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Wiring the Winning Organization

By Gene Kim, Dr. Steven J. Spear

Liberating Our Collective Greatness through Slowification, Simplification, and Amplification

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Foreword by ADM John Richardson, US Navy (Ret.)

Decode the Wiring Secrets behind High-Performing Teams

DevOps, Lean, and Agile got us part of the way. Now, Wiring the Winning Organization gets us over the finish line. Drawing on decades of meticulous research of high-performing organizations and cross-population surveys of tens of thousands of employees, award-winning authors Gene Kim and Dr. Steven J. Spear introduce a groundbreaking new theory of organizational management. Organizations win by using three mechanisms to slowify, simplify, and amplify, which systematically moves problem-solving from high-risk danger zones to low-risk winning zones.

A 2024 Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist!

  • Publication Date (Hardcover) November 21, 2023
  • Pages 384
  • Dimensions 6 x 9 inches
  • Interior 2-color
  • Color Illustrations 61
  • Hardcover ISBN 9781950508426
  • eBook ISBN 9781942788874
  • Audiobook ISBN 9781942788904

Features

  • A New Theory of Performance

    Rewire your organization to move from the danger zone to the winning zone with this new theory of performance based on research from over 150+ years of business.

  • Elevate Knowledge Capture

    Slowify and amplify so that experiences can be repeated to gain experiential and experimental learning, and knowledge can be captured for recurring use.

  • Three Mechanism of Performance

    Slowification makes it easier to solve problems; simplification makes problems easier to solve; and amplification ensures problems are solved.

  • Real-Life Examples

    Full of over 20 case studies that prove the theory in any industry, including ecommerce, healthcare, DoD, transportation, manufacturing, and more.

About the Book

Decode the Wiring Secrets behind High-Performing Teams

DevOps, Lean, and Agile got us part of the way. Now, Wiring the Winning Organization gets us over the finish line.

Drawing on decades of meticulous research of high-performing organizations and cross-population surveys of tens of thousands of employees, award-winning authors Gene Kim and Dr. Steven J. Spear introduce a groundbreaking new theory of organizational management. Organizations win by using three mechanisms to slowify, simplify, and amplify, which systematically moves problem-solving from high-risk danger zones to low-risk winning zones.

  • Slowification makes problem-solving easier to do.
  • Simplification makes the problems themselves easier to solve. 
  • Amplification ensures problems are seen and solved.

Wiring the Winning Organization shows how the decisive factor in high-performing enterprises is organizational wiring that enables innovation, excellence, and greatness to flourish. In this data-driven playbook for excellence, leaders will learn how to achieve greater agility, higher quality, faster time to market, greater resilience, and higher employee engagement and profitability.

This is the rare leadership book that delivers concrete tools—not platitudes—to convert mediocrity into mastery. 

Key Takeaways:

  • Dozens of real-world case studies and examples demonstrating how leading organizations leverage the three mechanisms to drive exceptional results. 
  • Practical methods and tools for diagnosing areas within your organization that need improvement and implementing changes to enhance performance. The book provides concrete ways to apply the theory in your specific context.
  • Provides a common language and framework for redesigning workflows, coordinating teams, and structuring communications and problem-solving. This equips you to clearly articulate and spread desired changes.
  • Shares techniques for empowering people at all levels to work smarter, faster, and better by reshaping their daily experiences and environment. This allows more distributed leadership. 
  • Provides approaches for anticipating and mitigating risk, streamlining operations, boosting quality, shortening cycle times, and fostering innovation. The mechanisms work across all key aspects of organizational performance.
  • Outlines methods for converting frustration and stagnation into motivation and progress by moving people from danger zones into winning zones. This leads to greater job satisfaction and retention.

Gene Kim
Dr. Steven J. Spear
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Gene Kim

Gene Kim

Gene Kim has been studying high-performing technology organizations since 1999. He was the founder and CTO of Tripwire, Inc., an enterprise security software company, where he served for 13 years. His books have sold over 1 million copies—he is the WSJ bestselling author of Wiring the Winning Organization, The Unicorn Project, and co-author of The Phoenix Project, The DevOps Handbook, and the Shingo Publication Award-winning Accelerate. Since 2014, he has been the organizer of DevOps Enterprise Summit (now Enterprise Technology Leadership Summit), studying the technology transformations of large, complex organizations.

To Author Archive
Dr. Steven J. Spear

Dr. Steven J. Spear

Dr. Steven J. Spear (DBA MS MS) is principal for HVE LLC, the award-winning author of The High-Velocity Edge, and patent holder for the See to Solve Real Time Alert System. A Senior Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School and a Senior Fellow at the Institute, Dr. Spear’s work focuses on accelerating learning dynamics within organizations so that they know better and faster what to do and how to do it. This has been informed and tested in practice in multiple industries including heavy industry, high tech design, biopharm R&D, healthcare delivery and other social services, US Army rapid equipping, and US Navy readiness.

To Author Archive

"This is a fabulous book that I highly recommend. I’m not aware of anyone who has put their finger on the fundamental truth that Kim and Spear have articulated so amazingly well: successful organizations flow from leaders who create the conditions in which many others thrive."

Paul Gaffney

former CTO and head of technology, The Home Depot, Kohl’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods

"Elegant and simple. It’s a teacher’s best companion—a lesson plan for teaching the theory of performance."

Adm. John Richardson (ret.)

"All organizations, large and small, public and private, are overwhelmed by complexity, multiple priorities, conflicting goals, shifting landscapes, and constrained resources. Kim and Spear lay out an amazing vision of the social circuitry for organizations to not only handle this but thrive while doing so."

Phil Venables

Chief Information Security Officer, Google Cloud; former Board Director, Goldman Sachs Bank

"This book clearly teaches you how to rewire your organization to move with focused, sustained urgency and win!"

Courtney Killser

SVP Customer and Retail Technology, Starbucks

"In a world where complexity is the norm, Kim and Spear provide the essential guide for those in need of a compass for the maze of today’s business environment. This is more than a book—it’s a toolkit for transforming your organization and rising to the challenges of our ever-changing landscape."

David Silverman

CEO of CrossLead, co-author of Team of Teams

"This book is a must-read that deeply informs leaders on how to create great systems for outstanding performance and to win."

Jeffrey K. Liker, PhD

author of The Toyota Way, 2nd edition

"A great piece of work! …the authors not only provide an encompassing schema for those looking to drive performance by improving operations, but they help take practices developed for particular industries and functions and generalize them across all contexts. The guidance they provide is outstanding."

Joel Podolny

CEO, Honor Education, former VP & Dean of Apple University

"Having spent the majority of my thirty-five-year US Navy career and subsequent private industry career working in large complex industrial organizations, what Kim and Spear have written with Wiring the Winning Organization completely resonates with me. I wish I had read this book decades ago; it would have helped me be a better leader."

RADM Mark R. Whitney

US Navy (ret.) USN Executive Director, Hampton Roads Maritime Industrial Base Ecosystem

"'Wiring the Winning Organization' is an indispensable guide for modern leaders seeking to navigate the complexities of organizational success. With a keen focus on avoiding pitfalls and steering clear of the danger zone, this book provides actionable insights that propel a company into the winning zone. Drawing from a wealth of practical case studies, it equips leaders with the tools needed to lead effectively."

Christopher Porter

SVP, CISO, Fannie Mae

"Wiring the Winning Organization illuminates the dynamics that drive organizations to success or failure. More importantly, the book condenses a century of disparate insights into a grand unified theory of management. Simple enough for anyone to understand but profound enough to address the needs of the world's most high-stakes organizations, this book has the potential to equip generations of leaders with principles that are both effective and humane."

Andrew Davis

author of Mastering Salesforce DevOps

"With a compelling mix of carefully selected case studies from diverse industries and times, combined with actionable insights and reader prompts, Wiring the Winning Organization offers a unique blend of theory and practice. This book is an invaluable read for anyone seeking to create a winning organization—one where greatness can be achieved not by accident but because it is wired to do so."

Adrienne Shulman

Founder, Tenger Ways

"In their book 'Wiring the Winning Organization', Gene Kim and Steven J Spear have made a clarion call to every organization in every industry sector around the world to refocus and "rewire" internal communications and working practices to optimize for flow and outcomes. Through a coherent mix of new terminology, case studies, thought experiments, and guided reflections—all backed by sound research—the authors provide an irrefutable case for more deliberate, reflective communication and action as part of a winning organizational strategy. Highly recommended."

Matthew Skelton

coauthor of Team Topologies and founder at Conflux

"The framework in this book brings together the most useful insights I’ve learned over my thirty years of study and practice. Save yourself the time and start here. "

Jeffrey Fredrick

coauthor of Agile Conversations, Co-host of Troubleshooting Agile Podcast

"Who hasn't been in an organization where everyone is super busy, yet delivering value to customers is still super slow and requires vast amounts of perseverance and patience? Gene and Steve's book will guide you on how to move from that 'danger zone" to a ‘winning zone’ by improving the social circuitry which is present in all organizations but all too often neglected."

Manuel Pais

coauthor of Team Topologies

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