Frances Frei, a Harvard Business School professor and co-author of 'Move Fast & Fix Things,' delves into the dynamics of leadership and change. She discusses the fine line between thoughtful decision-making and the need for urgency, challenging the idea that speed is inherently reckless. Frei emphasizes empowering employees in decision-making to enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction. She also highlights the importance of prioritization and managing workload to navigate challenges effectively, advocating a balanced approach to leadership and organizational transformation.
35:57
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
Hustle Culture vs. Urgency
Hustle culture falsely promotes collateral damage as an acceptable byproduct of speed.
True urgency prioritizes care and speed, rejecting the notion of a necessary trade-off.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Empowerment and Speed
Empower others to make decisions to accelerate your company's speed.
Avoid becoming a bottleneck by distributing decision-making power.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Ritz-Carlton's Empowerment
Ritz-Carlton empowers employees to solve customer issues on the spot, allocating up to $2,000 per incident.
This fosters a culture of service and proactive problem-solving.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
In 'Turn the Ship Around!', Captain L. David Marquet recounts his experience as the commander of the USS Santa Fe, a nuclear-powered submarine. Initially trained in the traditional 'know all–tell all' leadership model, Marquet faced significant challenges when he took command of the Santa Fe, which was then one of the worst-performing submarines in the fleet. He realized that the traditional leader-follower approach was ineffective and decided to implement a leader-leader model, where every crew member was empowered to take responsibility and make decisions. This approach led to a dramatic improvement in morale, performance, and retention, transforming the Santa Fe into one of the best submarines in the fleet. The book provides practical insights and strategies for implementing this leadership model in various organizational settings.
Both/and Thinking
Marianne Lewis
Wendy K. Smith
Move Fast and Fix Things
The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems
Frances X. Frei
Anne Morriss
This book challenges the belief that speed and excellence are mutually exclusive. Frances Frei and Anne Morriss, based on their work with companies like Uber, Riot Games, and WeWork, outline five essential steps to solve hard problems quickly while strengthening organizations. These steps include identifying real problems, building and rebuilding trust, creating a thriving culture, communicating powerfully, and empowering teams. The book offers a one-week plan to implement these steps and improve organizational performance at an exhilarating speed.
Frances Frei: Move Fast & Fix Things
Frances Frei is a professor at Harvard Business School. Her research investigates how leaders create the context for organizations and individuals to thrive by designing for excellence in strategy, operations, and culture. She regularly works with companies embarking on large-scale change and organizational transformation, including embracing diversity and inclusion as a lever for improved performance. In 2017, Frances served as Uber’s first senior vice president of leadership and strategy to help the company navigate its very public crisis in leadership and culture.
Her partner Anne Morriss and her are the authors of Uncommon Service and The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You. They are also hosts of Fixable, a leadership advice podcast from the TED Audio Collective, and they are recognized by Thinkers50 as among the world’s most influential business thinkers. Their newest book is Move Fast & Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems*.
A lot of us assume that going fast is reckless. There are certainly times when that’s the case, but it’s also true that leaders going too slow at the wrong time can make things worse. In this conversation, Frances and I discuss how to do a better job of moving quickly when it’s time to address the toughest problems.
Key Points
Many of us believe that going fast is reckless and going slow is righteous. While there are times that is true, there are many examples where it’s not.
The fastest way to speed up your company is to empower more people to make more decisions.
Dare to be bad at something. Deciding what not to address allows you to go faster at what you’re best at.
Two key elements of completing work are work-in-progress and cycle time. Most leaders address cycle time first and miss the more substantial work-in-progress opportunities.
Create a way to fast-track projects that become important and build this into the culture of the organization.
Resources Mentioned
Move Fast & Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss
Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
Related Episodes
The Way to Turn Followers Into Leaders, with David Marquet (episode 241)
How to Solve the Toughest Problems, with Wendy Smith (episode 612)
How to Approach a Reorg, with Claire Hughes Johnson (episode 621)
Discover More
Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.
Coaching for Leaders 
