Announcing my new book

Today, I announce my new book. DECISION SPRINT : The New Way to Innovate into the Unknown and Move from Strategy to Action?(April 25, 2023; McGraw-Hill).

The Origin Story

At the start of a career, the question is often what color is your parachute?

The question I asked myself in 2021 was slightly?different.?Over the previous 12 years, I had risen from GM of a business division at Amazon to the president level in the?Fortune 300.

After rapid ascent in the C Suite of well?known companies, I looked for the red thread.?What color was my parachute???

It turned out to be this - innovating into the unknown.?What does that mean??It's a comfort level with the ambiguity of promising ideas and a method to get to the bottom of that ambiguity.??That's the key to moving to action on an idea with conviction and confidence. A bright idea is not enough.?You'll need to develop recommendations, set a direction, secure buy-in or drive decisions -- all of that depends on how we address the unknowns that come along with new territory.?

In 2021, I made an important decision - rather than help one company at a time (in an operating role), I would scale my impact.?To truly scale impact, one needs to take the time to develop what they know into a system.?It's one thing to act on instinct in a leadership role based on many attempts at innovation, and another to make these practices usable for others.?Developing a system requires deep introspection, reflection and thinking.?

A book is a perfect forcing function.?It's a great way to push yourself to clarify the need for your idea, what you are introducing, and how companies and teams can put it into practice. And you also get to share personal stories as you peel back the layers of big moments within well-known companies.?You get to share a bit of yourself - what makes you tick and how you felt beyond the title or role.?The human side.

This is a rather long way to let you know exciting news -- that my new book comes out in April.??

DECISION SPRINT: The New Way to Innovate into the Unknown and Move from Strategy to Action ?(April 25, 2023; McGraw-Hill) is the name of the book.

In the book, I share a proven, scalable system for embracing unknowns so that any team can problem-solve, innovate and help their companies grow.? It’s a leap ahead of Silicon Valley’s “failing fast and often” approach that instead charts a winning path by getting teams to clarity faster. In fact, I think it's what comes after design thinking. It's my belief that today's take on innovation doesn't meet the needs of the next era of business.

Why Now?

Here are 4 reasons?Decision Sprint is a timely book for leaders and employees.

• Today’s business climate is about working with greater urgency and sharper focus. Not a day goes by without the CEO of well known companies like Google, Spotify and Twitter urging employees to "figure?out hard stuff, and do it faster and sharper."??Decision Sprint is how we enhance team productivity when the pressure is on.??
• Design thinking is no longer the source of an edge for companies. It’s time to look at what will define innovation in the years to come. ?We need something that works for more parts of a business, and helps us start with the right questions.
• There's still a huge myth in business about decision making.?Here’s my counterintuitive message - to experience speed and quality in decision-making, organizations must start further upstream.
• Artificial Intelligence is all the rage but the key question is do we stand?at the?start of a golden era for knowledge work, or the end of one??That’s a key issue I try to demystify in the book.?AI is both friend and foe, it's your choice but first understand the playing field.?

What You'll Learn

Decision Sprint:

• Teaches teams how to problem solve and innovate through the unknown.
• Introduces the notion of upstream work (where a promising idea faces more questions than answers).
• Demystifies the hidden structure of upstream work.?
• Introduces methods to move from upstream to downstream (execution).
• Explains the role of AI and how to prepare for it (including a golden era for knowledge workers).

The Pre-Launch Buzz

With Decision Sprint, I introduce a?practical?model for any team in any company to tap into a better way to innovate and problem solve.?Don't take my word for it. Here are just leading voices who've chimed in pre-launch.

You can pre-order Decision Sprint now. I also invite?you to check out the Decision Sprint website which is going to have a ton of resources.?

My plans for Decision Sprint go well beyond a book.?It includes software, certifications and services.?More about that later on.?

Ordering the book is a great place to start, and engage with me about the next way forward for innovation.?