Leadership at Work

The Work That Makes Decisions Hold

De: David S Morgan

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

A decision announced three times was not decided three times.

It was announced three times, and made never.

In March, Ines announced the change at the all-hands. Slides, a rationale, genuine agreement in the room. In April, one reasonable exception. In May, a second, assumed rather than requested. By July there was a second announcement. By November, a third.

Nobody ever refused. Every individual step was defensible. And a third of the organization had quietly learned something about Ines that she never intended to teach.

Most leadership books are about the moment of choosing. Leadership at Work is about everything that surrounds it — the formation that makes a decision real before the word is given, the authority placed with it afterward, and the consequence that has to find its way back to somebody still connected to it.

It will not make you decisive. Decisiveness held as an identity is the counterfeit of judgment. It will not tell you to slow down. Slowing down is the counterfeit of an interval with a purpose.

What it will do is stop you deciding the same thing twice.

Twenty-three short chapters, four movements, three assignments that take fifteen to thirty minutes each and are the point of the book. Built around six words a leader can actually use in a room on a Tuesday: Open. Widen. Separate. Close. Carry. Reopen.

Each one has a respectable imitation. Consulting stands in for standing. Communication stands in for formation. Alignment stands in for a decision that was never finished. This book tells you how to spot the difference in your own meetings.

For managers, directors, and executives who have watched a good decision come apart in daylight over fourteen months, and could not say exactly where it went.

Part of The At Work Series from Horizon Echo Publishing. Each volume explores one human capacity organizations cannot afford to lose. Begin anywhere.