Editor's page

Citation

Randall, R.M. (2002), "Editor's page", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 30 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/sl.2002.26130caa.001

Editor's page

Dear Colleagues

Driving on our way to a day hike in the Shawangunk Mountains, I mentioned to one of my business journalist friends that I was supposed to be home writing my "Editor's Page." "What a waste those pages are," indignantly exclaimed this veteran reporter. "The editor has the reader's full attention focused on page 3 and it's always wasted." His thesis was that the reader wanted two things – useful information about the articles and some tips on where the most interesting stuff in the issue is stashed. "The rest of the self congratulating that editors do," he said, "is just blather." So instead of an "Editor's page" singing the praises of our new format design, here is some useful article information and a tip:

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  A pair of articles. In this issue we have an intriguing article called "Extending the boundary of corporate innovation" by Amy Muller and Liisa Välikangas. The two authors direct the research arm of Strategos, the prestigious consulting firm led by Gary Hamel. They propose that corporations should establish innovation alliances with companies or research institutions in their industry and in other industries. Their hypothesis: companies already have exploited the obvious opportunities for internal innovation, so now the most promising territory for new discoveries is the "white space" between corporations and between industries. But for Strategy & Leadership to suggest that anyone embark on such a quest without thorough advance preparation is truly bad advice. So we commissioned a cautionary article called "Tips on tactics – a legal perspective on innovating beyond the corporate boundary" by Michael P. Mount, an attorney who specializes in intellectual property law. This article reads like the "directions for operating a life raft before you need one" because it explains how to think through the terms of an alliance agreement so you can plan for success not litigation. We will have more such "Tips on tactics" in future issues.

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  The issue's theme. Like the innovation article, all the major articles in this issue propose "New Territory for Leadership." For example, a team from Bain Consulting (including that organization's CEO, Orit Gadiesh) provides a top management guide to the challenges of managing an acquisition that fundamentally redefines the business of the combined companies or changes the rules of competition in an industry. For another venture into terra nova, a pair of entertainment industry watchers from PricewaterhouseCoopers says that leaders of all companies that make a branded product or sell a branded service must master "Ten strategies for survival in the attention economy." And, as if CEOs did not already have enough to do, the authors of "How top management steers fast cycle teams to success," a group of drug company executives and academics, warn that the culture of speed will not take hold and high stakes fast cycle teams will not succeed without top level sponsorship and its hands-on management. Readers can explore on their own by combining some of these articles' ideas together – such as, fast cycle teams for acquisitions and for alliances, or acquisitions in unrelated industries to gain access to innovations.

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  Tips on where the most interesting stuff is stashed. Do not miss our book reviews in the "Strategist's bookshelf" section; experienced managers write them. For example, if you are a consultant or a manager who hires them, you will want to read Malcolm Pennington's report on Robert Schaffer's book High Impact Consulting. Malcolm likes the book and provides some how to advice of his own written from first hand experience.

Robert M. RandallEditor