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Beyond the Hammer
Book

Beyond the Hammer

A Fresh Approach to Leadership, Culture, and Building High Performance Teams

Brian Gottlieb
Forbes Books, 2024
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Editorial Rating

8

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  • Applicable
  • Overview
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Business leader Brian Gottlieb describes “five pillars” of leadership that address common business problems. Using a fictional case history of a construction company, he identifies a set of crucial issues: unmotivated employees, departmental fiefdoms, employee churn, lack of vision, and managers who must spend their time putting out fires, not building profits. In this informative management guide, Gottlieb outlines his pillars, which explain the impact of a leader’s beliefs, voice, and model, and the importance of training and managerial checklists. As he works through his analogy, he also explains how to rectify pressing leadership concerns by putting his pillars to work.

Summary

For long-term success, depend on five leadership pillars.

A house requires the right foundation and proper construction. No house can endure without them.

Similarly, to succeed over the long run, a business requires a resilient culture as a basic foundation. Building that culture calls for putting people in charge who follow the “five pillars” of leadership.

1. “Belief is transferable” – If you believe in something, your values will transfer to your workforce. 

If you commit to a strong belief, purpose, or direction, your belief will transfer to your team. As your team members see you put your beliefs into action, they will come to believe in them as well. Then they can implement those shared beliefs and values in their work.

Numerous studies show that sharing a strong belief transforms people’s performance, for good or ill. For example, a 2011 study showed that 43% of those who believed stress was likely to kill them prematurely were far more likely to die than stressed-out people who didn’t share that belief. To instill productive beliefs in others, follow these...

About the Author

Brian Gottlieb began operating a start-up from a card table with only $3,000 cash on hand. He sold his business 12 years later, with nearly $1 billion in lifetime sales and 600 employees.  

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