Gregory Todd is a good leader. He loves his business. He loves the sofas he produces. Now he needs to do something radical, without rocking the boat. This is a novel about leadership and managing change. It has been crafted to impart capability, by showing you how to go about transforming your organisation - and, just as importantly, how not to attempt transformation. This edition incorporates case study questions to draw out learning and application. The questions are effective for individual study but they offer further benefits through group discussion. As a shared case study, this book can precipitate meaningful comparisons and an evaluation of management effectiveness in your organisation, as well as helping you to discern how to go about achieving equivalent transformation within your own context. Andy Sheppard specialises in helping leaders to transform their business operations. His approach blends the strengthening of leadership, a practical change-management approach and subject-matter insight. Andy worked for Shell and for Crown Cork before becoming an operations specialist with McKinsey & Company. He has since continued to work out transformations in diverse operations across Europe, the USA and Asia. He has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Cambridge. http: //www.ajsheppard.com [email protected] The mix of business/transformation insights but set in a story makes this book much more enjoyable to read than a typical business book. It was fun to experience the cultural challenges and related dynamics. It felt like I could have been in the story, in several different roles during my career: from the change agent trying to get an organisation to do the right thing, to the manager being pushed to act one way from the top and still trying to create sustainable change. Fredrik VejgArden, VP - Strategy & Business Development, Sandvik Machining Solutions, Stockholm. This story reveals a depth of personal and professional challenges. A J Sheppard brings these complexities to life, while giving us hope that they can indeed be navigated to bring about the transformation that is increasingly necessary, above and beyond general improvement. Stephen M. Shaw, VP of Atlanta Business Unit, Gate Gourmet