Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer: Managing for Conflict and Consensus

by Roberto, Michael A.

• ISBN13: 9780131454392
• ISBN10: 0131454390
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-01-01
• Publisher: Wharton School Publishing

Summary

Executives hear yes far too often. Their status and power inhibits candid dialogue. They dont hear bad news until its too late. They get groupthink, not reality. They think theyve achieved consensus, then find their decisions undermined or derailed by colleagues who never really bought in. They become increasingly isolated; even high-risk or illegal actions can begin to go unquestioned. Inevitable? Absolutely not. In this book, Harvard Business School Professor Michael Roberto shows you how to promote honest, constructive dissent and scepticism... use it to improve your decisions... and then align your entire organization to fully support the decisions you make. Drawing on his extensive research on executive decision-making, Roberto shows how to test and probe the members of your management team... discover when yes means yes and when it doesnt... and build real, deep consensus that leads to action. Along the way, Roberto offers important new insights into managing teams, mitigating risk, promoting corporate ethics through effective governance, and much more. Your organization and your executive team have immense untapped wisdom: this book will help you tap that wisdom to the fullest.

Author Biography

Michael A. Roberto is a faculty member at the Harvard Business School.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Acknoweldgments	xxii
PART I LEADING THE DECISION PROCESS
Chapter 1 The Leadership Challenge	3	(26)
Chapter 2 Deciding How to Decide	29	(30)
PART II MANAGING CONFLICT
Chapter 3 An Absence of Candor	59	(28)
Chapter 4 Stimulating the Clash of Ideas	87	(24)
Chapter 5 Keeping Conflict Constructive	111	(30)
PART III BUILDING CONSENSUS
Chapter 6 The Dynamics of Indecision	141	(24)
Chapter 7 Fair and Legitimate Process	165	(30)
Chapter 8 Reaching Closure	195	(28)
PART IV A NEW BREED OF TAKE-CHARGE LEADER
Chapter 9 Leading with Restraint	223	(14)
Endnotes	237	(34)
Index	271

Excerpts

Preface PrefaceAfter 86 years of anguish and heartache, the Boston Red Sox finally won the World Series. Just two months later, the team's talented, young general manager, Theo Epstein, chose not to match the New York Mets' four-year $50+ million guaranteed contract offer to star pitcher Pedro Martinez. The decision received mixed reactions from the fans in Boston and New York. Red Sox fans recognized that the pitcher's skills had begun to erode, but still, they believed that it would be difficult to find someone of comparable ability to replace Martinez. Mets fans heralded the arrival of a new star to lead their beleaguered pitching staff, but they wondered whether Mets general manager Omar Minaya overpaid for an aging and injury-prone ballplayer. The debate rages on: Did Epstein and Minaya make good decisions?At this moment, before any games have been played in 2005, no one knows for certain whether the leaders of these two teams made sound decisions. To judge them fairly, we must await the results of the upcoming season as well as several campaigns to follow. Then, with the benefit of hindsight, fans and sportswriters can evaluate the merits of choosing to sign or not sign Martinez to such a lucrative, long-term contract. We will hold the two general managers to account for the outcomes that the teams achieve, and people will debate how much these specific decisions affected the teams' performance.In all types of organizations--from sports franchises to business enterprises to public institutions--leaders often must wait a long time to see the results of the decisions that they make. Should they judge all decisions simply based on the outcomes that their organizations achieve? In this book, I argue that leaders need not wait for the results to measure their decision-making effectiveness. Instead, leaders ought to take a hard look at the process that they are employing to make critical choices. Outcomes cannot be measured for months or perhaps years. The decision process can be evaluated in real time, as the choice is being made. Epstein and Minaya cannot control fully the outcomes that their teams achieve in the years ahead. Yet, in here and now, they can shape and influence the nature of the decision processes that their organizations employ. In so doing, the general managers can raise or lower the odds that they and their management teams can make sound choices.Think for a moment about a decision that you and your team or organization is currently trying to make. Have you considered multiple alternatives? Have you surfaced and tested your assumptions carefully? Did dissenting views emerge during your deliberations, and have you given those ideas proper consideration? Are you building high levels of commitment and shared understanding among those who will be responsible for implementing the decision? The answers to these questions--and a number of others--help us to evaluate the quality of an organization's decision-making process. The core premise of this book is that a high-quality process tends to enhance the probability of achieving positive outcomes. Therefore, a leader can have an enormous impact through his management of an organization's decision-making processes. Good process does not simply mean sound analytics (i.e., the best use of the latest strategy framework or quantitative financial evaluation technique). Good process entails the astute management of the social, political, and emotional aspects of decision making as well. Decision making in complex organizations is far from a purely intellectual exercise, as most experienced managers know. Thus, an effective leader does not just produce positive results by weighing in on the content of critical choices in a wise and thoughtful manner; he also has a substantial impact by shaping and influencing how thos