1. Responsiveness Trumps Efficiency. The World Behaves Like A Stock Market. Efficiency Is Only Half of the Equation. Traditional Business Models Are Coming Up Short. Efficiency Without Responsiveness Will Kill Your Company. Customer Relationships Are the Most Valuable Asset. The Value-Added Paper Cup. A Most Amazing Innovation. Using Information Technology to Make Money. All Products and Services Have Two Components. Notes. 2. Generating Alpha. Valued-Added Services and Entrepreneurial Employees Generate Alpha. Escape from the Trap of Commoditized Jobs. Welcome to the First World – Now Your Labor Rates Are Too High. New Opportunities to Create Value. Responsiveness Enables A Higher Standard of Living. Fix the Opportunity Gap. Profit Potential of the Self-Adjusting Feedback Loop. Toward a Responsive Business Operating Strategy. Use People and Computers Each for Their Strengths. Notes. 3. Principles of the Responsive Organization. More Coordination, Less Control. End of Control As We Know It – The Dyanmics of Swarming. Leadership for the Responsive Organization. Dynamics of the Responsive Organization. Structure of the Resposive Organization. Notes. 4. Speed, Simplicity, and Boldness. Five Themes from The Art of War. Insights from People Who Have Been There. Observe – Orient – Decide – Act. Maneuver Warfare. Modern Warfighting. Notes. 5. Strategically Focused, Tactically Responsive. Awareness Drives Effective Strategy (Loop 1). Balancing Means Continuous Improvement (Loop 2). Agility Means Move It or Lose (Loop 3). Reinforcing Feedback for Creating Something New. Pulling It All Together. A Formula to Measure Business Responsiveness. Thoughts on a Formula for Business Responsiveness. Serious Games. Notes. 6. Thriving in a Competitive, Fast-Paced World. Leadership in the Old World and the New. Agility and Innovation Are Related to Leadership Practices. Three Applications with Great Potential. Principles of Combined Arms Applied to Business. A Supply Chain Game. Agile Systems for Responsive Operations. IT Agility Enables Business Innovation. Notes. 7. Ya Gotta Wanna. We Are Capable of Great Things. Executive Behavior Defines the Workplace. Thoughts on the Practice of Agility. Agile Is Not Easy. The 30-Day Blitz, IT Agility in Action. Agility Means Simple Things Done Well, Not Complex Things Done Fast. Agility Has a Tempo that Ebbs and Flows. Notes. 8. The Essence of Innovation. How to Get Inspired. The Challenge of Making Something New. Art, Sports, and Business All Blend Together. Innovation is a Constant Mixing of Ideas. Picture of a Responsive Company. Five Key Characteristics of the Responsive Organization. Sustainable Prosperity. Appendix A. Executive Checklist For Monitoring Development Projects. 1. Goodness of System Design. 2. Progress Made Developing the System. 3. Competence and Confidence of People on the Project. Notes. Appendix B. Seven Strategic Guidelines For Designing Systems. Note.

Praise for Business Agility: Sustainable Prosperity in a Relentlessly Competitive World "This is the next evolution of business strategy. This book gives leaders a new model of business agility that balances the need for standardized business processes to drive efficiency with the ability to adapt to marketplace and customer expectations. Hugos makes the business case for adaptability and resiliency just at a time when it is needed most." —John Babiarz, Group President, ARAMARK Healthcare "We are a $2 billion commodities manufacturer of foodservice disposables and face many of the challenges described by Mr. Hugos. From our experience in the last several years, I believe business agility and responsiveness is one of the only competitive advantages we can use today to differentiate us from our competitors." —Tom Pasqualini, EVP Global Supply Chain, Solo Cup Company "Dynamic! Meaningful! Easy to read and understand! Mike Hugos has captured all the aspects that must be successfully integrated for today's firms (small and large) to grow their bottom line. A special area of interest is how he identifies successful military approaches that can be used by the civilian business sectors." —William G. Pagonis, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army (Retired) and former president of Sears Logistics Services "Business Agility transcends well beyond the mere 'must read' to a definitive 'must do.' Michael provides a thought-filled road map to transform any organization into an agile and responsive team capable of winning in today's complex and ever-changing marketplace." —Steve Poplawski, SVP Logistics & Supply Chain, True Value Company "Given the global economic crisis, now more than ever, agility is at the top of every company's most wanted list. This book carefully lays out practical approaches to finding the right balance for your organization between efficiency and responsiveness. Current business examples and historical references help describe and define approaches to leaping ahead and reaping the ultimate rewards of not just surviving, but thriving in today's very challenging global business environment." —John C. Moon, Corporate Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Johnson Outdoors, Inc. "The concept of agility has been around for some years, but this is where I first saw it in terms of hard and well-defined business benefits. It is a highly accessible book, taking the reader through all these concepts in a manner that puts the topic across in simple terms." —Alagu Balaraman, Vice President & Process Architect, Britannia Industries Ltd.

"In this guide for executives, Hugos, a business agility and agile IT system practitioner and speaker, explains why responsiveness to consumer needs is now more important to successful organizations than industrial efficiency in today's global marketplace." (Book News, May 2009)