The Challenge Culture: Why the Most Successful Organizations Run on Pushback
The executive chairman and former CEO of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins reflects on the unique, results-oriented discipline he's developed over decades of leadership, which provides a blueprint for any organization to achieve prosperity.

We live in an era in which successful organizations can fail in a flash. But they can cope with change and thrive by creating a culture that supports positive pushback: questioning everything without disrespecting anyone.

Nigel Travis has forty years of experience as a leader in large and successful organizations, as well as those facing existential crisis-such as Blockbuster as it dawdled in the face of the Netflix challenge. In his ten years as CEO and chairman of Dunkin' Brands, Travis fine-tuned his ideas about the challenge culture and perfected the practices required to build it. He argues that the best way for organizations to succeed in today's environment is to embrace challenge and encourage pushback. Everyone-from the new recruit to the senior leader-must be given the freedom to speak up and question the status quo, must learn how to talk in a civil way about difficult issues, and should be encouraged to debate strategies and tactics-although always in the spirit of shared purpose. How else will new ideas emerge? How else can organizations steadily improve?

Through colorful storytelling, with many examples from his own career-including his leadership in turning around the fear-ridden culture of the London-based Leyton Orient Football Club, of which he is part owner-Travis shows how to establish a culture that welcomes challenge, achieves exceptional results, and ensures a prosperous future.
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The Challenge Culture: Why the Most Successful Organizations Run on Pushback
The executive chairman and former CEO of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins reflects on the unique, results-oriented discipline he's developed over decades of leadership, which provides a blueprint for any organization to achieve prosperity.

We live in an era in which successful organizations can fail in a flash. But they can cope with change and thrive by creating a culture that supports positive pushback: questioning everything without disrespecting anyone.

Nigel Travis has forty years of experience as a leader in large and successful organizations, as well as those facing existential crisis-such as Blockbuster as it dawdled in the face of the Netflix challenge. In his ten years as CEO and chairman of Dunkin' Brands, Travis fine-tuned his ideas about the challenge culture and perfected the practices required to build it. He argues that the best way for organizations to succeed in today's environment is to embrace challenge and encourage pushback. Everyone-from the new recruit to the senior leader-must be given the freedom to speak up and question the status quo, must learn how to talk in a civil way about difficult issues, and should be encouraged to debate strategies and tactics-although always in the spirit of shared purpose. How else will new ideas emerge? How else can organizations steadily improve?

Through colorful storytelling, with many examples from his own career-including his leadership in turning around the fear-ridden culture of the London-based Leyton Orient Football Club, of which he is part owner-Travis shows how to establish a culture that welcomes challenge, achieves exceptional results, and ensures a prosperous future.
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The Challenge Culture: Why the Most Successful Organizations Run on Pushback

The Challenge Culture: Why the Most Successful Organizations Run on Pushback

by Nigel Travis
The Challenge Culture: Why the Most Successful Organizations Run on Pushback

The Challenge Culture: Why the Most Successful Organizations Run on Pushback

by Nigel Travis

Hardcover

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Overview

The executive chairman and former CEO of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins reflects on the unique, results-oriented discipline he's developed over decades of leadership, which provides a blueprint for any organization to achieve prosperity.

We live in an era in which successful organizations can fail in a flash. But they can cope with change and thrive by creating a culture that supports positive pushback: questioning everything without disrespecting anyone.

Nigel Travis has forty years of experience as a leader in large and successful organizations, as well as those facing existential crisis-such as Blockbuster as it dawdled in the face of the Netflix challenge. In his ten years as CEO and chairman of Dunkin' Brands, Travis fine-tuned his ideas about the challenge culture and perfected the practices required to build it. He argues that the best way for organizations to succeed in today's environment is to embrace challenge and encourage pushback. Everyone-from the new recruit to the senior leader-must be given the freedom to speak up and question the status quo, must learn how to talk in a civil way about difficult issues, and should be encouraged to debate strategies and tactics-although always in the spirit of shared purpose. How else will new ideas emerge? How else can organizations steadily improve?

Through colorful storytelling, with many examples from his own career-including his leadership in turning around the fear-ridden culture of the London-based Leyton Orient Football Club, of which he is part owner-Travis shows how to establish a culture that welcomes challenge, achieves exceptional results, and ensures a prosperous future.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781541762145
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication date: 09/18/2018
Pages: 288
Sales rank: 430,791
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Nigel Travis, the chairman of Dunkin' Brands, was the company's chief executive officer from 2009 through 2018. His distinctive human-centered perspective on leadership and management, now viewed as essential in today's complex and diverse global organizations, took root early in his career when he was a human resources manager.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Fundamental Why: Joanna's Question 1

Chapter 1 Challenge Starts with a Spark: Questioning the Status Quo 7

Chapter 2 Leaders Must Model: Paul Takes a Stand 23

Chapter 3 Overcoming Challenge Aversion: The Difference between Dad, Socrates, and Blockbuster 41

Chapter 4 Developing People for Challenge: Why Allen Sheppard Kept a "Light Grip on the Throat" 59

Chapter 5 Setting the Rules of Engagement: How We Launched K-Cups 81

Chapter 6 Ask Me Anything: Sixty Coffee Chats and Counting 99

Chapter 7 Outsider Input: Bankers, Media, Students, and the Tom Hagen Model 121

Chapter 8 The Personal Nudge: Jumping Off Cliffs When You're Not Really in the Mood 139

Chapter 9 The Negative Normative: Lessons from the Football Pitch 157

Chapter 10 Global Expressions: Stroopwafels, Pork Floss, and Lager for Breakfast 171

Chapter 11 Overcommunicate: On Blenders, Strategy, and Alligators 191

Chapter 12 Cycles within Cycles: Freak-Outs, Slow Laps, Anticipation, and the Belichick Reset 211

Conclusion: The Social Value of Challenge 231

Suggested Questions: A Checklist for Creating a Challenge Culture 247

Acknowledgments 249

Notes 251

Index 257

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