Between 1968 and 1976, Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs, founded three companies that would define the world of technology and redefine our personal and business lives for the next half-century. At their peaks, their three companies-Microsoft, Apple, and Intel-were collectively worth some $1.5 trillion. While much has been written about these individuals and their companies, this book examines these three individuals collectively, for the first time, revealing the business strategies and practices they pioneered while building their firms. Examining both successes and failures, commonalities and differences, this book will appeal to entrepreneurs and executives in all sectors and industries. In Strategy Rules, readers will discover that Gates, Grove, and Jobs approached strategy and execution in remarkably similar ways-and yet markedly differently from so many of their erstwhile competitors-by keeping their focus on five most strategic principles: Look Forward, Reason Back: They were able to determine where they want their companies to be at a given point in the future, and could “reason back” to identify the moves that would take them there. Make Big Bets, Without Betting the Company: High-technology markets have the potential to grow exponentially. All three figures made enormous strategic bets, but rarely took gambles that could result in dangerously large financial losses. Build Platforms AND Ecosystems: Technology leaders often need to think beyond specific products and the boundaries of their own firms. They have to create industry platforms that require cooperation from other firms to be successful. Exploit Leverage AND Power: Gates, Grove, and Jobs proved themselves adept tacticians, often turning opponents’ strengths into weaknesses and using enormous resources (once they had them) to dominate competitors.Shape the Company Around Your “Personal Anchor”: From Gates’ understanding of Software, and Grove’s expertise in elegant processes to Jobs’ obsession with design, all three built their companies around their personal strengths, while compensating for their weaknesses through their hires, culture, systems, and values. The authors, David Yoffie and Michael Cusumano, bring a unique perspective. They have studied these three leaders and their companies for more than 30 years-all while teaching business strategy at Harvard and MIT. David Yoffie first has also served on the Intel board of directors since 1989, and remains the longest-serving member of the Intel board. Michael Cusumano wrote the now-classic Microsoft Secrets, based on the unprecedented access he was given to the firm and its top executives. This book is a guide to best practice in strategic management and high-tech entrepreneurship, with advice from none other than Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs. Since all three were path-breaking entrepreneurs who became CEOs of huge global companies, their approaches to formulating strategy and building organizations offer insights for start-up executives as well as the heads of modern multinationals.

About the Author

Professor David B. Yoffie is the Max and Doris Starr Professor of International Business Administration at Harvard Business School.He first met Andy Grove in 1987 and joined the Intel board of directors in 1989. He remains the longest-serving member of the Intel board. Yoffie has also written 40 Harvard Business School cases on Intel, Microsoft, and Apple, including the most widely used cases on these companies. He is the author of nine books, including the bestselling Competing on Internet Time with coauthor Cusumano. He has also written extensively for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Harvard Business Review.Michael A. Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, with a joint appointment in the MIT Engineering Systems Division.He began studying the software business in 1985. He is co-author of a classic best-seller on the company, Microsoft Secrets as well Platform Leadership, The Business of Software, and Staying Power and Competing on Internet Time with Yoffie. His latest book, Staying Power: Six Enduring Principles for Managing Strategy & Innovation in an Uncertain World, was named one of the top business books of 2011 by Strategy + Business magazine.