The Four Workarounds

How the World's Scrappiest Organizations Tackle Complex Problems

By: Paulo Savaget

Narrated by: Roger Wayne

Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Oxford University professor and award-winning researcher Paulo Savaget reveals the ways that the scrappiest organizations problem solve and how everyone can use the same tools at work and in life.

Even with all the time and money in the world, sometimes no perfect solution can be found. Often we need something easier, smarter and quicker: we need the workaround.

When Paulo Savaget was ten months old growing up in Brazil, he became deathly ill. His parents had no access to baby formula he needed - but managed to save his life using a simple workaround. Decades later, Savaget began to study workarounds to find different ways they can address our most urgent problems.

For ages, corporations have been lecturing the world on how to get things done - but Savaget soon discovered that much about problem-solving can be learned from the scrappiest groups.

He focused his research on groups that have made an artform out of subverting the status quo. He identified four workarounds: the piggyback, the loophole, the roundabout, and the next-best. This audiobook explains how each one works and how to know which one to use when.

The Four Workarounds covers stories of how seemingly intractable problems - from public urination to the challenges of delivering life-saving medicine to remote communities - were unconventionally addressed. Savaget shows how some of the world's most influential and admired organizations have used and benefited from these scrappy tactics. And he demonstrates how we can, too.

©2023 Paulo Savaget (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Paulo Savaget cleverly reveals how you take scrappiness to success: the workaround. In The Four Workarounds, he uses real world examples to show us smart, efficient ways to problem-solve. This book helps us live happier, successful, and more fulfilling lives." (Jenn Lim, CEO and cofounder of Delivering Happiness, and New York Times bestselling author of Beyond Happiness)

"If you are tired of business books about the secrets of Amazon, prepare to be surprised by great ideas that come from the Amazon. Using a rich library of examples, Paulo Savaget shows how 'scrappy' organizations tackle seemingly intractable problems, from illegal logging in Brazil to caste discrimination in India to children diarrhea in sub-Saharan Africa. His distillation of their robust, dynamic and creative methods is an original and inspiring read for anyone interested in nontraditional problem-solving approaches." (Olivier Sibony, Professor of Strategy at HEC Paris and New York Times bestselling co-author of Noise)

"The most effective companies have figured out how to 'hack' their own problems and use the Four Workaround to bypass obstacles. But these 'hacks' are also used by all changemakers. Read this book to discover how to unleash the Four Workarounds in your organization." (Steve Blank, Adjunct Professor, Stanford University and author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owners Manual)