Jumping the S-Curve: How to Beat the Growth Cycle, Get on Top, and Stay There

Recently, some bestselling management books have focused on providing a recipe for greatness, while others have sought to unlock the secrets of long-term success. But a detailed analysis at the intersection of the two, one that explains how some companies manage to achieve repeated peaks of business performance, has been missing — until now.

Accenture’s Paul Nunes and Tim Breene have found that what matters is not just climbing your current S-curve, which is what you do to reach the top of a single successful business. Instead, they emphasize the equal importance of the moves you must make on the way to your next business; that is, making the jump to your future S-curve.

Jumping the S-Curve reveals crucial insights for making such transitions, including:

• Why traditional strategic planning won’t allow you to find the “big-enough” market insights that are critical to superior performance
• Why your top team must be refreshed before performance starts to wane
• Why you need much more talent than you think, especially “serious talent” that will find you worthy of their time

Filled with original practical advice, Jumping the S-Curve demystifies how companies can thrive with one successful business after another, through both good times and bad.