James Champy is the author of “Outsmart! How to Do What Your Competitors Can’t.” Champy profiles eight highly-successful firms as he develops his thesis that the key to outsmarting the competition is to focus on the external environment  — including the customers. Be ready to respond when opportunities appear. Sometimes that means changing your business model, or, as he says, “starting with a new sheet of paper.” Knowledge@W. P. Carey caught up with Champy at a conference sponsored by the Center for Services Leadership. Champy talked about the distinguishing characteristics of the companies he writes about, including the quality of their ambitions, their culture of innovation and the level of engagement at all levels. Podcast coverage of the “Compete Through Service” symposium is sponsored by IBM. (16:45)