Turn the Ship Around summary

Be honest: Do you like your job? If you answered “no,” you’re not alone.

Job satisfaction in the United States is at an all-time low. From 2004 to 2012, less than half of U.S. workers considered themselves satisfied with their jobs; in 2009, a Conference Board Survey showed worker satisfaction to be at its lowest rate ever.

Dissatisfaction in the workforce isn’t the only trend that’s emerged in recent years. We’ve also witnessed a considerable drop in productivity, with up to $300 billion lost due to productivity issues in the United States alone.

Times have also been tough for those outside the workforce, as U.S. unemployment sat at 9 percent for a record 31 months, up until November 2011.

The symptoms, a doctor might say, are bad. Yet before they worsen, it’s crucial that we work out where the illness actually is. To do so, we’ve got to examine the structure of organizations themselves.

For centuries, we fashioned our organizations according to a particular style of leadership. The Egyptians harnessed it to build the pyramids; this strategy also drove the Industrial Revolution.

We’re talking about the leader-follower approach, where decisions are made by a leader (a boss) and carried out by followers (the workers).

A leader-follower system is perfectly suited for work requiring physical labor, allowing menial tasks to be delegated among many individuals to increase efficiency. However, many more jobs today are dominated by cognitive tasks and decision-making, not at all suitable for a “follower” workforce.

As a result, the leader-follower approach is ill-suited to the times. Think of it this way: it’s a great strategy for building pyramids, but not for operating a nuclear-powered submarine or even starting a technology business!

To truly empower workers, we need to overhaul our idea of leadership. Find out how we start in the next blink.