The Field Manual

Abstract

The first eight chapters of this book make an argument and test it against cases. This chapter is for running it. It sets out a twelve-week sequence a leader can follow in a company of almost any size, with no change of ownership and no new money, and it is written so that someone who has read nothing else in the book could begin on Monday with this chapter open on the desk. Twelve weeks is a deliberate length. It is long enough to cover one full quarterly cycle, so that the sequence meets the short clock at least once and has to hold its ground. It is short enough that the people in the room can see its end, which matters because, as chapter 4 argued, a frightened room writes short plans whatever it calls them. A sequence with a visible end lowers the fear a little, and that is the first condition for the rest.