The New How [Paperback]

Epilogue: It’s What We Make of It

Throughout this book, I’ve shared the ways business can improve, how we reinvent work together, and how collaboration in the form of co-creating business solutions can fundamentally improve outcomes. Let me share with you now the backstory of why I believe what I believe.

I was in my final quarter of graduate school, feeling ready to be done with the tightrope act between working and studies, when I got the assignment that transformed my perspective of how business works.

Standing regally at the podium, my white-haired professor, Andre Delbecq, dean of management studies, gave us our last assignment: study a tree, reflect on how this tree relates to business and leadership, and then write an essay about it. And, no, it wasn’t a joke. “Easy A, here I come!” I thought, already picturing how this cakewalk assignment would free up the necessary time to focus on my more important paper, an HBR case study about how company strengths are manifested in business outcomes.

Though I considered the tree assignment a waste of time, I went through the motions, diligently studying a large oak tree near my home. I’d been staring at that tree for some minutes when I suddenly realized: the tree essay and my case study work represented the same darn thing. (Wouldn’t ya know it, I learned something after all?)

What (I asked myself) is the basis of a tree? The roots and the trunk. Sure, the leaves and the fruit are the eye-catching bits that come to mind when we think of ...