Bounce: The Art of Turning Tough Times into Triumph Review

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(More customer reviews)The subtitle of this book is "The art of turning tough times into triumph," and could not be timelier. Calling the 2008 and 2009 "tough times" could be the understatement of the decade. In the preface, McFarland states as a universal truth that, "It's often during life's most difficult times that we discover our most critical hidden strengths and that we forge our most important capabilities." Certainly we can use some strengths going into thus new decade - hidden or otherwise. But what causes that resilience, that ability to bounce back?
Bounce is written as a story, a technique that I've come to appreciate and respect in getting across sound business and personal growth lessons. Using a story based on real world experience and people while creating a fictitious company and characters allows the author to keep the reader's interest while making his or her point. In McFarland's case, he used a compelling story to reveal and demonstrate his six principles of "Bounce":
1.Embrace the bounce. Life is adaptation, which is the repeated disintegration and reintegration in the face of change.
2.Manage the anxiety. Excellent leaders know how to absorb anxiety from a fear of the discontinuous change happening and convert it to anxiety over what will happen if people and the organization doesn't change and adapt.
3.Manage the mental factor. Change leaders know how to manage their own mental processes in times of stress and how to help their teammates do the same.
4.Manage the money. Why? Because a company can have a great mission, terrific morale and enlightened leadership and still hit a rough patch that runs them out of money.
5.Manage the mission. Organizations, like people, are inspired, lead happier, healthier and longer lives when they have a clear mission.
6.Manage the morale. Moral is "firmness in the face of danger, fatigue and difficulties." People want strong decisive leaders who listen, understand the reality of the difficulty of the situation and also keep an eye on the bright side of the things as well.
McFarland also makes it clear that you can't learn everything there is to know about bounce by reading a book. You will have to learn to bounce from experience. You will have to learn what works for you in creating bounce as well as for the organizations you lead or in which you participate. This short, easy read will help you understand bounce and raise your awareness of the essence of bounce so that you can help yourself and your colleagues to bounce back in these difficult times.

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Why do many people and companies crumble in the face of difficulty, while others use adversity to bounce back even stronger? Here from New York Times bestselling author Keith McFarland is a leadership fable for those wary of fables, a story that rejects pat, heard-it-before advice and shows–in a startlingly fresh way–how to use challenges to make both yourself and your organization stronger.Mike Maloney, division manager for Boston-area tech firm CRX, returns from a business trip late one night feeling demoralized. His unit is about to lose its biggest customer and its most valuable employee. Mike wonders how much longer he and his staff can keep up their relentless work schedule and meet upper management's new request for cost cuts. Something has to give. Hoping to blow off steam, he heads to a gym, where he runs into Joe, a former army Ranger.After listening to Mike vent about the cards he's been dealt, the ex-soldier says, "Sounds like your company is ready to bounce." Mike looks confused, so Joe begins tutoring him in lessons from the battlefield. It is precisely when all seems lost, says Joe, that the opportunity exists to rethink a situation and make real progress. Over the next two weeks, Joe turns Mike's view of himself and his company upside down. Despite his Ivy League MBA and extensive experience running companies, Mike has a lot to learn from this young grunt just back from Afghanistan. For example, he learns that under pressure, people experience two kinds of anxiety–one that hurts performance and one that helps it. Mike uses the insight to get his troops running toward the sound of gunfire, and in the process, learns that "bounce" can happen outside the workplace, too. With Joe's help, he finds his own personal bounce.Drawing inspiration from such sources as the work of M.I.T. social scientist Ed Schein, the film Saving Private Ryan, and his own experiences as a CEO leading companies, McFarland cleverly weaves a story whose practical insights can be put to use immediately. With an invaluable wrap-up section at the book's end that analyzes each of the key ideas and shows how they can be applied in work and personal life, Bounce may be the most indispensable guide to facing challenges ever written.

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