Orchestrate the right fight and fight it right

In The Right Fight, published by Harper Business (February-2010), Saj-nicole Joni and Damon Beyer explain how great leaders use healthy conflict to drive performance, innovation, and value. “What it really takes to lead people and organizations is this: if you want to succeed at an ever-increasing complexity you have to establish clear vision, set strategy, and build alignment. Then you need to systematically orchestrate right fights – and fight them right.”

They identify three major benefits:

1. Right fights lower risk. “Effective systems of checks and balances always depend on vigorous dissent.”

2. Right fights create value. “They live at the heart of innovation, breakthrough, and real change.”

3. Right fights grow better leaders. “They are surest way to develop the leadership skills and strategic thinking necessary for the twenty-first century.

“You can learn to create healthy conflict and positive change by choosing the right fights. Of course, you have to be careful. You’ve probably seen right fights fought wrong that failed to produce [desired] results, and of course wrong fights, even of fought right are worthless.”

Recommended Readings

The Opposable Mind
Roger Martin

Crucial Conversations and
Crucial Confrontations
Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

Transparency
Warren Bennis, Daniel Goleman, and James O’Toole

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Saj-nicole Joni is an internationally known business strategist and advisor to CEOs and other top executives across the globe. A frequent speaker with a regular Forbes.com column, she has also appeared on numerous television programs and published several articles. She has taught at MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and Wellesley. Joni is the founder and CEO of the Cambridge International Group. Damon Beyer is a senior executive advisor with Booz and Company and a founding member of the Katzenbach Center for organizational innovation. He is a former partner with McKinsey & Company and has also published several articles in major business journals, including Harvard Business Review.

They invite you to visit these Web sites:

http://rightfightbook.com/

http://www.cambridgeinternationalgroup.com/about_sajnicolejoni.html

You may also want to check out this pdj:

www.booz.com/media/uploads/Right_Fight.pdf