Must-Win Battles: How to Win Them, Again and Again.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Book review

Must-Win Battles: How to Win Them, Again and Again. By Peter Killing and Thomas Malnight, with Tracey Keys. Wharton School Publishing, 252 pages. $27.99.

One of the strengths of Must-Win Battles is that it has a highly logical underlying premise: an organization faces a lot of challenges and conflicts, but needs to focus on those that are truly critical. Most companies have too many "priorities," with the result that they lack focus, the authors write. Far better to understand the three to five "must-win battles" (MWBs) and concentrate your energies and strategies on those.

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Authors Killing and Malnight, both professors at the Institute for Management Development (IMD) and longtime management experts, and consultant Tracey Keys argue that every organization needs to focus on the critical challenges that will make or break the business: a new international initiative, perhaps, or new product set.

Yet, at the same time, executives need to understand the "must-stop" processes or behaviors that are costing them time and resources. All of this requires effective team effort, which the authors say will develop as the team comes to realize what success in each battle looks like and how to commit to behaviors that will drive that success.

Much of the book...