Unstoppable: Finding Hidden Assets to Renew the Core and Fuel Profitable Growth
Every company eventually hits a wall. Growth slows, competitors circle, and what once felt like an unbeatable formula starts to crack. For many leaders, the instinct is to look outward—make acquisitions, chase hot new markets, or bet on radical reinvention. But as Chris Zook argues in Unstoppable: Finding Hidden Assets to Renew the Core and Fuel Profitable Growth, the most powerful sources of renewal are often hidden in plain sight, inside the business itself.
Chapter 1: Unsustainable to Unstoppable
Chris Zook opens with a stark reality: in today’s turbulent business climate, even industry leaders can quickly lose their edge. He notes that nearly three out of four companies are at risk of a fundamental shake-up or even extinction within a ten-year span. This is because markets change faster than ever – product life cycles are shorter, new competitors emerge from unexpected places, and what worked yesterday can suddenly stop working. Zook frames a company’s evolution as a cycle of Focus – Expand – Redefine. First, a company focuses on its core business to maximize its potential; next, it expands into adjacent markets or products to grow beyond the core. Inevitably, however, growth slows or stalls – the core business that once fueled success can become unsustainable in a changing world. At this point, companies face a choice: continue business-as-usual and decline, or undertake a bold reinvention of their core. Zook’s thesis is that those who choose to reinvent can become unstoppable, finding new growth by renewing their core strategy.
Crucially, Zook argues that the key to successful reinvention often lies within the company itself. He introduces the concept of hidden assets – the undervalued, unrecognized, or underutilized strengths that a business already owns. Rather than betting the farm on flashy acquisitions or leaping blindly into entirely new industries, companies can look inward to find these hidden sources of advantage. Research cited in Unstoppable shows that companies have a four to six times greater chance of success if they base their next growth move on hidden assets instead of something completely unfamiliar%20and%20Redefine%20,and%20expertise%20that%20become%20a). In other words, the odds of transforming from unsustainable to unstoppable improve dramatically when you leverage what you already have. Zook identifies three categories of hidden assets that can fuel renewal: undervalued business platforms, untapped customer insights, and underexploited capabilities. Each of these is explored in depth in later chapters, but Chapter 1 introduces them with vivid examples.
One standout story is that of Marvel Entertainment, which illustrates how an undervalued asset can become a company’s salvation. In the 1990s, Marvel was struggling – it even filed for bankruptcy in 1996 – largely surviving on its fading comic book business. Yet Marvel held a treasure trove of 5,000 characters in its vault, from Spider-Man to the X-Men. Zook recounts how Marvel’s new leaders recognized the hidden power in these iconic superheroes. By bringing characters like Spider-Man to the big screen, Marvel resurrected its fortunes. In 2002 the first Spider-Man film was a smash hit, and over the next few years Marvel’s movie licensing and merchandise revenues exploded – by 2005, more than half of Marvel’s $390 million in revenue came from these new film-driven streams, with healthy profits to match. What had been a dormant asset (the comic characters) became the core of a booming new business. Marvel’s turnaround—from bankruptcy to a Hollywood powerhouse—sets the stage for Zook’s central theme. It shows that the secret to renewal is often hiding in plain sight, waiting to be unleashed. Through stories like this, Chapter 1 drives home the book’s big idea: when growth stalls and a company’s original formula becomes unsustainable, the smartest path to new growth is to tap into hidden assets within the firm. This approach, Zook suggests, can make a company truly unstoppable.
Chapter 2: When to Redefine the Core
Having established why renewing the core is often necessary, Zook next addresses when a company should undertake such a drastic transformation. Not every slowdown or hiccup means the core business must be redefined. Chapter 2 lays out clear signals that indicate the time is ripe (or overdue) for reinvention. Zook identifies three primary catalysts that raise the alarm bell for redefining the core:
- 1. The Profit Pool Is Shrinking or Shifting: This is when the industry that a company has long dominated starts to dry up or change fundamentally. The total “profit pool” available in the market either contracts or moves to new areas. For example, Zook points to the photography market: the once-lucrative film business shrank dramatically with the rise of digital cameras. A company like Kodak, built on film, faced a vanishing profit pool as consumers switched to digital – a classic sign that the core business was in jeopardy. When the core market’s future profits look to be shrinking or migrating elsewhere, it’s a strong indication that simply cutting costs or tweaking strategy won’t be enough; the company may need to redefine what its core business is.
- 2. A Direct Threat to the Core Business: Sometimes an external competitor or a new technology directly attacks the heart of a company’s success. This is often the most immediate and dangerous trigger. Zook notes that incumbent firms with comfortable margins and high prices create a “price umbrella” that invites disruptive challengers. A vivid example can be seen in the airline industry: traditional airlines that charged high fares left an opening for low-cost carriers to swoop in and steal market share. In the book, one case highlighted is PSA Corporation, which operates the Port of Singapore – it faced aggressive competition from emerging ports that threatened its core shipping business. When a once-secure core is suddenly under siege by new entrants or new tech, merely defending the status quo is often a losing battle. A more fundamental change in strategy may be required to survive the onslaught.
- 3. The Growth Formula Has Stalled Out: In some cases, a company’s decline isn’t due to an outside attack or a collapsing market, but rather the exhaustion of its own growth engine. The very formula that drove years of success can reach a point of diminishing returns. Zook explains that there are a few ways this happens. Sometimes success leads to complacency or rigid thinking; other times the company has expanded so much that it’s run out of easy ways to keep growing in the same manner. He describes this as a “stall-out” of growth. A famous example is Apple in the mid-1990s: after a period of initial success, Apple lost its way with an overly broad product lineup and dwindling innovation, causing growth to sputter. Under Steve Jobs’ return, Apple recognized the stall-out and did something counterintuitive – it “shrank to grow.” Jobs slashed product lines to refocus on the core (like the simplified iMac). This stabilization of the core set the stage for Apple’s later redefinition (into music players, phones, and more). Zook emphasizes that a company in this situation must often strengthen and focus its core platform before it can redefine it. In other words, if your growth has flatlined because you’ve strayed or over-extended, you may need to regroup around your core strengths as a first step towards a bigger transformation.
In addition to these triggers, Chapter 2 offers pragmatic advice on preparation. Zook warns that redefining the core is a momentous undertaking that shouldn’t be done lightly. He advocates for “stabilizing the platform” – ensuring the existing business isn’t in freefall – before leaping into a redefinition effort. The chapter uses examples like Apple’s turnaround to show that a period of intense focus can restore a firm’s health, providing a solid launchpad for the reinvention to come. By the end of Chapter 2, readers understand the telltale signs of a core business in peril and the importance of timing. Redefinition, Zook argues, is something you do when you must, not simply when you feel like it. If you wait too long, the company may decline irreversibly; but if you jump too early or without a clear reason, you risk throwing away a still-viable core. This chapter gives leaders a sort of diagnostic toolkit for knowing when the moment for bold change has arrived, and it underscores the need to get your house in order before embarking on the journey of renewal.
Chapter 3: Hidden Business Platforms
Once a company recognizes the need to redefine its core, where should it look for the new direction? Chapter 3 delves into the first major category of hidden assets: undervalued business platforms. These are parts of the business that have been overlooked or undervalued, but which have the potential to become a new center of gravity for the company. Zook explains that hidden business platforms often come in one of three forms:
- Adjacencies to the Core Business – Perhaps a side product, a niche market, or a related business that the company dabbles in could be expanded dramatically. Sometimes companies find gold by doubling down on something that was initially just an offshoot of their main business.
- World-Class Support Operations – In many firms, an internal support function (like a logistics network, a manufacturing process, or an IT system) is run so well that it could be a customer-facing business in its own right. What if that internal capability were turned outward as a service or product? A division that once only supported the core could itself become core.
- Non-Core Businesses on the Fringe – Large companies often have small divisions or acquisitions that remain on the periphery because they don’t fit the current core. Yet one of those satellite businesses might have far more potential than anyone realized, given the right focus and investment.
Zook calls these hidden platforms potential “new centers of gravity” for a company – essentially, candidate core businesses that have been hiding in plain sight. A powerful illustration of this is the earlier Marvel story, which the book revisits here. Marvel’s vast library of characters was a non-core asset (licensing out characters for films was not central to Marvel’s operations when it was primarily a comic publisher). But that asset proved to be an undervalued platform that, once fully leveraged, became Marvel’s core. By redefining itself around entertainment rather than just print comics, Marvel unlocked huge growth. Zook explains that Spider-Man and his fellow heroes were essentially a dormant business platform for Marvel – one that, when awakened, generated massive new revenues. In Marvel’s case, an “adjacency” (film and media entertainment) and a “fringe asset” (the catalog of characters) combined to create a brand-new core business. It’s a classic example of how an undervalued platform can be hiding inside an established firm.
Another example comes from a very different industry: IBM. In the 1990s, IBM discovered an undervalued platform in its own ranks. The company was known for hardware like mainframe computers, but it had a consulting and services arm that was initially viewed as just a customer support function. Under Louis Gerstner’s leadership, IBM realized this services division was a hidden gem. The expertise IBM had in solving IT problems for its hardware clients was world-class – so why not offer that expertise to a broader market, even to companies that didn’t buy IBM machines? IBM pivoted to make consulting and IT services a core business, ultimately transforming from a product-centric to a service-centric company. That internal support operation, once undervalued, became IBM’s new center of gravity and a major engine of growth. Zook cites cases like this to show how rethinking the role of a business unit can redefine a firm’s future. (As a side note, many years later IBM’s services and software businesses would far outshine its original hardware unit – a testament to the power of a hidden platform made core.)
Throughout Chapter 3, Zook encourages leaders to systematically scan their organizations for these kinds of hidden platforms. He provides checklists and examples for uncovering them. The narrative is filled with questions like: What small division in your company is surprisingly profitable or growing? What capabilities do you have that other companies might pay for? What customer needs at the fringe of your current business could explode in demand? The underlying message is one of optimism – many companies already possess the seeds of their next act. By shining a light on undervalued business platforms, Chapter 3 shows how a company can find a fresh growth path without straying too far from its roots. The platform was there all along; it just wasn’t yet appreciated for its full potential.
Chapter 4: Untapped Customer Insights
The next vein of hidden assets lies not in products or divisions, but in knowledge and relationships with customers. Chapter 4 explores how companies can redefine their core by leveraging hidden customer assets – essentially, the underutilized understanding of and access to their customers. This can take the form of unserved customer segments, unmet needs, or data and insights about customer behavior that haven’t been fully exploited. Zook’s central point here is that often the key to new growth is understanding your customers better (or differently) than you did before, and then realigning your business around that revelation.
A compelling case study in this chapter is De Beers, the legendary diamond company. For most of the 20th century, De Beers focused almost entirely on controlling supply – it famously stockpiled diamonds and tightly managed distribution to keep prices high. By the late 1990s, this supply-driven model had faltered: new competitors appeared, synthetic diamonds loomed, and De Beers saw its market share and profits sinking. The company’s initial response was to consider more aggressive supply tactics or diversification, but those paths looked unpromising. Instead, De Beers discovered that its greatest asset wasn’t in its mines or inventories at all – it was in the hearts and minds of consumers. Over generations, De Beers had cultivated a unique bond with consumers as the guardian of the “diamond dream” – the idea that diamonds symbolize love and prestige. Yet De Beers had never directly capitalized on that emotional connection; it had no direct retail presence or consumer brand aside from the famous tagline “A Diamond Is Forever.” In essence, the company had a hidden customer asset: extraordinary consumer trust and brand allure that was lying dormant.
