CXO Publications

Featured

The Red Pill Executive

Transform Operations and Unlock the Potential of Corporate Culture. Now available for pre-order!

LEARN MORE
  • The Red Pill Executive Book

    by Tony Gruebl (Author), Jeff Welch (Author), Bryan Wolbert (Author)

    Available in: Paperback
    Release: October 27, 2020

    ORDER NOW

    The Red Pill Executive

    Transform Operations and Unlock the Potential of Corporate Culture

    Through 15 years of intense observation and analysis, Tony Gruebl, Jeff Welch, and Bryan Wolbert from Think Systems, Inc. (also known as, Think), identified a powerful controlling force hiding in plain sight revealed within The Red Pill Executive.

    Tony, Jeff, and Bryan named their approach to harnessing this controlling force, the Red Pill model. Every company has an invisible framework called culture. Red Pill Operators sense it where others are oblivious. Culture determines how business happens and what success looks like. Some cultures love growth; others, a perfect record in customer service. For some, it’s sales or P&L―regardless of tanking satisfaction or turnover. With culture as their blueprint, Red Pill Operators shape their processes, tools, language, staff, and every other aspect to align―not just with the strategy and mission―but to the culture as it exists in time.

  • BKPM on paperback

    by Tony Gruebl (Author), Jeff Welch (Author), Bryan Wolbert (Author)

    Available in: Paperback
    Release: May 17, 2013

    ORDER NOW

    Bare Knuckled Project Management

    How to Succeed at Every Project

    Based on years of practical experience, Think’s project management approach is simple, direct, and effective. It’s bare knuckled and we’re darn good at it. Actually, we wrote the book on it!

    Why BKPM?

    In a word, control. Bare Knuckled Project Management is first and foremost a mindset; a learned, limbic-conditioned, level of effectiveness that provides reliable options for action even when rational decision-making goes out the window. It is a framework for explaining how to achieve and maintain control over both typical and highly complex projects. It works because we recast the role of a project manager and adhere to a set of guiding principles that we use to reframe how we view and manage projects. It endures because we systematically alter the instinctive responses of project managers to be effective in the face of project wild-cards like stress and data overload. BKPM leverages the knowledge and techniques of traditional project management, like those found in PMBOK (PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge), but does so with a bias toward control and momentum vs. process. BKPM works in Agile and Waterfall projects. It does so because it is a new way to think about projects, not a project management process.

  • by Tony Gruebl (Author), Jeff Welch (Author)

    Available in: Paperback
    Release: March 20, 2015

    Order Now

    BKPM Pocket Guide: For Project Managers

    4th Edition

    This is your get out of jail free card; however, it isn’t magic. It’s a tool and you’ll need to learn how and when to use it. Put this guide next to your keyboard, in a convenient pocket, stain it with coffee rings or condensation from a cold drink, but keep it handy.

    This pocket guide is based upon the principles and frameworks presented in, Bare Knuckled Project Management; How to Succeed at Every Project. What is BKPM? In a word, control. Bare Knuckled Project Management is first and foremost a mindset; a learned, limbic-conditioned, level of effectiveness that provides reliable options for action even when rational decision-making goes out the window. It is a framework for explaining how to achieve and maintain control over both typical and highly complex projects. It works because we recast the role of a project manager and adhere to a set of guiding principles that we use to reframe how we view and manage projects. It endures because we systematically alter the instinctive responses of project managers to be effective in the face of project wild-cards like stress and data overload. BKPM is simple, direct and effective. It leverages the knowledge and techniques of traditional project management, like those found in PMBOK (PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge), but does so with a bias toward control and momentum vs. process. BKPM works in Agile and Waterfall projects. It does so because it is a new way to think about projects, not a project management process.

Introducing OEM

Our Guide to Modernizing PMO Assessments.  

Learn More