It was 1999 when my father gave me the book Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company
I laughed and said “sure” like a good son/employee. Dad knew I would read the book faster than he would.
Only the Paranoid Survive is one of those books you either love or consider a lightweight. It makes a lot of best ever business book lists. But critics say it has just one substantive idea that could be shared in a chapter or two. As one reviewer on Amazon said, it might have been better as a magazine article.
Despite the critics, I love the book. The main idea is that change is going to happen when you don’t expect it. Not handling it properly means doom for your company. But handling it well could mean incredible opportunity. He calls such moments “strategic inflection points.”
Seems straightforward, doesn’t it? And you can see why some criticize Grove for taking such an obvious idea and turning it into a full length book.
But let’s put this in context. Dad and I were building a Silicon Valley based real estate investment company during the 80’s and 90’s. We had seen wild fluctuations in our market as Silicon Valley went from boom to bust to boom again. It was exhausting — and confusing!
Into this world comes the sage of Silicon Valley, Andy Grove, telling us that change is inevitable. And handled right it was a great opportunity. Strategic inflection points would come. Truly, only the paranoid would survive.
It fit perfectly into the strategic conversations Dad and I had been having. What strategic inflection points might impact our company? And what could we do about it?
One issue seemed especially inevitable and when it happened there would be incredible opportunities: one big earthquake and our family company might be history. We had known this for years, but only in 1998-99 did we begin preparing.
That preparation led us to geographically diversify, lower our debt, and reduce our exposure to Silicon Valley (which is riddled with earthquake fault lines). The book didn’t begin that process, but it did cement our thinking.
Sure enough, a strategic inflection point hit hard and fast in 2000. It wasn’t the earthquake we expected, but it was just as devastating to Silicon Valley real estate valuations.
It was the dot-com bubble bursting.
Some people said we were wise for the moves we made in 1998-2000. But Dad and I knew better. Neither of us saw the dot-come bubble coming. I wish we had. But we weren’t that smart. We prepared for the wrong strategic inflection point, but at least we prepared.
If an earthquake is an act of God then making wise decisions for the wrong reasons should be as well. God’s hand made us look smart, not our brilliant market awareness.
The term strategic inflection point is now part of my regular vocabulary and being “paranoid” helped me survive the crash of 2008 (though it was not pretty or fun). I don’t pretend to predict what the next strategic inflection point will be, but I hope to be prepared.
Usually the books influencing my life shape my faith, my world view, or my understanding of human nature. This book was far more tangible. One could argue the book was a big part of saving our family company.
For this reason Only the Paranoid Survive makes my list of 25 books that influenced my life.
Want to read more of my top 25? Here is the list thus far:
Celebration of Discipline – #1
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings – #2
The Cost of Discipleship – #3
The Screwtape Letters – #4
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – #5
Only the Paranoid Survive – #6
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold – #7
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – #8
Truman – #9
Shantaram – #10
The Maltese Falcon – #11
The Shadow of the Wind – #12
Survey of the New Testament – #13
Calvin & Hobbes – #14
Celtic Daily Prayer – #15
Managing the Nonprofit Organization – #16
A Wrinkle in Time – #17
The Practice of the Presence of God – #18
Catch 22 – #19
The Tortilla Curtain – #20
The Kingdom of God is a Party – #21
Earthkeeping – #22
Reviving Ophelia – #23
The Grapes of Wrath – #24
Peanuts – #25
