Acknowledgements
About the author
Introduction
PART ONE: UNDERSTANDING FAILURE
Chapter 1 – Mentioning the Unmentionable
- What failure looks like
- The omnipresence of failure
- Measuring success and failure
- Misrepresenting success and failure
- The infectiousness of failure
Chapter 2 – The Pattern of Failure: The Yosemite Curve
- Phase 1: Struggle
- Phase 2: Denial
- Phase 3: Freefall
- Phase 4: Rock Bottom
- Phase 5: Recovery
- Phase 6: Consolidation
Chapter 3 – Other Types of Failure
- Total failure – the Niagara drop
- Shallow failure: the frying pan
- Broadening failure: the Grand Canyon
PART TWO: AVOIDING FAILURE
Chapter 4 – Passive Warning Signs
-
Ignorance
- Certainty
- Complacency
Chapter 5 – Active Alarm bells
- Obsession
- Manipulation
- Evasion
Chapter 6 – The cultural litmus test
- A reckless culture?
- A culture of false reassurance?
- A culture of gaming?
- A culture of control?
PART THREE: CURING FAILURE
Chapter 7 – Regaining confidence
- Talking to staff
- Reaching outside
- Responding
- Retaining Momentum
- Trumpeting success
Chapter 8 – Getting back in control
- Digging till you find the cause
- Tackling immediate problems
- Rebuilding the mechanisms for managing
- Unlocking the organisation
PART FOUR: SUCCEEDING
Chapter 9 – The opposite of failure
- Adapting
- Giving and getting feedback
- Managing relentlessly
Chapter 10 – The importance of being honest
- The unbreakable triangle
- Passivity and fatalism
- Risk management and failure
- Understanding process
- Redesigning to solve
Chapter 11 – Mining the data
- The devil is in the detail
- Finding the kernel of truth
- Approximating
- Using information for performance management
- Turning the world upside down
Chapter 12 – Fault tolerance, randomness and pattern
- Living with imperfection
- Managing the unknown
- Randomness and pattern
- Spikiness
- Talent or luck?
Chapter 13 – Gauging the environment
- Horizon scanning
- Rule changes
- Togetherness and partnership
Chapter 14 – The attentive manager
- Dividing to grasp
