The Strategy Paradox

The Strategy Paradox

Author: Michael E. Raynor

Publisher: Crown Currency

Published: 2007-02-20

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 038552191X

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A compelling vision. Bold leadership. Decisive action. Unfortunately, these prerequisites of success are almost always the ingredients of failure, too. In fact, most managers seeking to maximize their chances for glory are often unwittingly setting themselves up for ruin. The sad truth is that most companies have left their futures almost entirely to chance, and don’t even realize it. The reason? Managers feel they must make choices with far-reaching consequences today, but must base those choices on assumptions about a future they cannot predict. It is this collision between commitment and uncertainty that creates THE STRATEGY PARADOX. This paradox sets up a ubiquitous but little-understood tradeoff. Because managers feel they must base their strategies on assumptions about an unknown future, the more ambitious of them hope their guesses will be right – or that they can somehow adapt to the turbulence that will arise. In fact, only a small number of lucky daredevils prosper, while many more unfortunate, but no less capable managers find themselves at the helms of sinking ships. Realizing this, even if only intuitively, most managers shy away from the bold commitments that success seems to demand, choosing instead timid, unremarkable strategies, sacrificing any chance at greatness for a better chance at mere survival. Michael E. Raynor, coauthor of the bestselling The Innovator's Solution, explains how leaders can break this tradeoff and achieve results historically reserved for the fortunate few even as they reduce the risks they must accept in the pursuit of success. In the cutthroat world of competitive strategy, this is as close as you can come to getting something for nothing. Drawing on leading-edge scholarship and extensive original research, Raynor’s revolutionary principle of Requisite Uncertainty yields a clutch of critical, counter-intuitive findings. Among them: -- The Board should not evaluate the CEO based on the company’s performance, but instead on the firm’s strategic risk profile -- The CEO should not drive results, but manage uncertainty -- Business unit leaders should not focus on execution, but on making strategic choices -- Line managers should not worry about strategic risk, but devote themselves to delivering on commitments With detailed case studies of success and failure at Sony, Microsoft, Vivendi Universal, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T and other major companies in industries from financial services to energy, Raynor presents a concrete framework for strategic action that allows companies to seize today’s opportunities while simultaneously preparing for tomorrow’s promise.


The End of Trauma

The End of Trauma

Author: George A. Bonanno

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2021-09-07

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 1541674375

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With “groundbreaking research on the psychology of resilience” (Adam Grant), a top expert on human trauma argues that we vastly overestimate how common PTSD is in and fail to recognize how resilient people really are. After 9/11, mental health professionals flocked to New York to handle what everyone assumed would be a flood of trauma cases. Oddly, the flood never came. In The End of Trauma, pioneering psychologist George A. Bonanno argues that we failed to predict the psychological response to 9/11 because most of what we understand about trauma is wrong. For starters, it’s not nearly as common as we think. In fact, people are overwhelmingly resilient to adversity. What we often interpret as PTSD are signs of a natural process of learning how to deal with a specific situation. We can cope far more effectively if we understand how this process works. Drawing on four decades of research, Bonanno explains what makes us resilient, why we sometimes aren’t, and how we can better handle traumatic stress. Hopeful and humane, The End of Trauma overturns everything we thought we knew about how people respond to hardship.


The Age of Paradox

The Age of Paradox

Author: Charles B. Handy

Publisher: Harvard Business Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9780875846439

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In this title, Charles Handy offers profound observations about the world that lies ahead and helps us search for meaning in our personal and professional lives.


The New Ideal Worker

The New Ideal Worker

Author: Mireia las Heras Maestro

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-06-29

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 3030124770

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Many managers and organizations still assume that employees who devote long hours to their jobs with no family interference are “ideal workers”. However, this assumption has negative consequences for employees, their families and, more interestingly, for their organizations. This book provides a wealth of empirical evidence from around the globe, as well as innovative conceptual frameworks, to help practitioners and researchers alike to go beyond the classic notion of the “ideal worker” and to rethink what companies actually need from their employees. As it demonstrates, doing so will be beneficial for countless men and women, and for society at large.


The Power of Paradox

The Power of Paradox

Author: Nina Rosoff

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-05-23

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1136707778

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Leaders’ actions can have consequences opposite to those they intend. These unintentional results are difficult to detect, understand, and change. Consequently, leaders’ actions tend to persist resulting in further unexpected outcomes. This can create a vicious cycle of leadership failure. With all their best efforts, strategic, financial, scenario, human capital and operational plans in place, they fail. Unaware, they self-sabotage and sabotage others; again, the result is unintended consequences, no matter how hard they try. This book gives a glimpse into why and how this happens, and what to do about it. Understanding the Power of Paradox can empower leaders in uncertain times. Paradox reveals uncertainty giving leaders room to breathe and time to think, better able to deal with ambiguity and manage complexity, no longer stymied. Learning to think differently and behave with capabilities, you already have, more resilient, adaptive and flexible leaders execute conscious actions effectively, inspire and empower others, creating the consequences they intend, successful Protean Leaders.


The Part-time Paradox

The Part-time Paradox

Author: Cynthia Fuchs Epstein

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-04-04

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1317795296

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First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.


The Conflict Paradox

The Conflict Paradox

Author: Bernard S. Mayer

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2015-01-12

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1118852915

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Find the roadmap to the heart of the conflict The Conflict Paradox is a guide to taking conflict to a more productive place. Written by one of the founders of the professional conflict management field and co-published with the American Bar Association, this book outlines seven major dilemmas that conflict practitioners face every day. Readers will find expert guidance toward getting to the heart of the conflict and will be challenged to adopt a new way to think about the choices disputants face,. They will also be offered practical tools and techniques for more successful intervention. Using stories, experiences, and reflective exercises to bring these concepts to life, the author provides actionable advice for overcoming roadblocks to effective conflict work. Disputants and interveners alike are often stymied by what appear to be unacceptable alternatives,. The Conflict Paradox offers a new way of understanding and working with these so that they become not obstacles but opportunities for helping people move through conflict successfully.. Examine the contradictions at the center of almost all conflicts Learn how to bring competition and cooperation, avoidance and engagement, optimism and realism together to make for more power conflict intervention Deal effectively with the tensions between emotions, and logic, principles and compromise, neutrality and advocacy, community and autonomy Discover the tools and techniques that make conflicts less of a hurdle to overcome and more of an opportunity to pursue Conflict is everywhere, and conflict intervention skills are valuable far beyond the professional and legal realms. With insight and creativity, solutions are almost always possible. For conflict interveners and disputants looking for an effective and creative approach to understanding and working with conflict , The Conflict Paradox provides a powerful and important roadmap for conflict intervention.


The Flexibility Stigma

The Flexibility Stigma

Author: Joan C. Williams

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Published: 2013-07-10

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781118789278

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A compendium of research studies from some of the most prominent researchers studying the dynamics of workplace flexibility in organizational psychology, sociology, and law. They explore gender inequality in access to and rewards/punishments from flexible work schedules, paid leave, and telecommuting.


Building the Flexible Firm

Building the Flexible Firm

Author: Henk Wijtze Volberda

Publisher:

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780198295952

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How do firms cope with changing environments? Is flexibility really the solution? Based on an Igor Ansoff Award winning study, Building the Flexible Firm shows how flexibility has become the new strategic challenge for contemporary firms. Offering a wealth of insights and based on extensive interviews with practitioners, Henk Volberda provides a strategic framework which explains what types of flexibility are effective under different organizational conditions and environmental characteristics. He also demonstrates an integrated method for diagnosing a firm's flexibility and for guiding the transition to greater flexibility and responsiveness.


The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Paradox

The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Paradox

Author: Wendy K. Smith

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-09-07

Total Pages: 625

ISBN-13: 019106937X

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The notion of paradox dates back to ancient philosophy, yet only recently have scholars started to explore this idea in organizational phenomena. Two decades ago, a handful of provocative theorists urged researchers to take seriously the study of paradox, and thereby deepen our understanding of plurality, tensions, and contradictions in organizational life. Studies of organizational paradox have grown exponentially over the past two decades, canvassing varied phenomena, methods, and levels of analysis. These studies have explored such tensions as today and tomorrow, global integration and local distinctions, collaboration and competition, self and others, mission and markets. Yet even with both the depth and breadth of interest in organizational paradoxes, key issues around definitions and application remain. This Handbook seeks to aid, engage, and fuel the expanding interest in organizational paradox. Contributions to this volume depict how paradox studies inform, and are informed, by other theoretical perspectives, while creating a resource that enables scholars to learn about and apply this lens across varied organizational phenomena. The increasing complexity, volatility, and ambiguity in our world continually surfaces paradoxical dynamics. Thus, this Handbook offers insights to scholars across organizational theory.