Hone

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
THINKERS50 BEST NEW MANAGEMENT BOOKS FOR 2026 
A clarion call to business leaders to recast their conception of leadership and strategy execution to meet the demands of the modern world Have a problem with your organization's strategy in an era of accelerating, exponential change? Modern business orthodoxy has an easy answer: transform it. Hone: How Purposeful Leaders Defy Drift argues this thinking is itself in need of an overhaul. Rather than devote time to expensive, long, and often unsuccessful transformations, leaders should instead focus on holistically designing and honing the management systems that are the nervous systems of their businesses. They can take a cue from chefs and other artisans and hone their organizations. After all, honing doesn't sharpen knives; it realigns a knife's steel to its original position. Choosing and honing the set of management systems that promote an organization's desired outcomes (and uninstalling them when they are past their prime) is one of the most important things a business leader can do-and is just as much art as science. The third in a trilogy of business strategy books written by renowned strategists and two-time Thinkers50-nominated authors Steven Goldbach and Geoff Tuff, this book explains why and how to optimally hone your organization's execution of its strategy, with highlights including:

Engaging, pragmatic, and inspiring, Hone: How Purposeful Leaders Defy Drift earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of all private, public, and nonprofit sector professionals seeking to bring new sources of advantage to their organizations in a time of accelerating uncertainty and exponential change.

GEOFF TUFF is Deloitte's global and U.S. leader for sustainability work with energy, resources, and industrials clients. STEVEN GOLDBACH is Deloitte's sustainability practice leader in the U.S. after serving nearly a decade as Deloitte's Chief Strategy Officer. Together, Tuff and Goldbach are co-authors of the national bestsellers Detonate (2018) and Provoke (2021), and co-hosts of the monthly podcast Provocateurs: Profiles in Leadership. They have been nominated twice for Thinkers50 awards. TOM FISHBURNE is a marketing strategist and the creator of Marketoonist, a weekly cartoon series exploring the foibles of business since 2002.

Part I What It Means to Hone 1 Chapter 1 The Chef 3 Chapter 2 The Problem with Drift 19 Chapter 3 The Nervous System of Strategy 29 Chapter 4 The Craftsman 49 Chapter 5 Wiring the Nervous System 61 Part II Hone Your Organization 77 Chapter 6 Chief System Designer 79 Chapter 7 The Director 91 Chapter 8 Principles of System Design 99 Chapter 9 A Recipe for Change 113 Chapter 10 Walking the Talk 129 Chapter 11 The Rock Band 139 Part III Hone Our Collective Challenges 151 Chapter 12 Widening the Lens 153 Chapter 13 Minimally Viable Thoughts: Honing Our Future 163 Chapter 14 Reflections on a Trilogy 181 Notes 191 Acknowledgments 195 About the Authors 199 Index 201