Seeing the sense before it becomes common
Chapter 1 is about challenging conventional wisdom and asking different questions. We’ll do this by introducing some remarkable leaders and their surprising stories.
For example, little-known Save the Children workers Jerry and Monique Sternin, and better-known Steve Jobs, on his successful return to an ailing Apple Corporation. All three overcame seemingly intractable situations by finding sense before it became common sense.
And we’ll introduce you to other practical ways to find the uncommon sense, such as tipping point leadership like that displayed by Bill Bratton whilst head of New York’s Transit Police, succeeding by separating the trivial many from the vital few.
Chaper 1 contents
- Two months from bankruptcy: the obvious and the unexpected
- Seeing the sense before it becomes common
- Learning from the best
- As new ideas emerge it takes leadership to implement them
- Sense-making
- Sense-making and sense-giving
- Lessons from a fire
Steps to sense-making- Today’s sense, tomorrow’s vision
- Vision: a different view of the future
- Building a vision
- Leading with vision: bridging and bonding
- Building a cathedral
- Vision – what’s the problem?
- Finding the sense before it becomes common
- Holding tensions: why not find the glass?
- Tipping point leadership
- The trivial many and the vital few
- The obvious in plain view
- Three ways to look at the future
But it’s one thing seeing sense before it becomes common, it’s quite another making that sense more common within your organizations. We explore this in the next chapter: Leading with action.