Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems

If you find yourself saying that “something around here needs to be fixed” but also find yourself stuck by no improvement, Move Fast & Fix Things is the path-forward-planning playbook of practical ways to approach, frame, intentionally experiment (with a willingness to fail, learn, and try again), and work to solve those hard problems. If you are serious about the details, don’t be deceived by its 178 pages of primary content and assume this will be a “quick” read. Once you learn “how” many change efforts fail (to be honest, I think the book really buried this lede), Move Fast’s blueprint schedule of logically ordered and helpful how-tos may inspire you to draft and tailor your collaborative problem-solving roadmap in a way that you confidently hedge your bets. Move Fast shows you how to plan, act, assess, and improve. Refreshingly, it does not waste your time with empty aspirational platitudes. But you will be hit between with eyes with sharp reminders about your fundamental and moral obligations owed to your colleagues, team, and organization. Leadership reminders that stood out for me included: pitchfork justice helps nobody; inclusion does not mean exclusion of others; avoid sham-hiring theater; and (channeling in a way that honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) there is such a thing as being too late. Like we learned in their earlier book Unleashed, the true work begins with and centers on trust. Move Fast’s premise is that you really must earn your right to do this kind of tactical work around speed. You need an aligned, leaning-in organization that's firing on all three pillars of trust to then move quickly. Thankfully, the authenticity, empathy, and logic trust pillars are explained early on. So are understanding their wobbles, and how to approach rebuilding trust. (Yes! Trust can be rebuilt, they remind.) The authors are also realists and outline how to think about anticipated objections and roadblocks. As a bonus, readers/leaders can develop a forward-looking culture that will someday allow you to pivot from reactive operations “firefighting” to confident, proactive “fire prevention.” And if you’re technically not a “leader” today? Move Fast details perspective and approaches that will hopefully inspire ways you can still contribute to making things better. I have read and heard co-author Frances Frei—many times—share how it’s her goal to democratize the fundamentals behind her life’s work. Move Fast’s gifts, wisdom, and insights should be embraced in that spirit. Each of us—and our organizations and our people—will only be the better for it.

I like the five day agenda setup and the fluent writing. Nevertheless, with my three decades of middle management experience, I assure you the real problem always comes from the CEO whose short-sightedness, overconfidence, cronyism, personal bias and so on kill it all. Pathetic. p.s. Below please find some favorite passages of mine fyi. Ten organizational trust pitfalls: 1. Aversion to making choices 2. Reliance on heroic employees 3. Shiny object syndrome 4. Disengaged middle management 5. Causal relationship with other people's time 6. Comfort with collateral damage 7. High incidence of the "Sunday scaries" 8. People pleasing in the boardroom 9. Tolerance for misalignment 10. Delusions of meritocracy pg56 Ten beliefs that get in the way of moving fast: 1. Meaningful change happens slowly 2. We can do it later 3. Other people's time is an abundant, low cost resource 4. We need more information 5. Going fast is reckless 6. Going slowly is righteous 7. Our people are stretched too thin 8. We have to be great at everything we do 9. Structure is the enemy of speed 10. We need more time to prepare pg151

A compelling guide that illuminates strategic problem-solving techniques for organizational growth. This book offers a pragmatic and insightful methodology for identifying systemic challenges, presenting a clear, actionable framework that empowers leaders to critically examine their operations. By encouraging a culture of continuous improvement and unbiased self-assessment, the text provides invaluable wisdom for businesses committed to enhancing their performance and addressing underlying issues effectively.

Tremendous. First of all, you’ll find the writing is warm and conversational, like you’re sitting with a mentor who cares and totally connects with where you are, and helpfully strong - this mentor is here to help, not just sit in the mess with you. You’ll read a balance of tactical help, useful how-to, with stories of others doing it right. Here’s to getting to the other side of the business and life obstacles with a tried / true process faster! (you’ll also love their podcast and YouTube content!) You won’t regret this book - even if you have ten others you bought and haven’t opened, fast track this book to the top of your pile.

There are certainly some good parts to this book, but it was disappointingly shallow. There's very little new here. It mirrors ideas that were introduced years ago by John Kotter, Ed Stein, and the book "The Speed of Trust." And if you want some a deeper dive on teamwork, look at the writings of Richard Hackman.

Move Fast and Fix Things is an engaging and practical guide to fixing hard problems. Anne & Frances eloquently coach readers on why we can operate with speed *and also* fix things -- a much needed antidote to the "move fast and break things" movement. The book is laid out in a very accessible way, with guidance, action plans, check lists, etc. A great guidebook for all of us who hope to usher in change in fast *and* productive ways.

If you need a practical guide to solve problems FAST, look no further. Oh and btw, this book is a delight to read too. Experts often explain strategic insights in an unnecessarily complex way. Not this book. It is so relatable. I mean “Make New Friends”, “Tell a Good Story”, “Go As Fast As You Can”…those are all strategies I can get behind! Thank you for sharing the expert secret sauce with all of us, it is my new go-to.

Move Fast and Fix Things serves as a valuable resource for leaders seeking innovative approaches to navigating the complexities of organizational change, combining actionable steps with insightful commentary on the dynamics of trust and speed in leadership.

Fue un regalo que porque persona eligió. Buena compra.

Good book with great ideas for restoring trust

The advice is general to the point of being useless. It could have been reduced to less than a hundred pages. As with many "business" books, the authors seek to give novel names to the most inane and obvious concepts. List your problems. Explore solutions. Schedule the work to try and solve the problem. Don't be a jerk. There, I saved you a read.

Organisational change at pace can work, as long as you have the trust between leaders and teams to make it happen. That’s my overall takeaway from the latest book by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss ‘Move Fast and Fix Things’. Turning the maxim to ‘move fast and break things’ on its head Frei and Morriss make the case that you don’t have to make a choice between making change and supporting people. That progress doesn’t have to be slow and steady to bring people with you. Set out over five days the book takes you through a focussed set of steps to make meaningful change in an organisation. The authors are clear that not all problems can be fixed in a week (although their challenge to readers is to start from an assumption that they can), so the five days structure also works as five steps. • Identify the real problem holding you back • Build and rebuild trust in your company • Create a culture where everyone can thrive • Communicate powerfully as a leader • Go fast by empowering your team As with ‘Unleashed’ by the same authors this book is immensely readable. The tone of voice and approach is very human and easy to translate into day-to-day. I also highly recommend their Fixable podcast for lots of practical examples of how to implement this approach. I particularly love the gut check summaries of whether you’re ready to move on to the next step. And the lists and questions to provoke reflection. And if you don’t recognise the barriers to change in the section on ‘Ten signs your organisation is stalling’ then you’re probably working for one of the exemplar companies in the book. The ones which rang loudly for me were: • People doubt whether the organisation (really) has a problem. Or the subset of this one is that only parts of the organisation have the problem. Even more reason why in my book they should be championing the change to bring everyone to their way of working rather than opting out of the cultural change process because they’re already ‘perfect’. • You’re asked to respond to the grave concerns of unidentified critics. Whether you’re working in comms, leadership, organisational development or just care about the organisation you work for, this is a must read.

Brilliant 5 step process for aspiring and current leaders to lead real positive change, and to do it quickly with minimum pain and maximum result. Easily consumable and highly practical, you can put the book to work for you straight away in as little time as one week. Or integrate the change process into your current business processes and go at the pace that feels right for you and your organisation. I promise if you start with one small action today, you will get where you want to go quicker than you think.