More Praise for Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration
“From the deeply personal to the cosmically universal, we each know the value of opening doors to others. We may sometimes forget how to do that, so thanks, Judith and Fred, for the gift you have placed in our hands.”
—Doug O’Loughlin, Principal Consultant, Civil Service College Centre for Organisation Development, Singapore
“Fred and Judith have created a practical guide for achieving breakthrough change through a simple approach to mastering interactions. I know it works because I have had the benefit of using the four keys on a daily basis over the last four years to drive quicker and better business decisions and outcomes in two different organizations. This book is a must-read for those who want all team members to be and feel like they are a key part of the solution.”
—Stan Howell, Plant Manager, Pennsylvania
“Companies of all sizes can benefit from the notions, stakes, boulders, and tombstones terminology. Using notions and stakes creates a much more collaborative environment because they invite conversation. Likewise, organizational waste is reduced with the use of boulders and tombstones because people clearly understand the intensity of the opinion. Four simple words make a big impact.”
—Kathy Clements, Vice President for Culture and Inclusion, Ecolab
“Judith and Fred continue their marvelous way of engaging us and reminding us of how to collaborate effectively. As two experienced and encouraging guides, they walk us through an open door from behaviors that impede collaboration to behaviors that can change the quality of our relationships and enhance our work with others.”
—John D. Vogelsang, Editor-in-Chief, OD Practitioner
“‘Share your Street Corner’ builds upon the accumulated wisdom of many years in the trenches. Both timely and timeless, its core precepts and principles are key to successful employee creativity, engagement, and inclusion.”
—Thomas Kochman, COO, Kochman Mavrelis Associates, Inc., author of Black and White Styles in Conflict, and coauthor (with Jean Mavrelis) of Corporate Tribalism
“Opening Doors is the natural follow-up to Be BIG and The Inclusion Breakthrough. Katz and Miller further hone their ideas regarding enhanced pathways for high-performance institutions by providing ‘four keys’ to success.”
—Bailey W. Jackson, EdD, Emeritus Professor of Social Justice Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“The Opening Doors journey starts with the concept of ‘joining’ the team...all in, as an ally, accepting that no one is perfect, assuming positive intent, and bringing the teaming skills described in the book to the workplace. It can change careers and lives.”
—Steve Fritze, retired CFO, Ecolab
“These keys are crucial for melding disparate individuals into high-performing teams. While the authors do not mention the word diversity, I predict that Opening Doors will be a significant addition to diversity literature.”
—R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., CEO, Roosevelt Thomas Consulting and Training
“Loaded with nuggets of wisdom, this book effectively captures intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, and societal implications and proactive actions for ‘changing everything’ for the better for all involved.”
—Michael L. Wheeler, Associate Director, Diversity, Omnicom Media Group, and former Program Director and Research Associate, The Conference Board
“Never underestimate the power of simplicity! Opening Doors is a case in point. This small but formidable book has BIG concepts that are as easy to implement as one, two, three, four.”
—Cindy Szadokierski, Vice President International Airport Operations, The Americas, Atlantic and Pacific, United Airlines
“Companies expanding globally, or even into a new market segment, will benefit from Fred and Judith’s advice to share their street corners. We’ve learned that we make better decisions when we seriously consider the full spectrum of viewpoints, especially when the street corners range from St. Paul to St. Petersburg. By encouraging leaders to stay curious and seek a wide range of perspectives, this book helps organizations increase their potential for breakthrough thinking.”
—Douglas M. Baker, Jr., Chairman and CEO, Ecolab
“This is an excellent read with practical solutions to workplace challenges, such as stating one’s intent and intensity, interspersed with short examples to help the busy executive avoid misunderstandings, waste, and missteps. These ideas are simple yet powerful ways to enhance clarity of purpose, communication, and productivity in a more positive, collaborative work environment!”
—Eunice Chan, Managing Consultant, Caliper Human Strategies, Singapore
“Opening Doors gives you the keys to unlock the potential of any organization by getting communication right the first time. Fred and Judith have done it again, and that is a tombstone.”
—Hal Yoh, Chairman and CEO, Day & Zimmermann
“Collaboration is an essential ingredient to build a successful workplace. Judith and Fred’s work has been meaningful in the development of our organization. This book provides practical tools to help build these important skills. We can’t do it alone—working better together is vital for our future.”
—Eileen Fisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer, Eileen Fisher, Inc.
“Opening Doors is special: it describes key resonating principles to guide leaders in organizations so they can quickly unleash the potential and contribution of their people.”
—David Wilks, Wilks & Partners, UK
“By hearing different perspectives, we are able to create innovative ways of doing what we need to do. But we don’t often hear how to create this space. This book gives concise, practical how-to steps to bring about the inclusive workplace we desire.”
—Steve Humerickhouse, Director, Multicultural Forum on Workplace Diversity
“I especially loved ‘Share Your Street Corner.’ And next time I facilitate a community meeting, you can bet I will be asking myself, ‘Are all the right people in the room?’”
—Denise Cerreta, founder, One World Everybody Eats Foundation
“An elegantly simple framework for building effective partnerships and teams. This little book distills a great deal of experience into a few key principles.”
—L. David Brown, Senior Research Fellow, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University
“This book opens the doors for all organizations to change the world of work. Just the chapter on ‘Listening as an Ally’ can do more to help organizations create a positive sense of unity, productivity, and shared direction than spending millions of dollars on more complicated approaches.”
—Darya Funches, EdD, former Chair of the Board, Organization Development Network and National Training Laboratories Institute for Applied Behavioral Science, and founder and Principal, REAP Unlimited
“I have experienced that when I am passionate during a discussion, my passion can easily be misinterpreted as a requirement or order. With the simple construct of ‘notions, stakes, boulders, and tombstones,’ conversations become unambiguous; everyone knows what’s being requested and what is open for discussion (or what can be ignored completely!). No more guessing, ‘What did he mean by that?’ or ‘Was that a request or just a thought?’ That allows me to be passionate without worrying about what people may think I said: a win for everyone involved!”
—Michael Thien, Senior Vice President, Global Science, Technology, and Commercialization, Fortune 100 Company
“Opening Doors is an enjoyable and accessible read that offers helpful tips, insightful examples, and important advice for bringing out the best in ourselves and our colleagues. I look forward to bringing the lessons to my organization.”
—Liz Maw, CEO, Net Impact
“Few organizations today can give time to members to develop the comfort level to build trust so they can work together to bring about organizational change. Fred and Judith bring to focus the awkwardness individuals experience when practicing new behaviors that are desired for organizational transformation.”
—Yeo Keng Choo, Managing Director, Caliper, Singapore
“I wish I had heard of the concept of listening as an ally thirty years ago. It really captures the attitude that has been in the room during the major collaborative breakthroughs of my career. I know this will help my team develop the trust to make those breakthroughs happen much more frequently.”
—Jim Miller, Executive Vice President and President, Critical Global Initiatives, Ecolab
“Much has been written about ‘getting it right’ in the modern manufacturing environment (Lean, Six Sigma, TQM, etc). The focus is usually on removing waste from business processes or from human-machine interactions. Opening Doors shows how to remove waste from human-human interactions, arguably the most abundant type of waste and until now the most ignored.”
—Hugh McDonald, Plant Product Manager, UK
“Judith and Fred are brilliant change agents! These skills allow all of us to be more effective cross-cultural communicators and to engage in truly productive and motivating discussions. The exercises in understanding the degrees of someone’s intent, the repercussions of how projects are communicated, and real-life scenarios will permanently remove the guesswork from your conversations.”
—Cassandra D. Caldwell, PhD, founder and CEO, International Society of Diversity and Inclusion Professionals
“I particularly identified with the section on ‘leaning into discomfort,’ as I have long been an admirer of what Abraham Lincoln was able to accomplish with his ‘team of rivals.’ Katz and Miller provide clear, easy steps to strong leadership skills. Skills that lead to a style of leadership, which empowers everyone and maximizes organizational success.”
—Susan C. Scrimshaw, PhD, president, The Sage Colleges, Troy, NY, USA
“For those who lead institutions of higher education, learning how to encourage faculty and staff to respectfully ‘share your street corner’ is particularly relevant in the rapidly evolving higher education landscape.”
—Christine B. McCormick, PhD, dean, School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
“A valuable and practical guide to developing the muscles necessary to build a high performance organization through 4 practices. Think of it as ‘circuit training’ for organizations. The wisdom of this book is that the real key to leadership is doing what is difficult, modeling it, and facilitating it for team members. They call it ‘leaning into discomfort.’ They correctly identify it as being fundamental to the other three practices.”
—Farha-Joyce Haboucha, director, Sustainability and Impact investments, Rockefeller & Co. (The views expressed are hers alone.)