Acknowledgements

About the author

Introduction

PART ONE: UNDERSTANDING FAILURE

Chapter 1 – Mentioning the Unmentionable

- What failure looks like

- The omnipresence of failure

- Measuring success and failure

- Misrepresenting success and failure

- The infectiousness of failure

Chapter 2 – The Pattern of Failure: The Yosemite Curve

- Phase 1: Struggle

- Phase 2: Denial

- Phase 3: Freefall

- Phase 4: Rock Bottom

- Phase 5: Recovery

- Phase 6: Consolidation

Chapter 3 – Other Types of Failure

- Total failure – the Niagara drop

- Shallow failure: the frying pan

- Broadening failure: the Grand Canyon

PART TWO: AVOIDING FAILURE

Chapter 4 – Passive Warning Signs

- Certainty

- Complacency

Chapter 5 – Active Alarm bells

- Obsession

- Manipulation

- Evasion

Chapter 6 – The cultural litmus test

- A reckless culture?

- A culture of false reassurance?

- A culture of gaming?

- A culture of control?

PART THREE: CURING FAILURE

Chapter 7 – Regaining confidence

- Talking to staff

- Reaching outside

- Responding

- Retaining Momentum

- Trumpeting success

Chapter 8 – Getting back in control

- Digging till you find the cause

- Tackling immediate problems

- Rebuilding the mechanisms for managing

- Unlocking the organisation

PART FOUR: SUCCEEDING

Chapter 9 – The opposite of failure

- Adapting

- Giving and getting feedback

- Managing relentlessly

Chapter 10 – The importance of being honest

- The unbreakable triangle

- Passivity and fatalism

- Risk management and failure

- Understanding process

- Redesigning to solve

Chapter 11 – Mining the data

- The devil is in the detail

- Finding the kernel of truth

- Approximating

- Using information for performance management

- Turning the world upside down

Chapter 12 – Fault tolerance, randomness and pattern

- Living with imperfection

- Managing the unknown

- Randomness and pattern

- Spikiness

- Talent or luck?

Chapter 13 – Gauging the environment

- Horizon scanning

- Rule changes

- Togetherness and partnership

Chapter 14 – The attentive manager

- Dividing to grasp