Collaborate or Perish!

Reaching Across Boundaries in a Networked World

By: Zachary Tumin, William Bratton

Narrated by: William Bratton, Zachary Tumin

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

In Collaborate or Perish! former Los Angeles police chief and New York police commissioner William Bratton, and Harvard Kennedy School’s Zachary Tumin, lay out a field-tested playbook for collaborating across the boundaries of our networked world. Today, when everyone is connected, collaboration is the game changer. Agencies and firms, citizens and groups who can collaborate, Bratton and Tumin argue, will thrive in the networked world; those who can’t are doomed to perish.

No one today is better known around the world for his ability to get citizens, governments, and industries working together to improve the safety of cities than William Bratton. At Harvard, Zachary Tumin has led senior executives from government and industry in executive sessions and classrooms for over a decade, burnishing a global reputation for insight and leadership. Together, Bratton and Tumin draw on in-depth accounts from Fortune 100 giants such as Alcoa, Wells Fargo, and Toyota; from masters of collaboration in education, social work, and the military; and from Bratton’s own storied career. Among the specific strategies they reveal:

• Start collaboration with a broad vision that supporters can add to and make their own
• Rightsize problems, and get value in the hands of users fast
• Get the right people involved—from sponsors to grass roots
• Make collaboration pay in the right currency—whether recognition, rewards, or revenue

Today companies and managers face unique challenges—and opportunities—in reaching out to others, thanks to the incredibly connected world in which we live. Bratton and Tumin provide practical strategies anyone can use, from the cubicle to the boardroom. This is the ultimate guide to getting things done in today’s networked world.

©2012 William Bratton (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

"Bratton and Tumin give example after vivid example of something I have long believed: that by creating a vision, aligning goals, breaking down barriers, and working together to innovate, we can achieve results that few thought possible.” (Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, author of Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters)

“Collaborate or Perish! is a brilliant guide replete with sound practical insight into what it takes to successfully collaborate in today’s highly networked world. Bratton and Tumin skillfully use their own experiences and fascinating analyses of business, high-stakes national defense issues, and government to bring their ideas to life.” (Professor Renée Mauborgne, INSEAD, coauthor of the international best seller Blue Ocean Strategy)

“Bratton and Tumin make a convincing case that collaboration benefits not only policing, but virtually every organizational process and decision. In settings from casinos to schools, Collaborate or Perish! demonstrates how systematic collaboration can transform an organization.” (Thomas H. Davenport, President’s Distinguished Professor of IT and Management, Babson College)

Excellent by all accounts.

This is a must listen for anyone who aspires to or already leads an organization. Real scenarios with real solutions.