Redefining F.E.A.R.: Maximizing Limited Resources with Unlimited Ideas

by Karen Evenson

Maximize Limited Resources with Unlimited Ideas Tired of wasted time, money, and effort? Whether you're managing a team of three or leading a business of three thousand, problems with low morale,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 097441493X
• ISBN13: 9780974414935
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: Cameo Publications
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Still talking about it...

Our entire workforce read this book and went through the presentation of the book provided by Karen Evenson. Karen is able to touch her audience in a simple, fun way and still provide proven tools that allow creativity in problem solving. Even if you have provided many teambuilding and problem solving efforts in the past, you need to look into this book. We have over 50 employees that read the book and took the class and they are still talking about it. Great read.

A tale of "Kaos" calmed

Karen Evenson takes the word "fear" and redefines it as "F.E.A.R." - an acronym that stands for four essential leadership practices: Focus on and facilitate a culture that is open to change and emphasizes creative thinking; Empower and encourage your people to take initiative in collaborative problem solving; Assess and act on the ideas; Recognize and reward your people. Evenson takes us into the mythical Kingdom of Kaos, where a smart wizard advises the king on how to transform a poor business environment resulting from bad decision making and ineffective communication. The easy-to-swallow format of the book should not distract the reader from its solid theoretical foundations in decision making and creativity methods. From the outset, Evenson makes it clear that the thoughts in this tale are simplified fictional presentations of ideas formulated by others. First among those sources is Michael Kirton, from whom Evenson learned the ways of the KAI cognitive profile, "the three levels of opportunity", "Problems A and B", and others. She adds to the brew a range of methods for decision making, creative thinking, and communication from several sources (several of which we have reviewed and have linked to this review). Evenson's method of presentation differs from that of Patrick Lencioni, whose tales come to a close before the non-fictional explanation begins. She sprinkles the story of the kingdom of Kaos throughout with "thoughts and explanations" boxes, and "Quantum Leap" exercises for the reader. The disarming simplicity of Redefining F.E.A.R. puts a sugar coating on a considerable collection of well-tried methodologies. As the wizard gradually brings wisdom to the king, we encounter the Five-Step Collaborative Problem-Solving Process, an introduction to visioning, tips on making effective use of diversity in cognition and personality, the multiple-lens technique, ways to identify unwritten rules, and several idea generation methods. If you are running up against low morale, decreased productivity, ineffective communication, wasted time, and uncreative thinking, you may find the 140-page Redefining F.E.A.R. to be an easy yet effective way to help you change direction.