Work That Counts - by Richard Lee (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

One of Silicon Valley's top leadership trainers distills his proven framework that has empowered teams at the world's most innovative companies--from Google and Facebook to Cisco Systems and biotech giant Genentech/Roche--to do the best work of their lives.

Richard Lee has worked with thousands of ambitious leaders and their teams, and has found that they all share the same frustration. Whether it's because of communication breakdowns or increasing complexity, people at every level of an organization feel like their results fall short of their expectations--even though they are putting in a lot of effort.

Management gurus will tell you that you need to overhaul your entire organization in order to maximize its full potential, but that is simply not true: You only need to give your people the tools to succeed inside it.

The framework outlined in Work That Counts draws on examples from teams he has worked with at the world's most cutting edge, disruptive companies, and provides practical solutions to the problems that hold people back in nearly every organization. Among other critical skills, you'll learn:

- How a team leader can hold team members accountable without micromanaging--and what team members need to do concurrently to earn the team leader's trust.
- How to get support for your objectives from other teams, even when they don't report to you or your division or your business unit.
- How to partner with others, within your team and on other teams, to achieve the results you want.

Work That Counts is a commonsense yet groundbreaking guide, filled with assessments and real-world examples that will empower organizations to make the most of their people and become more than the sum of their parts.

Review Quotes

Praise for Work That Counts

"The concepts and message in Work That Counts are spot on! Richard nails what is required to drive healthy change and performance in organizations of all sizes. This book is a great resource for top leaders and their teams."
--John Donahoe, CEO, Nike; former CEO, eBay, Bain & Company, and ServiceNow

"Take out your highlighter. Dog-ear this book. Open your planner. Turn ahas into commitments. You are now sitting at the feet of someone who can help you change your relationships, teams, and organizations for good. He has done so with mine."
--Joseph Grenny, coauthor of Crucial Conversations, Crucial Accountability, and Influencer

"When Richard Lee brought Crucial Conversations into Google, it revolutionized my understanding of common workplace interactions, and became required reading for all members of my team several years ago. Work That Counts has the same potential to transform how individuals and leaders work. In Richard's inimitable way, Work That Counts walks the reader through the theory and practice of helping people work together efficiently and effectively. Everyone working in a team environment (that is, all of us!) can now take concrete steps to make both themselves and those around them more productive and more effective."
--Benjamin Treynor Sloss, engineering vice president, Google

"If you want to get the right things done in teams in any organization, then there is no better guide than Richard Lee's book, Work That Counts. It will help you turn your obstacles into the assets you need to make things happen."
--Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism

"Richard Lee offers a guide worth more than money. It will save you time, frustration, and dramatically increase your likelihood of success. Whether it's a large global company, or an aspiring startup, you will benefit from his well-earned wisdom."
--Ken Coleman, Chairman of EIS Group, special advisor to Andreessen Horowitz, and former EVP at SGI

"Work That Counts unlocks the potential of anyone to have more impact in their personal life, team, or organization. Lee offers profoundly powerful insights that enable you to understand what is holding you back and how to change it. Reading it was a joy and an inspiration."
--Todd Pierce, former CIO, Genentech/Roche; former executive vice president of operations and mobility, Salesforce

"As the leading health care provider in the country, we strive to innovate and find better ways to lead, manage, and deliver services to save lives. Work That Counts offers a simple yet powerful framework that can be used at all levels to encourage collaboration across an enterprise, which ultimately leads to the most important thing--better patient care."
--Melanie Gao, director of executive development, HCA Healthcare's Leadership Institute

"Work That Counts is an excellent guidebook for all human relationships. Richard Lee has created an elegant and simple three-part model as a framework to optimize efficiency in any organization. He then uses the model as a road map to provide step-by-measurable-step processes illustrated with vivid use cases. As a crowning touch, he applies the same model to personal life. A must for every business bookshelf."
--Jerry Weissman, author of Presenting to Win, The Power Presenter, and In the Line of Fire

"Philanthropic organizations can grow very rapidly and have sizable and complex multi-location operations. As such they have the same team building and cross department challenges as for-profit companies. Richard's model outlined in Work That Counts is just as relevant, and maybe even more so for nonprofits, where the key to success is building a well-run mission driven organization, not one driven by profits."
--Mark Perry, general partner, NEA; former executive vice president/CFO/vice chairman, SGI

"Work That Counts is an excellent book offering insights that are immediately actionable that have practical impact on managing your organization."
--Stan Meresman, Board Member and Chair of the Audit Committees at: Snap Inc., DoorDash, Medallia, Cloudflare, Guardant Health, and formerly LinkedIn.