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In Know What You Don’t Know , best-selling author Michael Roberto shows leaders how to go beyond mere “problem solving” to uncover and address emerging problems while they’re still manageable–before they mushroom into disaster! Roberto first identifies the diverse, sometimes surprising reasons why problems typically fester in the shadows, ignored and unaddressed. Next, he systematically introduces seven powerful solutions. You’ll discover how to become a business “anthropologist,” observing how your employees, customers, and suppliers actually behave, not just how they’re “supposed” to behave. Roberto shows how and when to circumvent your gatekeepers to see crucial raw data...how to “connect the dots” among issues that seem unrelated, but are really signs of a deeper pattern...how to promote candor among front-line employees...encourage “useful” mistakes, and more. Along the way, Roberto offers powerful insights for overcoming the “isolation trap” so many senior executives face: the trap that can keep you assuming everything is fine, while your company’s problems are spiraling out of control!

• Watch your company’s “game film”–and your competitors’
Systematically understand how your company is really behaving and performing–and how you really match up

• Recognize the value of “small failures”
Use small problems as a window on your system–and a signal of possible weaknesses elsewhere

• Get beyond the numbers, to the reality
Discover why too much formal analysis can actually hide your problems–and start leveraging the value of intuition

• Become a true business “ethnographer”
Observe your people in their natural setting–and recognize what they’re not telling you