Tipping Sacred Cows by Jake Breeden

Tipping Sacred Cows

Kick the Bad Work Habits that Masquerade as Virtues

By: Jake Breeden

Published: March 4, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 224 pages
ISBN-10: 1118345916
ISBN-13: 978-1118345917
Publisher: Jossey-Bass










"When leaders embrace beliefs without understanding and managing the potential side effects, the beliefs become sacred cows and get in the way. When leaders shut off their brains and blindly follow the bromides of conventional wisdom they set off a string of unintended consequences", writes educator, coach, and member of the Global Faculty for Duke Corporate Education, Jake Breeden in his iconoclastic and thought provoking book Tipping Sacred Cows: Kick the Bad Work Habits that Masquerade as Virtues. The author describes how leaders with the best of intentions, and with the conviction of their most cherished beliefs, take what they believe is the best course of action, and have things go terribly wrong.

Jake Breeden recognizes that business virtues are not always a bad thing, but when they are used out of habit or by default, that is when the problems arise for leaders. The author considers the bad decisions that result from a leader's good intentions to be both insidious and frustrating for everyone. Often, the virtues are part of the leader's development plan and expectations from the organization itself.

While the virtues may be good things in and of themselves, they may fail tragically if used by rote. The author points out that the reverence given to the sacred cows in organizations is both widespread and never examined for validity. The author provides evidence that what he calls the seven business virtues demand reconsideration as to their applications in the workplace.



Jake Breeden (photo left) understands that that business virtues have a place within the organiztion and its culture. He presents evidence that the virtues are often misunderstood as to what they really mean in practice. The outcome of the standard implementation of these sacred virtues, in an inappropriate manner can be some very damaging repercussions. To counter the almost robotic use of the seven virtues by leaders, the author exposes their hidden pitfalls, and plots a course that successfully traverses the distance between good intentions and superior results.

Jake Breeden presents the seven business virtues as having both a good side, and a dark side as their mirror image that unleashed unintended consequences. As a result, the author ensures that leaders know what the potential traps of the seven business virtues entail, and how to recognize when their automatic use can have serious unintended consequences. The seven business virtues are as follows:

* Balance: Avoiding weak compromises and bad tradeoffs
* Collaboration: Knowing when working together creates effectiveness
* Creativity: Avoiding having the leader's idea take precedence over others
* Excellence: Not letting perfection be the enemy of good enough
* Fairness: Knowing the difference between a fair chance and a fair result
: Passion: Seeking harmony not obsessive behavior
* Preparation: Knowing when preparation should end and when action should begin

For me, the power of the book is how Jake Breeden combines a comprehensive overview of real problems that can result from automatic application of the seven business virtues, with strategies to ensure that the virtues are implemented properly at the right time. The author offers compelling insights into why the seven virtues become default actions for leaders, and how to avoid the dark side hidden within each one. Jake Breeden guides leaders toward self awareness as to when and why they fall back on the sacred cows rather than examining their other available options more carefully.

With the virtues recognized as having both value and risk, leaders can decide whether their use is appropriate for the circumstances, or whether some other decision should be taken instead. Jake Breeden demonstrates how the automatic use of the virtues by leaders can be examined, challenged, and understood more accurately as to their role within the organization. The author offers practical advice and techniques for transforming the virtues into workable concepts that avoid their becoming vices that cause additional and unexpected consequences.

I highly recommend the research based and real world tested book Tipping Sacred Cows: Kick the Bad Work Habits that Masquerade as Virtues by Jake Breeden, to any leaders, executives, managers, and entrepreneurs seeking a clear and concise guide to effective leadership decision making, through avoiding the traps posed by falling into the well meaning habi,t of applying the seven business virtues to every situation. This book offers the alternative of examining, questioning, and transforming the virtues into real and workable forms that benefit leaders, employees, and their organizations.