Every business executive I meet has always had a simple goal for themselves and their organizations: stability. Shareholders want little more than predictable earnings growth. In the past, because so many markets were either closed or undeveloped, leaders could deliver on those expectations through annual exercises that offered only modest modifications to the strategic plan. Prices stayed in check; people stayed in their jobs; life was good.

As discussed thought this book, market transparency, labor mobility, global capital flows and instantaneous communication have blown that comfortable scenario to smithereens. In most industries — and in almost all companies, from giants...