Noel Tichy

American business professor, writer and consultant (pictured right).

Key books

The Transformational Leader (1986) written with Mary Anne Devanna (pictured right below)

Business success requires transformational leaders who continually:

• inspire and challenge people to change, innovate and improve
   
• question existing ways of thinking
   
• think long-term
   
• use their strengths to maximum advantage.
   
• make people aware of why they are doing something.
   
• strive for self-renewal and lifelong learning.
   
• are sensitive to people and technically brilliant.
   
• have the ability to deal with complexity, ambiguity and uncertainty.
   
• derive courage and wisdom from their values.

Control Your Destiny Or Someone Else Will (1993) written with Stratford Sherman (pictured right)

This gives the lessons from Jack Welch’s (pictured right below) hugely successful transformation of General Electric:

a) change

• recognizing the need to change.
   
• empowering people to put it into action immediately.
  

b) visionary leadership

Inspiring people to achieve a future, customer driven ideal.

c) customer focus

Delighting customers through:

• continual innovation.
   
• world-class quality
   
• cost reduction (through improvement in productivity and efficiency).
  

d) global competitiveness

Each General Electric business had to be the world number one or two in its market

e) great management

This requires

• speed, simplicity and self-confidence.
   
• head (intelligence and technical experience)
   
• heart (tough but tender enough to be understanding)
   
• facing reality and being honest with everyone.

Key quote on business success

Control your destiny or someone else will (book title)

Judgment (2007) written with Warren Bennis (pictured right)

Successful leadership requires:

• relevant and timely information (from social networking)

• reflection and strategy formulation and implementation (identifying and exploiting market opportunities)

• satisfaction of key stakeholders like customers, employees and suppliers.

• self-awareness (of aims, values, strengths and weaknesses)

Key quote

With good judgment, little else matters. Without it, nothing else matters.

Judgment On The Front Line (2012) written with Chris DeRose (pictured right)

Any organization must motivate and fully exploit the knowledge, creativity and experience of its front line employees, because they are in direct contact with customers.

To do this, leaders and managers must recruit and train the best people and apply the 4 C’s:

a) context

(ensuring employees know how they contribute to organizational objectives)

b) control 

(empowering people to take responsibility for customer driven results and so trusting them).

c) care 

(effectively communicating to people that the organization really cares about their welfare).

d) creativity 

(encouraging people to find new solutions to customers’ problems).

Key quote

You can learn from the workers who are closest to problems and interact with customers on the front line every day.