each page are kind of large and there are random pictures throughout the book. Don’t get me wrong, I love pictures in books, but I didn’t like these. But for a business book, the formatting isn’t really important. The content is key, and Outsmart! has excellent content.
I recommend this book to anyone who has a job or runs their own company. Well, for that matter, I also recommend this book to anyone who doesn’t have a job and wants a job. Basically, the only group of people I don’t recommend this book to are people who refuse to change something they are doing, and people under the age of 16.
Rating: 4.5 of 5
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