Building Better Organizations: How to Fuel Growth and Lead in a Digital Era

by Claudy Jules

Overview

This essential playbook shows how companies can scale success by coupling digital strategies with an investment in the health of their organizations and the people within.

To scale and grow, a company must get the organizational elements right. That begins with having the right strategy, the right leadership to drive it, and the right talent, culture, and organizational design to realize a company’s potential. This is especially true in the AI era, where a company’s most valuable assets are its people.

To begin with, leaders must rethink their value creation strategies. To hone their organizational edge, leaders must prioritize their organization’s health in seven vital areas: strategic direction, culture, leadership, talent, organizational design, EID (equity, inclusion, and diversity), and well-being. No matter what type or size of business, those essential conditions must be leveraged for increased value and growth. Put simply: organizational matters matter. To hone their digital edge, leaders must understand AI, as advances in technology allow leaders to build organizations that can compete and win in the future. Finally, an investor mindset will enable leaders to invest wisely in the technology (and leverage that tech) that sets their organizations apart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781523000449
Publisher:	Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Publication date:	07/05/2022
Pages:	392
Sales rank:	1,036,957
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Dr. Claudy Jules is a partner in McKinsey & Company’s Washington, DC, office. He is a leader in the Organization practice and a core member of the Technology, Media, & Telecommunications and Private Equity & Principal Investors practices. Prior to joining McKinsey, Dr. Jules was at Google, leading its Center of Excellence on Organizational Health and Change. He also served as an advisor to the portfolio companies of CapitalG, Alphabet’s growth equity investment fund. As a thought leader, he has written and spoken widely on organizational issues and has contributed to several business publications.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction: Start with a Better Foundation 1

Part I Design the Conditions for Effectiveness: Seven Essentials for Successful, Healthy Organizations in the Digital Era 21

1 Strategic Direction: Prioritize Purpose over Profit 23

2 Culture: Craft a Shared but Adaptive Identity 49

3 Leadership: Be Agile and Human-Centric in the Age of Intelligent Machines 74

4 Talent: Unlock the Full Potential of Your People 97

5 Organizational Design: Create Structures and Systems for Agility and Sustainability 120

6 Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity: Adopt a Bias for Radical Transparency and Belonging 151

7 Well-Being: Embrace the Overlooked Essential of an Organizations Health 176

Part II Grow into a Better Organization: Using Digital to Unleash the Business's Full Potential to Scale and Adapt 195

8 Invest in Data and Lead with It: Use Digital Advances to Conduct Continuous Org-Health Checks 197

9 To Become AI-First, Put Org Health First: Think Differently about Organizational Matters 232

Part III Lead a Better Organization: Top Priorities for Leaders Seeking Investment Optimization m 257

10 Investors and Boards: Set Priorities for Companies Backed by Private Equity and Venture Capital a 259

11 Chief Performance Officers: Create a New Leadership Role to Oversee the Health of an Organization 284

12 The Change-Fluent CEO: Become Adept in the Language of Change 313

Conclusion: Looking Back, Looking Ahead 334

Notes 337

Acknowledgments 363

Index 365

About the Author 377

Editorial Reviews

A cutting-edge playbook for building talent-centric growth companies.”
—Matt Breitfelder, Senior Partner and Head of Human Capital, Apollo Global Management

“Claudy Jules weaves together the traditionally separate strands of AI-powered innovation and organizational design, culture and purpose. The common thread is how great organizations and great leaders can draw upon a set of well-understood tools to produce tangible results.”
—Tom Glocer, former CEO, Thomson Reuters and current VC, founder and board chair
 
“Through easy-to-understand concepts and examples, Claudy Jules explains how you can use AI and digital technology to improve and inspire dynamic growth and sustainability. Moreover, he shows that leaders cannot build better relationships without emotional intelligence. Read this – or be warned that your competition will!”
—Richard Boyatzis, PhD, Distinguished Professor, Case Western Reserve University, and coauthor of the international bestseller, Primal Leadership and Helping People Change
 
"Building Better Organizations is a must-read for any board director, CEO, and investment leader or advisor looking for a practical guide about how to lead the companies that will thrive in a digital era."
—Ana Dutra, former CEO, the Executives’ Club of Chicago and Korn Ferry, and current Board Director
 
“Claudy Jules has penned an expert book for business leaders seeking to fuel growth and lead organizations in a digital era. The book’s focus on organizational health, talent management, and corporate agility leverages his experience in the application of artificial intelligence as an enabling force for change and source of competitive disruption, globally.”
—Valerie S. Grant, Former Senior Portfolio Manager, Responsible Investing, Alliance Bernstein
 
“Many books advise people on best practices and new theories in organizational change and effectiveness, but this is the first to offer tangible advice and a playbook for the reality of today’s tech-driven landscape – whichever sector a company finds itself in.”
—Marcus East, Chief Digital Officer, T-Mobile USA, and author of the forthcoming book, Working with Dinosaurs

From the Publisher