Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer
Subtitle: Managing for Conflict and Consensus
Publisher: Wharton School Publishing
Published: June 6, 2005
Language: eng
Number of pages: 278
ISBN-13: 9780131454392
First sentence: In February 2003, the Columbia space shuttle disintegrated while re-entering the earth s atmosphere.
Description: Leaders hear 'yes' far too often. They don't hear bad news until it's too late. They think they've achieved consensus, then find their decisions undermined by colleagues who never really bought in. They become isolated: even high-risk or illegal actions can go unquestioned. It's an enormous problem--for leaders, for teams, for the entire organization--but it's not inevitable. Harvard Business professor Roberto shows how to stimulate honest, constructive dissent and skepticism, use it to improve decisions, and then align the entire organization to support those decisions. He offers new insights into managing teams, mitigating risk, even promoting ethics through effective governance. Drawing on his extensive research on decision-making, he shows how to probe the members of the team, discover when 'yes' means 'yes' and when it doesn't, and build real consensus that leads to action.--From publisher description.