The Behavior Breakthrough

About the Author

Steve Jacobs, Chairman and Senior Partner of The Continuous Learning Group (CLG) consultancy, has spent decades advising senior executives on achieving new performance, culture change, and lasting competitive advantage. His counsel is sought by Fortune 100 corporate leaders, and he speaks frequently at corporate and conference events. With his colleagues, Jacobs has distilled their extensive research and practical experience into a compelling narrative in The Behavior Breakthrough, revealing the power of behavioral leadership in transforming organizations.

Main Idea

The core premise of The Behavior Breakthrough is that new results require new behaviors. Jacobs and his colleagues present a quiet revolution in the business world: Behavioral Leadership®, rooted in Applied Behavioral Science. This approach focuses on crafting desirable shifts in everyday habits, behaviors, and routines. By targeting high-impact behaviors and fostering them consistently, organizations can achieve significant and sustainable competitive advantages.

Table of Contents

• The Quiet Revolution
• Your Return on Revolution
• Drivers of Sustainable High Performance
• Putting Behavioral Leadership into Practice
• Game-Changing Plan Deployment
• Coaching for Elite Performance
• Changing the Way Organizations Change
• Winning on Culture
• Developing Behavioral Leaders
• Building Enterprise Advantage

The Quiet Revolution

In the opening chapter, Jacobs introduces the concept of Behavioral Leadership®, emphasizing its potential as a neglected game-changer in business. Behavioral leadership is about crafting shifts in everyday behaviors to achieve new results. Despite its simplicity, this approach is often overlooked because many executives dismiss behavior and leadership skills as "soft stuff." However, the science of Applied Behavioral Science, which underpins behavioral leadership, provides a robust framework for understanding and implementing these changes.

“New results require new behavior.” - Steve Jacobs

This quiet revolution is transforming organizations by focusing on high-impact behaviors that drive strategic results. Jacobs highlights the importance of identifying these behaviors and fostering them consistently to achieve superior performance.

Your Return on Revolution

Jacobs discusses the significant return on investment (ROI) that organizations can achieve through behavioral leadership. He outlines four methods to estimate potential ROI:

1. Cost of Leadership Neglect: The opportunity cost of not developing behavioral leadership skills systematically.
2. Cost of Partial Adoption: The cost of rolling out initiatives without clear metrics for behavior adoption.
3. Value of Sustainability: The greatest return comes from sustaining behavior change over time.
4. Value of Capability Extensions: Extending behavioral leadership capabilities beyond initial execution to improve overall performance.

Jacobs emphasizes the additional strategic and emotional benefits of behavioral leadership, including improved work culture, accelerated change execution, and enhanced personal fulfillment for employees.

Drivers of Sustainable High Performance

To achieve lasting behavior change, leaders must understand the foundations of sustainable high performance. Jacobs presents the DCOM® Model, which includes four cornerstones: