The three rules : how exceptional companies beat the odds

In The Three Rules, Michael Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed deliver a clear recipe for superior performance over the long term.

Pilots know the expression "takeoffs are optional; landings are mandatory." It means that no matter how high, fast, or far you fly, you are going to come back down.

For the most part, the same can be said of corporate performance - but a few companies are able to deliver superior performance consistently.

Leading data analysts Raynor and Ahmed conducted a five-year study to sort through mountains of data and identify 18 companies who have truly exceptional lifetime performance.

They found that success derives from how executives make choices around three key areas: price, position, and persistence.

The Three Rules will allow leaders in organizations of any kind to make the hard choices that drive long-term success.

When the pressure is on and the facts are ambiguous, you need to know what works most often for the most successful companies.

Michael E. Raynor is a Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP, where he explores the challenges of corporate strategy, innovation and growth with clients in a number of different industries. He is the coauthor, with Clayton Christensen, of the bestselling book The Innovator's Solution, and the author of the critically acclaimed The Strategy Paradox and The Innovator's Manifesto.

Mumtaz Ahmed is an engineer and accountant who works in the Strategy & Operations service department of Deloitte Consulting LLP.