Several books have analyzed the common denominators among Fortune 500 industry dominators such as Exxon, Microsoft, Philip Morris, etc. But for two-time tech CEO Keith McFarland, who years ago was trying to shepherd his small company to "player" status, the information available on how to leap from tiny to titanic was paltry. So, encouraged by both Peter Drucker and Jim Collins himself, McFarland undertook a comprehensive analysis of the fast-growing company universe to identify the factors that enable small companies to shake off their growing pains and become permanent members of the "Above $100 Million in Sales" Club.McFarland brought to his task not only a massive amount of data crunching, winnowing nearly 9,000 companies down to 40 breakthrough firms worthy of deep analysis, but he also squared his conclusions with his own experience guiding Collectech through a "near-death experience" to "breakthrough." And as further validation, he field-tested his ideas in dozens of companies, producing amazing results: earnings increased 98% in the first year following introduction of the process; 72% in the second; and 12% in the third.

The key to McFarland's prescription for small companies is "democraship"—a balancing of the power of the founder with the ability of the organization to challenge that power. He favors the hiring of "insultants" who will oppose the CEO. He also shows why a key rite of passage for breakthrough companies is a major setback that forces the company to abandon a formerly successful market, and why the willingness to take bigger and bigger bets is a must.

McFarland is particularly contrarian on the topic of navigating the "Business Bermuda Triangle"—that is, reducing costs, providing superior functionality and increasing the speed of innovation.

"Keith McFarland is about to be added to the list of the top business thinkers--Tom Peters, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard and Stephen Covey. If you buy only one business book in 2008, this one should be it."