Brave New Work

Aaron Dignan helps his clients get unstuck by teaching them how to eliminate red tape, tap into collective intelligence, and rethink long-held traditions that no longer make sense. Now he shows us how to do the same.

Are you and your colleagues frustrated by policies that slow you down? Unsure how to reorganize for an era of uncertainty? Overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of your organization? Afraid your team will lose its culture as it grows? Distracted from real work by the deluge of meetings and email?

You’re not alone—and Aaron Dignan can show you a better way. He helps companies around the world use a proven process to become much less bureaucratic and rigid. His book is packed with new tactics and strategies for updating your company’s operating system: the fundamental assumptions so deeply embedded that we don’t even think to question them (e.g. budgets should be done annually; employees need finanical incentives; marketers should sit with marketers).

Dignan illuminates twelve areas where your organization might be squandering its potential. Among his questions:

Is it clear who can make decisions? And are decisions made at the edge, where the market is changing? Or do ideas die on the journey up the chain of command, or worse, in committees and consensus?

Is your organizational information accessible, searchable, and usable by everyone? Or are your best ideas trapped in email chains and PowerPoints?

Are you working in a hierarchy of slow, uncoordinated functions, or a flexible network of dynamic teams?

The book is for managers frustrated with bureaucracy yet suspicious of newfangled approaches where no one has a boss. Dignan offers realistic methods for testing and scaling new ways of working without terrifying anyone, so you can reignite passion and energy throughout your organization.