The 5% Rule of Leadership
Using Lean Decision-Making to Drive Trust, Ownership, and Team Productivity
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 25. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-394-36929-4 (ISBN)
Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Maintain focus on the first, critical 5% of any project and multiply your results
In The 5% Rule of Leadership: Using Lean Decision-Making to Drive Trust, Ownership, and Team Productivity, veteran technology leader and executive Anil Singhal delivers a transformative approach to project management and company leadership. He explains how to focus your efforts on the first, critical stages of any project or initiative to multiply your results and efficacy, delegating the rest to their capable team.
The book is a blueprint for building resilient organizations, departments, teams, and projects that can withstand today's unpredictable and volatile environment. You'll learn to avoid micromanagement and maintain your focus on the big, strategic picture, while a well-managed team brings you the results you need.
You'll also find:
Strategies for determining how to properly set priorities and satisfy employees, customers, and shareholders
Techniques for building trust amongst your workforce, your leadership, and other stakeholders
Myth-busting advice that blows up misleading and counterproductive habits held by businesspeople and leaders around the world
Perfect for managers, directors, executives, entrepreneurs, founders, and other business leaders, The 5% Rule of Leadership will be invaluable to anyone who wants to lead with values and purpose-and deliver remarkable results.
Maintain focus on the first, critical 5% of any project and multiply your results
In The 5% Rule of Leadership: Using Lean Decision-Making to Drive Trust, Ownership, and Team Productivity, veteran technology leader and executive Anil Singhal delivers a transformative approach to project management and company leadership. He explains how to focus your efforts on the first, critical stages of any project or initiative to multiply your results and efficacy, delegating the rest to their capable team.
The book is a blueprint for building resilient organizations, departments, teams, and projects that can withstand today's unpredictable and volatile environment. You'll learn to avoid micromanagement and maintain your focus on the big, strategic picture, while a well-managed team brings you the results you need.
You'll also find:
Strategies for determining how to properly set priorities and satisfy employees, customers, and shareholders
Techniques for building trust amongst your workforce, your leadership, and other stakeholders
Myth-busting advice that blows up misleading and counterproductive habits held by businesspeople and leaders around the world
Perfect for managers, directors, executives, entrepreneurs, founders, and other business leaders, The 5% Rule of Leadership will be invaluable to anyone who wants to lead with values and purpose-and deliver remarkable results.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 227 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
331 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-394-36929-4 (9781394369294)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Anil K. Singhal
The 5% Rule of Leadership
Using Lean Decision-Making to Drive Trust, Ownership, and Team Productivity
Book
09/2024
1st Edition
Wiley
€26.50
Available immediately
Anil K. Singhal
The 5% Rule of Leadership
Using Lean Decision-Making to Drive Trust, Ownership, and Team Productivity
E-Book
09/2024
1st Edition
Wiley
€17.99
Available for download
Anil K. Singhal
The 5% Rule of Leadership
Using Lean Decision-Making to Drive Trust, Ownership, and Team Productivity
E-Book
09/2024
1st Edition
Wiley
€17.99
Available for download
Person
ANIL K. SINGHAL is the Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of NetScout, a software developer that makes products to help customers monitor the reliability and security of their business networks. He provides strategic leadership, vision, operational priorities, and engagement and succession planning for the company's management team.
Content
Acknowledgments xvii
Foreword xix
Introduction xxv
Section I Forming a Great Company
Creating a Strong Foundation 1
Chapter 1 Deciding First What Is Important
The 5% Rule in Business and Life 5
Behind Every Decision 8
The Ultimate Test 10
Chapter 2 Excited Employees to Satisfied Customers to Happy Shareholders
The Virtuous Spiral 13
Chapter 3 Trust Is the Ultimate Empowerment
The Decisive Factor 31
Strategic Retention 37
Trust as Simplifier 39
Building Trust 40
Chapter 4 Transparency in Practice
It's Not Just a Buzzword 43
As Clear as You Can Be 44
The Tie That Binds 46
Chapter 5 Hierarchy of Purpose
Prioritizing Values 49
Learning Curve 51
Real-Life Practice 58
Putting It All Together 62
The HA Map in Action 63
Section II Building a Great Company
Implementing the 5% Rule 67
Chapter 6 Front-Loading Negotiations
Know What You Want Going In 71
Stepping In 71
A Question of Price 73
Give Them a Number 7
Asking the Right Questions 76
Trust and Transparency 77
Meet and Greet 78
The 90% 80
The Risks of Skipping the First 5% 81
Final 5% 82
Chapter 7 Why Earn-Outs Are Bad for Acquisitions
Make a Clean Break 85
The Value of Predictability 88
Faking Yourself Out 89
Praying for Failure 90
Working Toward Mutual Success 91
Chapter 8 Be a Problem-Solver, Not a Solution Provider
Give Them What They Need, Not What They Ask For 93
Problems Before Solutions 94
The Problem with Problems 95
A Real-Life Example 96
First Question: Why? 97
Finding a Solution 98
Chapter 9 Control the Timetable of Disruptions
Choose Your Fate 105
An Industry Turned Upside Down 108
Disruption as Freedom 111
Your Early Warning System 112
A Word of Warning About
Disruption: Do Not Be Too Clever 113
Thinking Backwards 115
Chapter 10 The Power of Being Different
Differentiation as a Key Asset 117
A Singular Advantage 118
Being Different Inside 119
Different Differences 119
The Tiniest Differences 121
A Caveat 123
Balancing Act 123
Chapter 11 Put All Your Eggs in the Fewest Baskets
Balance Risks Without
Diluting Rewards 127
The Discipline of Choice 128
Lean Basketry 130
Real-Life Eggs and Baskets 131
The Unforeseen Cost 133
Long Road, Hard Wisdom 134
Timing Is Everything 136
Chapter 12 Don't Worry About Leaving Money on the Table
Get What You Need,
Not What You Want 139
Counting What You Do Not Have 142
Different Tables 144
Know Your Price 147
State What You Want 148
Know When to Stop 148
Chapter 13 Communication Disconnects at the Top
Clarity Equals Productivity 151
Babel 152
Clarity Comes First 155
So, How Do You Solve This Problem? 156
Beyond Mean 157
Chapter 14 Primary and Secondary Skills
Prepare Careers for the Future 159
Primary School 160
Double Lives 162
Making the Turn 164
The Next Dimension 166
Planning Ahead 168
Section III Maturing a Great Company
Create the Next Generation of Leaders 171
Chapter 15 Retention Is Its Own Engine
Preserve the Asset of Experience 175
Prodigal Employees 181
Exceptional Times 184
Chapter 16 Golden Interns and Successful Succession
Retain Your Best for as
Long as Possible 187
Company-Wide Succession 192
Chapter 17 Fair, Fast, and Built to Last
The Keys to a Great and Enduring Company 197
5% Throughout the Organization 199
An (Unexpectedly) Universal Rule 200
Trust and The 5% Rule 201
Epilogue 205
Index 207
Foreword xix
Introduction xxv
Section I Forming a Great Company
Creating a Strong Foundation 1
Chapter 1 Deciding First What Is Important
The 5% Rule in Business and Life 5
Behind Every Decision 8
The Ultimate Test 10
Chapter 2 Excited Employees to Satisfied Customers to Happy Shareholders
The Virtuous Spiral 13
Chapter 3 Trust Is the Ultimate Empowerment
The Decisive Factor 31
Strategic Retention 37
Trust as Simplifier 39
Building Trust 40
Chapter 4 Transparency in Practice
It's Not Just a Buzzword 43
As Clear as You Can Be 44
The Tie That Binds 46
Chapter 5 Hierarchy of Purpose
Prioritizing Values 49
Learning Curve 51
Real-Life Practice 58
Putting It All Together 62
The HA Map in Action 63
Section II Building a Great Company
Implementing the 5% Rule 67
Chapter 6 Front-Loading Negotiations
Know What You Want Going In 71
Stepping In 71
A Question of Price 73
Give Them a Number 7
Asking the Right Questions 76
Trust and Transparency 77
Meet and Greet 78
The 90% 80
The Risks of Skipping the First 5% 81
Final 5% 82
Chapter 7 Why Earn-Outs Are Bad for Acquisitions
Make a Clean Break 85
The Value of Predictability 88
Faking Yourself Out 89
Praying for Failure 90
Working Toward Mutual Success 91
Chapter 8 Be a Problem-Solver, Not a Solution Provider
Give Them What They Need, Not What They Ask For 93
Problems Before Solutions 94
The Problem with Problems 95
A Real-Life Example 96
First Question: Why? 97
Finding a Solution 98
Chapter 9 Control the Timetable of Disruptions
Choose Your Fate 105
An Industry Turned Upside Down 108
Disruption as Freedom 111
Your Early Warning System 112
A Word of Warning About
Disruption: Do Not Be Too Clever 113
Thinking Backwards 115
Chapter 10 The Power of Being Different
Differentiation as a Key Asset 117
A Singular Advantage 118
Being Different Inside 119
Different Differences 119
The Tiniest Differences 121
A Caveat 123
Balancing Act 123
Chapter 11 Put All Your Eggs in the Fewest Baskets
Balance Risks Without
Diluting Rewards 127
The Discipline of Choice 128
Lean Basketry 130
Real-Life Eggs and Baskets 131
The Unforeseen Cost 133
Long Road, Hard Wisdom 134
Timing Is Everything 136
Chapter 12 Don't Worry About Leaving Money on the Table
Get What You Need,
Not What You Want 139
Counting What You Do Not Have 142
Different Tables 144
Know Your Price 147
State What You Want 148
Know When to Stop 148
Chapter 13 Communication Disconnects at the Top
Clarity Equals Productivity 151
Babel 152
Clarity Comes First 155
So, How Do You Solve This Problem? 156
Beyond Mean 157
Chapter 14 Primary and Secondary Skills
Prepare Careers for the Future 159
Primary School 160
Double Lives 162
Making the Turn 164
The Next Dimension 166
Planning Ahead 168
Section III Maturing a Great Company
Create the Next Generation of Leaders 171
Chapter 15 Retention Is Its Own Engine
Preserve the Asset of Experience 175
Prodigal Employees 181
Exceptional Times 184
Chapter 16 Golden Interns and Successful Succession
Retain Your Best for as
Long as Possible 187
Company-Wide Succession 192
Chapter 17 Fair, Fast, and Built to Last
The Keys to a Great and Enduring Company 197
5% Throughout the Organization 199
An (Unexpectedly) Universal Rule 200
Trust and The 5% Rule 201
Epilogue 205
Index 207