In an age when corporate executives are focused on smoothing out differences and achieving consensus, Saj-nicole Joni and Damon Beyer contend that happy workers aren't always productive; they often become prone to boredom and complacency. While organizational harmony and strategic alignment are important, the health and well-being of organizations also depend on carefully constructed and constructive conflict.
In The Right Fight, Joni and Beyer turn conventional management thinking on its head, providing leaders in the fast-moving, hypercompetitive marketplaces of the twenty-first century with the playbook they need to orchestrate thoughtful controversy in their organizations. To be effective, battles need to be well-designed, well-fought, and subject to certain rules. Drawing from examples as diverse as Unilever, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Dell, the Clinton administration, and the Houston Independent School System, the authors offer proven advice and guidelines for successfully introducing tension among subordinates at certain points and in certain ways. As the authors persuasively demonstrate, right fights unleash the creative, productive potential of teams, organizations, and communities—and ultimately foster better possibilities for us all.
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“Merlington sounds engaged with the material…[She] persuasively delivers the author’s belief that once…internal struggles are attacked and won, then external fights become more productive.”
— AudioFile
“Joni and Beyer make a convincing and counterintuitive argument that instigating dissent, if done selectively, can produce big results.”
— Publishers WeeklyMerlington sounds engaged with the material.... [She] persuasively delivers the author's belief that once...internal struggles are attacked and won, then external fights become more productive.
— AudioFile" Interesting topic, but a little choppy going from one case example to the next. "
— Kimberly, 2/24/2013" Interesting topic, but a little choppy going from one case example to the next. "
— Kimberly, 5/9/2010Saj-nicole Joni is the founder and CEO of Cambridge International Group, Ltd., and has served on several public and private corporate boards. A senior fellow at Katzenbach Partners, LLC, she has held senior executive positions at Microsoft and CSC Index and has been a fellow at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership. She has also served on the faculties of MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, and Wellesley College. Joni is the author of The Third Opinion: How Successful Leaders Use Outside Insight to Create Superior Results, and she has been published in the Harvard Business Review and Fast Company. She holds a PhD from the University of California–San Diego.
Damon Beyer is a partner at Katzenbach Partners, LLC, consulting with senior managers on issues of business strategy, operations effectiveness, leadership, and organizational performance. A former consultant with McKinsey, his work has been published in the Harvard Business Review. He lives in Atlanta.
Laural Merlington is an audiobook narrator with over two hundred titles to her credit and a winner of multiple Earphones Awards. An Audie Award nominee, she has also directed over one hundred audiobooks. She has performed and directed for thirty years in theaters throughout the country. In addition to her extensive theater and voice-over work, she teaches college in her home state of Michigan.