Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls

by Noel M. Tichy, Warren G. Bennis

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

Whether we’re talking about United States presidents, CEOs, Major League coaches, or wartime generals, leaders are remembered for their best and worst judgment calls. In the face of ambiguity, uncertainty, and conflicting demands, the quality of a leader’s judgment determines the fate of the entire organization. That’s why judgment is the essence of leadership.

Yet despite its importance, judgment has always been a fairly murky concept. The leadership literature has been conspicuously quiet on what, exactly, defines it. Does judgment differ from common sense or gut instinct? Is it a product of luck? Of smarts? Or is there a process for making consistently good calls?

Noel Tichy and Warren Bennis have each spent decades studying and teaching leadership and advising top CEOs such as Jack Welch and Howard Schultz. Now, in their first collaboration, they offer a powerful framework for making tough calls when the stakes are high and the right path is far from obvious. They show how to recognize the critical moment before a judgment call, when swift and decisive action is essential, and also how to execute a decision after the call.

Tichy and Bennis bring their three-dimensional model to life with interviews with world-class leaders who have thrived or suffered because of their judgment calls. These stories include:

Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, whose judgment to grow through research and development transformed GE into the world’s premier technology growth company. Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, who made tough calls about teachers, students, and parents while turning around a troubled school system. Jim McNerney, CEO of Boeing, whose strategic judgment helped him reinvigorate his company and restore a culture of trust and respect. The late general Wayne Downing, who found an unexpected opportunity in the midst of crisis when he led the Special Operations raid to capture Manuel Noriega. A. G. Lafley, CEO of Procter & Gamble, who bet $57 billion to purchase Gillette and reinvent his company. Brad Anderson, CEO of Best Buy, who made the call to commit totally to a customer-centric strategy and led his people to execute it. Whether you’re running a small department or a global corporation, Judgment will give you a framework for evaluating any situation, making the call, and correcting if necessary during the execution phase. It will show you how to handle the overlapping domains of people, strategy, and crisis management. And it will help you teach your entire team to make the right call more often.

No organization can afford to neglect this crucial discipline—and no previous book has ever brought it into such clear focus.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Management, Nonfiction, Audiobook

392 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2007

About the author

Noel M. Tichy is an American management consultant, author and educator. He has co-authored, edited or contributed to over 30 books.

Reviews

[Bill Donhiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had this book on my to read shelf for a long time and finally decided to take it. it is well written and contains many interesting extensive case studies. The down side it is a little bit dated but that is my fault for waiting. The concept of a teachable point of view is great and it is worth the time.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I figured the topic of judgement would be easier reading then everything I had been taking in about business strategy lately. I was pleased a lot of the case studies weren’t ones that had been popping up in a lot of the business books I had been reading (i.e. Apple, IKEA, etc) as well. A few real world examples the book goes into in the most depth were very interesting to me; my favorite of these stories was of how Best Buy stores came about. I had no idea how independent each store was in deciding how the merchandise was laid out or how products were bundled. The section about how they also tried to market more toward the female shopper was also much appreciated by myself since women and tech are not usually the first things companies choose to associate together. It’s fascinating to use a service or store regularly in your life but never notice these unique characteristics that have set the store or service far apart from its competition.

That being said, the case studies that I so enjoy in a good business book were rather short and felt repetitive in Judgment. In fact, the whole book felt repetitive. I could never tell if I was going crazy or just having déjà vu but it felt like the case studies and the graphs that describe the judgment process were repeated multiple times. Repetition might be good in order for making information stick in your mind but it doesn’t make for an enjoyable reading experience. There is also a handbook at the end that makes up about 80 pages of this book and I, of course, read it because I didn’t want to miss out on anything or feel that I didn’t truly read the whole book. To my immense annoyance, the handbook is literally a summary of everything I had just read with a few tables and activities that let you test yourself with the concepts. Judgement is a pretty basic concept, and I can appreciate how the authors were trying to break it down in this book to guide people to make better choices in different scenarios. However, I think a bit of this book was overkill in describing the topic.

I had never seen any business books related to the topic of judgment. I try to branch out and read a variety of books on different aspects of business and this was definitely different then what I had on my shelves at home. However, I think this book could’ve been more effective by lopping off the handbook section, and giving a larger sampling of real world cases that are described in greater depth. As it stands, I would suggest looking into other business books that might be a better use of ones time.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Judgment was hugely disappointing. Warren Bennis is a guru, and the book has been talked up no end. And to give it its due, the case studies are extensive, often fascinating, and well-researched. But the insights are so obvious as to be banal. We learn, for example, that leaders have to have "character and courage." And "values." Come on. The taxonomy of judgment, according to Bennis and Tichy include "pre-decision," the "call", and the "execution." There are 3 kinds of judgments that matter: judgments about people, strategy, and crisis. Really. Is that the best thinking we can apply to this subject? When good judgment brings fame and prosperity and bad judgment ignominy and career termination? And there's a deeper problem: the case studies, while fascinating -- especially the bad judgment ones -- in the end don't really tell us why the executive made the right or wrong call. Carly Fiorina didn't "get" the culture at H-P, and spent too much time showboating. But why? She's a smart woman. Why didn't she see what was going on? Why didn't anyone tell her? If someone did, why didn't she listen? By making Judgment just a question of character, and the test of good judgment simply whether it works or not, Bennis and Tichy oversimplify a complex and difficult arena of both human psychology and organizational theory. I am frankly appalled that so many trees were felled for so little new thinking. This judgment emperor has no clothes.

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book by famed leadership guru Warren Bennis on making judgements. It focuses on making judgements in three realms: Key People, Strategy, and Crisis. It talks about having a Teachable Point of View (TPOV). The crux of the book is we need more leaders with better judgement skills. I hope our president and political leaders could make better judgements instead of doing things based on politcal expediency. The following areas influence our judgement:
1. self-knowledge
2. personal values & goals
3. social network knowledge-those who surrond you daily
4. organzational knowledge-people at all levels
5. conceptual knowledge-which could come from the following: suppliers, customers, government, stock holders, competitors, and interest groups.

I found this book insightful and now I better understand what I could/should consider to make good judgements in life.

[Edwin B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't even know if this book was positively reviewed, or not, when I decided to read it - the reason being the subject matter of leadership judgment fascinated me - and my curiousity was piqued when this title came up in my online browsing of audiobooks available through my local library. It didn't show up in a search of New York Times bestsellers, but were there any practical gems I could pick up regardless of this book's popularity? So I read it, and found out about the dynamics surrounding leadership judgment calls in selecting managers, determining strategy, and responding to crisis situations. Decent read, although not absolutely mindblowing - a lot of the ideas seemed common sense?

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three big takeaways from this book:

First, leaders should develop a teachable point of view or TPOV. A leader who has a consistent TPOV brings a predictable perspective to every discussion. After a while, it becomes the organizations way of viewing/processing/addressing issues.

Throughout the book, the authors also talk about the value of creating a story for the organization. Write the story. Tell the story. Tell it often.

Third, invest in the leadership culture. Nearly all the leaders profiled in the book spent significant time, some up to 30%, coaching and developing their younger leaders. Jack Welch at GE is probably the most celebrated example, but there were others mentioned in the book who made this a priority too.

[Afton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book bounced around a lot. I didn't like the format of how the book was organized. I wished they had just taken a case study and told us the good and bad points. This book is very CEO business driven. The last chapter dealt with education though. I didn't take away a lot from it other than the fact that the people that a leader hires to work with can make a break a company, and how a leader deals with a crisis can make a big difference in a company's future.

[Enny McSholly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tichy and Bennis touched the fundamentals of leadership judgement: people, startegies and crisis; and based each concept on real-life situations which were quintessential enough to validate good judgement. I found this book much promising to aspiring leaders in management, CEOs and students of business adminiistrations. I would , however, give a 3-star rating considering it's much literaturistic for management without spreading over much disciplines.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The framework the authors developed for the “Leadership Judgment Process” is quite clunky, and many of the real world examples they highlighted as ‘successful’ judgments have not stood the test of time. There are, however, some valuable nuggets in the book, particularly with regard to people judgments and judgments in times of crisis.

[Gen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably was a much better read 10 years ago (copyright is 2007.) Case studies were out-dated and heavy emphasis on bottom line.

[Roman Purshaga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Storyline, results and process are the primary themes, in my opinion, that help a reader understand a comprehensive nature of leadership. The authors make clear from the very beginning that judgments should be evaluated in relation to results: “Judgment is successful only when the outcome achieves the espoused goals of the institution.” When judgment is highly conscious of the consequential, it challenges “the messiness of reality” by giving direction and meaning to decision making. The danger is that leaders may reject the notion of purpose in their judgment, and simply fall prey to sporadic, spontaneous, and reactive decision that have no sense of mission behind them.

[Iolanda Ciobanu · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a very good book, with a lot of great examples. It is also a bit outdated, since it is written in 2007. Still, the lessons should apply and leaders should be the drivers of innovation of strategy….something that maybe is missing more and more.

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little hard as an audiobook.

[Destiny C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my Doctorate program, and I felt like it had a lot of gems.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE best analysis on making the critical 'call'. Great framework explained with many interesting (famous) examples of success and failure. Even a handbook at the end. First, the Framework:

* Domain: people, strategy, crisis
* Phases: Pre, The Call, Execution
* Process: Sense, Frame, Mobilize, Call, Execute, Adjust
* Knowledge: Self, Social NW, Org, Contextual

Also
* Teachable POV: Criticality of story telling ability. Esp. by CEO
* Character: having clear value
* Courage: having the guts to make the call and follow through

Key insights
- Judgement is a process, not an event. The 'call' isn't right if execution fails.
- People calls are most difficult. i.e., CEO succession
- Key is sufficient analysis based on good data. Do not let your 'gut' sway the decision.
- Crisis call can be prepared and practiced.

p.s. Carly Fiorina as HP CEO is used as prime failure examples. Now she is running for president...

[Citra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I even haven't got a full-time job when I read a review (in Business Week) about this book. They reviewed everything about this book, that made me speechless now. Maybe I'll buy this book, after I have some extra money to spent off, for my leadership improvement.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

i've tried finishing this one but i finally gave up on it...i guess i was looking for more advice, rather than case study after case study...maybe that comes farther in the book than i got but i decided that i'm not interested enough in sticking it out to find out...

[Rusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

2 of the world's best teaming up on a subject that's scarcely been tackled so extensivly.

[Joseph Serwach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great work

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend this book to all leaders. It's a good read that shows the complexities of decision making.

[Lori Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read book on leadership for knowledge workers, managers, directors, C-levels, and entrepreneurs.

[Lara]

People, Strategy, and Crisis.

[Doug Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dated (includes Hurd's short-lived turnaround of HP) and a little too much focus on Welch and Immelt's work at GE. Some good cases and frameworks.