Richard S. Hawkes is the Founder of Growth River, an international consultancy that guides leaders and teams to create higher performance in businesses and organizations. Its practical mission is to make high-­performing ways of working easier. He works with companies to identify and resolve constraints to success, including Edward Jones, GENEWIZ, Hitachi, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Mars. He sees purpose-driven, customer-­focused, team-based, multi-stakeholder businesses as our best bet for solving the big problems.

Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xix

A Note To The Reader: How to Use This Book xxi

Introduction: The Swirl xxiii

Part 1 Framing the Conversation 1

1 Understanding Organizations: Social Systems, Not Machines 3

2 Understanding Businesses: The Business Triangle 19

3 Understanding Growth: Dynamics of Organizational Development 31

Part 2 The Evolution of an Enterprise 47

4 The Four Stages of Enterprise Evolution 49

5 A Business Is Born: Stage 1, Independent Contributors 57

6 A Leader Steps Up: Stage 2, Directive Leadership 65

7 A 5:30 Wake-Up Call: The Transition to Stage 3, Distributed Leadership 71

8 A Complete System of Roles: Stage 3, Distributed Leadership 81

9 Leveraging Creative Tension: Stage 3, Distributed Leadership, continued 101

10 High-Performing Teams: Stage 3, Distributed Leadership, continued 115

11 Toward a Flat, Agile Organization: Stage 4: Leaders Leading Leaders 127

Part 3 The Seven Conversations 133

12 Organizations Evolve at the Speed of Conversation 135

13 Conversation 1: Activating Purpose 145

14 Conversation 2: Driving Focus 153

15 Conversation 3: Shifting Mindset 159

16 Conversation 4: Specifying Capabilities and Roles 165

17 Conversation 5: Streamlining Interdependencies 171

18 Conversation 6: Aligning Strategies 175

19 Conversation 7: Implementing Initiatives 185

20 An Invitation to Transformation 187

Glossary 191

Index 239