Mike Leavitt - Finding Allies, Building Alliances: 8 Elements that Bring—and Keep—People Together

Given their remarkable success as leaders in both business and government, Mike Leavitt and Rich McKeown have written the ultimate how-to on collaborative leading in business, government, and virtually any organization. In these transformational times, when organizational challenges have never been greater, bringing and keeping people together has never been more critical. The eight elements described in Finding Allies, Building Alliances create a playbook for success for every reader. I couldnt recommend it more highly.

Senator Tom Daschle, former U.S. Senate majority leader

I observed firsthand Mike Leavitts skill at bringing people together and building coalitions in government, politics, and international affairs. Finding Allies, Building Alliances explains how successful managers cooperate to achieve goals and get things done in an environment brimming with complexity, uncertainty, and a multiplicity of actors.

Robert B. Zoellick, former president of the World Bank Group,
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, U.S. Trade Representative

Ive had the opportunity to work with Mike Leavitt and Rich McKeown and see firsthand their skills as problem solvers that made them so effective at finding solutions on the ground in China. Through vivid examples here, he lays out how to get individuals with seemingly competing interests to work together towards solving a shared problem.

Henry M. Paulson Jr., chairman, the Paulson Institute, and former secretary, U.S. Department of Treasury

In our increasingly interconnected world, organizations face a growing number of challengesdisruptive technologies, regulatory reform, environmental issuesthey cannot tackle in isolation. In Finding Allies, Building Alliances, Leavitt and McKeown advocate for formal, process-driven collaborations between organizations facing collective problems, explicitly designed to achieve an outcome with value for each of them. Great collaborations cannot be undertaken casuallythey require effort, leadership, structure, process, and commitment. Finding Allies, Building Alliances offers a unique and practical approach to co-opetition in the 21st century.

Craig Mundie, senior advisor to the CEO, Microsoft Corporation

In Finding Allies, Building Alliances, Leavitt and McKeown lay out practical steps any leader can follow to convene collaborators, gain consensus, and craft lasting solutions. Here is the recipe for any organization to solve problems more efficiently.

Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD, president, Institute of Medicine

Having worked closely with Governor Leavitt and Rich McKeown to create Western Governors University, I can testify that they are masters at bringing together diverse interests into powerful alliances. Finding Allies, Building Alliances will benefit anyone in business or nonprofit leadership, since the right alliances with the right partners are a key to success.

Robert W. Mendenhall, PhD, president, Western Governors University

Jacket design by Adrian Morgan

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Leavitt, Mike (Mike Okerlund), 1951

Finding allies, building alliances : 8 elements that bringand keeppeople together / Mike Leavitt, Rich McKeown.First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-24792-1 (hardback); ISBN 978-1-118-28587-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-28247-2 (ebk)
1. Strategic alliances (Business) 2. Business networks. I. McKeown, Rich, 1946
II. Title.
HD69.S8L42 2013
658.046dc23

2013020325

FIRST EDITION

HB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To our collaboratively inspired spouses,
Jackie Leavitt and Barb McKeown,
who have endured and even enjoyed
our adventures in public and private service.

by Clayton M. Christensen

Each faculty member in my group at the Harvard Business School is invited annually to summarize his or her current research to the other members of the group. I titled my talk last year We aint discovering new ideas. To explain this to my colleagues, I created a spreadsheet that covered the huge whiteboard that covered the front of the room. In the top row on the left-most column I wrote Level of analysis. Then below it in that column I labeled the rows, in sequence, nations, industries, corporations, business units, teams, and then individuals. I explained that the lowest levelindividualswas nested within teams, which was nested within business units, which was nested in corporations, and so on. Then in the top cell of each column, I labeled the column by a prominent problem that bedevils managers. In the top of the second column, for example, I wrote,