Books

right product offer with the right creative at the right time. Data-driven decision-making = Growth and Profitability.

ADOPT AGILE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING

Surprisingly, many executives get bogged down in the process required to move forward quickly. Historically, getting a new product out, or even a new marketing campaign, took a year or more to develop; today’s speed of business, however, won’t wait for traditional lumbering five-year plans to be implemented.

Here’s the secret: Real change actually happens in tiny increments. For example, a company like Netflix is pushing innovation by optimizing its streaming platform continually, knowing the viewer will give it only 60 to 90 seconds as they scan through 10 to 20 titles before losing interest. This continual incremental adaptation allows Netflix to embrace radical improvements over time, resulting in 80% of viewer choices being based upon Netflix recommendations.

Here’s another way to look at it: If we wanted to create a mode of transportation that gets us from point A to point B, would we start with a wheel that leads to a chassis that leads to a door that eventually becomes an automobile, or would we start with something simple, like a skateboard, and then get it into the hands of a consumer and iterate and iterate (allowing little changes to add up to big innovations along the way)?

Facebook adopts this agile approach with the slogan “shipped is better than perfect.” The idea is that as long as a product is sitting somewhere being thought about, dreamed about, improved upon or held onto because “it’s not ready yet,” it has no relevance in the world. A “shipped” finished product — whatever form it takes — may have its flaws. It may be criticized or judged. It may be rejected. But at least it’s out there.

An effective strategy for business leaders is to embrace imperfectionism and move fast and make things — things that they know can and will change over time. By learning and relearning, and using data to drive decisionmaking, they will be headed into a successful and agile digital future.

LEVERAGE STORYTELLING TO INCREASE COLLABORATION AND, YES … INNOVATION

And finally, in a world of headlines, overflowing inboxes and information overload, the ability to communicate and get ideas heard is critical. Probably the biggest complaint we hear from business leaders is their struggle to deal with an always-on/never done business culture where ideas across an organization are not being shared, opportunities for collaboration breakdown and, ultimately, innovation suffers.

The solution? Storytelling. Simply put, a great story helps us cut through the noise and be heard internally with our co-workers and externally with our clients and business partners. Most great ideas that come to life start with great storytelling. It’s how we move business forward. Why? Because storytelling creates a speed of trust with co-workers that encourages shared ideas to spread across an organization. If we look at any great product breakthrough in the past decade that disrupted an industry, chances are it came out of an organization that communicates and collaborates well with one another through the power of storytelling.

And people who thrive in rich, storytelling ecosystems rapidly rise in their careers. It’s the essential ingredient in building a mastery of ideas, connection and the power skill everyone wants: executive presence. Whether it’s making a recommendation to a boss’s boss, providing a product update or managing difficult questions from a prospective customer, knowing how to build a story framework humanizes the content, creates a two-way dialogue, and lets business leaders meet their audience’s needs in the moment.

Boundless Leadership

Boundless Leadership offers accessible, real-world applications to bring ease to leading oneself and others, and provides examples from the authors’ experience with clients, including CEOs of multibillion-dollar businesses, entrepreneurs and managers trying to balance the complex challenges of work and life in our interdependent age. Each section includes a range of practices based on neuropsychology and contemplative science, including guided meditations to improve focus and awareness, cultivate empathy and compassion, and build fearlessness and flow. Each section also offers a practical application to ease daily challenges, including clarifying intentions for better decision-making, improving accountability and responsibility for better team collaboration, and embodying purpose to optimize impact on one’s organization and society at large. Boundless Leadership is especially needed during this explosion of remote working

Boundless Leadership: The Breakthrough Method to Realize Your Vision, Empower Others, and Ignite Positive Change

Joe Loizzo and Elazar Aslan

$26.95

Shambhala Available 12/21/2021 296 pages

Uncommon Accountability

The implementation of true, organization-wide accountability has the potential to transform a firm’s — and an individual’s — performance. Unfortunately, the word “accountability” often has negative connotations, including blame, fear and conflict. In Uncommon Accountability, best-selling authors and leadership strategists Brian Moran and Michael Lennington compellingly argue for a positive and affirming conception of accountability — one that stands for personal ownership of one’s goals, actions and progress The authors show how to harness the power of accountability, with all its built-in potential to enable growth and learning, improve well-being, reduce stress and drive results.

Uncommon Accountability: A Radical New Approach To Greater Success and Fulfillment Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington $25

Wiley Available 12/29/2021 208 pages

From Me to We

Shared value is a management strategy in which companies find business opportunities in social problems. While philanthropy and CSR focus efforts on “giving back” or minimizing the harm business has on society, shared value focuses company leaders on maximizing the competitive value of solving social problems in new customers and markets, cost savings, talent retention and more. This book takes the concept of shared value to the next level, with the concept of “Me to We” (also abbreviated as “M2W”) and discusses the current state of the business-environment-government relationship and shows how the shared value model can contribute to each entity. Citing real cases and examples from multiple industries, the authors show that shared value promotes shareholder interests while serving as a successful business strategy.

From Me to We: How Shared Value Can Turn Companies Into Engines of Change Ricardo Ernst and Jerry Haar $49.99

Palgrave Macmillan Available 12/31/2021 224 pages