Move Fast and Fix Things

The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems

By: Anne Morriss, Frances Frei

Narrated by: Frances Frei, Anne Morriss

Bestselling authors and cohosts of the TED podcast Fixable, Frances Frei and Anne Morriss reinvent the playbook for how to lead change—with a radical approach that moves fast, builds trust, and accelerates excellence.

Speed has gotten a bad name in business, much of it deserved. When Facebook made "Move fast and break things" an informal company motto, it fueled a widely held belief that we can either make progress or take care of people, one or the other. That a certain amount of wreckage is the price we have to pay for inventing the future.

Leadership experts Frances Frei and Anne Morriss argue that this belief is deeply flawed—and that it keeps you from building a great company. Helping executives and entrepreneurs solve their toughest problems over the past decade, Frei and Morriss learned that the trade-off between speed and excellence is false. The best leaders solve hard problems with fierce urgency while making their organizations—employees, customers, and shareholders—even stronger. They move fast and fix things.

Based on their work with fast-moving companies such as Uber, Riot Games, and WeWork, Frei and Morriss reveal the five essential steps to moving fast and fixing things. You'll learn to:

· Identify the real problem holding you back

· Build and rebuild trust in your company

· Create a culture where everyone can thrive

· Communicate powerfully as a leader

· Go fast by empowering your team

With a one-week plan to fix your problems on a fast cycle time of one step per day, this book is your guide to maximizing impact and reinventing your approach to change. By the end of the week, you won't just have a road map for solving your company's toughest problems—you'll already be well on your way, improving your company at exhilarating speed.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Frances Frei (P)2023 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Speed wins, but only if you pair it with strategy, trust, and respect for everyone on the court. Frei and Morriss have generously shared the road map for how to move fast while also excelling as teams and organizations." — Nadia Rawlinson, Operating Chairman, Chicago Sky (WNBA)

"Move Fast Fix Things invites us into a conversation all leaders should be having: how to create the conditions where people can truly, sustainably thrive." — Becky Schmitt, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, PepsiCo

"Anne Morriss and Frances Frei have produced a fun, super-practical, step-by-step guide to leading lasting change at speed." — Hubert Joly, Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School; former Chairman and CEO, Best Buy; and author, The Heart of Business

Concise, high level approach to quick change management

I appreciated that the author’s acknowledges that the tradeoffs to moving fast and fixing things is likely either quality or cost. Great high level overview of how to create a culture of moving quickly with intentionality.

Mostly Propaganda

This book was a huge disappointment for me. Probably because I had such high expectations. I heard the author on the Michael Covel podcast. I found her concept of "wobbles" that can undermine trust to be compelling. The author was clearly hard left and Michael pushed her on her views and she handled it well. I couldn't wait for the book to come out.

I was disappointed because there is so much potential content around trust and her concept of "wobbles" in authenticity, logic, and empathy. Maybe that was in a different book, but it wasn't in this one.

It is clear I am not the audience for this book, which is fine. I do wish they would put labels on books that claim to be on a topic (in this case, leadership) and are really political propaganda. They could have made a drinking game around the use of the phrases "Diversity", "DEI", and "Inclusion". She used the phrase "lesbian can-do attitude" several times, which made me embarrassed for her. I would cringe just as much if a male author said, "I bring a heterosexual can-do attitude".

If you are looking for a book about leadership or the "wobbles" she talks about, look elsewhere. If you are running some large corporation and have some DEI initiative you have to comply with, this book on your shelf will make you look hip, compliant, and keep your job safe when the layoffs come.

I think her Trust Wobbles concept is fantastic. If she could just let the propaganda go and stick to that topic, she could really make some genuine difference and good in the world.

Excellent reading and valuable insight

I appreciated having one of the authors read the book. I ended up buying is as a reference. Listening was a great first step to get familiar with it, having a hard copy is nice for picking and choosing bits I want to reflect on and use later.

Good book to review your strategy

Well structured with great case studies and framework to build from. Very timely topics as workplaces adapt to adapting. An easy, motivational read! Loved it.

Excellent book

I loved listening to Frances and Anne read their own book. Their work is truly a passion and it comes across in this book.

A guide for moving fast to address problems

I love how Anne and Frances share their insights, experience, and research with us including a roadmap on how we can address issues at our own orgs. I look forward to using the strategies that were clearly laid out! Thank you for releasing this book!

Seemed like they were fitting political ideology to work culture

The book has a great title and I like the idea but it seemed like they were taking a political/social idea and applying it to work with ok evidence. Unfortunately seemed like a book of MBAs discussing best practices without actually being in the trenches as practitioners.

Wanting more application for non C-suite leaders

I was really hoping for something more substantial, though I'll try to apply the very general concepts from the book. The section on telling a story has some good thoughts in it. The introduction really set it up to be exciting, but I found myself becoming increasingly doubtful that there would be any profound insight the more I got into it.

A couple of notes:
- The days of the week don't really seem to map to anything meaningful, other than to organize the book into five categories, they're not actually there to create a model for moving fast. That was really confusing and a let down.
- The case studies and examples lack practical application for the vast majority of leaders—instead aiming at ambiguous company leadership, for good or bad. I'm guessing the majority of people reading this book aren't executives at medium to large companies.