Saj-nicole Joni - The Right Fight: How Great Leaders Use Healthy Conflict to Drive Performance, Innovation, and Value

The Right Fight

Anybody in any organization who has any responsibility must readthis book.

WARREN BENNIS ,Distinguished Professor of Business, University of Southern California andauthor of On Becoming a Leader

Provocative and unique... The Right Fight illustrates how a healthy dose oftension energized some of the worlds most respected companies. It worked atCampbell.

DOUGLAS R. CONANT ,President and CEO, Campbell Soup Company

Managing tension and conflicting ideas is butpart of the equation. Using them to steer the organization toward success is theother part, which is often overlooked. In The RightFight , Saj-nicole Joni and Damon Beyershow us how to use conflict the right way!

MARSHALL GOLDSMITH isthe New York Times bestselling author of Succession: Are You Ready? and What Got You Here Wont Get You There

Tensions are the road to competitiveness,while consensus often leads to mediocrity. Saj-nicole, the nicest person onearth got it rightencouraging the right fight is the hallmark of trueleadership. Great ideas are born from competition, and thrive when subjected tosurvival of the fittest.

ROLF CLASSON ,Chairman, Hill-Rom, and former CEO, Bayer Healthcare

If you care about how well organizationswork, you need to buy this book, get out a highlighter, and mark up the pages.It will change the way you think about teams and how theyre run. And it willraise your collective performance and sense of satisfaction.

BRIDGETTE HELLER ,Global President, Johnson and Johnson Consumer Companies

The authors have absolutely nailed one of thecritical unspoken tools in the leadership tool kit. The book helped me reflecton the right and wrong fights of the past and begin planning my next one!

GAURDIE E. BANISTERJR. , President and CEO, Aera Energy LLC

If youre a leader at any level, The Right Fight will inspire you to embraceorganizational tensions, and in so doing, release the energies needed to solveyour most complex problems. This is one of the most practical business booksIve read and I recommend it highly.

JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ ,founder and CEO, Acumen Fund, and author, The BlueSweater

The wisdom runs deep and the stories jump offthe page. Joni and Beyer show us why alignment is not enough. Fighting theright fights right can be the difference between survival and extinction. Thisbook should be at the top of any leaders reading list.

DOUG STONE , coauthorof the New York Times bestseller Difficult Conversations: How toDiscuss What Matters Most

The Right Fight pokes a sharp stick at management complacency and empowers leaders to driveorganizations to peak performance.

CARTER MCCLELLAND ,Chairman, Union Square Advisors

If you want to have impact you must read thisbook. Taking on the seemingly impossible becomes very real when you pick theright fights along the wayeverything is within reach with this approach

MARIA EITEL ,President of the Nike Foundation

For managers facing the real-lifechallenge of getting teams to be effective day in and day out, The Right Fight offers new insight and practicalways to make agreement productive.

DAN CIAMPA , CEOadvisor and author of Taking Advice: How LeadersGet Good Counsel and Use it Wisely

To the memory ofPatricia Zander (19422008), and her courageous fight for life, music, love,and human possibility.

SNJ

To my wife, Cindy, forher unfailing love, support, brilliance, and amazing sense of humor.

DMB

CONTENTS

Alignment and Tension in OrganizationalLife

Leaders must introduce andmanage right fights to create breakthrough performance, meaningfulinnovation, and lasting value.

Alignment Is Not the Whole Answer

Research demonstrates thattension is required for performance. Right fights can help leaders usetension for maximum benefits.

Three Kinds of Fights Not Worth Fighting

There are all kinds of wrongfights. Decoding them is the first step to stopping or avoidingthem.

Jack Sparr Takes on a Right Fight

An example of a right fightfought right.

Learn to Pick the Right Fights: The Right FightDecision Principles

Right Fight Principle #1: Make It Material

Make it about somethingworthwhile, something that matters.

Right Fight Principle #2: Focus on the Future, Not thePast

Move beyond blame topossibilities.

Right Fight Principle #3: Pursue a Noble Purpose

People need to commit theirintegrity and passion to something bigger than the bottom line.

Learn to Fight Right Fights Right: The RightFight Discipline Principles

Right Fight Principle #4: Make It Sport, NotWar

Haverules and play by them.

Right Fight Principle #5: Structure Formally but WorkInformally

Set up the fight in yourorganizational structure, but work out the tensions through informalnetworks.

Right Fight Principle #6: Turn Pain into Gain

People mattereverybodyshould grow in a right fight, even if they dont win.

Conclusion

All successful organizationsfight right fights. When you can manage the tensions consciously, and usethe Right Fight Principles as your guide, you and your teams will reapextraordinary rewards.

Tools: Tests for Identifying and Leading RightFights

Is the Challenge Worth a Right Fight? Right FightDecision PrinciplesAssessment Tool

I

AS HUMANS, WE know we have to change. It is our condition, part of our DNA. We are at our best when we meet change head on. But how do we function when the implications are bewildering, the pace accelerates relentlessly, and the direction seems dangerous? Today these questions play out on a global scale.

This book is about the answer: leadership that creates breakthrough performance, meaningful innovation, and lasting value, leadership that discerns the difference between real progress and the shortsighted thinking that seems good for a while but then leads people right off the edge of a cliff.

The prospect of change always brings up tough questions. How do we move forward with confidence that were heading in the right direction? How do we ensure that we are addressing everyones critical needs? What checks and balances do we need to avoid disaster?

For most people who study and write about leadership, the answer to all of these questions has been found in the concept of alignment . Create enough alignment around a common purpose and you can solve even the most difficult challenges. But when we need to innovate on a grand scale, or to change essential aspects of an organization or a group, agreement is only half the answer.

In this book we argue that the path forward requires a healthy dose of dissent as well. Our most important ideas need to be refined in the fire of debate. It is a leaders job to work within the debate to find the best way forward. No single perspective holds all the answers. Any single idea taken too far can become destructive.

What does this mean for you? We have spent the last decade working across the globe with leaders at all levels who by circumstance or by dint of personality have embraced managing dissent as a critical aspect of their leadership. We have seen firsthand the power of right fights to create breakthrough performance, deliver lasting innovation, and groom the next generation of leaders. Our goal is to make these insights, and the skills that go along with them, widely available to leaders in all organizations at all levels.

We will take you from the rehearsal halls of Broadway to an impoverished village in India, from the executive suite of a major global company to the chaotic office of a small start-up, from a local school system to the White House, as we explore what all these diverse places have in common: a need to put productive tension to good use in the face of extraordinary challenges. In short, places just like your organization.