Posted: October 19th, 2016

there is a belief that many businesses have moved too far toward consensus driven management to the detriment of company success

This paper may be used as a chapter in an upcoming self-published book. The working title of the book is Change Agents – A Call for Mandate Driven Leadership. The subject for the book is as follows. Most business schools teach consensus management principles. Consensus management means that when a decision is reached by the group, there is total commitment to it by all members. It does not necessarily mean the decision was reached easily or that there were not widely differing views shared and debated during the group’s discussion. The key is that it was a group decision/action.
In contrast, there is a belief that many businesses have moved too far toward consensus driven management to the detriment of company success.
The book puts forth a hypothesis that in today’s disruptive business environment, we need leaders in the executive suite that practice mandate driven management. These leaders authorize and command the organization to take a certain course of action. These leaders have a belief, idea, strategy or tactic that is so compelling – they will not take NO for an answer. Through mandate management, they drive the belief from concept to implementation. Through their willpower, organizations are propelled forward. And, these leaders have created or redefined entire industries.
There are several leaders that provide clear examples of mandate driven leadership. Jeff Bezos of Amazon. Steve Jobs of Apple. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Bill Gates of Microsoft.
Using the premise above, we are looking for a 20 page Chapter highlighting JEFF BEZOS. In this chapter, we are looking for:
1: Brief personal background (1-2 pages)
2: Summary of the organization that he created and how it disrupted the industry. (3-4 pages)
3: Clear examples (stories, quotes, etc) where he used a mandate driven leadership style to propel his organization forward. These will often not be flattering stories. They may depict him as somewhat of a tyrant. But, we are looking for stories that show how the outcome was achieved. We are looking for how he never took NO for an answer from his partners, his employees, his suppliers. How he had a vision and he relentlessly propelled that vision from concept to reality. (10-12 pages)
4: End with lessons learned. (1-2 pages)

With your company’s permission, writers of outstanding chapters will receive contribution credit in the book.