How Leaders Shape the Future By Overcoming Fatal Human Flaws.
#DoSomething
Blow Up the Playbooks. Ignite Change.
The best leaders don’t wait for the future to arrive, they provoke it.
The best leaders have conviction to act–even in the face of uncertainty–in order to “provoke” the future they desire. They are able to identify important inflection points earlier than others and then use actions to shape trends to their advantage rather wait for the change to arrive.
From the national bestselling authors Geoff Tuff and Steven Goldbach explain why we act the way we do when faced with uncertainty and provide tools to do things differently.
Rooted at the intersection between business and behavioral economics, Provoke is applicable to decisions in business, but also across many different aspects of the human experience, teaching people how to provoke as a mechanism to create a better future.
How Will Provoke Change Business?
Readers that take the provocateur message to heart will be able to:
• Recognize basic human cognitive biases that narrow individual
and organizational peripheral vision and lead to all-too-typical dysfunction..
• Be equipped with proven techniques to avoid those fatal flaws in yourself and others.
• Envision the future by using scenario planning to see the future that could emerge over time.
• Position your organization to take advantage of the emerging future.
• Directly create an impact that is advantageous to you.
• Adapt your business model to best fit the inevitable outcomes, moving as quickly as possible to create advantage.
• Activate a network or knock-on effect—often through an ecosystem—that stands the highest chance of leading to your desired outcome.
• DO SOMETHING.
Buy the Book
Part 1: Predictable Patterns
• An examination of common patterns of behavior, internal biases, and fatal flaws that can debilitate executives faced with an anomaly in their space.
• Solutions that can be immediately implemented to overcome those issues and master trends.
Part 2: Principles of Provocation
The introduction of five moves to use if you’re facing an “if” or “when” phase change to help you avoid the biases,
expand your vision, and do something:
• Envision the future
• Position yourself for success
• Drive change
• Adapt to changing circumstances
• Activate your ecosystem
Part 3: Profiles of Provocateurs
A showcase of three people you may not have heard of (yet) that are revolutionizing their fields and provoking the future, including:
Deborah Bial - The founder and president of the Posse Foundation, Deborah has helped over 10,000 students from diverse backgrounds to attend and graduate from college, providing over $1.5 billion in tuition funding.
Ryan Gravel - Ryan envisioned what is arguably the largest urban economic development project in the United States at the moment, the Atlanta BeltLine—a 22-mile loop to connect 45 different neighborhoods.
Valerie Irick Rainford - The founder of Elloree Talent Strategies, Valerie is a coach to dozens of senior executives and is committed to advancing diverse talent in corporate organizations.
Read A Preview of Provoke Now
Praise for Provoke
“PROVOKE shows leaders how they must be purposeful in shaping the future—intentionally engaging with emerging trends not only to benefit their own organization, but also to make the world a better place. The stories of purposeful provocateurs like Valerie Rainford, Debbie Bial and Ryan Gravel will inspire you to create a future that works for all of us.”
Thasunda Brown Duckett
President and CEO of TIAA
“Too often we think more data and analysis will make our next move clear. Tuff and Goldbach explain how to lead when new trends emerge … and ‘ifs’ become ‘whens.’ Provoke should be required reading for all leaders facing uncertainty.”
John Stratton
Executive Chairman Frontier Communications, Board member at General Dynamics Corp. and Abbott Laboratories
“In PROVOKE, the authors have given aspiring leaders an invaluable guide to achieving real change in this complex, data-driven world. The provocateurs they profile prove how much can be accomplished, across a wide range of endeavors.”
Michael Ainslie
Author of A Nose for Trouble, Chair Emeritus of Posse Foundation and former CEO of Sotheby’s