E-Book Overview
The great Nokia turnaround—universal business lessons for leaders in any industry
Nokia once dominated the smartphone industry. It was to mobile phones was Kleenex is to facial tissues. Then iPhones and Androids appeared out of nowhere and pushed Nokia off the cliff. In just four years, the company lost over 90 percent of its value. Revenues were in freefall; massive layoffs became common. Pundits predicted that bankruptcy wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when.
Then something equally shocking occurred. In record time, Nokia bounced back. With a vengeance. Nokia reinvented itself and is now the second-biggest player in the $100 billion-dollar global wireless market.
In Transforming Nokia, the man who orchestrated and led Nokia’s comeback—Chairman of the Board Risto Siilasmaa—reveals the story of Nokia’s fall and resurrection. He reveals the inside story of the collapse and provides survival strategies and change-management methods any business leader can take to the bank. You’ll learn how to harness the power of what Siilasmaa calls “paranoid optimism” and apply his winning entrepreneurial leadership model to rise above any challenge and drive sustainable success.
Whether you lead a team or a corporate division, head a start-up or a massive organization, and whether your business is on the rocks or running smoothly, Transforming Nokia provides everything you need to sharpen your foresight, expand your options, seize opportunities, and thrive, no matter what changes tomorrow brings.
E-Book Content
Praise for Transforming Nokia Nokia’s turnaround is one of the most dramatic corporate transformations in modern history. In 2012, the once almighty market leader in mobile devices was rapidly running out of cash. Most investors had written it off altogether. Yet Nokia managed to defy the odds and, under Risto’s chairmanship, is now at the forefront of network technology. This firsthand account reads like a thriller, with behind-the-scenes descriptions of the company’s collapse, the courageous decision to shift direction, and Nokia’s astonishing reinvention. Along the way, Risto shares survival strategies and change-management methods he learned by leading through crisis. He explains how the power of paranoid optimism and the precepts of “Entrepreneurial Leadership” build sustainable success. His thoughtful reflections provide tangible lessons for any leader, and his leadership principles apply in both good and tough times. —Rich Lesser, CEO, The Boston Consulting Group Transforming Nokia is a must-read for business leaders as it serves as both a warning and a practical playbook on how to identify and act on threats and opportunities. Risto provides an honest and mesmerizing first-person view of the dramatic collapse and rebirth of an iconic company. Buy copies for your executives and board members to kick-start the discipline of being “paranoid optimists.” —Charlene Li, bestselling author of Groundswell, Open Leadership, and the forthcoming The Disruptor’s Agenda Transforming Nokia is a personal and powerful story of one of the most challenging and remarkable turnarounds in corporate history: the rebirth of Nokia. In times of continuous change the book is an inspiring reminder for leaders to constantly challenge assumptions, look for opportunities ahead, stay open-minded, and lead with an entrepreneurial mindset—no matter how successful the company is. —Jim Hagemann Snabe, chairman of Siemens and Maersk, former co-
CEO of SAP, author of Dreams and Details Real leadership lessons aren’t taught in class; they’re learned under fire. In Transforming Nokia, Risto Siilasmaa vividly recounts how he and his team took an iconic company on the brink of collapse and brought it back to be a global leader in a new industry. It’s a remarkable tale, rich with hard-won, practical insights on crisi