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Ever wonder why certain companies are more successful and larger than others? Why does one company’s project always pay off, while others don’t?
The Science of Growth by Sean Ammirati explains how this happens. Its subtitle is: How Facebook beat Friendster and How Nine other startups left behind the rest. This summarizes the premise of this book.
Comparing Companies
The book includes interesting case studies that illustrate how one company has been successful and another fails. After studying these companies’ performance, the author (and his research group who also get a mention) developed a formula that explains why some companies succeed and others fail.
The team reviewed Tumblr, Posterous and Mint. Wesabe and Automattic, WordPress, Six Apart, Six Type (Movable Type), YouTube, LinkedIn. We also looked at PayPal and McDonald’s, Tumblr as well as Posterous, Mint, Posterous, and Tumblr.
It’s a blueprint for creating successful businesses and avoiding what made others disappear.
The Magic of Teams
Ammirati says that having the right people around is key to sustainable growth. This can be broken down into four areas that have been crucial to the success of case studies companies in delivering high-performing teams. These are:
A recruitment process that is tailored to the company’s requirements
Stability and consistency at the top of leadership
Intentionality about who is responsible in the recruitment and onboarding process (which boils down to getting senior leaders involved in order for them to establish culture and consistency from the top).
Strong, adaptable culture (which Ammirati means high consensus among employees regarding what the cultural norms should or were – all members of the team must agree with the company’s values).
These are the principles you should take into consideration when recruiting your project group. A well-organized group can help you manage conflicts in groups.
This is How Relevant It Is For Projects
Ammirati believes you can use the principles of Ammirati to support and grow any venture, e.g. your church community, your social enterprise, your project.
However, there aren’t any case studies or tangential mentions. Therefore, it would be necessary to extrapolate and believe the’science of science will work.
This book could be used for non-profits. I don’t see why. It would have been wonderful to incorporate this idea throughout the book. It would be more useful for the majority of readers.
It was fun to read, and I found the stories interesting and useful. I particularly liked the quotes by people who have worked in less-profitable companies. It’s a great guide to startups.