New Book: “The Silence Tax” — Now Available (In Progress) on Leanpub

I'm happy to announce that the first seven chapters of my new book are now available through Leanpub.com.

The book is called The Silence Tax: How Lean Leaders Drive Out Fear and Futility. It was originally called “Psychological Safety for Lean Leaders.” But the book is more than that… hence the title change.

If you've read my Shingo Award-winning book The Mistakes That Make Us, you might be wondering why I'm writing another book about psychological safety. Fair question. The Mistakes That Make Us makes the case through stories — it's the book you hand someone to change their mind. This new book is the companion — the one you hand someone to change their behavior. It's shorter, more prescriptive, and organized around what leaders actually do differently starting this week.

What's in the Book

The book is built around a simple observation: organizations invest heavily in problem-solving training — A3 thinking, root cause analysis, PDSA cycles — and then wonder why problems aren't surfacing. Those tools depend on people raising concerns. People may stay quiet because speaking up feels risky, because they don't expect anything to happen, or both. The book examines what leaders can do to make speaking up safer and more useful.

Chapters 1-3 examine why tools depend on candor, what psychological safety is and isn't, and how fear and futility keep people quiet. Chapters 4-7 form the practical core: “Model the Behavior First,” “Encourage Others to Speak,” “Enable People to Improve,” and “Reward by Responding.” Chapter 8, “Measure Without Fooling Yourself,” examines what the evidence can and can't tell you. Chapter 9, “Start This Week,” helps you test a change in a meeting you already lead or support. The epilogue, “What Outlasts You,” considers how these practices survive a change in leadership. The appendix, “Choosing One Behavior,” helps you decide what to practice next.

I drew on material from hundreds of podcast conversations on Lean Blog Interviews and My Favorite Mistake, along with my consulting and speaking experience in manufacturing and healthcare. Some of the people whose stories appear in the book include Mike Hoseus, Keith Ingels, Isao Yoshino, Bill O'Rourke, and Paul O'Neill. There's also a fair amount of material from my own career, including my time at GM and years of working with hospitals.

Want to read a preview? Visit The Silence Tax on Leanpub to download the free sample.

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Why Leanpub (Again)

I've used Leanpub for several previous books, including Practicing Lean and Measures of Success. For those who aren't familiar, Leanpub allows authors to publish books while they're still in progress. You buy the early version, you get every update for free as the book develops. It's iterative — which, if you think about it, is a pretty Lean way to publish a book.

The feedback I got from early Leanpub readers on Measures of Success made that book measurably better. I expect the same here. If something isn't clear, if an example doesn't land, if a chapter feels like it's missing something — I want to hear about it before the final version goes to print. That's the whole point.

The first seven chapters are available now. Later chapters will be added as they're completed, and all buyers will receive those updates automatically.

What's Next

A Kindle version and paperback will follow once the manuscript is complete. The paperback will be available through Amazon and other retailers, similar to how I've published my other books.

If you're interested, you can check out the book on Leanpub, where you can also download a free sample.