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AA221 - Steve Jobs' Radical Decision-Making: Why Consensus Beats Disagree & Commit
Manage episode 496028956 series 2986873
Steve Jobs once said he'd rather fire someone than force them to buy into a decision they disagreed with. This flies in the face of popular leadership advice like Amazon's "disagree and commit" philosophy. In this episode, we dive deep into Jobs' consensus-driven approach at NeXT and explore why expert-driven decision making might be superior to top-down mandates.
We examine how Jobs' 8-person policy team made only 25 major decisions per year, the importance of psychological safety in decision-making, and why paying people to tell you what to do (rather than just do what you say) creates better outcomes. Other topics include...
- Consensus vs. "disagree and commit" leadership styles
- Expert-driven decision making vs. ivory tower decisions
- Building psychological safety for real alignment
- Scaling decision frameworks in growing organizations
- When to fire vs. when to coach through disagreement
Perfect for product managers, agile coaches, and leaders looking to build more effective decision-making processes.
#DecisionMaking #Leadership #ProductManagement
LINKS
Watch on YouTube
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com
REFERENCES
- Source Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_W6dLP09MQ
- Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, by Colin Bryar & Bill Carr, 2021
- Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders, by L. David Marquet, 2013
- AA208 - Jamie Dimon's Rant: Leadership Lessons on Trust and Effectiveness
- AA201 - Mastering Stakeholder Communication & Management
INTRO MUSIC
Toronto Is My Beat
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)
Chapters
1. Steve Jobs Intro (00:00:00)
2. Source Video (00:01:21)
3. Get on Board (00:04:14)
4. Pushback on Consensus (00:08:03)
5. Analysis Paralysis (00:10:39)
6. Building Clarity (00:12:48)
7. The Policy Team (00:13:29)
8. Building Muscle (00:18:04)
9. Group Think (00:20:00)
10. One-Way vs. Two-Way Decisions (00:22:47)
11. Tell Us What to Do (00:25:19)
12. Expert Decision Making (00:27:04)
13. Publishing Industry (00:29:58)
14. Two Circles of Decision Making (00:32:07)
15. Decisions at the Team Level (00:36:18)
16. Start with Why (00:37:16)
17. Making Decisions (00:38:13)
18. Firing People (00:41:10)
19. Scaling (00:44:56)
20. Prepping to Decide (00:48:26)
21. Quotes in Summary (00:49:04)
22. Takeaways - Decision Making (00:51:16)
23. Wrap-Up (00:52:47)
231 episodes
Manage episode 496028956 series 2986873
Steve Jobs once said he'd rather fire someone than force them to buy into a decision they disagreed with. This flies in the face of popular leadership advice like Amazon's "disagree and commit" philosophy. In this episode, we dive deep into Jobs' consensus-driven approach at NeXT and explore why expert-driven decision making might be superior to top-down mandates.
We examine how Jobs' 8-person policy team made only 25 major decisions per year, the importance of psychological safety in decision-making, and why paying people to tell you what to do (rather than just do what you say) creates better outcomes. Other topics include...
- Consensus vs. "disagree and commit" leadership styles
- Expert-driven decision making vs. ivory tower decisions
- Building psychological safety for real alignment
- Scaling decision frameworks in growing organizations
- When to fire vs. when to coach through disagreement
Perfect for product managers, agile coaches, and leaders looking to build more effective decision-making processes.
#DecisionMaking #Leadership #ProductManagement
LINKS
Watch on YouTube
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com
REFERENCES
- Source Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_W6dLP09MQ
- Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, by Colin Bryar & Bill Carr, 2021
- Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders, by L. David Marquet, 2013
- AA208 - Jamie Dimon's Rant: Leadership Lessons on Trust and Effectiveness
- AA201 - Mastering Stakeholder Communication & Management
INTRO MUSIC
Toronto Is My Beat
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)
Chapters
1. Steve Jobs Intro (00:00:00)
2. Source Video (00:01:21)
3. Get on Board (00:04:14)
4. Pushback on Consensus (00:08:03)
5. Analysis Paralysis (00:10:39)
6. Building Clarity (00:12:48)
7. The Policy Team (00:13:29)
8. Building Muscle (00:18:04)
9. Group Think (00:20:00)
10. One-Way vs. Two-Way Decisions (00:22:47)
11. Tell Us What to Do (00:25:19)
12. Expert Decision Making (00:27:04)
13. Publishing Industry (00:29:58)
14. Two Circles of Decision Making (00:32:07)
15. Decisions at the Team Level (00:36:18)
16. Start with Why (00:37:16)
17. Making Decisions (00:38:13)
18. Firing People (00:41:10)
19. Scaling (00:44:56)
20. Prepping to Decide (00:48:26)
21. Quotes in Summary (00:49:04)
22. Takeaways - Decision Making (00:51:16)
23. Wrap-Up (00:52:47)
231 episodes
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