• Only the Paranoid Survive

  • How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company
  • By: Andrew S. Grove
  • Narrated by: Jason Leikam
  • Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (278 ratings)

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Only the Paranoid Survive

By: Andrew S. Grove
Narrated by: Jason Leikam
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Publisher's summary

Andy Grove, founder and former CEO of Intel shares his strategy for success as he takes the listener deep inside the workings of a major company in Only the Paranoid Survive.

Under Andy Grove's leadership, Intel became the world's largest chip maker and one of the most admired companies in the world. In Only the Paranoid Survive, Grove reveals his strategy for measuring the nightmare moment every leader dreads - when massive change occurs and a company must, virtually overnight, adapt or fall by the wayside - in a new way.

Grove calls such a moment a Strategic Inflection Point, which can be set off by almost anything: mega-competition, a change in regulations, or a seemingly modest change in technology. When a Strategic Inflection Point hits, the ordinary rules of business go out the window. Yet, managed right, a Strategic Inflection Point can be an opportunity to win in the marketplace and emerge stronger than ever.

Grove underscores his message by examining his own record of success and failure, including how he navigated the events of the Pentium flaw, which threatened Intel's reputation in 1994, and how he has dealt with the explosions in growth of the internet. The work of a lifetime, Only the Paranoid Survive is a classic of managerial and leadership skills.

©1996, 1999 Andrew S. Grove (P)2021 Upfront Books

What listeners say about Only the Paranoid Survive

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The better book

Hesitated to study this one after his other book (High Output Management).
I must say this is definitely the better book. The language seems less outdated, the data more concise and at least for me more readily applicable to current, real life business situations!

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Advice to senior leaders on handling inflection points

I should have listened to this years ago.

Whether you are an executive yourself, or you just want to understand executives better, this is a great text. It packs a lot of relevant experience in a small package.

Most of the advice is timeless. However it is also interesting as portions of this book offer an instantaneous glimpse at possibly the biggest computing inflection points of all time: personal computing and the Internet.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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horrible narration

equivalent to employing a used car salesman as the voice of henry ford. enough said.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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struggled a little to finish.

struggled a bit to finish. seemed redundant and boring. mentioned inflection point maybe 10,000 times:-)

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Outdated, Boring

Completely outdated in everything discussed, talking about future ideas that are now ancient history

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a business classic for a reason

Well written and well-read, I recommend this audiobook.
Some of the anecdotes are a bit long-in-the-tooth now, but they are still a joy to hear and relevant to today's business problems. Many of Andy's forecasts came to be correct and it is interesting to hear this luminary muse on the future from the past.

Absolutely worth the time.

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Decent History and Perspective from an Esteemed Tech Leader

The pacing and content was good. The book, while a bit dated, had some interesting historical context and helpful information that is still valuable today.

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Worth a Read

The book was definitely worth reading.

If you aren’t keeping an eye out for changes in your industry, business, or career, this book definitely gives you reasons to pay attention.

It gives you reasons why you should be ready to pivot & adjust when necessary, or you’ll get left behind. As you should be.

Also, I can see how people may find it boring, but I found quite a fun read.

Audible while reading the book was a great combination.

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Average**

I’ve only finished the first half and maybe this book and I just don’t jive. It just seems hard to digest from a practical application standpoint.

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  • JC
  • 07-09-23

Vanilla strategy and outdated anecdotes

I am confused about the intended audience for this book. For executive leaders, the strategic advice is mostly common sense. For middle managers, there is very little actionable content, and what is there mostly applies to aligning with senior management. The book is deeply anchored in the 1990s, with a significant number of outdated anecdotes that can be cringe-worthy. However, as an Intel customer in that era, I found the behind-the-scenes stories interesting.

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