A Bias for Action: How Effective Managers Harness Their Willpower, Achieve Results, and Stop Wasting Time

Description

In A Bias for Action, Sumantra Ghoshal and Heike Bruch reveal that only 10% of managers act purposefully to get truly important work done. The other 90% simply "spin their wheels" by procrastinating, detaching emotionally, and distracting themselves with busywork. Why does this happen, and what separates productive managers from their less purposeful colleagues? Based on exclusive research across several industries, and illustrated through stirring personal stories, A Bias for Action shows that great managers produce results not by motivating others, but by engaging their own willpower through a powerful combination of energy and focus. Bruch and Ghoshal provide simple strategies for bolstering individual willpower and action-taking abilities, and explore ways to marshal the willpower of others to encourage collective action.

Heike Bruch is a Professor of Leadership at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). Sumantra Ghoshal is Professor of Strategic and International Management at London Business School and co-author of Managing Across Borders (HBS Press, 1998).