Stacking the Deck: How to Lead Breakthrough Change Against Any Odds

by David S. Pottruck

Change is a constant, and leaders must do more than keep up―they must innovate and accelerate to succeed. Yet people are often unnerved by change. As a leader during a time of transformation, you may stand up before teams that are indifferent, or even hostile, and need to convince them that change is necessary and urgent. More than money, time, or resources, the ability to lead these people determines your ultimate success or failure. What does it take to be an effective change leader and increase the odds of success? Stacking the Deck offers a proven, practical approach for inspiring meaningful, lasting change across an organization. Stacking the Deck presents a nine-step course of action leaders can follow from the first realization that change is needed through all the steps of implementation, including assembling the right team of close advisors and getting the word out to the wider group. Based on Dave Pottruck's experiences leading change as CEO of Charles Schwab and later as chairman of CorpU and HighTower Advisors, these steps provide a guide to ensure that your change initiative and your team have the best possible shot at success. In addition, established business leaders who have led extraordinary change initiatives demonstrate the steps in action. These executives include eBay CEO John Donahoe, Wells Fargo former CEO Dick Kovacevich, Starbucks chief executive officer Howard Schultz, San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer, JetBlue CEO Dave Barger, Asurion CEO Steve Ellis, Pinkberry CEO Ron Graves, and Intel's President Renee James, among others. Leading an organization through major change―whether it's the introduction of a new product, an expansion to a new territory, or a difficult downsizing―is not for the faint of heart. While success is never guaranteed, the right leadership, process, and team make all the difference. For all leaders facing major change in their organizations, Stacking the Deck is an indispensable resource for putting the odds in your favor.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Joe Beer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very practical look at how to introduce significant changes to a company. The book follows a 9 step approach and for each there are guidelines and examples of how to do it. A welcome addition to the topic at hand and will complement your reading of other books that are more generic and theory based. Really enjoyed it.

[Tosin Toshine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best end to end overview of what it takes to lead break through change that I've read. Covering everything from communication to frameworks for pilots and proof of concepts.

This feels like a good MBA textbook for learning on leading effective and successful transformations.

[Jim Razinha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a reading assignment for a management program, or at least an executive summary was...I decided to read the whole book. I actually recommended it for the subject of change management after reading a synopsis of the summary...but I didn't realize the scale of "breakthrough change" that Pottruck was talking about.

While there is nothing new here, there are valuable elements to take from this and add to, or reinforce those already in the toolbox. Assembling teams, planning, communicating to the organization, breaking the task into pieces, defining the metrics to measure the success of the change, evaluating the merits of the change (before and after)...

Nothing earth-shattering, no real epiphanies, but probably beneficial to some.

[JP · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I liked most were the points and examples about authentic communication. There were also helpful stories from several established leaders. The title constantly suggested tipping the odds unfairly. That wasn't the intent nor was it the message. Nonetheless, most of the time, playing cards involves playing with someone else, and so the metaphor seemed off from the outset. There's a solid plan about leading through change, but it's not of the same caliber as Kotter or Kouznes and Posner.

[Steve Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book to get you focused and excited about business applications and team leadership!