Table Of ContentWhy Great Leaders Don’t
Take Yes for an Answer:
Managing for Conflict
and Consensus
Michael A. Roberto
PEARSON EDUCATION, INC.
Praise for Why Great Leaders Don’t Take Yes
for an Answer
“Why Great Leaders Don’t Take Yes for an Answer addresses a perennial and per-
nicious thorn in the leader’s side—the yes-men in every organization. (And if you
think your company is without them, you really need this book!) Leaders at all lev-
els can use Mike Roberto’s advice, to make better decisions and align their teams
for results.”
—Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager
and Customer Mania
“Deciding how to decide: a powerful idea that all leaders should understand and
put into practice. In doing so, they can become adept at stimulating candid
dialogues, testing their company’s core assumptions, and achieving alignment.
Roberto’s ideas have already begun to make a profound difference in the effec-
tiveness of our management meetings. Our clients around the world would do
well to adopt Roberto’s straightforward recommendations.”
—Ed Boswell, president and CEO, The Forum Corporation
“Too often leaders mistake silence for agreement. Roberto offers concrete advice
on how to beat this trap. A must-read for leaders at all levels.”
—Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Stanford W. Ascherman M.D.
Professor, Stanford University and co-director,
Stanford Technology Ventures Program
“In his book Why Great Leaders Don’t Take Yes for an Answer, Michael Roberto
provides a unique and very enlightening look into the process of decision making.
His thesis around ‘critical consensus building’ is worthwhile reading for any man-
ager or entrepreneur that strives to be the most effective leader they can be.”
—Jonathan Kraft, vice chairman, New England Patriots
“Unasked questions and undermined decisions are the two main reasons for
corporate failure. To avoid these dangerous wrong turns, every executive
should study Professor Roberto’s clear road maps for making and implementing
decisions.”
—Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., chairman of the board,
International Steel Group
“Why Great Leaders Don’t Take Yes for an Answer rises far and above the other
books on encouraging openness and managing conflict. Instead of offering empty
platitudes, Michael Roberto has delivered a thoughtful and well-researched book
with clear, specific actions to make the lessons work in the real world. Anyone
who supports the clear exchange of ideas can and should benefit from this excel-
lent and thoroughly enjoyable book.”
—Dr. David Sirota, chairman emeritus of Sirota Survey Intelligence and
author of The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies
Profit by Giving Workers What They Want
“This is a book that should be on every manager’s desk. Roberto writes in clear,
easy-to-read language about why managing conflict and decision making in an
explicit manner is so important to organizational success. He also gives practical
examples of how to do it. The chapter on ‘deciding how to decide’ alone is worth
the price of the book.”
—Sue Annis Hammond, author of The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry
and consultant, HRD Solutions
“One of the best compliments an author can get is for someone to begin reading
a book and not put it down until it is finished. This was my experience with
Roberto’s great tome on leadership. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter
are classic. Many of the examples helped me understand some of my best leader-
ship decisions and also a few of my worst in running the specialized investment
banking firm I have headed for the past 31 years. There are few really good books
on leadership, at least few that I have read. Roberto’s is the best.”
—Matthew R. Simmons, author of Twilight in the Desert: The Coming
Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy and chairman,
Simmons and Company International
“A great primer for all leaders on the art and science of decision making. Michael
used examples ranging from the disastrous 1996 Everest climb to the Columbia
disaster, the Bay of Pigs, and the Cuban missile crisis to thoughtfully outline best
practices in the process of ‘deciding how to decide!’”
—Lawrence N. Stevenson, CEO, PepBoys
“Every executive aspiring to be a good leader should read this book. First,
Roberto crashes the myth that holds many back from being good leaders. That is,
good leaders need to make the decisions. Instead, Roberto asserts that to be a
good leader one must manage the decision-making process, not make the good
decisions. But it is Roberto’s insight into the decision-making process, or more
importantly, the drivers of organizational performance, that is most valuable. All
of us, no matter what level in the organization, need to embrace the need for cog-
nitive conflict to produce the highest-quality decisions, while guarding against the
ways in which affective conflict can greatly deteriorate the shared understanding
and consensus necessary for effective implementation of these decisions. Roberto
offers many tools and techniques for all of us to use to improve our ability to man-
age conflict and improve our organization’s effectiveness and performance. While
I believe that Constellation’s success results from the fact that our operational
model and its supporting culture and value reflect much of what Roberto
describes, I also believe that we can use this model to ensure that managing con-
flict becomes an enduring part of Constellation’s leadership culture.”
—Richard Sands, chairman of the board and CEO,
Constellation Brands, Inc.
“The premise of this book is music to my ears. For years I’ve been working with
teams of people facing real challenges, both in the great outdoors with Outward
Bound or in the midst of bringing my educational venture to life. Roberto has ele-
gantly and eloquently put his finger on the very heart of the leadership dilemma.
I look forward to putting the lessons to work at Shackleton Schools as we inspire
and educate the next generation of leaders.”
—Luke O’Neill, CEO and founder, Shackleton Schools
“Today, every CEO in the rapidly changing business environment cudgels his or
her brains out on how to make and execute decisions effectively. This book is very
much useful in that it shows extensively how to deal with such issues, together
with abundant examples. Japanese business managers should read it to be
exposed to such approaches that, I believe, are well applicable to consensus-
driven Japanese companies.”
—Shozo Hashimoto, former CEO, Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.
“Do you want to release the potential of your organization? If you have the ego
and strength to hear contrary ideas, this is a fantastic read. Each paragraph, each
sentence, is powerful, offering tools and suggestions to bring your organization to
a higher level.”
—Gerardine Ferlins, president and CEO, Cirtronics Corporation
“How we make decisions is what organizational leadership is all about, and with
powerful accounts and compelling research, Michael Roberto brilliantly leads us
to the essence of deciding how to decide when it really matters.”
—Michael Useem, William and Jacalyn Egan professor of management,
Wharton School of Business and author of
The Leadership Moment
“Through the ages, many leaders have paid a price for not comprehending the
need to balance conflict and consensus in the decision-making groups they head.
Mike Roberto frames this tension exquisitely and provides tangible guidance for
leaders who want variety, ferment, and constructive tension in their groups on the
one hand, and unity in execution on the other. Based upon a wealth of rigorous
academic research, and with loads of up-to-date and engaging examples, this book
is a must for leaders at all levels.”
—Donald C. Hambrick, Smeal chaired professor of management, Smeal
College of Business Administration, The Pennsylvania State University
“Michael Roberto has written a soundly researched, yet easy-to-read, practical
business book that can ensure that you will make better executive decisions. Read
it and profit from its wisdom!”
—Dr. Drea Zigarmi, co-author of The Leader Within and
Leadership and the One Minute Manager
“This book is an important contribution to managerial best practice. Roberto
gives an impressive synthesis of original and prior research in writing that is rich,
well-crafted, to the point, and studded with compelling case examples. Get this
book and study it carefully as a tonic for decision processes in your own firm.”
—Robert F. Bruner, distinguished professor of business
administration, Darden Graduate School of Business
Administration, University of Virginia
“Drawing on both decision-making scholarship in a number of academic
disciplines and clinical research in organizations, Roberto develops a most useful
way of thinking about decision making in complex organizations and provides a
number of conceptual tools that executives can apply right away and that provide
some new frontiers for scholars to study further.”
—E. Ralph Biggadike, professor of professional practice,
Columbia University Graduate School of Business
“Professor Roberto has provided a rigorous, research-based, and much-needed
framework that allows executives to improve their decision making. Those
managers who want to improve decision making—and results—need to read
this book.”
—Professor Morten Hansen, associate professor of
entrepreneurship, INSEAD
“Far too often leaders squelch dissenting views and make it difficult for employ-
ees to deliver bad news. Others find it difficult to manage contentious debate and
obtain closure on tough issues. Roberto provides practical advice for how leaders
can encourage constructive disagreement, use this to achieve more creative solu-
tions, and ultimately affect alignment and action.”
—Jeff Weiss, director and founder, Vantage Partners
“While reading Why Great Leaders Don’t Take Yes for an Answer, I kept think-
ing of the strategic decisions my team and I have made, and wished I had read
the book 25 years ago. Focus on the decision-making process—not the decision
itself—is the lesson of this book, and one that all executives need to learn.”
—William C. Byham, Ph.D., chairman & CEO, Development Dimensions
International and author of Grow Your Own Leaders
Why Great Leaders
Don’t Take Yes for
an Answer
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Why Great Leaders
Don’t Take Yes for
an Answer
Managing for Conflict and
Consensus
Michael A. Roberto
Harvard Business School
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2005920211
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