Book Review: SuperCorp

SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Crown Business (2009)

Becoming a “SuperCorp” (however defined), especially in the current economy, is an admirable achievement but does not necessarily ensure a permanent position. The vanguard companies Kanter examines in this book include Banco Real, CEMEX, IBM, ICICI Bank, Omron, Procter & Gamble, Publicis Groupe, and Shirshan Bank. All of them have been literally “in the forefront of an action, an example of change to come” in terms of both social purpose and profitable enterprise, not either/or. To a much greater extend than ever before, Kanter provides within her lively narrative reader-friendly check lists that facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of key points later. For example:

• Four general forces to which vanguard companies respond (Pages 46-47)
• Six advantages created with strategic use of values and principles (58-60)
• Five advantages when social purpose is at the forefront (111-113)
• Nine tenets of innovation initiatives that make a difference (211-212)
• Seven guidelines that summarize vanguard practices (231-232)
• “Ten Things That Anyone Can Do to Be in a Vanguard” (259-260)
• Five characteristics of vanguard leadership (261-262)

Unlike most other business books whose authors heavily rely on lists of hollow bullet points, Kanter’s checklists include detailed annotations. However different they may be in most other respects, all of the CEOs of vanguard companies she discusses in this book – Fabio Barbosa (Banco Real), Lorenzo Zambrano (CEMEX), Sam Palmisano (IBM), K.V. Kamath (ICICI Bank), Hisao Sakuta (Omron), A.G. Lafley (Procter & Gamble), and Maurice Lévy (Publicis Groupe) — possess highly-developed skills for establishing and nourishing relationships within and (especially) beyond their organization. Their effectiveness is explained by ability to see things in context and understand complex interactions between and among many variables. They have a bias for action and are results-driven when seeking solutions for their own organization as well as for the clients it is privileged to serve. They have what Daniel Goleman correctly describes as “emotional intelligence”: exceptional self-awareness (of weaknesses as well as strengths), empathy, respect for individuality and principled dissent, and a sincere delight in others’ achievements. They are also values-driven, take very seriously their fiduciary responsibilities as a steward of resources, and recognize, indeed embrace a higher calling than merely making money.

In vanguard companies, Kanter points out that competences and capabilities such as these are by no means limited only to CEOs or to executives at the C-level. On the contrary, they can – and should – be developed in everyone throughout the enterprise, at all levels and in all areas. She concedes that the vanguard model “turns organizations upside down and inside out. They become less hierarchical and more driven by flexible networks. They become more open and transparent to the outside world while bringing society and its needs inside. As an ideal and an aspiration, the vanguard model attempts to reconcile contradictions: to be big but human, efficient but innovative, respecting individual differences while seeking common ground, global in thinking but concerned about local communities.”

Given what Kanter characterizes as the “inexorable march of global change,” organizations really have no choice but to adopt and then adapt the vanguard business model. The bad news is that that process will be immensely complicated and very, very difficult to complete. The good news is that it can be done, as the exemplary companies in this book clearly indicate. For these and other reasons, I think that SuperCorp is the most valuable book that Kanter has written thus far.

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