The Behavior Breakthrough: Leading Your Organization to a New Competitive Advantage

by Steve Jacobs

A powerful new competitive advantage is within your reach What's the secret to superior execution? Is it brilliant strategy? Better processes? Superior technology? No. None of these suffices individually, or even in combination. To perform well over the long term, to make everyone's valiant efforts work and ''stick,'' you need another ingredient, something basic and seemingly ordinary: behavior. New results require new behavior. It's that simple--and that difficult. The Behavior Breakthrough reveals the quiet revolution that is underway in pioneering and successful organizations. Their people routinely focus on ''move the needle'' priorities, they skillfully identify the new actions that are required to win, and they consistently perform them. In this compelling book, organizational behavior expert Steve Jacobs and his colleagues explain how these companies do it, presenting the game-changer for new business results. They offer lessons on identifying high-impact behavior, fostering it, and building new and lasting competitive advantage. Moreover, they share the important implications of behavioral leadership for breakthroughs in executing business plans, coaching for elite performance, guiding large-scale change, building culture, and accelerating talent strategies. Distilling decades of research and experience, the authors deliver a career-changing and life-changing book that will give you ''new eyes,'' simple models for everyday use, and inspiring and instructive stories of Fortune 500 leaders who have won big results.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published May 14, 2013

Reviews

[Bryan Tanner · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not written for me. While I felt competent enough to appreciate the strong business school jargon and principles, I wasn't at a place in my career to "play around" with the ideas the author was suggesting. This should be read by C-level admins responsible for setting organizational vision and who have the power to make personnel and product changes.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started out reading this book then I switched to skimming. There are some nuggets which I plan to share with co-workers. One co-worker is doing a project on team culture and another team member is working to reduce what might be a behavior driven defect rate. The second project will benefit from the pages covering metrics.

Not a fabulous book but enough nuggets that I am glad I read it.

Enjoyed the quotes used to begin each chapter.