The High-Velocity Edge: How Market Leaders Leverage Operational Excellence to Beat the Competition

Generate Better, Faster Results—Using Less Capital and Fewer Resources!

“[The High-Velocity Edge] contains ideas that form the basis for structured continuouslearning and improvement in every aspect of our lives. While this book is tailored to businessleaders, it should be read by high school seniors, college students, and those already in theworkforce. With the broad societal application of these ideas, we can achieve levels ofaccomplishment not even imagined by most people.”
The Honorable Paul H. O’Neill, former CEO and Chairman, Alcoa, andFormer Secretary of the Treasury

“Some firms outperform competitors in many ways at once—cost, speed, innovation, service.How? Steve Spear opened my eyes to the secret of systemizing innovation: taking it from theoccasional, unpredictable ‘stroke of genius’ to something you and your people domonth-in, month-out to outdistance rivals.”
Scott D. Cook, founder and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit, Inc.

“Steven Spear connects a deep study of systems with practical management insightsand does it better than any organizational scholar I know. [This] is a profoundly important bookthat will challenge and inspire executives in all industries to think more clearly about thetechnical and social foundations of organizational excellence.”
Donald M. Berwick, M.D., M.P.P., President and CEO,Institute for Healthcare Improvement

About the Book

How can some companies perform sowell that their industry counterpartsare competitors in name only? Although theyoperate in the same industry, serve the samemarket, and even use the same suppliers,these extraordinary, high-velocity organizationsconsistently outperform all the competition—and, more importantly, continuallywiden their leads.

In The High-Velocity Edge, the reissued edition of five-time Shingo Prize winner Steven J. Spear’s critically acclaimed book Chasing the Rabbit, Spear describes what sets market-dominatingcompanies apart and provides adetailed framework you can leverage to surgeto the lead in your own industry.Spear examines the internal operations ofdominant organizations across a wide spectrumof industries, from technology todesign and from manufacturing to healthcare.

While he investigates several great operationaltriumphs, like top-tier teachinghospitals’ fantastic improvements in qualityof care, Pratt & Whitney’s competitive gainsin jet engine design, and the U.S. Navy’sbreakthroughs in inventing and applyingnuclear propulsion, The High-Velocity Edge isnot just about the adoration of success. It alsotakes a critical look at some of the operationalmissteps that have humbled even the mostreputable and respected of companies andorganizations. The decades-long prominenceof Toyota, for example, is contrasted withthe many factors leading to the automaker’ssweeping 2010 product recalls.Taken together, these multiple perspectivesand in-depth case studies show how to:

• Build a system of “dynamic discovery”designed to reveal operational problemsand weaknesses as they arise
• Attack and solve problems when and wherethey occur, converting weaknessesinto strengths
• Disseminate knowledge gained from solvinglocal problems throughout the companyas a whole
• Create managers invested in developingeveryone’s capacity to continually innovateand improve

Whatever kind of company you operate—from technology to fi nance to healthcare—mastery of these four key capabilities willput you on the fast track to operationalexcellence, where you will generate faster,better results—using less capital and fewerresources.

Apply the lessons of Steven J. Spear and gaina high-velocity edge over every competitor inyour industry.

Steven J. Spear, five-timewinner of the Shingo Prizeand recipient of the McKinseyAward, is a senior lecturerat MIT and former assistantprofessor at Harvard. Asenior fellow at the Institute for HealthcareImprovement, he is the author of numerousarticles appearing in academic and tradepublications, including the Harvard BusinessReview and The New York Times.