House on Fire: How to Prevent Conflict and "Arsonist" Behaviors from Burning Down Your Company

Powerful tools to prevent conflict within boards and executive teams from erupting into a destructive blaze. A company in which board or executive team conflicts get out of hand is a house on fire. Left unchecked, they can threaten the business, and in the worst cases, burn it to the ground. All nascent conflicts should be treated as dangerous and dealt with immediately to prevent those involved from unleashing “arsonist” behaviors that put the entire company at risk. Thomas Brown has worked globally with scores of publicly and privately held companies and family-owned businesses to resolve deep and significant disputes. In this book, he analyzes the origins of conflicts and offers five tools to prevent them from happening in the first place, or to regain control of those that might already exist. Each chapter includes a case study to illustrate the principles presented. The tools in this book will help you:Recognize a difference of opinion versus an evolving conflict.Identify 11 types of arsonist personalities who allow and even encourage conflicts.Know when conflicts might be arising from the misalignment of unconscious motivators, or “supra-ordinate concerns,” to which most are blind.Measure the Tension Quotient™ between individuals or in a group, indicating the propensity for conflict (or equally dangerous disengagement). Implement the five-step Alignment and Value Optimizer™ to build bridges and convert potential sources of conflict into powerful new ideas and innovations. Read more