The Critical Few
The Critical Few
Energize Your Company's Culture by Choosing What Really Matters
Jon Katzenbach (Author),
James Thomas (Author),
Gretchen Anderson (Author),
Robert Moritz (Foreword by)
Edition: 1
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 15 January, 2019
Available in all formats
EPUB
ISBN:
9781523098743
PDF
ISBN:
9781523098736
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Without a deep understanding of your company's culture, any change effort you undertake will fail. Bestselling author Jon Katzenbach and his coauthors identify the four most critical cultural elements leaders need to focus on.
Every organization has a unique culture, but they all have one thing in common. Whenever they have a big change to make, powerful emotional forces in their culture appear, at first, to resist it. But there are other culture forces under the surface that can be potential sources of catalytic strength. The best leaders succeed by tapping those “critical few” sources. Using an unusual, dialogue-based approach, Jon Katzenbach, author of the seminal The Wisdom of Teams (over 400,000 sold) shows how a sharp focus on just these elements reduces complexity and enables leaders to create profound cultural transformation and positive, lasting impact on performance.
The critical few elements are:
The critical few traits: the shared characteristics that are at the heart of people's emotional connection to what they do.
The critical few behaviors: people's actions that would lead a company to succeed if they were replicated at greater scale.
The critical few informal leaders: individuals whose emotional intuition and institutional trust make them valued guides for transformation, wherever they are on the org chart.
Every organization has a unique culture, but they all have one thing in common. Whenever they have a big change to make, powerful emotional forces in their culture appear, at first, to resist it. But there are other culture forces under the surface that can be potential sources of catalytic strength. The best leaders succeed by tapping those “critical few” sources. Using an unusual, dialogue-based approach, Jon Katzenbach, author of the seminal The Wisdom of Teams (over 400,000 sold) shows how a sharp focus on just these elements reduces complexity and enables leaders to create profound cultural transformation and positive, lasting impact on performance.
The critical few elements are:
The critical few traits: the shared characteristics that are at the heart of people's emotional connection to what they do.
The critical few behaviors: people's actions that would lead a company to succeed if they were replicated at greater scale.
The critical few informal leaders: individuals whose emotional intuition and institutional trust make them valued guides for transformation, wherever they are on the org chart.
Description
Without a deep understanding of your company's culture, any change effort you undertake will fail. Bestselling author Jon Katzenbach and his coauthors identify the four most critical cultural elements leaders need to focus on.
Every organization has a unique culture, but they all have one thing in common. Whenever they have a big change to make, powerful emotional forces in their culture appear, at first, to resist it. But there are other culture forces under the surface that can be potential sources of catalytic strength. The best leaders succeed by tapping those “critical few” sources. Using an unusual, dialogue-based approach, Jon Katzenbach, author of the seminal The Wisdom of Teams (over 400,000 sold) shows how a sharp focus on just these elements reduces complexity and enables leaders to create profound cultural transformation and positive, lasting impact on performance.
The critical few elements are:
The critical few traits: the shared characteristics that are at the heart of people's emotional connection to what they do.
The critical few behaviors: people's actions that would lead a company to succeed if they were replicated at greater scale.
The critical few informal leaders: individuals whose emotional intuition and institutional trust make them valued guides for transformation, wherever they are on the org chart.
Every organization has a unique culture, but they all have one thing in common. Whenever they have a big change to make, powerful emotional forces in their culture appear, at first, to resist it. But there are other culture forces under the surface that can be potential sources of catalytic strength. The best leaders succeed by tapping those “critical few” sources. Using an unusual, dialogue-based approach, Jon Katzenbach, author of the seminal The Wisdom of Teams (over 400,000 sold) shows how a sharp focus on just these elements reduces complexity and enables leaders to create profound cultural transformation and positive, lasting impact on performance.
The critical few elements are:
The critical few traits: the shared characteristics that are at the heart of people's emotional connection to what they do.
The critical few behaviors: people's actions that would lead a company to succeed if they were replicated at greater scale.
The critical few informal leaders: individuals whose emotional intuition and institutional trust make them valued guides for transformation, wherever they are on the org chart.
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Letter to Readers from the Katzenbach Center Community of Practice
- Prologue
- 1. Why Aligning Culture Matters
- 2. A Critical Few Traits
- 3. A Critical Few Behaviors
- 4. A Few Authentic Informal Leaders
- 5. Measuring Cultural Action
- Epilogue
- Appendix
- Glossary of Key Terms
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments
- Index
- About the Authors
- Katzenbach Center Community of Practice Biographies
Review quote
“This book describes the practice of culture change in personal detail and highlights through a composite story how the culture change process itself is a multi-faceted adventure, not the imposition of a few steps from a generic change model."
-Edgar H. Schein, Professor Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management, Author with Peter Schein of the 5th Edition of Organizational Culture and Leadership (2017) and Humble Leadership (2018)
“Katzenbach, Anderson, and Thomas expertly outline how to manage organizational culture as a critical asset in practical and actionable terms. Their decades of experience in advising leading organizations shines here as a pragmatic, optimistic guide to management.”
-Tim Ryan, US Chairman and Senior Partner at PwC
“As a student of habit creation, I loved the The Critical Few. It guides leaders to follow a discipline of simplicity, to be deliberate and purposeful, and to focus on what matters. Best of all, it encourages leaders at all levels to close the book, engage in real conversations, and build teams that matter.”
-Charles Duhigg, author of bestsellers The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better
-Edgar H. Schein, Professor Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management, Author with Peter Schein of the 5th Edition of Organizational Culture and Leadership (2017) and Humble Leadership (2018)
“Katzenbach, Anderson, and Thomas expertly outline how to manage organizational culture as a critical asset in practical and actionable terms. Their decades of experience in advising leading organizations shines here as a pragmatic, optimistic guide to management.”
-Tim Ryan, US Chairman and Senior Partner at PwC
“As a student of habit creation, I loved the The Critical Few. It guides leaders to follow a discipline of simplicity, to be deliberate and purposeful, and to focus on what matters. Best of all, it encourages leaders at all levels to close the book, engage in real conversations, and build teams that matter.”
-Charles Duhigg, author of bestsellers The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better
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