Hans Norden - The Root Cause

Praise for

THE ROOT CAUSE

and Hans Norden

Impeccably researched and astoundingly insightful, The Root Cause reveals how to go from putting out fires to finding true, lasting solutions. Hans delivers an eye-opening, inspiring must-read guide for executives and leaders at any stage of their career. Excellent!

Marshall Goldsmith

Thinkers 50 #1 Leadership Thinker and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Triggers

What a breath of fresh air! Hans makes an important effort to make systems thinking relevant again. We are in interesting times loaded with paradoxical challenges. Hans argues that we need a new paradigm to tackle those, and he does it in an inspiring way. Read this book!

Fons Trompenaars, PhD

organizational theorist and author of Riding the Waves of Culture

The Root Cause is a wonderful source of insight and inspiration for key decision makers in any organization.

September Dohrmann

CEO of CEO Space International

I love The Root Cause! Norden is an expert in the field who turns on the fire hose. The awe-inspiring breadth of both classic and leading-edge information is truly amazing. By drawing from such widely varied and inspirational sources as the Wright brothers, Napoleon Hill, Sir Karl Popper, Robert M. Pirsig, and Sun Tzu to name but a few, The Root Cause presents a much more effective and enlightened example of executive leadership. This book is a must-read for todays and tomorrows leaders at every level of management.

Craig Johnston

award-winning Business Process Management (BPM) consultant

The Root Cause is a uniquely powerful, intelligent, and insight-filled book on the nature of leadership and the concepts, mindset, and willingness to change and adapt that great leaders need to be truly successful. Drawing on significant intellectual, artistic, and philosophical sourcesfrom W. Edwards Deming to Colonel John R. Boyd, from Mark Twain to Roald Dahl and Albert TofflerNorden surgically unpacks, builds, and supports a leadership mentality and practice that is a stunning wake-up call. Norden makes it clear that if leaders wish to make a positive difference in the world and leave a legacy, then they must learn to operate authentically and ethically, with integrity and compassion, to analyze dysfunctional systems dispassionately, determine root causes courageously, and adapt to changing realities as a matter of course, not necessity. Highly informative, practical, and far-reaching, The Root Cause is filled with invaluable and unforgettable leadership lessons.

Gregg Ward

author of The Respectful Leader

The Root Cause is not another book about best practices or some new set of formulas to be plugged into an organization. Instead, it offers a different level of thinking and a rich source of unique ideas and metaphors to guide executives with an adventuresome mind and a clear sense of purpose. I enjoyed the reading, and I intend to read more of Nordens sources as well.

Barry J. Schwartz, PhD

applied neuroscience consultant

The Root Cause is a phenomenal book that provides managers, directors, and especially C-suite executives a road map, context, and step-by-step instructions for optimizing business systems. Every professional needs to read this book. I can see a need for consultants trained in the application of these concepts helping companies to implement them, especially in alignment with major enterprise system development projects, like Enterprise Resource Planning, customer-facing Software-as-a-Service products, and other strategic initiatives. This book is essential reading for all ambitious leaders.

Gabor Fulop

Director of IT Applications at a major US auto parts company

You get John Boyd and his ideas. You have put them down in such a way that a layman can understand how to utilize the information. I love the analogies; it makes it easier for some who may not be as technically proficient in theory. I like the interweaving of different schools of thought put together to gain a full picture. As you know, my dad used many references from many fields when he was putting his theories together. You are doing the same, which speaks well to your time and effort in this book. Too many people focus in one area and do not look to other areas to increase their ability to synthesize information. I am enjoying the reading but notice I keep going back and re-reading areas as I go through. To me a good book is one where you go back and start re-reading areas what you have already read.

Mary Ellen Boyd

executrix of the Colonel John R. Boyd (USAF) estate

Hans Norden had an epiphany when, as a bank project manager, he consulted on situations where everyone agrees they have a big problem but no one admits to making a mistake because everyone is just doing their job. Norden saw up close the costly damage done by such systemic (and seemingly insoluble) interdepartmental challenges.

The Root Cause, the distillation of the authors years of consulting, study, and observation, is part field guide, part poetic inspiration, and part exhortation based on the polarity of persistent challenges and accessible opportunities in the modern organization.

Nordens clarion call to leaders is to recognize the limiting factors (what he calls business gremlinsthe imaginary creatures that sabotage aircraft), overcome the gravitational pull of the Peter Principle, and embark on a journey of mind-bending adventure that fully embraces ones free will (in other words, seek to do something rather than simply be someone). The Root Cause takes the reader on a journey of meaning and substance, addressing the journey, vehicle, and destination in a comprehensive yet navigable way.

It spans the domains of philosophy, economics, behavioral science, sociology, military theory, physics, aviation, and literature and fuses all these disciplines with stories that define effective governance, making it a worthwhile read. Hans Norden challenges leaders to greatness with The Root Cause.

Doug Kirkpatrick

partner at NuFocus Strategic Group and author of Beyond Empowerment

The Root Cause is like a deep learning exercise on how the world workspeople, business, and organizations. I greatly appreciate the focus on business as a system, the fundamental principles that drive and guide the system, and notable historic bodies of thought. They are woven together to give a deeper and more powerful foundation for the building of mental models to help understand business behavior and the itinerary planning for success that follows. It is a substantial read that can transform someones way of being and doing in the world. Remarkable and valuable for anyone who wants to lead an epic journey.

Brett Hoffstadt

Project Management Professional (PMP), inventor of multiple aviation devices, and author of Success with Drones in Civil Engineering and How to Be a Rocket Scientist

Copyright 2022 by Johannes Nicolaas Isac Norden. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.