The Third Opinion: How Successful Leaders Use Outside Insight to Create Superior Results [Hardcover]

Saj-nicole Joni (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 2004

Most business leaders will admit that their companies can benefit greatly from an outside review, by someone who knows the industry inside out. But in tough times, few can afford to have high-priced strategy consultants on retainer. The solution, according to Saj-Nicole Joni, is to build a network of informal advisers who can provide “outside insight”—a review that has become as important as strategic planning or capital asset allocation. But where do you find these advisers, and what’s the best way to work with them?

Through in-depth interviews with some of the most successful executives in the world (Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, Bill Rubin, John Mack, and Oprah Winfrey among them), Dr. Joni explains how effective leaders create and work with a wide-reaching brain trust— people who give them unbiased opinions on tough issues. Using real-world examples, Dr. Joni shows how these outsiders provide the kind of impact and guidance that cannot be achieved from within. And with this knowledge, readers can not only meet but also surpass the raised bar of excellence in today’s business world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Astute but poorly written, this jargon-filled business book centers on a powerful piece of common sense: when you have to make an important decision fast, it helps to get some good advice. Where to turn for such advice is the real problem, of course, and Joni offers many cleared headed suggestions for developing a reliable network of trustworthy advisors. "For such a network to exist," she observes, "it has to be created in anticipation of the crisis." Thus, business leaders would be wise to adopt the three habits that she describes in this book: the Habit of the Mind, the Habit of Relationship and the Habit of Focus. Readers willing to wade through her overly complicated descriptions will find a bedrock of sound principles in these habits, which encourage them to listen, to approach a problem from many angles, to nurture professional friendships, to separate urgent matters from trivial ones and to create teams of curious and practical thinkers. Soni illustrates these ideas in a Star of Complexity Map, which measures a leader’s degrees of support, lines of sight and structural trust (how the business affects others within the group). But her entire book is a bit of a complexity itself. The number of buzzwords, although clearly explained and illustrated by a number of real life situations, seems unnecessarily dizzying, and some of the charts confuse what are essentially logical solutions. Nevertheless, there is valuable information here for current, and would-be, business leaders, and many readers will appreciate Joni’s decision to include three chapters that tailor her suggestions for professionals at the beginning, middle and height of their careers.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Saj-Nicole Joni, Ph.D., is the founder of Cambridge International Group Ltd., a high-level advisory services firm. She has more than twenty-five years of experience in advisory services and management consulting. The Third Opinion is her first book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (March 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591840090
• ISBN-13: 978-1591840091
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Business advisor Saj-nicole Joni is sought-after by CEOs and top executives for her uncanny ability to help them find winning solutions to their most challenging problems.

As a longtime confidential "thinking partner" to the C-suite, Saj-nicole has seen it all -- across industries, and around the world. She serves as a trusted sounding board and provider of the 3 most critical things that leaders need to fully manage their risks: 1.) Wide perspective, 2.) Unfettered exploration, and 3.) Unvarnished truths.

"Working with Saj-nicole," says one CEO, "is like having an entire brain trust of deep thinkers to help you work out your toughest issues."

A provocative sparring partner, Saj-nicole is able to draw out a leader's most profound levels of strategic thinking in order to truly view all sides of a problem, test out multiple possibilities, and look far ahead to the consequences of potential paths. Simply put, today's leaders -- who must now grapple with so many uncertainties -- must take this dynamic journey before they can proceed with full confidence.

Saj-nicole's expertise runs deep. She earned her undergraduate degree and doctorate from the University of California. She then held executive positions at Microsoft and CSC Index where she distinguished herself in global strategy, finance, and organizational leadership. Subsequently, she served on the faculties of MIT, Carnegie-Mellon, and Wellesley College. She has been a Fellow at Harvard's Center for Public Leadership, and a Senior Fellow at Booz and Co.

Saj-nicole is now the Founder and CEO of Cambridge International Group. Alongside her work as an advisor there, she is a prolific speaker, writer, and commentator. She appears on National Public Radio and in Harvard Business Review, Strategy and Business, Fast Company, and other publications.

Her first book, The Third Opinion: How Successful Leaders Use Outside Insight to Create Superior Results (Portfolio 2004), was met with critical acclaim.

Saj-nicole's second book, the bestseller with co-author Damon Beyer, is The Right Fight: How Great Leaders Use Healthy Conflict to Drive Performance, Innovation, and Value (HarperCollins 2010).

She serves on a number of public and private boards including the New England Conservatory and Simmons School of Management. Saj-nicole is an avid gardener and accomplished pianist.

For more, visit www.CambridgeInternationalGroup.com. You can also follow her column on Forbes.com, and her blog on HarvardBusinessReview.org.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clarity and logic on an often-muddled subject: leadership, March 22, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Third Opinion: How Successful Leaders Use Outside Insight to Create Superior Results (Hardcover)

Dr. Joni has created a clear, logically compelling case for a new kind of leadership appropriate for the complex age we live in. Too many leaders (and leadership models) still believe that leading is all about making decisions in the splendid isolation of the corporate suite. Dr. Joni shows how to create teams of inside and outside advisors that will keep you from becoming the next Enron -- and avoid being blindsided by the competition you never saw coming from the corner office. More than that, there is profound advice here for leaders at all levels of their careers trying to navigate the tricky waters of corporate politics. A must-read for business people today.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exponential Thinking, December 29, 2005

By 

Dave Kinnear "Executive Leader Coach" (Lake Forest, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Third Opinion: How Successful Leaders Use Outside Insight to Create Superior Results (Hardcover)

Peter Senge said it best: "Today there are two types of leaders in business: those who don't know everything they need to and those who don't recognize it . . . The Third Opinion is for everyone who knows that they need help making critical decisions and for those whose friends may need to bring it to their attention."

Dr. Joni has provided the research that shows why we can benefit from the power of many. Her research showed a surprising level of isolation at the top of our organizations. "While some leaders find a way to build trusted leadership circles that integrate outside insight and have a few confidants, many are on the other end of the spectrum and only experience greater isolation with each move up the leadership ladder." The background for this research is that the 21st century has drastically changed leadership requirements for our organization. This new paradigm requires new thinking - exponential thinking. It also requires three new habits: the habit of mind, the habit of relationships and the habit of focus.

Exponential thinking comprises six steps: Understanding our own mental models that guide our thinking, Developing our ability to discern patterns, Check and Recheck our hidden assumptions, Create varied scenarios of the future, Look for ways to broaden our line of sight, and Invest in our ability to think in the gray spaces. "Exponential thinking allows you to see all sides of a complex issue; it's the process of examining context, looking for interrelationships, exploring assumptions, and asking questions that reveal the full truth and potential of a situation, like a prism revealing the full spectrum of color within white light." Exponential thinking is best done with others.

Dr. Joni logically explains how these keys - the three habits and exponential thinking - applies to emerging leaders, key leaders and senior leaders in our organizations. Using some tried and true tools to understand our management style, and that of others, we can place ourselves in the organization's structure. Then, armed with a tool she developed, the Star of Complexity Map, we can discover where our growing edges are and work to fill those gaps with trusted third opinions.

This book has helped me explain the minor explosion of CEO groups forming. Independent thinkers, trusted colleagues join together to work on each others business and even personal issues. Vistage International (formerly The Executive Committee) is one such organization. Membership has grown from 11,000 CEOs worldwide to more than 12,000 members in 15 countries. Why do busy executives take time for such meetings? The answer is they have learned the power of exponential thinking, even if they call it something else. This is a must read book for anyone aspiring to leadership in our organizations.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Leaders, March 10, 2004

By 

"ebpinjp" (Jamaica Plain, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Third Opinion: How Successful Leaders Use Outside Insight to Create Superior Results (Hardcover)

This is one of the best books for leaders to come out in a long time. There is no more important topic than getting the best thinking into leaders' decision-making. I left a job once because all my peers told our boss whatever he wanted - not what he NEEDED to hear. That leader could have benefited from reading Dr. Joni's book. She weaves personal accounts into her text, making for very clear and lively reading. The Third Opinion is the perfect book for business men and women everywhere!