Risky Business: Why Leaders Must Develop a Disruptive Mindset

To position an organization for growth, you cannot shy away from disruptive, high-stakes, pivotal decisions about the future.

So why DO you?

Why do so many smart leaders cringe when they face disruption?

Most people think of disruption as negative while some leaders make disruption their goal. Organizational Psychologist Dr. Linda Henman considers both approaches preventable and costly mistakes. The surprising truth about improving anything you do―personally, professionally, publicly, or privately―lies at the intersection of your ability to think abstractly and your willingness to take prudent risks.

Drawing on a rich trove of original, cutting-edge research and four decades’ worth of consulting, Henman knows what it takes to succeed in the C-suite. She dispels myths by presenting a clear and compelling summary of what she has observed―and in many cases, helped to create. Her in-the-trenches experiences spurred her to arrive at this conclusion: Myths about leadership have blinded us to what leaders really do. Many leaders believe in the concept of creative disruption but remain skeptical about trusting it.

Jam-packed with big ideas, Risky Business arrives just in time―a rare book that will transform the way you think about risk, change the way you view disruption, and help you understand what you must do to think strategically, to grow dramatically, and to do it quickly. Inspiring and revelatory, filled with story-driven narratives and practical takeaways, Risky Business brings together decades of counterintuitive research to shed light on how you can effect change.

Dr. Linda Henman, known as the Decision Catalyst ®, is the founder of Henman Performance Group, a leadership consulting firm located in St. Louis, MO. She helps C-suite leaders make the decisions they must get right and can’t afford to get wrong. In more than 40 years, none of her hundreds of projects has failed. She has worked with more than 80 clients in 13 industries on four continents. Some of her clients include leaders in organizations like Avon, Emerson, Estee Lauder, Kraft, and Tyson Foods.

The author first studied decision-making while working on her Ph.D. in 1994. She conducted long-term original research on 138 American prisoners of war (including John McCain) who had survived five or more years of brutal imprisonment. The study, under the direction of the U. S. Navy, uncovered the pivotal decisions the POWs had needed to make to stay resilient―decisions about their beliefs, identities, and life’s purpose. These research findings have guided Linda’s work with executives ever since.

Currently, Dr. Henman works predominately with those in the C-suite to help them make decisions on issues like business growth, mergers & acquisitions, and succession planning. (In fact, Linda was one of eight succession-planning experts who worked with John Tyson after his company’s acquisition of International Beef Products―one of the most successful acquisitions of the 21st Century.)

Dr. Henman has written or cowritten seven books, including

The Merger Mindset: How to Get it Right in the High-Stakes World of Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures.
Tough Calls: How to Move Beyond Indecision and Good Intentions
Challenge the Ordinary: Why Revolutionary Companies Abandon Conventional
Mindsets, Question Long-Held Assumptions, and Kill Their Sacred Cows
Landing in the Executive Chair: How to Excel in the Hot Seat
The Magnetic Boss: How to Become the Leader No One Wants to Leave

She also writes regularly for CEO Magazine and Corporate Compliance Insights.

Dr. Henman earned Million Dollar Consultants’ Hall of Fame ® status and holds numerous professional certifications, including Director of Professionalism, a designation given by the National Association of Corporate Directors.