The Shift Effect: How Small Shifts Improve Leader Performance

The Shift Effect -- a book for leaders of all kinds -- demonstrates that our biggest challenges can be overcome with the smallest of personal shifts.

The evidence from 50 leaders in the book shows that small shifts in mindset or behavior produce remarkable results. And yet the surprising conclusion of The Shift Effect is that many of us resist making those slight upgrades. Why?

For some, the reason is they don't want to become something they are not. They think if they try a different behavior, they'll become a huckster, or a sell-out, or selfish. Others lean into their strengths so strongly that they overdo it. A smart person champions her ideas all the time, leaving no room for others. A task-oriented person becomes overbearing. A big discovery in this book is that many of us lean into our strengths or habits to an extreme, and that habit becomes a fatal flaw.

What works? A small shift away from the extreme. These 50 leaders unlocked numerous organizational and personal logjams by making a slight change in behavior or attitude. The results? Overload became manageable. Systems got implemented. Diversity fights turned into valued relationships. Leaders became more strategic, getting big things done.

The Shift Effect also provides a simple method for recognizing over-used patterns and making the needed shift. The author, Tom Finn, used targeted continuums in his executive coaching to frame his clients' challenges, and to show, graphically, that a small shift was all that was needed.

What's challenging you? And what small shift might get you unstuck? The Shift Effect is a simple method that creates a virtuous cycle - you expand, and the people, peers, and organizations around you reap the rewards as well.

See how a key insight, a simple graphic, and a slight shift transformed the impact of 50 leaders. And how The Shift Effect's continuum tool can do the same for you.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of The Shift Effect will go to Global Camps Africa, a Virginia-based non-profit that holds residential camps and followup Youth Clubs for under-resourced youth in South Africa. GCA instills confidence, agency, and life skills while kids have fun. Over 11,000 youth served.