Leading Without Authority: How the New Power of Co-Elevation Can Break Down Silos, Transform Teams, and Reinvent Collaboration Hardcover – May 26, 2020

Co-elevate! Co-elevate! Co-elevate! A Review of Keith Ferrazzi’s Leading Without AuthorityRobert DeyesTechnical Support Scientist - Next Generation SequencingNew England BiolabsLeading Without Authority is business consultant Keith Ferrazzi’s bestselling book that outlines the rules of engagement for operating across the traditional vertical ‘silo’ structure of many of today’s corporate organizations. In Ferrazzi’s model, the principal of co-elevation is the linchpin concept that describes how each member of a team shows leadership by sharing in the team’s common mission. Everyone has a role to play in a team’s function regardless of their formal title within the overarching organization in which they operate.The strength of Ferrazzi’s model comes from the wealth of examples that he cites- companies that he has worked with and real-life interactions he has observed over the years he has led his own consultancy company Ferrazzi Greenlight. And perhaps most importantly, there is significant tangible evidence that his model improves profitability and productivity.Ferrazzi’s ‘rules’ for leading without authority give us something we can all sink our teeth into.‘Who’s your team?’ encourages us to identify those individuals who we admire and can work with to face and solve problems. Ferrazzi introduces us to his scoring system RAP (Relationship Action Plan) that allows us to define the states of our relationships on a co-elevation continuum.‘Accept that it is all on you’ calls us to proactively begin the process of co-elevating with those people in our lives who we know will lift us up professionally and personally. We are empowered to make the first move in extending ourselves to those individuals that will bring about the necessary change in a co-elevating team. By deepening our ‘porosity’ we can accept feedback in a way that benefits the team.‘Earn permission to lead’ delves into how we build relationships through service to others, caring for others and sharing of ourselves. We must cultivate a sense of mutual trust- what Ferrazzi calls ‘safe psychology’ in which we demonstrate to our team that we have each other’s backs. That’s the best way to enlist participation in the common mission of the team. In the spirit of this mandate, Ferrazzi entrusts us to put aside the Golden Rule and adopt the Platinum rule which at its core empowers us to “treat others the way THEY wish to be treated”.The ‘Create deeper more collaborative relationships’ rule is all about re-contracting people into our teams in an environment that instills candor, open discussion and respect of others. Confronting negative talk, back-stabbing gossip or non-participation- actions that pull back the team- is critical to the success of the team. Be curious, lean in and listen to others as a way of enhancing team cohesion and showing you really care.The ‘Co-Development’ rule focuses on how we coach each other in trusting and open performance discussions. It operates across all levels of authority structure (even from direct reports to their managers) to better ourselves and our behaviors. In Ferrazzi’s words, continuous improvement and co-development is ‘everyone’s job’. Asking for permission to give feedback, letting go of that feedback as a ‘gift’ once you have given it and asking for coaching for you before you give it to others are three ways in which Co-Development will be fruitful.The ‘Praise and Celebrate’ rule reminds us of the importance of highlighting people’s successes, be they small or large, regardless of whether they are thriving or experiencing strong headwinds. Praise and celebrate in ways that are comfortable to the receiver of your praise be it in success or in failure. Most people can recall challenges they have faced throughout their lives. In our teams we need to celebrate how others have thrived in spite of difficulty. The outcome of this benefits everyone including ourselves. As Ferrazzi quips, “What we reward with praise is what others will aspire to achieve. What we celebrate is what we will receive”.‘Co-elevate the tribe’ brings us full circle to the realization that all members of a team must cultivate a sense of shared mission and shared leadership within other teams in an organization. It’s all about widening the scope and changing the organizational culture towards the co-elevating experience. Even the hardest skeptics will eventually feel the palpable benefits of co-elevating behaviors and become, what Ferrazzi calls, ‘Saul-to-Paul’ converts.‘Join the movement’ is the cliché that best encapsulates Ferrazzi’s final rule and one that he uses to get across his point that we really can bring about great change in our world through the spread of the co-elevation movement in our schools, hospitals, families and philanthropic organizations. It should become the guiding ‘North Star’ for us all.Ferrazzi includes a section called The Practices for each rule outlining how to put each rule into daily application.I like one of Ferrazzi’s formative statements: “Hope is defined as the belief that things could be better and that you can make them better”. This is something we can all hold onto as we tackle our responsibilities in our cross-functional teams, co-elevating each other to greater success and increasing creativity way beyond that which we could achieve on our own.

The media could not be loaded. If you're a fan of Keith Ferrazzi's other wonderful books, "Never Eat Alone" and "Who's Got Your Back?" "Leading Without Authority" is his masterpiece.Have you ever noticed that whether you're an entrepreneur of a Fortune 500 CEO, that the bottleneck to your company's success is NOT in the vision, mission or strategy. It is in the execution.Why?Because execution requires executing that strategy through people and people are often more complicated than your strategy or AI. One of the greatest problems is how to get your people to "buy in" and commit fully to your strategy.In traditional top down leadership and management, the motivation to follow through by your people when the "pump you up" leader/pump leaves. When the pump's away the people will stray. And this is especially true with remote workforces.In Leading Without Authority you help your people recognize that the power to get anything done doesn't come from above them and outside them via you. It comes from within and between them.All it takes is for a leader to realize this and for them to use this amazing guide to helping their people "co-elevate" each other to achieve any objective and much beyond.Thank you Keith!

A great book for agile and remote teams, where you have to influence over time and sometimes under project pressure.

I love how the author shares his story and experiences to make the point super clear. In every page, you will learn something new.

I thought this may pertain to just life leadership, and it does a bit, but later goes more down the business rabbit hole. I'm still glad I purchased the book though. Four months later, I can't remember any points from it.

I was enjoying this book quite a lot, had some great actionable things to try out. I really enjoy real world examples and find them useful along with being easier to test out. However, the rest of the Rule 7 chapter is missing!?! It ends abruptly on pg 182, in the middle of sentence and story. I just checked the table of contents, turns out, there's even an 8th chapter missing, the notes and the acknowledgements.Bummed & annoyed that I don't have the end of the book.

"Leading without Authority" shows the path forward for companies to be successful by encouraging people regardless of job title to form collaborative teams to accomplish a mission. The author does a great job of providing some history behind the concept and why it's important to implement in our present day work culture. The book goes deep into how to develop working relationships, providing feedback, and most importantly, what is meant by Co-elevation - "turning a fellow associate into a team mate". The book does a great job of providing a path for management to apply as an organizational model.

I'm always a bit wary of business-focused self-help books, but I've been trying to be of more help to my team and thought this would provide some guidance. It's way better than I was expecting, and so far feels a lot more like a helpful guide on how to build communities and teams within your organization than being a manager-type-leader. I'd highly recommend to anyone who wants to perform better at work, whether or not you think management is something you're after.