Coming soon · Book Profile
Lead the Work
To gain a competitive edge in a world where talent and work are no longer confined to traditional jobs, leaders must shift from managing employees to leading work by strategically designing assignments, organizations, and rewards.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
The traditional concept of a stable, full-time job is dissolving. Work is increasingly done by a global ecosystem of free agents, alliance partners, and on-demand talent sourced through powerful online platforms. In 'Lead the Work,' Boudreau, Jesuthasan, and Creelman provide a crucial guide for navigating this new reality. They argue that leaders must move beyond simply 'managing employees' and learn to 'lead the work' itself. The book introduces a powerful and practical decision framework centered on three key 'dials' leaders can turn: the Assignment (how work is deconstructed, dispersed, and detached from employment), the Organization (how permeable, interlinked, and flexible its boundaries are), and the Reward (how motivation is crafted to be short-term, individualized, and imaginative). Through compelling examples from innovative companies like IBM, Topcoder, and Tongal, this book provides the essential mental model for orchestrating talent, driving innovation, and achieving strategic agility in the boundaryless workplace of the future.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A forward-thinking leader, manager, or HR professional who wants to effectively organize work and source talent to achieve their organization's goals in a rapidly changing world.
- The problem
- The traditional model of relying on a fixed workforce of full-time employees is too slow, rigid, and expensive to compete effectively. It's increasingly difficult to find, afford, and retain the specialized talent needed for key projects. They feel overwhelmed and uncertain about how to navigate the confusing landscape of the gig economy, talent platforms, and strategic alliances. They fear their organization is falling behind more agile and innovative competitors.
- The plan
- Understand the fundamental shift from 'managing employees' to 'leading the work'.
- Master the three-dimensional 'Lead the Work' decision framework: Assignment, Organization, and Reward.
- Apply the framework's 'dials' to strategically design how work gets done in your specific context.
- Learn how to 'rewire' your HR and leadership practices to support a more agile, boundaryless organization.
- The payoff
- Your organization becomes more agile, innovative, and cost-effective. · You gain on-demand access to the best global talent for any project or task. · You are recognized as a savvy leader who can confidently navigate the future of work.
See our guide
- Compensation Analyst →
- Compensation Analyst →
- Compensation Analyst →
- Compensation Analyst →
- Do Human Resources And People Management Well →
- HR Business Partner →
- HR Business Partner →
- HR Business Partner →
- HR Business Partner →
- HR Director →
- HR Director →
- HR Director →
- HR Generalist →
- HR Generalist →
- HR Generalist →
- Learning & Development Specialist →
- Learning & Development Specialist →
- Learning & Development Specialist →
- Learning & Development Specialist →
- Recruiter / Talent Acquisition →
- Recruiter / Talent Acquisition →
- Recruiter / Talent Acquisition →
Related profiles we’ve built
- An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization →
- Apa Handbook Io V2 →
- Applied Psychology in Human Resource Management →
- Armstrong’s Handbook of Strategic Human Resource Management →
- Beyond Hr Boudreau Ramstad →
- Antifragile (Incerto) →
- Coaching for Leadership - The Practice of Leadership Coaching from the Worlds Greatest Coaches (J-B US non-Franchise… →
- 50 Top Tools for Coaching A Complete Toolkit for Developing and Empowering People →
Additional reading
- Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock Potential in Yourself and Your Organization · Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey
This is the authors' previous book, which provides a deep dive into the ITC framework that is presented as a key tool in Chapter 6 and used by the fledgling DDOs in Chapter 7.
- In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life · Robert Kegan
This book lays out the foundational theory of adult development and mental complexity that underpins the entire DDO concept, explaining the 'adaptive gap' that DDOs are designed to address.
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success · Carol Dweck
The book explicitly references Dweck's work, contrasting the 'fixed mindset' (prevalent in ordinary organizations) with the 'growth mindset' that is fundamental to a DDO's culture.
- Organizational Culture and Leadership · Edgar H. Schein
Mentioned in the book, Schein's work provides a foundational understanding of organizational culture, which is the primary medium through which DDOs operate.
- The Functions of the Executive · Chester Barnard (1938)
Chapter 10 identifies this book as providing the seminal concept of 'willingness to contribute to the cooperative system,' which forms the theoretical foundation for the modern construct of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB).
- The Psychology of Careers · Donald E. Super (1957)
Chapter 3 cites this as a foundational work that established the concept of career stages, a model that has profoundly influenced career development theory and research for decades.
- Decision-making in the employment interview · E. C. Webster (1964)
Chapter 6 highlights this as the key report from the influential McGill University studies, which revealed the cognitive biases inherent in unstructured interviews and shifted the focus of research toward understanding the interviewer's decision process.
- Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures · Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP)
Multiple chapters (e.g., 13, 15) refer to this document and the related AERA/APA/NCME 'Standards' as the authoritative professional guidelines that define best practices and core concepts, like the modern unitarian view of validity, for the entire field of personnel selection.
- Managing Human Assets · Beer, M. et al. (1984)
This is a seminal book that introduced the 'Harvard framework' of HRM, emphasizing a multi-stakeholder approach that considers the interests of employees, not just shareholders. It provides a foundational 'soft' HRM perspective.
- Strategic Human Resource Management · Fombrun, C. J., Tichy, N. M. and Devanna, M. A. (1984)
This book introduced the 'Michigan framework,' which advocated for a 'hard' HRM approach focused on tightly matching HR strategy to the business strategy (vertical fit). It is a foundational text for the strategic alignment concept.