Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes For An Answer: Managing For Conflict And Consensus - Hardcover

Roberto, Michael A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0131454390 ISBN 13: 9780131454392

Publisher: Wharton School Pub, 2005

Synopsis

Make better decisions! Michael A. Roberto will help you achieve deeper consensus, get past groupthink and "yes men," and achieve superior results in every decision you make -- especially your most complex and highest-stakes decisions! Roberto's Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer, Second Edition gives you a powerful framework for promoting honest, constructive dissent and skepticism; test your assumptions; more thoroughly and fairly considering "best alternatives"; crisply coming to closure; and aligning your entire organization behind the decision you make.

 

In this new edition, Roberto presents new cases from Google, Ford, and Intuit, and expands coverage to more deeply illuminate his decision-making approach. Offering both positive and negative examples, he presents a well rounded view of how to determine when 'yes' means 'yes', when it doesn't, and what to do when it doesn't. Throughout, Roberto demonstrates why "good process entails the astute management of the social, political and emotional aspects of decision making" -- in other words, why effective leaders are well served by carefully "deciding how to decide." You'll learn how to: 

• Test and probe what your team really believes, and get the truth and candor you really need
• Encourage constructive objections -- and keep them constructive
• Improve team management, mitigate risk, identify opportunities, and promote integrity
• Build stronger commitment amongst the people who'll implement your decisions

About this title

About the Author

Michael A. Roberto is a faculty member at the Harvard Business School. He teaches courses on general management, managerial decision making, and business strategy. Professor Roberto's research focuses on strategic decision-making processes and senior management teams. Recently, he has studied why catastrophic group or organizational failures happen, such as the Columbia space shuttle accident and the 1996 Mount Everest tragedy.

Professor Roberto's work has been published in the Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, and The Leadership Quarterly.

He has taught in the leadership development programs at a number of organizations including Morgan Stanley, Mars, The Home Depot, Novartis, and The World Bank. He has also consulted with organizations such as Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Corporate Executive Board, and The Advisory Board.

Professor Roberto earned an M.B.A. with High Distinction and a doctorate from the Harvard Business School. While pursuing graduate studies at Harvard, he taught the introductory undergraduate course in economic theory, twice winning Harvard's Allyn Young Prize for Teaching in Economics.

He lives in Holliston, Massachusetts with his wife, Kristin, and his two daughters, Grace and Celia.

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Reviews

In this highly readable volume, Harvard Business School professor Roberto demonstrates that the key to making successful strategic business decisions lies in the decision-making process itself. Through nine refreshingly jargon-free chapters, along with helpful graphs and charts, Roberto argues that "good process entails the astute management of the social, political and emotional aspects of decision making." Persuasively employing case studies-from an analysis of the 2003 Columbia space shuttle disaster to the deadly 1996 accident atop Mount Everest to John F. Kennedy's management the Cuban Missile Crisis-Roberto enlivens his primary thesis that failed leadership often fixates "on the question 'What decision should I make?' rather than asking 'How should I go about making the decision?'" With each case study Roberto points out where the process went awry and nimbly indicates how the lessons learned can be applied to any business decision. He explains how to effectively make and implement a final decision and how to efficiently handle groupthink, "yes men" and those who offer nothing but negative criticisms. The book is aimed primarily at a business executive audience, and other readers may get lost. But managers who must lead a group through a plan of action will surely benefit from Roberto's process-centered approach.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wharton School Pub
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0131454390
• ISBN 13: 9780131454392
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 278