The book in a paragraph ReWork makes the case that many of the traditional approaches to work and entrepreneurship are wrong. In traditional workplaces it is common to see overplanning, excessive meetings, growth for growth’s sake, and entrenched bureaucracy. This can all be avoided through…
The book in a paragraph The Five Temptations of a CEO by Patrick Lencioni identifies five key temptations that leaders often face: prioritising personal status over organisational results, valuing popularity over accountability, choosing certainty over clarity in decision-making, preferring harmony over productive conflict, and avoiding…
The book in a paragraph American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company by Bryce Hoffman chronicles the remarkable turnaround of Ford under the leadership of Alan Mulally during a period of financial crisis. The book delves into the profound leadership…
The book in a paragraph Unproductive and tedious meetings plague many teams and organisations. And bad meetings almost always lead to bad decisions, which is the best recipe for mediocrity. To address this, teams need an integrated, comprehensive and practical framework for structuring and managing…
We all want to be leaders who deliver strong results while creating an engaging work environment for our team. But often we just don’t know where to start. Reading can help. Because – as author Ryan Holiday says – “Reading is the only way [we]…
The book in a paragraph There are five fundamental causes of team dysfunction: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results. These dysfunctions can lead to team failure. The way to address these dysfunctions is through building…
The strongest organisations are those that are healthy, not just smart. Organisational health depends on four disciplines: developing a cohesive leadership team, creating strategic clarity, over-communicating that clarity throughout the organisation, and reinforcing strategy through systems and ways of working. Clarity doesn’t need to be complex and abstract, instead it can be achieved by answering six questions for any organisation: Why do we exist? How will we succeed? What do we do? Who does what? What’s most important, right now? How will we behave?
Objectives and key results (OKRs) provide a simple and collaborative goal-setting methodology that can be used by any organisation, team or individual. OKRs comprise of an objective – WHAT we’re seeking to achieve, and one or more key results – HOW we’re going to achieve the objective. OKRs have successfully helped many organisations, including – most famously – Google, prioritise what’s most important, create alignment and connection, increase accountability and stretch for ambitious goals.