Best Organizational Change

TEACHING A LEVIATHAN TO IMPROVISE It’s no secret that in any field, small teams have many advantages—they can respond quickly, communicate freely, and make decisions without layers of bureaucracy. A NEW APPROACH FOR A NEW WORLD McChrystal and his colleagues discarded a century of conventional wisdom and remade the Task Force, in the midst of a grueling war, into something new: a network that combined extremely transparent communication with decentralized decision-making authority. Leaders looked at the best practices of the smallest units and found ways to extend them to thousands of people on three continents, using technology to establish a oneness that would have been impossible even a decade earlier. The world is changing faster than ever, and the smartest response for those in charge is to give small groups the freedom to experiment while driving everyone to share what they learn across the entire organization. “In addition to being a fascinating and colorful read, this book is an indispensable guide to organizational change.” –Walter Isaacson , from the foreword “This is a bold argument that leaders can help teams become greater than the sum of their parts.” —Charles Duhigg , author of The Power of Habit “ Team of Teams is erudite, elegant, and insightful. Team of Teams harnesses these new realities as assets, providing a leadership framework to produce the inclusiveness and adaptability of a fast-moving start-up, at the scale of any size organization.” —Brad Smith , president and CEO, Intuit “In Team of Teams, General Stanley McChrystal, who won some of our most striking victories in the great war between nations and terrorist networks, shares insights for all in this lucid, persuasive, and sometimes wrenching account of our troubled yet transformational times.” —John Arquilla , professor, Defense Analysis United States Naval Postgraduate School “In the fast-moving world of today and tomorrow, organizations that don’t adapt will simply fade.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The book is not a military history, but instead a concise and exceptionally “fun to read” collection of insightful ideas told through entertaining stories ranging from industry to hospital emergency rooms. I recommend it for leaders and associates from all types of organizations who need to break down the effects of siloed teams in which information flow and decision making is ineffective in today’s increasingly complex environment. The discussions in the book are grounded in organizational management theory and leadership methods, but along the way gives a once in a lifetime look at the inside of the most storied Special Operations Forces (SOF) unit in existence today. They include weather forecasting, basketball and soccer, engineering marvels, big data, airline customer service, aircraft crews, NASA, SEAL training, plastic surgeons at the Boston Marathon bombing, GM versus Ford, MIT studies, and the enduring effects of Ritz Carlton and Nordstrom. The following should be of interest to today’s leaders: the difference between complicated and complex environments; how having more information available does not improve prediction nor mean lead to smarter decisions at the top; Taylorisms and efficiency ideals may actually cost you more than they save; the ‘need to know’ fallacy; the value of using your best people as ‘liaison officers’ or ‘embeds’; how resilient people make organizations stronger because they can adapt to changing environments; learning from your adversary is time well spent--they might have a better organizational model not necessarily better people; how to delegate authority to take action until you are uncomfortable; how to build trust and a shared awareness of the big picture; ‘eyes on, hands off’ leadership; and the difference between creating Strategic Corporals and an organization full of Lord Horatio Nelsons. The book carries you forward in time to see how far the Task Force had come by changing their culture, structure, and habits to allow the larger corporate command to become as agile and capable as its commandos. This short example, that covers just 46 minutes of a follow-on-target operation, highlights sharply the outcome of The Task Force’s investment in transparency, trust building and empowered execution. Sir Lieutenant General Lamb, a close friend of Stan McChrystal, shared a paper with me once that he titled 'In Command and Out of Control' and it raises a lot of the same questions and concepts about how to lead in a complex and fast-paced world. The concept is literally about getting 'out of the control' business and realizing that in order for organizations to take advantage of fleeting opportunities teams must be empowered at the lowest levels to take action."
"This book should be read by leaders of organizations both large and small so they can get the most out of their workforce and thrive in today’s ever-changing business climate."
"General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Army Retired, took command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in the Middle East in 2003 and transformed it from a hierarchical organization built on efficiency and discipline to a fluid, information-rich, decentralized organization. As author Pat Lencioni (“Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars,” “Five Dysfunctions of a Team”) has pointed out, organizations seeking creativity, collaboration, agility and speed need to break down silos and work across groups. McChrystal in his “Team of Teams” shares insights and his personal evolution that led to the transformation of his Task Force from one that suffered frequent and disastrous set-backs to one that could match, and then beat back networked terrorist organizations which could strike rapidly, reconfigure in real time, and integrate its globally dispersed actions. “Team of Teams” is organized around five topics: The challenge of the new environment: Accelerating speed and interdependence in today’s world has created levels of complexity that confound even the most superbly efficient organizations. The myths and magic of teams: What is it that creates the trust and common purpose that bond great small teams and why do so many small teams and firms falter as they grow and scale. AHSC was ahead of its time with its team of teams (19 Divisions) organizational structure that proved collaborative, agile and fast…and an incubator for industry leaders."

Written in a fast-paced thriller style, The Goal, a gripping novel, is transforming management thinking throughout the world. Alex Rogo is a harried plant manager working ever more desperately to try improve performance. He has ninety days to save his plant - or it will be closed by corporate HQ, with hundreds of job losses. It takes a chance meeting with a professor from student days - Jonah - to help him break out of conventional ways of thinking to see what needs to be done. It contains a serious message for all managers in industry and explains the ideas, which underline the Theory of Constraints (TOC), developed by Eli Goldratt. The Economist 'Goldratt's system, in essence, forces production managers and workers alike to coordinate their work-with an underlying principle in mind: that 'bottlenecks'...are what ultimately constrain the manufacturing environment.'. Definitely a book to read...' The Hairdresser Eliyahu M. Goldratt was an internationally recognized leader in the development of new business management concepts and systems, and acted as an educator to many of the world's corporations.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In short, I think the novel does a fantastic job of introducing the down-sides of "Taylorist" management approaches, even in manufacturing, which is what Taylorism was developed for in the first place. You will not get that empathetic viewpoint from the nonfiction literature on the subject, so the inclusion is still a strength - it is just that the content has not aged all that well. The discussion of how traditional accounting rules and consequential financial controls can create a set of counterproductive incentives is telling, and presages by a couple of decades the work being done now in the Beyond Budgeting movement."
"If you are employed in a business area, or interested in learning more about how to streamline company processes, this book is a great read."
"I have worked in oil and gas and manufacturing as an engineer and now manager for 20 years and I am finding this book is providing me insights on problems I am facing today."
"Between the fall of 2005 and the summer of 2011, I pursued a Master of Business Administration and Master of Systems Engineering back to back while working during the day."
"Goldratt describes many different types of problems involved in a production process that can occur in a manufacturing plant such as a failure to ship the product on time or deciding the correct throughput and capacity of the plant. Throughout “The Goal”, Goldratt guided me to simulate the sequence of problems through the mind of Alex Hugo and I was able to practice identifying and solving problems along with Alex which was a valuable experience."

In Change by Design, Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, the celebrated innovation and design firm, shows how the techniques and strategies of design belong at every level of business. “With people like Brown codifying design thinking, the tools are out there to solve our problems if a few people are willing to attack them with that sort of tenacity.” Tim Brown is the CEO and president of IDEO.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"When I read it, my agency was on the process to acquiring the "Marketing Innovators" trade mark."
"The book is well written by an experienced practionar who made a lot of transformation projects using the design thinking concepts."
"The bible of design thinking. What seems common sense were ignored by many people. The author used a lot examples to illustrate how the process of prototyping, learning from stakeholders will make things work!"
"Tim Brown writes about design thinking with such fervor and passion that it's entertaining in its own right."
"Great book describing the IDEO process for Design Thinking."
"This book inspires and helps people to apply design thinking."
"Change by Design provides a wonderful overview of how design-thinking has evolved, how it's applied in business and the impact this approach can have - not only on product and service development - but on how we might think about solving some of the larger problems facing humankind."
Best Business Operations Research

Written in a fast-paced thriller style, The Goal, a gripping novel, is transforming management thinking throughout the world. Alex Rogo is a harried plant manager working ever more desperately to try improve performance. He has ninety days to save his plant - or it will be closed by corporate HQ, with hundreds of job losses. It takes a chance meeting with a professor from student days - Jonah - to help him break out of conventional ways of thinking to see what needs to be done. It contains a serious message for all managers in industry and explains the ideas, which underline the Theory of Constraints (TOC), developed by Eli Goldratt. The Economist 'Goldratt's system, in essence, forces production managers and workers alike to coordinate their work-with an underlying principle in mind: that 'bottlenecks'...are what ultimately constrain the manufacturing environment.'. Definitely a book to read...' The Hairdresser Eliyahu M. Goldratt was an internationally recognized leader in the development of new business management concepts and systems, and acted as an educator to many of the world's corporations.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In short, I think the novel does a fantastic job of introducing the down-sides of "Taylorist" management approaches, even in manufacturing, which is what Taylorism was developed for in the first place. You will not get that empathetic viewpoint from the nonfiction literature on the subject, so the inclusion is still a strength - it is just that the content has not aged all that well. The discussion of how traditional accounting rules and consequential financial controls can create a set of counterproductive incentives is telling, and presages by a couple of decades the work being done now in the Beyond Budgeting movement."
"If you are employed in a business area, or interested in learning more about how to streamline company processes, this book is a great read."
"I have worked in oil and gas and manufacturing as an engineer and now manager for 20 years and I am finding this book is providing me insights on problems I am facing today."
"Between the fall of 2005 and the summer of 2011, I pursued a Master of Business Administration and Master of Systems Engineering back to back while working during the day."
"I had a really hard time finishing 11 CDs, I can not imagine what the book is like. From there, its hard to say which Chapters are the most valuable because he (Alex) does go back and forth about "The Goal" and the story of the book."
"TOC is a very beneficial way of finding constraints in your organization and work on a path of constant improvement .After listening to the successful implementation of TOC''s implementations in verious fields like hospitals , Automobiles etc I am convinced it can be the best tool for a manager and will be happy to be a part of its implementation or be the implamenter one day."
Best Marketing

Before the weekend is over Eric will learn…. - What it takes to outperform 92% of the world’s salespeople. - That failing and being a “failure” are two very different things. - Why it’s important to celebrate success and failure. - The five failure levels and how to progress through them. - How to get past failures quickly and then move on. - That the most empowering word in the world is not yes… it’s NO! --Steven List, Backoftheroom.com. "If you're serious about living your definition of success add Go for No! The ideas shared are terrific and the unique story format that the book is written in makes it a delight to read." Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz are the Courage Crafters. As professional speakers, trainers, and authors they also call themselves "Failure Philosophers" and "Reject-ologoists" and are experts on achieving courageous breakthrough performance through increasing failure rates and other unconventional approaches.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The advise comes through in a non-condescending way, and the story format makesnit enagung to read."
""No" is not an easy thing to hear; no one wants to hear it...unless, of course, you flip the script and "Go for No!"."
"This is such a great book for Network Marketing individuals!!"
"I usually leave such a long-winded review."
"This book is a great instrument in changing the way you think, just make sure to incorporate initial action as thought without action is useless."
"Short and sweet."
"Absolute brain-changer."
"A friend spoke so passionately about it that I bought it and finished it in a day."
Best Human Resources & Personnel

TEACHING A LEVIATHAN TO IMPROVISE It’s no secret that in any field, small teams have many advantages—they can respond quickly, communicate freely, and make decisions without layers of bureaucracy. A NEW APPROACH FOR A NEW WORLD McChrystal and his colleagues discarded a century of conventional wisdom and remade the Task Force, in the midst of a grueling war, into something new: a network that combined extremely transparent communication with decentralized decision-making authority. Leaders looked at the best practices of the smallest units and found ways to extend them to thousands of people on three continents, using technology to establish a oneness that would have been impossible even a decade earlier. The world is changing faster than ever, and the smartest response for those in charge is to give small groups the freedom to experiment while driving everyone to share what they learn across the entire organization. “In addition to being a fascinating and colorful read, this book is an indispensable guide to organizational change.” –Walter Isaacson , from the foreword “This is a bold argument that leaders can help teams become greater than the sum of their parts.” —Charles Duhigg , author of The Power of Habit “ Team of Teams is erudite, elegant, and insightful. Team of Teams harnesses these new realities as assets, providing a leadership framework to produce the inclusiveness and adaptability of a fast-moving start-up, at the scale of any size organization.” —Brad Smith , president and CEO, Intuit “In Team of Teams, General Stanley McChrystal, who won some of our most striking victories in the great war between nations and terrorist networks, shares insights for all in this lucid, persuasive, and sometimes wrenching account of our troubled yet transformational times.” —John Arquilla , professor, Defense Analysis United States Naval Postgraduate School “In the fast-moving world of today and tomorrow, organizations that don’t adapt will simply fade.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The book is not a military history, but instead a concise and exceptionally “fun to read” collection of insightful ideas told through entertaining stories ranging from industry to hospital emergency rooms. I recommend it for leaders and associates from all types of organizations who need to break down the effects of siloed teams in which information flow and decision making is ineffective in today’s increasingly complex environment. The discussions in the book are grounded in organizational management theory and leadership methods, but along the way gives a once in a lifetime look at the inside of the most storied Special Operations Forces (SOF) unit in existence today. They include weather forecasting, basketball and soccer, engineering marvels, big data, airline customer service, aircraft crews, NASA, SEAL training, plastic surgeons at the Boston Marathon bombing, GM versus Ford, MIT studies, and the enduring effects of Ritz Carlton and Nordstrom. The following should be of interest to today’s leaders: the difference between complicated and complex environments; how having more information available does not improve prediction nor mean lead to smarter decisions at the top; Taylorisms and efficiency ideals may actually cost you more than they save; the ‘need to know’ fallacy; the value of using your best people as ‘liaison officers’ or ‘embeds’; how resilient people make organizations stronger because they can adapt to changing environments; learning from your adversary is time well spent--they might have a better organizational model not necessarily better people; how to delegate authority to take action until you are uncomfortable; how to build trust and a shared awareness of the big picture; ‘eyes on, hands off’ leadership; and the difference between creating Strategic Corporals and an organization full of Lord Horatio Nelsons. The book carries you forward in time to see how far the Task Force had come by changing their culture, structure, and habits to allow the larger corporate command to become as agile and capable as its commandos. This short example, that covers just 46 minutes of a follow-on-target operation, highlights sharply the outcome of The Task Force’s investment in transparency, trust building and empowered execution. Sir Lieutenant General Lamb, a close friend of Stan McChrystal, shared a paper with me once that he titled 'In Command and Out of Control' and it raises a lot of the same questions and concepts about how to lead in a complex and fast-paced world. The concept is literally about getting 'out of the control' business and realizing that in order for organizations to take advantage of fleeting opportunities teams must be empowered at the lowest levels to take action."
"This book should be read by leaders of organizations both large and small so they can get the most out of their workforce and thrive in today’s ever-changing business climate."
"General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Army Retired, took command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in the Middle East in 2003 and transformed it from a hierarchical organization built on efficiency and discipline to a fluid, information-rich, decentralized organization. As author Pat Lencioni (“Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars,” “Five Dysfunctions of a Team”) has pointed out, organizations seeking creativity, collaboration, agility and speed need to break down silos and work across groups. McChrystal in his “Team of Teams” shares insights and his personal evolution that led to the transformation of his Task Force from one that suffered frequent and disastrous set-backs to one that could match, and then beat back networked terrorist organizations which could strike rapidly, reconfigure in real time, and integrate its globally dispersed actions. “Team of Teams” is organized around five topics: The challenge of the new environment: Accelerating speed and interdependence in today’s world has created levels of complexity that confound even the most superbly efficient organizations. The myths and magic of teams: What is it that creates the trust and common purpose that bond great small teams and why do so many small teams and firms falter as they grow and scale. AHSC was ahead of its time with its team of teams (19 Divisions) organizational structure that proved collaborative, agile and fast…and an incubator for industry leaders."
Best Organizational Learning

The Everything Store is the book that the business world can't stop talking about, the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read. Winner of the 2013 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award Chosen as aBest Book of 2013 by The Washington Post , Forbes , The New Republic , and Gizmodo , and as one of the Top 10 Investigative Journalism Books of 2013 by Nieman Reports. " The Everything Store is a revelatory read for everyone--those selling and those sold to--who wants to understand the dynamics of the new digital economy. If you've ever one-clicked a purchase, you must read this book." "A deeply reported and deftly written book.... Like Steven Levy's "In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives," and "Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry -- and Made Himself the Richest Man in America" by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews, it is the definitive account of how a tech icon came to life."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I wasn't really planning on reviewing this book, because I was mentioned in it several times and it didn't seem appropriate. But several other people who were also mentioned in the book have already posted reviews, and in fact, MacKenzie Bezos, in her well known 1-star review, suggested that other "characters" might "step out of books" and "speak for themselves". Since Mr. Stone did not have access to Jeff Bezos for this book, but had to rely on previous interviews and the accounts of others, it would be surprising if there weren't a few mistakes regarding his thought processes. As part of my agreement to be interviewed for this book, I was allowed to read a draft of the chapter which covered the time I was there, and I offered a number of corrections, some of which Mr. Stone was able to verify and incorporate. I have a pretty high degree of confidence that Mr. Stone made a significant effort, and did what was in his power, to make the book accurate. The irony is, of course, that by reviewing the book as MacKenzie Bezos did, she has brought an immense amount more attention to it -- there are dozens of articles referring to her review via Google News this morning -- and its sales rank has shot up considerably."
"Exciting story of one of the great companies and entrepreneurs Jeff Bezos."
"If you are one that enjoys business books and have used Amazon for any type or purchases then this book is for you."
"There is a lot to admire in successful companies, and Stone gives Amazon a lot of credit for being persistent, visionary, and relentless There is also plenty to fear -- and Stone does not shy away from pointing this out. He may have some of the details wrong, but I think that the picture he paints and the skill he shows in telling it make this a really compelling read."
"If you are looking merely for business case studies, this would not be the book for you; but if you find the anecdotal stories about the challenges and solutions the team used to build the business, I believe you will find this an outstanding read."
"Definitely worth a read, especially if you're addicted to this company like me."
"Bezos' story and personality is eerily similar to Jobs, and this book was as good if not better than that biography."
Best Workplace Behavior

Most people are fearful of change, both personal and professional, because they don't have any control over how or when it happens to them. Since change happens either to the individual or by the individual, Dr. Spencer Johnson, the coauthor of the multimillion bestseller The One Minute Manager, uses a deceptively simple story to show that when it comes to living in a rapidly changing world, what matters most is your attitude. Most of us reading the story will see the cheese as something related to our livelihoods--our jobs, our career paths, the industries we work in--although it can stand for anything, from health to relationships. Dr. Johnson, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and many other books, presents this parable to business, church groups, schools, military organizations--anyplace where you find people who may fear or resist change. And although more analytical and skeptical readers may find the tale a little too simplistic, its beauty is that it sums up all natural history in just 94 pages: Things change. This is a brief tale of two mice and two humans who live in a maze and one day are faced with change: someone moves their cheese. Capably narrated by Tony Roberts, this audiotape is recommended for larger public library collections.AMark Guyer, Stark Cty.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Bought this as a graduation present for a new MBA maybe there are some gems of wisdom in there for him in his new career."
"Everyone should read this book, especially in today's world where most people are scared that the AIs will take over."
"A great read I've given this book to a few friends and to my two sons."
"Everyone involved in organisations should read."
"great book."
"All time quick read fav."
"Have found it to be good gift for friends going through changes in life."
"Great book."