Bob Frisch Explained

Bob Frisch is an author, speaker, and managing partner of the firm Strategic Offsites Group.^[1] He writes and speaks about decision making in the workplace, and particularly about the dynamics of offsite business meetings. In 2016, his book, Who’s in the Room: How Great Leaders Structure and Manage the Teams Around Them, is held in more than 400 libraries.^[2]

Early life and education

Frisch graduated from Tufts University, and earned a business degree from Yale School of Management.

Career

Frisch began his career at the Boston Consulting Group.^[3] Frisch then joined the Dial Corporation as the head of planning and business development and went on to become division president.

Frisch worked as a corporate strategist for Sears, Roebuck and Co. during a large voluntary restructuring.^[4] He was later in charge of business strategy in the Americas region for the company Gemini Consulting,^[5] At Gemini a job which including developing business plans for various corporations.

Frisch was managing partner of Accenture.^[6] He then created the Strategic Offsites Group. In 2012 he published his best-known book, Who's in the Room.^[7]

Frisch has written a number of publications on the topic of offsite meetings and strategic decision-making,^[8] He has contributed regularly to Bloomberg, BusinessWeek,^[9] and the Wall Street Journal. His ideas about the dynamics of business meetings and decisionmaking in the workplace have been extensively quoted by other business writers.^{[10] [11]}

In 2015, Frisch co-authored the book Simple Sabotage: A Modern Field Manual for Detecting and Rooting Out Everyday Behaviors That Undermine Your Workplace.^[12]

Publications

Articles

• "Offsites That Work," Harvard Business Review, June 2006.
• "When Teams Can’t Decide," Harvard Business Review, November 2008.
• "Who Really Makes the Big Decisions in Your Company?" Harvard Business Review, December 2011.
• "Myths That Undermine Decision Making," BusinessWeek, October 23, 2009.
• "Meetings: How Many People Should Be in the Room," Bloomberg Businessweek, May 14, 2010.
• "Health Summit Failed? Blame Bad Meeting Design," Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2010.
• "Your Management Team as Mission Control," Bloomberg Businessweek, October 1, 2010.
• "Critical Conversations That Reset How Your Organization Manages Initiatives," Balanced Scorecard Report, March–April 2012, 14(2).

Books

• Who’s in the Room: How Great Leaders Structure and Manage the Teams Around Them was published by Jossey-Bass in 2012. In the book, Frisch explains his belief that companies operate better when practical decisions are made with input from by employees with appropriate areas of expertise, and that senior management teams should focus on implementing these decisions by setting priorities, allocating resources, and integrating new initiatives into the company's "workd view".^[13] The book received a positive review at Corporate Governance.net^[14] and also in the Globe and Mail^[15] which named the book as one of the top 10 business books of 2012.^[16]
• Simple Sabotage 2015.^[17] With Robert Galford and Cary Greene.

Notes and References

1. Book: Randall Kiser. Beyond Right and Wrong: The Power of Effective Decision Making for Attorneys and Clients. 7 January 2010. Springer Science & Business Media. 978-3-642-03814-3. 386–.
2. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/778432608 "Who's in the room? : how great leaders structure and manage the teams around them"
3. Book: O'Shea, James. Dangerous company : the consulting powerhouses and the businesses they save and ruin. 1997. Times Business. New York. 0-8129-2634-X. 194–195. 1st. Madigan, Charles.
4. Web site: McRitchie. James. Corporate Boards: Strategy, Not Just Operations Review. Corporate Governance - CorpGov.net. 11 December 2013. 24 January 2013.
5. News: Stewart. Thomas A. A Refreshing Change: Vision Statements That Make Sense. 11 December 2013. Fortune. 30 September 1996.
6. Book: Andrew Sobel. Making Rain: The Secrets of Building Lifelong Client Loyalty. 8 August 2003. John Wiley & Sons. 978-0-471-40616-7. 10–.
7. Book: Chris Ertel. Lisa Kay Solomon. Moments of Impact: How to Design Strategic Conversations That Accelerate Change. 11 February 2014. Simon and Schuster. 978-1-4516-9762-9. 243–.
8. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/how-jellyfish-can-improve-your-meetings/article29629696/ " How jellyfish can improve your meetings"
9. Book: Philip Coltoff. At the Crossroads: Not-for-Profit Leadership Strategies for Executives and Boards. 6 August 2010. John Wiley & Sons. 978-0-470-90667-5. 95–.
10. Book: Joan Giesecke. Beth McNeil. Fundamentals of Library Supervision. 2010. American Library Association. 978-0-8389-1016-0. 57–.
11. Book: Ryan T. Hartwig. Warren Bird. Teams That Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership. 10 April 2015. InterVarsity Press. 978-0-8308-9757-5. 32–.
12. http://fortune.com/2015/09/30/workplace-bureaucracy-simple-sabotage/ "How to make sure nothing gets done at work"
13. Web site: Moskowitz. Robert A.. Book Review: Who's in the Room? How Great Leaders Structure and Manage the Teams Around Them. 11 December 2013.
14. Web site: McRitchie. James. Review: Who's in the Room. Corporate Governance.net. 23 January 2013.
15. Web site: Schachter. Harvey. At the Table - Or Not - With Executive Decision Makers. The Globe and Mail. 11 December 2013.
16. Web site: Schachter. Harvey. Top 10 business books of the year. The Globe and Mail. 11 December 2013. 11 December 2012.
17. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253574 "Something Bothering You? Don't Just Let It Go."