The New How

The New How

by Nilofer Merchant
Released December 2009
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9780596156251

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Book description

Once in a generation, a book comes along that transforms the business landscape. For today's business leaders, The New How redefines the way companies create strategies and win new markets.

Management gurus have always said "people matter." But those same gurus still relegate strategy to an elite set of executives who focus on frameworks, long presentations, and hierarchical approaches. Business strategy typically has been planned by corporate chiefs in annual meetings, and then dictated to managers to carry out. The New How turns that notion on its head. After many years of working with Apple, Adobe, HP, and many other companies, Nilofer Merchant discovered the secret sauce: the best way to create a winning strategy is to include employees at all levels, helping to create strategy they not only believe in, but are also equipped to implement.
In The New How, Nilofer shows today's corporate directors, executives, and managers how they can transform their traditional, top-down approach to strategy planning and execution into collaborative "stratecution" that has proven to be significantly more effective.
  • Enhance performance and outcomes by deflating the "air sandwich" between executives in the boardroom and employees
  • Recognize that strategy and execution are thoroughly intertwined
  • Understand how successful strategy is founded in effective idea selection-a pile of good ideas doesn't necessarily build good strategy
  • Create company strategy and link it to targeted execution, using the practical models and techniques provided
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    Table of contents

    1. Praise for The New How
    2. Dedication
    3. Preface
    4. Introduction: Why Strategies Fail
      1. Before We Fix It, Let’s Understand Why It Fails
      2. Different Types of Strategy Require Different Approaches
      3. The “How” Matters
      4. The Air Sandwich
      5. The New How: Let ‘Em Think
      6. Surely, We Can Do This Important Thing Better
    5. 1. System Overload
      1. Blaming People Only Works for So Long
      2. The Three Systemic Patterns
        1. “Tunnel Vision”
        2. “Ahead of Yourself”
        3. “It’s Not My Job”
      3. The Telltale Signs
      4. Strategy in the Organizational System
        1. Individual Behaviors and Attitudes in Collaborative Strategy
        2. Process for Collaborative Strategy
        3. Organizational Principles for Collaborative Strategy
      5. Naming the Systemic Issues Lets Us Fix Them
    6. I. “Being” Collaborators
      1. 2. Each of Us
        1. When Individuals Step Up Their Game, the Overall Game Gets Better
        2. Perspective Change
        3. Beyond the Title
        4. Each of Us: Co-Creator
        5. Five Practices for Busting Out
          1. Call Out
          2. Be Fully Present
          3. Understand the Why
          4. Live in a State of Discovery
          5. Embrace Contradiction
        6. Sitting Forward, Going Forward
      2. 3. As We Lead
        1. Enabling Organizational Velocity
        2. The End of the Era of the Chief of Answers
        3. The Goal Is Repeated Wins
        4. Transitioning to the Un-Hero
        5. The Seven Responsibilities
          1. 1. Manage Cadence
          2. 2. Generate Ideas
          3. 3. Nurture Safe Culture
          4. 4. Develop Connections
          5. 5. Satisfice
          6. 6. Engage Issues
          7. 7. Trace Topography
        6. Be a Collaborative Leader
    7. II. The QuEST Process for Collaborative Strategy
      1. 4. Phase I: Question
        1. Know What We Need to Ask and Answer
        2. How It All Works
          1. The Question Phase: How It Fits
          2. Working Parts of the Question Phase
          3. Step 1: Identifying the Problem Scope
            1. Problem scope: Roles and responsibilities
          4. Step 2: Fact Gathering
            1. Fact gathering activities
              1. ELEPHANT HUNTING.
              2. INTERVIEWING: MINING WISDOM.
              3. RESEARCHING: GATHERING DATA YOU CAN REFERENCE.
            2. Fact gathering: Roles and responsibilities
          5. Step 3: Sharing the Findings
            1. Sharing the findings: Roles and responsibilities
        3. Sequences of the Question Phase
        4. The Goal: Getting Shared Understanding
      2. 5. Phase II: Envision
        1. Create Options That Matter and Know Why They Matter
        2. How to Do It
          1. Step 1: Option Development
            1. Leading the option development step
          2. Step 2: Criteria Tracking
            1. Start with an open question
            2. Lead the criteria tracking step
        3. Envision Roles and Responsibilities
        4. The Goal: Achieving Viable Options That People Believe In
      3. 6. Phase III: Select
        1. Killing Off Bad Ideas So Good Ideas Can Thrive
        2. Selecting “The One”
        3. MurderBoarding: What Is It?
        4. Steps to MurderBoarding
          1. Step 1: Decide What Matters
          2. Step 2: Sort
          3. Step 3: Test
            1. Step 3a: Reshape ideas
          4. Step 4: Choose
        5. Select Roles and Responsibilities
        6. Sequences of Select
        7. The Goal: Selecting a Winning Strategy
        8. Moving On
      4. 7. Phase IV: Take
        1. Eliminate Gaps by Owning Outcome
        2. The Goal: Taking Ownership
          1. Why Take Is Important
          2. How to Do It
            1. Identify who/what/interdependencies
            2. Take roles and responsibilities
          3. The Artifacts of the Take Phase
          4. Managing Temptations Overall
        3. Wrapping Up
    8. III. Foundations to Successful Collaborative Organizations
      1. 8. Collaborating to Win
        1. What Makes It Work Inside the Corporation Context
          1. First Principles of the New How
            1. Distribute decision making
            2. Demand good followership
              1. EMBRACE TENSION
              2. VALUE QUESTIONS
              3. BE THINKING PARTNERS
              4. ABIDE BY THE RESULT
            3. Reward co-ownership
            4. Set clear goals and then improvise
            5. Be students of the game
              1. DON’T DWELL ON THE PAST
              2. CREATE EXPERIMENTS
              3. INVOLVE OTHERS
          2. The Payoff
          3. Organizations That Win Form Winning Cultures
      2. Epilogue: It’s What We Make of It
      3. Acknowledgments
      4. A. Tools
        1. Tips for Interviewing
          1. Intention
          2. Approach
        2. Building a Findings Framework
          1. Intention
          2. Approach
        3. Speaking Truth with Clarity and Power
          1. Intention
          2. Approach
        4. Tips for Criteria Development
          1. Intention
          2. Approach
            1. Exercise #1: Imagining the future
            2. Exercise #2: Developing competencies
            3. Exercise #3: Exploring new models
        5. Generating Options
          1. Intention
          2. Approach
        6. Burning the Boat
          1. Intention
          2. Approach
      5. B. Resources
        1. Strategy
        2. Collaboration Trends and Tools
        3. Leadership
        4. Tough Conversations
        5. Creativity
        6. Facilitation
        7. Decision Making
        8. Change Management
        9. Listening
      6. Notes
    9. Index
    10. About the Author
    11. Colophon
    12. Copyright

    Product information

    • Title: The New How
    • Author(s): Nilofer Merchant
    • Release date: December 2009
    • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
    • ISBN: 9780596156251