A Bias for Action : How effective managers harness their willpower, achieve results, and stop wasting time


By : Heike Bruch & Sumantra Ghosal

I think I first read this book around 2005. I don't think I understood it fully then. But, I could appreciate the book a lot more when I read it again now.


The gist of the book can be summed up in one sentence : how do we get ourselves into purposesful, goal directed action taking? How do we ensure that our teams do this all the time?

Is it that we don't know what to do? And if we do know what to do, why is it that we don't do things which are critical to us? Which are critical to the organizational well being? What stops us? How can we break these barriers and move towards getting things done?

What is purposeful action? It is defined as consistent, conscious and energetic behaviour. How do we balance these with the experimentation and flexibility which are absolute must in organizations? How do we get deep personal commitment to that goal?

The authors come up with a simple 2 by 2 matrix to explain all the above. On x axis, you have` energy levels : low or high. On y axis, you have the focus. Low or high. You have 4 archtypes now. Those who are the frenzied : high on energy but low on focus. They just keep doing something to occupy themselves. There are the procrastinators who lack both the energy and the focus. These people harm all the teams and mar the organization. There are the detached. These are focused but are lacking in energy levels may be because a personal sense of commitment is missing. And, then there are those who are the purposeful who have high energy and focus levels and who come across as reflective and calm amidst chaos.

What is this energy? For people to be energetic, they must believe that the action to be taken and being taken is subjectively meaningful. They must be able to take proactive action and initiative. Their need to act should also come from whithin. And, only when they have exceptional energy levels, do they make exceptional efforts when tackling heavy levels of workloads.

Here, I remember Jack Welch's credos : Being energetic, Able to energise - are the key traits of a manager. Absolutely that is exactly what the authors are also talking here.

What is focus? It is the energy channeled towards a specific outcome. Focused managers are goal oriented. They keep moving towards achieving that one goal in spite of any obstacle being placed on their path. They ensure that all their activities are towards that goal and ensure that the activities don't clash with each other or detract from each other. Focus also requires phenomenal personal discipline. The focused manager must be able to concentrate on the job on hand, should be able to crystalise the actions that he needs to do and should be able to cull out meaning from the many noises surrounding his job and actions.

The book gives many case studies where people from different quadrants ended up in the high energy - high focus - purposeful quadrant and then pulled their companies out of the woods.

I enjoyed reading this book. I often wonder whether I have the required focus and energy levels to consistently do a great job for my company. And, if I lack either, how do I continuously prod myself to find the right levels of both.