John Fallon

A practical handbook examining how established businesses can use their unique advantages to fight back and win in a digital arena too often dominated by tech start-ups, disruptors and unicorns. The big four tech companies (Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft) have had an enormous impact on our everyday lives. A new wave of start-ups in the tech sector has dominated the press and swallowed up huge amounts of investment. But what about those established companies in the traditional parts of the world’s economies, from energy, industrial and consumer goods to travel and health? They rarely got a mention. Everyone was talking about the disrupters – the start-ups and the entrepreneurs – and not about the incumbents. This book is a call for a reality check. For at the core of our established companies are capabilities and qualities that remain highly relevant in the digital age. They are often market leaders for very good reasons – they know their customers and markets well, and they have great product, sales and marketing expertise. They are operationally savvy and financially strong, with deep insights into areas of expertise that no one else has, giving them a unique advantage. John Fallon and Julian Birkinshaw have come to a clear conclusion: incumbents are not going quietly into that dark night. Organizations will need to jettison their analogue baggage and infrastructure and embrace digital transformation. They will survive and they will prosper. And this book will show them how to do it.

John Fallon remains one of Celtic's great characters and is a lifelong supporter of the club. Now, for the first time, this Celtic legend tells the fascinating inside story of his career in football and his years with the club. Fallon joined Celtic in the late 1950s when the club was struggling, saw a fair amount of the desperate days of 1963 and 1964 but was there at the start of the glory years when Celtic won the Scottish Cup in 1965. He shared in good and bad times with the club, was the substitute goalkeeper at the European Cup Final in Lisbon in 1967, and was suddenly called into action in South America when Ronnie Simpson was felled by a missile - and performed brilliantly. He hit a low point in 1968 after one bad game against Rangers at the New Year, but fought back gloriously to play his part in the incredible month of April 1969 when Celtic won all three Scottish domestic trophies in one calendar month. It is a career he is rightly proud of and now John Fallon reveals the inside story and some brand new insights into his relationship with Jock Stein and other members of the Lisbon Lions, which were not always straightforward. There are accounts of his dealings with opponents, the clashes with Rangers and with European opposition in what was a fantastic era for the game in Scotland. He also shares his opinions on the art of goalkeeping, the state of Celtic at the moment and the future of the game in Scotland.