The Guru Red Manifesto advocates an operating doctrine and rules of engagement based upon agility, assertiveness, cohesiveness and subtlety. Four enterprise traits needed to create, capitalize and control opportunity.

Agility, defined as the product of speed and adaptability. Assertiveness, described as the combination of forward looking vision with aggressive pursuit. Cohesiveness, generated by management loyalty and employee trust. And subtlety, resulting from intentionally flying under the radar screen. Why is a new operating doctrine needed?

The past ten years have seen unprecedented erosion in America’s competitiveness. Business models and operating strategies perpetuated by America’s best and brightest are failing. The Internet debacle followed by the current crisis on Wall Street have exposed major flaws in the American capitalist system. Flaws related to how we create and capitalize American business.

There are more than 20 million start-ups and small businesses in the US. Many of these businesses adhere to an operating doctrine requiring equity investment to grow and public offerings to thrive. Traditional venture capital followed by a Wall Street underwritten IPO used to be a respected achievement, and a proven mechanism for giving birth to winners like Intel, Apple etc.

However, what was once a thriving incubator of innovation and genuine value has degraded into a highly speculative casino that is systematically dismantling America’s competitive advantage. Blue chip venture capitalists continue to favor hype over substance. Wall Street continues to favor the short-term gain over the long-term advantage. And Fortune 500 CEO’s continue to favor the safety of their eight figure paychecks over the potential risks associated with generating real innovation and competitive advantage.

While regulators, politicians and assorted industry watchdogs have cracked down on many of the most abusive practices, there are consequences to these actions that dramatically impact the competitiveness of the American enterprise. Actions that require the publicly traded enterprise to add non-productive overhead, slow down execution cycles and eliminate risk. Actions that result in non-competitive, dysfunctional enterprises.

How many of America’s 20 million plus start-ups and small businesses run their businesses in order to attract venture capital and investment bankers? Rather than customers, partners and opportunity? How much time and how many competitive cycles are wasted following the wrong doctrine? How many precious resources and opportunities are wasted building the wrong formations, creating the wrong relationships, hiring the wrong people and pursuing the wrong dream?

Guru Red advocates a prescient self-funding formation that is fluid, highly maneuverable, wickedly fast and infused with management loyalty and employee trust - a formation that can withstand the rigors of start-up and thrive in markets dominated by large publicly traded enterprises.