Flip: How to Turn Everything You Know on Its Head--and Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings - A Review

Really liked this book. His writing is engaging and the book is filled with a lot of examples.

What I really liked what his “Fast, Good, Cheap – Pick 3 & add Something Extra” concept. For many years, I always believed that 2 out of 3 would be good enough, but Sheahan has proven that it’s no longer so because all 3 are actually achievable and are no longer points of difference for business but are now entry requirements. If you wanna play, you’ve gotta have all that or don’t bother.

And I do agree with his position on ‘sweating on the small stuff’. I think it’s important that it’s not just one or a few of the small details that need to be looked into, but a series of small stuff that can add up to a profitable bigger picture.

The book does get to be a tad like a motivational book sometimes, but I suppose it’s because the author is really excited about the subject.

I’m not entirely sure if any business should only consider making decisions that run counter from the norm. I think rather than ‘flip’ decision-making, it should be more about being flexible which encompasses ‘flip’-like behavior and adaptability.

One slight quibble, though. In the book, Sheahan says that some of the best business ideas came about not because the many want them (in some instances, they don’t even know that they want them).

But in order to launch such ideas which require substantial resources behind them, wouldn’t one have to make sure that the many would want them? Which in other words means, come up with ideas that a lot of people would want to pay money for. What he’s suggesting is about taking risks. I get that. But the way this is being conveyed (to me, at least) is almost like throwing caution to the wind or follow your gut feel or worse, take a gamble. Not entirely sure if that’s a risk worth taking.