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Chapter 6: Tactic Three, Find Opportunity in Crises

• many want to avoid crises, but may be opportunity
• “burning platform” (120)
• avoid and control crises but watch out
  • damage control impt but tends to remove opp for creating urgency
• use a crisis to create urgency, but watch out
  • crises provide opp to affect organizational morale, heart and head
  • Example, Irene Goodwin, mkt mgr, used crisis to affect departmental change
    • Plan for the crisis, including reactions and effects
• create a crisis–maybe
  • write-down of airline balance sheet holdings
  • charismatic CEO
  • stretch goals
  • change needed to resolve it must not be simple
  • crisis yields real business problems
• know and avoid 4 dangerous mistakes
  • assuming crises will create sense of urgency
  • angry backlash due to feelings of manipulation
  • passively awaiting crises
  • underestimating consequences of disaster
• the bottom line
  • principles to create true urgency
    • crises as opportunities
    • crises do not automaticall reduce complacency
    • crises reducing complacency must be “visible, unambiguous, related to real business problems, ” and not easily solvable.
    • be proactive in reaction, plans for action, and swift implementation
    • focus on hearts at least as much as minds
    • don’t passively wait for crises
    • careful losing control and being manipulative
    • work with people higher in the org

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Chapter 5: Tactic Two, Behave With Urgency Every Day

• Respond fast, move now
  • Ninan, manager in Indian outsourcing firm
    • Discusses market and competition frequenty
    • Shows urgency in actions, not just words
• The norm, un-urgent behavior
  • the norm in hospital administration
  • boss must model behavior
• clear the decks
  • delegation
  • cutting the cruft
  • emphasis on high-value projects/meetings
• be visibly urgent
  • tech plant manager
  • small talk to build rapport
  • 2000 hrs on factory floor
• urgency begets urgency
• behave with true urgency
  • purge and delegate
  • move with speed
  • speak with passion
  • match words and deeds
  • let them all see it
• urgent patience
  • urgency requires focus on now, but some change takes years

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Chapter 4: tactic one, bring the outside in

• “organizations…tend to be too internally oriented” (63)
• listen to customer facing employees
  • trust that they’re intelligent
  • respect
  • ask questions, listen
• use the power of video
  • shows naked human emotion
  • “show them, don’t tell them”
• don’t always shield people from troubling data
  • reasons for resisting disclosure
    1. believe people are dumb
    2. worry about blame
    3. negative stock effects
    4. worry about hurt morale
• redecorate
• send people out
• bring people in
• bring data in, but in the right way
• watch out that you dont create a false sense of urgency

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Chapter 3: Increasing True Urgency

• business case
• how and why a business case fails
  • pitfalls in solely intellectual buy-in
• aim for the heart
  • better at affecting behavior
  • MLK used rhetoric to affect hearts
  • Tactics that aim at the heart
    1. human experiences
    2. effective experiences, seeing, feeling
    3. tailored emotional reaction
    4. unexplained experiences
    5. lead to increasing the bar
• an example of the basic strategy
  • keep the lights on
  • don’t use a podium
  • no spotlight (keep lights on)
  • minimize the powerpoint
  • humor
  • ingratiate yourself with audience
  • use anecdotes
  • don’t be too perfect in speaking ability
  • importance of capturing emotion often understated in class
• the tactics
  • bring the outside in “dramatically bring outside reality into groups” too introspective (58)
  • “behave with true urgency…every day” (58)
  • “find opportunity in crises” (61)
  • confront naysayers

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Chapter 2: Complacency and False Urgency

• Complacency
  • feeling
  • self
  • ignorance
  • origin? perceived success
  • how do they think? do not acknowledge complacency
  • feel? content with status quo?
  • behave? “do not alertly look for new opportunities or hazards facing their organizations” (21)
• false urgency
  • different than complacency
  • driven by anxiety, anger, and fear
  • wasted time
  • passive aggression
  • conflict creation
  • failed change attempts
• look for red flags – how to spot lack of urgency
  1. slow action
  2. lack of executive involvement
  3. failure to make time
  4. apathetic or guarded responses
  5. lack of commitment
  6. lack of action, responsibility
  7. excessive bureaucracy
  8. panic, busy-work, lack of focus
• useful questions list (32)
• help others see the problem, including bosses
• solution to urgency problem can be a single person who sees complanency and is willing to act

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Chapter 1: It All Starts With a Sense of Urgency

• complacency, false sense of urgency
• cultivating a true sense of urgency
• table comparing complacency, false urgency, and true urgency in following dimensions
  • roots
  • think
  • feel
  • behavior
• constant change in business, and the lack of true urgency
• starting with urgency
  1. a sense of urgency
  2. guiding team
  3. visions and strategies
  4. communication
  5. empowerment
  6. short-term wins
  7. perseverance
  8. making change stick

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Plot

• Rahim ruminates about Baba’s legacy of deceit
• Amir decides to go find Sohrab

Characters

• Thomas and Betty Caldwell
  • Offer to take Sohrab

Themes/Motifs

• Truth
• Children

Plot

• Talibs attempt to claim Baba’s house
• Hassan and Farzana killed by Talibs
• Sohrab taken to orphanage
• Rahim asks Amir to retrieve Sohrab
• Rahim tells Amir that Hassan was his half-brother

Characters

• Ali
  • Died due to land mine
• Farzana
  • Hassan’s wife
• Sanaubar
  • Returns to Kabul to find Hassan
  • Rejoins the family
• Sohrab
  • Hassan’s son
  • Named for hero from Shahnamah

Locations

• Bamiyan
  • Hassan’s Hazari village

Dates

• 1986
  • Rahim goes to Hazarajat to find Hassan
• 1990
  • Hassan’s son Sohrab born
• ~1994
  • Sanaubar dies
• 1996
  • Taliban arrives in Kabul
• 1998
  • Hazars massacred in Mazar-i-Sharif

Plot

• Rahim goes to find Hassan
  • Loneliness
  • Needs help with the house
• Hassan is married, does not want to leave until he hears Baba has died
• Hassan and Soraya help Rahim rebuild the house
• Farzana gives birth to stillborn
• Sanaubar returns

Locations

• Peshawar
  • Where Amir lands in Pakistan

Plot

• Amir goes to Pakistan
• Amir meets with Rahim who is dying
• Rahim had been steward of Baba’s Kabul house
• They discuss Afghan history since Amir left
• Rahim wants to talk about Hassan