Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited CEO Jim Quigley and Mehrdad Baghai of Alchemy Growth Partners Release a Groundbreaking Book on Collective Leadership: As One: Individual Action, Collective Power

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NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) today released a groundbreaking new book on leadership, As One: Individual Action, Collective Power (Portfolio / Penguin), addressing one of the most daunting challenges facing business leaders today: creating an environment for large groups of people to work together toward a common purpose.

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Co-authored by Jim Quigley, CEO, DTTL, and Mehrdad Baghai, Managing Director of Alchemy Growth Partners, a boutique advisory firm in Sydney, Australia, the book reveals that there are multiple styles of leadership, some or all of which may lead to more effective strategy execution, depending on the situation.

"The inspiration for this book came, in large part, from the many conversations I've had across the world with other CEOs and leaders over the years," said Quigley. "In these conversations, the theme that constantly surfaced was a timeless challenge: how to galvanize large numbers of individuals to work together effectively to achieve a shared purpose. I believe that As One is a step closer to solving that challenge as it offers alternative models and styles for leaders to draw upon."

Baghai added, "Today, the world desperately needs large groups of people to work effectively; yet we seem more divided and polarized than ever before. The As One book and the leadership discipline address contemporary leaders' need to mobilize people to effectively work together to address complex societal, business, and economic issues. Through its innovative and rich taxonomy, As One provides leaders with a practical tool and a common language for identifying what type of archetype model is most effective in engaging people to work toward defined goals under certain circumstances."

In Depth: As One Book

As One: Individual Action, Collective Power began from a conversation about collective leadership three years ago between Baghai and Quigley—Baghai as a management thinker and writer and Quigley as global CEO of DTTL, which together with its member firms, is the world's largest private professional services organization. They realized that though they were both thinking about leadership, they were approaching it from two very different perspectives. Yet, they both shared the view that leaders from all walks of life are searching for a pragmatic and tested approach to help them realize the full potential of their people.

The authors determined that many of the economic, political, and social challenges confronting the world today are the result of the same dilemma of how to achieve effective collaborative behavior. This book bridges the gap between pioneering management theory and practical advice and is relevant today for any leader across a variety of organizations or settings.

The As One book, which has already received advance accolades from industry experts, takes more than 60 cases of successful, collective behavior and applies advanced analytics to identify key characteristics. Drawing on this extensive, original research, the book unveils eight archetypes of leaders and followers brought to life through illustrative examples of As One behavior.  (Excerpts from the book can be found here)

In Depth: Deloitte As One Service Offering

The new *Deloitte As One service offering and diagnostic are centered on the premise that successful collective behavior requires individuals to see themselves as one group (in other words, have a "high Shared Identity"), to commit to a common purpose or set of goals (have a "high Directional Intensity"), and to have a similar understanding of how they work together (have a "high Common Interpretation").

By analyzing and increasing understanding of WHO they want to work together, WHAT they want to achieve, and HOW their people work together effectively, As One enables leaders to act with accuracy to create the conditions for success in their environment and organizations.

Deloitte's As One diagnostic measures these three factors at all levels of a large organization, thus helping leadership make targeted interventions that enhance a group's performance.

The diagnostic is an innovative first for the consulting industry as it allows the use of advanced information graphics in an interactive live web-based interface to analyze its own organizations' leadership data. Automated front- and back-end analytics allow for a shorter, more cost-effective diagnostic process with very short turnaround times to access results. The leading-edge interactive interface provides a granular view of results to enable development of targeted and efficient interventions aimed at the parts of an organization that need them the most.

In Depth: As One Collective Leadership Initiative

The Deloitte Center for Collective Leadership, launched in January by DTTL, will advance the study of the As One Collective Leadership discipline and As One behavior. Through research, data collection, and analysis, this center (www.asone.org) will help define and increase knowledge in the exciting and dynamic field of collective leadership.

For more information or to join the global As One community and contribute to the growing library of As One stories, please visit www.asone.org, which also includes links to case studies, the online As One "classifier tool," iPhone apps, and more.

*As used in this press release, Deloitte means Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited member firms.

About Deloitte

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms.

Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and deep local expertise to help clients succeed wherever they operate. Deloitte's approximately 170,000 professionals are committed to becoming the standard of excellence.

SOURCE Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited