Domino: The Simplest Way to Inspire Change

By Nick Tasler

Leading change just got a whole lot easier.

Think you need awe-inspiring visions, complicated plans, and fist-pounding speeches to inspire change? Think again.  

A rising tide of real leaders ranging from banking executives and heads of multinational manufacturers to hospital administrators and small business owners have discovered a surprisingly simple way to deliver steady results in spite of unrelenting change. Brimming with compelling stories and grounded in research, Domino: The Simplest Way to Inspire Change reveals two approaches to leading change: Change by Addition and Change by Decision. Disturbingly, Change by Addition is far less effective, but is used far more often. Until now. Luckily, Change by Decision is not only more effective it also requires less time and fewer resources—allowing ordinary managers to take their teams in exciting new directions.

• Understand how to free yourself and your team from the shackles of change by addition.
• Explore stories of real leaders in a multitude of industries to see how the Domino techniques apply in any situation
• Examine the leadership skills that inspire smart strategies and adaptive teams
• Execute plans quicker and easier by mastering the art of effective change leadership

Domino: The Simplest Way to Inspire Change is a radically simple book that highlights a new approach for executing change and inspiring agility in the workplace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Oct 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781119083146

Nick Tasler

Nick Tasler is a writer, researcher, organizational psychologist and a regular contributor to BusinessWeek.com. He and his work have been featured in media including U.S. News & World Report, Psychologies, Marie-Claire, FoxBusiness.com, and on NBC-TV, BBC Radio and Irish Talk Radio. He lives with his wife and two children in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Book preview

Part One

Drive Change

Section 1

Use Your Blinkers

1

Sandy's Rule

A few years ago, I was asked to give a talk at a global sales conference for a multinational technology company. In response to plateauing sales, the leadership team defined a change strategy to reignite their growth. Unfortunately, they had announced the change nearly nine months before and it hadn't taken hold. With the conference only two weeks away, they were hoping I could help.

In cases like this where I'm hearing about a session just days before the event, my job more closely resembles triage than it does consulting or speaking. Since that happens fairly often, I've had to develop some shortcuts to get my arms around a situation quickly. One of these shortcuts involves writing the word NEW at the top of a blank notebook page. Then about halfway down the page I scribble the word OLD. As the clients explain their vision of the future to me, I begin taking notes under NEW. If my notes fill up the space between NEW and OLD before they finish explaining their plan, it's often a good sign that we need to clarify the strategy. I adhere to Einstein's dictum that if you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself. As my wife will attest, I play the part of a six-year-old disturbingly well so this method lets me leverage my gift of perennial immaturity. I've found that if I can understand the vision after just a few minutes, then it is usually crystal clear to the client's team members.

So when this call began, I opened my notebook and jotted down NEW then OLD on a blank page. After a few minutes of small talk I asked them to tell me about the new