If you were to ask ten different people to define the word "diversity," you would probably get 7-10 different ("diverse") answers. There are so many criteria to consider, including gender, age, ethnicity, generation, personality type, and nationality. Add nature and extent of relevant experience, capabilities, and "potential" and you have at least some idea of how difficult it is for business leaders to decide how to "invest in diversity and inclusion," as Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan advocate in this book. That difficulty is exacerbated by the changes in the business world that, in turn, change immediate and imminent needs to accommodate.

Credit Kaplan and Mason with possessing courage sufficient to attempt to explain what comprises a diverse and inclusive workplace is, how to establish one, and then how to sustain one. They even suggest how to accommodate workplace dynamics such as unconscious bias, insider-outsider interaction (for better or worse), and dimensions of difference that can be either compatible or incompatible.

In the first chapter, they observe: "As employees of the twenty-first century, all of us live in three worlds of D&I that can seem to be incompatible at times. There is the civil world, which revolves around legislation regarding issues like marriage rights, equality of access, and equitable treatment. Then there is the academic world, where a theoretical debate persists across the fields of law, sociology, psychology, and business about equality and fairness...Finally, there is the corporate world. As students become employees, it is the corporate world that absorbs eight or more hours of their waking time most days, and the discussion is more narrowly focused on the best ways to create personal and corporate growth...While the internal challenges [in that world] are structural, process, and human, they also have an impact at the interface between the organization and its stakeholders."

Kaplan and Mason focus the business case for diversity and inclusion, the challenges to achieving and then sustaining that, and what they view as effective responses to those challenges. Readers will appreciate their skillful use of various devices such as "Takeaways" and "Discussion Point" sections at the conclusion of all nine chapters. This material will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of key points later.

These are among the dozens of passages that caught my eye, also listed to indicate the scope of Kaplan and Mason's coverage:

o A Long-Cherished Notion (Pages 5-9)
o A Quick History Case, and, The Business Case (9-15)
o Challenges to Creating Inclusion, and, Other Inclusion Hurdles (18-24)
o Three Key Areas for Inclusion (28-34)
o The RADIX(tm) Cycle (41-50)
o Unconscious Bias, and, Insider-Outsider Dynamics (61-64 and 66-69)
o The Individual, Interpersonal Level of Change (77-81)
o The Organizational Level of Change (86-94)
o Some of the Latest Research on Unconscious Bias (106-112)
o Systemic Bias, and, Reducing Unconscious Bias (113-120)
o Key Elements That Define Insider and Outsider Group Membership (129-140)
o Different Types of Difference (146-163)
o What Leaders Must Do (171-185)
o External Marketplace and Customer Data, and, Tools to Involve and Engage the Whole Organization (198-204)
o Tools to Create Systemic Process Change (208-210)

It is worth noting that the origin of the word "barbarian" can be traced back to Ancient Greece. Its original meaning: non-Greek. It seems basic to human nature to favor those who are similar in some way(s) and be wary of those who are not, who are "different" in some way(s). As Kaplan and Mason point out, there are four distinct levels of change "that all influence one another and share common space. When individual is coupled with the group/team, systemic, and marketplace levels, an organization can achieve a much higher return."

I agree with Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan that many of the decisions business leaders make "can be skewed if they do not first take the time to understand their biases and how they can be influencing any one of several levels." In fact, the inclusion dividend is substantial for companies annually ranked among the most admired and best to work for and helps to explain why they are also among the most profitable with the greatest cap value in their industry segment.

This is a revised and updated edition of a book I read when it was published in 2003. Although much has (and hasn't) happened in the business world since then, Michael Watkins' insights are (if anything) even more relevant and more valuable now than they were then because the actions taken by those in a new role, especially one with more challenging leadership responsibilities, will largely determine whether they succeed or fail. "When leaders derail," Watkins notes, "their problems can almost always be traced to vicious cycles that developed in the first few months on the job." Ninety percent of those whom Watkins interviewed agreed that "transitions into new roles are the most challenging times in the professional lives of leaders." They could be internal promotions, reassignments and/or relocations, or a new hire. These and other transitions are thoroughly discussed in the book.

These are among the dozens of passages that caught my eye, also listed to suggest the scope of Watkins' coverage.

o Avoiding Transition Traps (Pages 5-6)
o Understanding the Fundamental Principles (9-12)
o Getting promoted (21-24)
o Table 1-1, "Onboarding checklists" (34)
o Identifying the Best Sources of Insight (54-57)
o Table 2-1, "Structured methods for learning" (61-62)
o "Emotional Expensiveness" (63-64)
o Planning for Five [Transition-Specific] Conversations (90-93)
o Planning the Expectations Conversation (98-100)
o Adopting Basic Principles (121-122)
o Avoiding Common Alignment Traps (141-143)
o Getting Started (146-148)
o Avoiding Common Team-Building Traps (167-170)
o Building Support for Early-Win Objectives (202-220)
o Understanding the Three Pillars of Self-Management (227-237)
o Table 10-1, "Reasons for transition failures" (245)

The information, insights, and counsel he provides in this book reveal what he has learned thus far about what he characterizes as "The Vicious Cycle of Transition" and "The Virtuous Cycle of Transitions." The former involves sticking with what you know, falling prey to the "action imperative," setting unrealistic expectations, attempting to do too much, coming in with "the" answer, engaging in the wrong kind of learning, and neglecting horizontal relationships. (Please check out Figure 1-2 on Page 7.)

With regard to the latter cycle, the "virtuous" one, can enable anyone involved in a transition to create momentum and establish an upward spiral of increasing effectiveness. (Please check out Figure 1-3 on Page 8.) To repeat, this updated and expanded edition develops in greater depth and wider scope the core concepts introduced in the first edition. The objective in 2003 remains the same now: "get up to speed faster and smarter."

Michael Watkins can help each reader to do that; better yet, he can each reader, especially those with supervisory responsibilities, to help others to do that. That achievement is indeed an admirable objective. However, we are well-advised to recall Thomas Edison's observation, "Vision without execution is hallucination."

One dimension of the "Information Age" is the extent to which those who offer a product or service know much more now than ever before about those who are most likely to buy or lease it. Meanwhile, prospective buyers know more now than ever before about that product or service as well as others with which it competes. The implications of this information have wide and deep impact on marketing initiatives to create or increase demand for the given offering. The challenge to those in marketing is to obtain the information they need. Moreover, it must be accurate and sufficient as well as current. Only then can sound predictions be made.

According to Eric Siegel, however, "Learning from data to predict is only the first step. To take the next step and [begin italics] act on predictions [end italics] is to fearlessly gamble...Launching predictive analytics means to act on its predictions, applying what's been learned, what's been discovered within data. It's a leap many take - you can't win if you don't play." How then to improve one's odds? Read this book.

These are among the questions to which Siegel responds:

o Why must a computer learn in order to predict?
o How can "lousy" predictions be extremely valuable?
o Why a predictive model into a field operation? What are the potential benefits of doing that?
o To what extent (if any) do predictive mechanisms place civil liberties at risk?
o How does our emotional online (social media) chatter "flip the meaning of fraud on its head"?
o What actually makes data predictive?
o How does prediction transform risk to opportunity?
o Why does machine learning require both art and science?
o What kind of predictive model can be understood by everyone?
o What key innovation in predictive analytics has crowdsourcing helped to develop?
o Why is human language such a challenge for computers?
o Is artificial intelligence really possible?
o What is the scientific key to persuasion?
o Why is trying to predict human behavior a bad idea?
o How is a person like a quantum particle?

Siegel answers these and other questions throughout seven chapters filled with valuable information, insights, and counsel that enable him to explain how and why predictive analytics possesses "the power to predict who will click, buy, lie, or die." In Appendix A, he cross-references "Five Effects of Prediction," then in Appendix B, he cross-references "Twenty-One Applications of Predictive Analytics." These two appendices will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of key material later. The best works of non-fiction are research-driven and that is certainly true of this one, as indicated by 61 pages of notes (Pages 228-289). Until reading this book, almost everything I knew about analytics was learned from Tom Davenport, notably in two of his several books, Competing on Analytics (2007) and Analytics at Work (2011). He wrote the Foreword to Eric Siegel and after noting that we live in a predictive society, suggests, "The best way to prosper in it is to understand the objectives, techniques and limits of predictive models. And the best way to do that is simply to keep reading this book." I agree.

In the Introduction, Cy Wakeman establishes a direct and personal rapport with her readers that she sustains throughout her lively and eloquent narrative: "I am here to tell you: You are not a cog in a machine -- far from it. You have more control than you think. That's the good news. The bad news is, you and you alone are causing your own suffering. What most of your have lost touch with is that it isn't your reality that is causing your pain and frustration. It's the worn-out methods, techniques, and mind-sets with which you are approaching your reality. I'm here to tell you that your suffering is optional. I can help you get back on track so you can find bliss in your work again, while becoming more valuable to your organization than ever before." Yes, the information, insights, and counsel that Wakeman provides in this book can help a reader to achieve that worthy objective. However, ultimately and (yes) obviously, the reader must be actively involved and fully committed.

There have probably been "reality-based rules" since several cavemen decided to form a tribe. Since then, the rules have changed because the prevailing realities have changed. Wakeman asserts (and I agree) that in today's workplace, the "rules of the game" have changed and she focuses on five that are reality-based:

1. Your level of accountability determines your level of happiness.
2. Suffering is optional.
3. Buy-in is not optional.
4. Say "yes" to what's next.
5. You will always have extenuating circumstances.

Wakeman suggests an appropriate attitude for each of these five (Re #5, "SUCCEED ANYWAY") and has written a book in which she shares everything she has learned (thus far) about how to take full advantage of the opportunities that each realty-based rule has created. As I worked my way through the book, I was again reminded of an observation by Charles Darwin: "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." In her previously published book, Reality-Based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace, and Turn Excuses into Results, Wakeman explains how and why leaders, especially, must be resilient when adapting to new realities. In this volume, she re-emphasizes that while suggesting that "leadership" is by no means limited to residents of the C-Suite. Indeed, adaptive leadership must be developed at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise.

These are among the dozens of passages that caught my eye, also listed to suggest the scope of Wakeman's coverage:

o Performance Reviews in Theory, Performance Reviews in Reality, and How They Can Go Wrong (Pages 18-25)
o From Pain to Vision, and, How to Rate Your Future Potential (40-48)
o Five Tactics for Maximizing Your Future Potential (49-60)
o Rating Emotional Expensiveness (65-67)
o Rate Your Emotional Expensiveness (70-74)
o Four Factors of Personal Accountability (84-96)
o The Monster Under the Bed Is in Your Head (103-106)
o Stay in Your Lane (112-114)
o Five New Realities You Can't Afford to Ignore (125-134)
o The Three Stages of Change (138-147)
o Four Self-Serving but Lame Excuses (150-163)

I wish I had a dollar (or even a dime) for every time I have heard someone say, in effect, "The dog ate my career." I call these people "crutch collectors" who never take ownership of the consequences of their decisions. They are always victims during tough times but wholly responsible for whatever good happens to them. I agree with Wakeman: "The root cause of everyone's dissatisfaction is lack of Personal Accountability and lack of understanding of accountability's true connection to both results and happiness.

"Personal responsibility is the belief that you are fully responsible for your own actions and their consequences. It is a choice, a mind-set, an expression of integrity. While some individuals possess a higher natural inclination toward Personal Accountability, it can most definitely be learned, and it is not only the foundation for all success in work and in life but also a prerequisite for happiness."

I realize that no brief commentary such as mine can possibly do full justice to the quality and value of the material that Cy Wakeman provides. However, I hope that I have at least suggested why I think so highly of her book. Also, I hope that those who read my commentary will be better prepared to determine whether or not to obtain and read the book. In that event, I hope what it offers will guide them a better understanding of how to increase their value, eliminate whatever threatens to diminish it, and meanwhile help them to help countless others to develop that understanding, also.

As I began to read this book, I was reminded of the title of one of Marshall Goldsmith's more recent books, What Got You Here Won't Get You There. My own opinion is that whatever got you here won't even keep you here, wherever "here" may be. Robert Kaplan and Robert Kaiser obviously agree with Goldsmith and extend his insight to wider and deeper applications, as suggested by their own book's subtitle: "What you are best at could be your biggest problem."

The determination of a person's strengths is inevitably subjective: narrow-minded or a specialist, stubborn of having the courage of one's convictions, stubborn or stalwart, etc. You get the idea. As Kaplan and Kaiser observe, "A leader's desire to be forceful and straightforward becomes a tendency to be abusive and preemptory. A devotion to consensus-seeking breeds chronic indecision. An emphasis on being respectful of others degenerates into ineffectual niceness. The desire to turn a profit and serve shareholders becomes a preoccupation with short-term thinking." Robert Greenleaf would probably add that a servant leader need not be subservient to others. Yes, issues such as these are tricky and sometimes immensely complicated but as countless men and woman have demonstrated, leadership greatness can be achieved and sustained by almost anyone, with or with residence in the C-Suite.

To me, the primary danger is not to become fearful of one's strengths; rather, to become complacent and self-satisfied because of those strengths, smugly confident that "just good enough" really is. Self-improvement should be a never-ending process. Today's strengths could well be tomorrow's adequacies and next week's liabilities.

In my opinion, Kaplan and Kaiser's key point in the book is that continuous improvement is best understood as involving two separate but related initiatives: constantly striving to fulfill potentialities, and meanwhile, increasing their scope and depth. To play off a term from Jim Collins, once a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is achieved, it establishes the status quo and unless continuously improved, organizational stagnation and decay are inevitable. Moreover, defenders of the status quo become hostage to what James O'Toole so aptly characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom."

o Forceful and Enabling Leadership (Pages 21-26)
o Strategic and Operational Leadership (26-33)
o Mindset Traps: What's Behind Overuse? (40-45)
o Biases & Prejudices: What's Behind Lopsidedness? (45-55)
o The Outer Game: Working on Your Behavior (60-65)
o The Inner Game: Working on Your Mindset (65-67)
o Self-Control: Using Counterweights (77-80)
o Accept Yourself, Test Yourself, and Offset Yourself: The Route to Versatility (86-94)

Re that last passage, complete leaders do that and they also help others to do it.

Don't be deterred by the length of this book (94 pages). Kaplan and Kaiser obviously agree with Albert Einstein: "Make everything as simple as possible but no simpler." Drawing upon the vast resources of the Center for Creative Leadership as well as their own wide and deep business experience, they explain how and why strengths can become weaknesses for both individuals and organizations. They also suggest how to become and then remain a "complete leader" ad heaven knows, all organizations need such leadership at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise. When thinking about how to conclude this brief commentary, I decided to cite my favorite passage in the Tao Te Ching. It suggests what Robert Kaplan and Robert Kaiser emphasize throughout their narrative: A complete leader sets an example for others as an eager and able collaborator during a never-ending process of self-improvement (i.e. "The Route to Versatility"). Here's what Lao-Tzu recommends:

"Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people will remark
We have done it ourselves."

In every organization, whatever its size and nature may be, there are people who directly and frequently interact with the given competitive marketplace. They are on the “front line” and often referred to as such, frontliners. Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, an organization is only as strong as its weakest area and that must never be the front line. In this book, Brian Klapper shares everything he has learned during the last several decades about how to achieve and then sustain buy-in for change initiatives at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise.

The title of this book refers to “a process that forms a complete circle – from ideation to complete implementation. It’s called the Q-Loop because, as the name suggests, it’s more robust than a simple circle. Far from going in circles, like so many strategies intended to implement change, the Q-Loop works every time. That’s because it relies on the real heroes in the trenches of your company, the ones who know how to get things done and to get people on board. Calling this process anything other than the Q-Loop simply wouldn’t capture the full measure of this sweeping system.”

These are among the dozens of passages that caught my eye, also listed to suggest the scope of Klapper's coverage:

o How Leaders Must Handle Resistance (Pages 11-14)
o Why great Ideas Perish (19-23)
o Looking for Unorthodox Opportunities (32-35)
o Crushing Bottlenecks, and, Rewarding Innovation (36-39)
o A Brief Explanation of Collective IQ (48-49)

Note: Re the latter, In Tom Davenport’s latest book, Judgment Calls, he and co-author Brooke Manville offer “an antidote for the Great Man theory of decision making and organizational performance”: [begin italics] organizational judgment [end italics]. That is, “the collective capacity to make good calls and wise moves when the need for them exceeds the scope of any single leader's direct control."

o Idea Quest (56-62)
o Idea Quest in Action (Although Amazon Didn’t Know It) (63-65)
o Getting Started (79-93)
o Overview of the Corporate Lab (102-112)
o [Project] Launch Day 130-139)
o The Ignition Process (174-184)
o Final Thoughts (199-201)

Klapper makes skillful use of various reader-friendly devices such as self diagnostic exercises (Pages xx-xxi, 14-15, 23-25, 40-42, 49-51, 71-73, and 170-172. Completing these exercises serves two separate but equal and very important purposes: They enable, indeed require the reader to interact with the most important material in the book, and, the responses reveal the nature and extent of the gap between where the given enterprise is and where it should be. Other devices include “Takeaway” sections at the conclusion of Chapters 1-7, “Ideas in Action” (i.e. applications) sections, and “Coming Up” alerts re next chapter. These and other devices will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of key material later.

I realize that no brief commentary such as mine can possibly do full justice to the quality and value of the material that Brian Klapper provides. However, I hope that I have at least suggested why I think so highly of his book. Also, I hope that those who read my commentary will be better prepared to determine whether or not to obtain and read the book. In that event, I hope what it offers will guide them a better understanding of “the art and science of lasting corporate change” and then help them to help countless others to develop that understanding, also.

I have read all of Brian Tracy’s books and reviewed most of them. In my opinion, he is among the most thoughtful and, when appropriate, thought-provoking business thinkers. He is also an especially pragmatic person who is intrigued by what works, what doesn’t, and why. What we have in his latest book is a consolidation of insights from previous books, articles, keynote and wrap-up speeches, and seminar/workshop material. Two of this book’s greatest virtues are that, first, it offers an excellent introduction to an author of more than 50 books that, collectively, cover just about every dimension of the contemporary business world; also, he shares his most valuable insights concerning an especially important -- and difficult -- leadership challenge: “One of the things we know is that you cannot motivate other people, but you can remove the obstacles that stop them from motivating themselves. All motivation is self-motivation.” I agree. However different the greatest leaders throughout history may be in most respects, all of them possessed (invoking a gardening metaphor) a "green thumb" for "growing" other people by inspiring them to motivate themselves.

Here in Dallas near the downtown area, we have a Farmer's Market at which several merchants offer slices of fresh fruit as samples. In that spirit, I now offer a few "slices" from Tracy's book. First, two suggestions to improve participative management (Page 33):

"Take the time to actively engage employees in their work by sharing, discussing, and encouraging each employee to participate with you in determining the best way to perform the given task or achieve the given goal."

"Seek every way to have employees accept personal ownership of the job by asking questions, encouraging them, and listening to them when they want to talk. The more they can discuss the work with you, the more committed they will be to doing the job and doing it well."

Next, The Seven Parts of the Brainstorming Process (Pages 89-91):

1. Choose an optimum group size: The ideal group size is 4-7 people.
2. Select both a leader for the table and a recorder: The leader keeps the discussion moving on track; the recorder documents the discussion.
3. Set a specific time limit for the session: Preferably, 15-45 minutes.
4. Define one specific problem to solve or one question to answer: Then focus on doing that.
5. Focus initially on the quantity rather than the quality of ideas: Prune and refine later.
6. Suspend all judgment: Concentrate on generating ideas, period.
7. Gather all ideas for evaluation later: Eliminate duplications; treat all other ideas equally.

In this small but substantial book, experienced managers will find dozens of helpful reminders; less experienced managers and those preparing for a business career will find valuable information, insights, and advice that will help them to improve their own performance as well as another's.

With regard to the Edison quotation, I agree while presuming to add, "Execution without discipline is merely activity."

Larry Keeley wrote this book with Ryan Pikkel, Brian Quinn, and Helen Walters. "As the principal author of the text, I am responsible for the basic arguments throughout, and the system of ideas here either succeeds or fails because of me." However, as explains in the Preface, it really is the result of a team effort. Each of his colleagues made significant and unique contributions, as did Bansi Nagii. Although not one of the authors of the book, Nagii "played a role in refreshing and advancing the Ten Types of Innovation." As I read the book, I recognized that it is an excellent example of the collaborative process by which breakthrough innovations are achieved if (HUGE "if") sufficient discipline has been developed by everyone involved.

The material is carefully organized and effectively presented within three categories of innovation types: Configuration, Offering, and Experience. As Keeley explains, more than 2,000 of what were at that time (i.e. in 1998) considered to be innovations were discovered, examined, and evaluated. Each was "the creation of a viable new offering." As he then adds, innovation may involve invention but requires a great deal more (e.g. a deep understanding of customer need), innovations "have to earn their keep" (i.e. return value), very little is in fact new in innovation (rather, the result of an evolving process of improvement), and it is important to "think beyond products" to new ways of doing business, for example, and news ways of engagement with customers. Keeley and his colleagues are convinced that all great innovations, throughout history, comprise some combination of ten basic types that are, as indicated, organized within the three categories. "This is our Periodic Table." Part Two examines each of the ten in detail.

These are among the dozens of passages that caught my eye, also lusted to suggest the scope of coverage in the book:

o Rethink Innovation: Eradicate Lore, Substitute Logic (Pages 2-3)
o How to Organize and Align Your Talent and Assets (26-29)
o Product Performance: How to Develop Distinguishing Features and Functionality (34-37)
o Customer Engagement: How to Foster Compelling Interactions (54-57)
o McDonald's Invents a Convenient Food System (74-75)
o Lexus Invents a New Luxury Car Experience (76-77)
o Strength in Numbers: Innovations Using a Combination of Types Generate Better Returns (78-79)
o Mind the Gap: Uncover Your Blind Spots (100-103)
o Challenge Convention: See Where Your Competitors Are Focusing -- And Then Make Different Choices (104-111)
o Pattern Recognition: See How Industries and Markets Shift -- And Learn from Those Who Saw the Signs and Acted on Them (118-125)
o Declare Intent: By Being Clear Where and How You will Innovate, You Massively Increase Your Odds for Success (130-135)
o Innovation Play: Collaborative Creation, and Competency-Driven Platform (168-171)
o Innovation Play: Connected Community, and, Values-Based (178-181)
o Fostering Innovation: Installing Effective Innovation Inside Your Organization (188-195)
o Defining Characteristics of Innovation Leadership (197-199)

I agree with Keeley and his colleagues that "innovation is a team sport. In fact, an organization that depends on individual innovators alone is destined to fail. Understanding how you can wire innovation into your organization -- and build a robust internal innovation capability -- is an imperative for any firm doing business in today's world."

Those who read this book will especially appreciate the provision of "stories" (mini-profiles) of dozens of organizations, including five for each of the ten categories plus 21 others that illustrate (to varying degree) innovation initiatives whose primary focus is one of these three: on the innermost workings of an enterprise and its business system; on an enterprise's core product or service, or a collection of products and services; or, on more customer-facing elements of an enterprise and its business system. In Part Seven, Keeley and his colleagues suggest how to put the various practices into practice and thereby "go beyond the book to create [their reader's] own innovation revolution."

The best business books tend to be research-driven and that is certainly true of this one. Authors of the best of the best business books make brilliant use of their research when sharing information, insights, and wisdom with their reader. I know of no other that does that better than does this one. To Larry Keeley, Ryan Pikkel, Brian Quinn, and Helen Walters, I now offer a hearty "Bravo!"

The last time I checked, Amazon offers 52,820 books for sale in the category "business teams." Ironically and paradoxically, we now know a great deal about effectively selecting and leading members of what become high-impact teams and yet most teams either fail or fall far below original (perhaps unrealisitc) expectations. Why? Reasons vary but, more often than not, cultural resistance - especially to change initiatives - proves insurmountable. In Leading Change, James O'Toole suggests that such resistance is usually the result of what he so aptly characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom."

In this volume, Roger Schwarz shares everything he has learned -- from decades of experience -- about how to help readers and their teams "get unstuck to get results"...high-impact results. More specifically, he introduces what he characterizes as the "Unilateral Central Mindset" that many team leaders adopt and exemplify. Its values: Be right; Minimize expressions of negative feelings; Act rational; and Win, don't lose. Its assumptions: I understand the situation and those who disagree don't; I am right, those who disagree are wrong; I have pure motives, those who disagree have questionable values; I am not contributing to the problem; and My feelings and behavior are justified. Those who possess this mindset are obviously advocates of the Command and Control approach to leadership.

What do to do? Schwarz recommends the "Mutual Learning Approach." Its values: Transparent Curiosity, Informed Accountability Choice, and Compassion. Its assumptions: I have information but so do other people; Each of us sees things that others don't; Others may disagree with me and still have pure motives; I may be contributing to the problem; and Differences are opportunities for learning. Those who possess this mindset are presumably advocates for leadership that combines authenticity, intellectual curiosity, humility, and transparency; moreover, it demonstrates highly developed emotional intelligence, moral courage, and integrative decision-making and problem-solving skills.

Whatever their size and nature may be, all organizations need such leadership at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise. In this context, I am reminded of Tom Davenport's latest book, Judgment Calls, in which he and co-author Brooke Manville offer "an antidote for the Great Man theory of decision making and organizational performance": [begin italics] organizational judgment [end italics]. That is, "the collective capacity to make good calls and wise moves when the need for them exceeds the scope of any single leader's direct control."

These are among the dozens of passages in Schwarz's book that caught my eye, also shared to suggest the scope of his coverage:

o Why Leaders Stay Stuck (Pages 6-8)
o Changing an Unproductive Mindset (9-17)
o Why Unilateral Control Gets Results You're Trying to Avoid (26-31)
o Unilateral Control Behavior (33-35)
o Values of the Mutual Learning Mindset (49-67)
o Extending Mutual Learning to the Whole Team (81-85)
o Behavior 5: Focus on Interests, Not Positions (109-115)
o Behavior 8: Discuss Undiscussable Issues (131-140)
o Watch Your Mindset as You Design [a Team] (144-147)
o Team Structure (153-159)
o Team Process (159-164)
o Team Context (165-175)
o Giving Feedback (184-188)
o Beginning the Team Journey (216-222)

I appreciate Schwarz's skillful use of several reader-friendly devices that include an extensively annotated "Contents" section, Figures (e.g. 2.1, "Core Values and Assumptions of the Unilateral Control Mindset" and 5.3, "Lowering Your Ladder of Inference"), and brief insights throughout the narrative (what I call "business nuggets") such as "When you operate from the mutual learning mindset and you're working with people who see things differently from the way you do, the essence of the mindset is simple: I understand some things. So do you. Let's learn and move forward together." (Page 23) and "Mutually learning teams expect that when the team makes a decision, everyone agrees to support it through their actions and their voices. Mutual learning teams also encourage members to share their concerns with their direct reports." (Page 196) Readers will also appreciate summaries of key points at the conclusion of most chapters. These and other devices permit seamless transitions in the narrative flow and will facilitate, indeed expedite re=frequent review of material later.

There are no head-snapping revelations, nor does Roger Schwarz make any such claim. What he does offer are rock-solid information, insights, and counsel that I can be of incalculable value to individuals but also to project teams and (especially) to those who lead them. Bravo!

Over the years, I have read and reviewed hundreds of books on one or more aspects of the “customer experience.” Most (not all) of their authors recommend a customer-centric approach when attempting to create or increase demand for whatever is offered. Not everyone agrees with that approach. For example, Henry Ford once claimed, “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” More recently, Steve Jobs observed, “You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give it to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”

That said, the facts remain that (a) customers tend to have a better idea of what they [begin italics] don’t want [end italics] than they do of what they do want but (b) the great successes of the Model T and the iProducts indicate that consumers will generously reward what prove to be disruptive innovations and (c) those who are marketing products and/or services need to anticipate and prepare for significant changes in the given competitive marketplace. For example, Henry Ford created an industry of mass production of low-cost automobiles but refused to change when consumer preferences changed (e.g. choice of several in addition to black).

In Customer CEO, Chuck Wall correctly observes that consumers have more power now than ever before because they have more and better information – hence leverage -- now than ever before. Therefore, they decide whether or not to become a consumer. Barbara Bund was among the first to recognize the power of customer-centric thinking. In her business classic, The Outside-In Corporation: How to Build a Customer-centric Organization fro Breakthrough Results, she observes, As she explains in the Preface, "The primary objective of this book is to help business managers use [her various] insights effectively in practice. It is to share the outside-in discipline -- to provide a road map for managers to follow in creating and leading outside-in corporations, even in organizations where the unfortunate inside-out perspective has prevailed in the past." (Page xviii) Later in her narrative, she adds, "The most important thing about this definition [of strategy based on a marketing mix of product, price, communication, and distribution] is that it requires that the strategic tools must be chosen to address the needs of one or more market segments. There must be a clear customer foundation, based on customer needs and behavior. In addition, the components of the strategy must fit with one another and work together; they must be consistent and coordinated." (Page 128)

Wall notes that we are in or rapidly approaching a "social era" when customers "rely more on the recommendations of their friends than on messages from the brands themselves...In a nutshell, [marketers] need to think about the customer experience as no different from any successful relationship in terms of how it makes the other person feel [especially how the relationship makes them they feel about themselves], from beginning to end."

These are among the dozens of passages that caught my eye, also listed to suggest the scope of Wall's coverage:

o The Customer Isn't Always Right (Pages 5-7)
o New Customers May Not Be Who You Think (17-20)
o Profiting from the Power of Me (40-43)
o Bathing in Beads , Big Box of Bargains, and The Airlines Customers Love to Hate (53-62)
o Tear Down the Walls (69-71)
o A Bathtub Full of Dirt (74-76)
o Everybody's Talking (81-85)
o Can You Feel the Love? (88-90)
o Number Two and Lovin' It (95-99)
o Sole Simplicity (102-104)
o The World Is Flat (109-112)
o Profiting from the Power of Yes (119-122)
o Real-Time Engagement (125-128)
o The Greatest Customer Service Story Ever Told (131-132)
o The Star of the Waltz (144-147)
o Discover the Statue Inside (164-166)
o Profit + 11 (182-184)

To sum up, a "Customer CEO Champion" understands that business is all about customers, continuously creates value for them, celebrates the relationship with them at every possible opportunity, is engaged in a constant search to deliver higher performance for each customer, loves to say "yes," provides a platform for frequent two-way conversations with customers, enjoys breaking the rules when that is appropriate, and sees each relationship as a series of opportunities to serve a high purpose than just doing business. Bund asserts and Wall wholly concurs that every person at each level and in all areas of the given enterprise must be a Customer CEO Champion.

One final point: The companies annually ranked among those most highly admired and the best to work for are also annually ranked among those profitable with the greatest cap value in their respective industries. That is emphatically NOT a coincidence.