"Leadership is Language" by David Marquet offers a radical playbook to help empower people and put teams on a path of continual improvement.
Marquet exposes that there are two different modes of work that form the building blocks of human activity; doing and thinking - and it is striking the right balance between these modes that keep an organisation adaptive, agile, innovative and entrepreneurial. It's helpful to label these modes to clearly identify which one you're in and Marquet has opted for colours - blue and red in this case:
Blue work
- In this mode of work, you are in the thinking zone; making decisions and embracing variability.
- He has opted for the colour Blue in this instance to as it conveys calmness and creativity
- Thinking is the deliberate, curious and open exploration of the beliefs, stories and assumptions that we use to interpret the world around us
Red work
- In this mode of work, you are in the doing zone; doing activities and reducing variability.
- He has opted for the colour Red as it is the colour of energy and determination
- Doing is the physical interaction
The New Playbook
The book offers up six leadership plays that we can employ in order to lead effectively and enhance the performance of our teams. These are:
- Control the clock (instead of obeying the clock)
- Collaborate instead of coerce
- Commitment rather than compliance
- Complete defined goals instead of continuing work indefinitely
- Improve outcomes rather than prove ability
- Connect with people instead of conforming to your role
