Our book
Whenever we were faced with a practical question on how we could accomplish something quickly, we wanted to pull a book off the shelf and find inspiration on where to start. This is the book we wish we’d had.
The Intentional Organization isn’t just another leadership book—it’s a comprehensive guide for building sustainable, human-centered companies. —Spencer NormanEngineering and product leader
Summary
For executives, founders, leaders and managers across companies of all sizes and stages.
This book will help you reflect on what you’re doing right now and how that impacts your people and their work. It also maps out ways to improve with practical advice on how to create a satisfying work experience where people can thrive, be themselves, feel supported and grow.
More about our book
We hope to grow a generation of confident leaders who take an intentional approach to management and leadership.
The Intentional Organization a comprehensive manual for conducting meetings, building strategy, providing clear direction and feedback, finding your role as a leader, setting goals, and learning how to communicate effectively. You’ll gain insight on how to implement systems that get the job done across your organization, not just once, but in a repeatable way that helps reduce time waste and increases everyone’s focus, efficiency, and dare we say, happiness.
Table of contents
Each chapter contains our own personal stories and experiences, and each includes reflection questions that we suggest you contemplate. They’ll offer you ideas to reflect on, assess, and put into practice.
One
What Is an Intentional Organization?
The guiding principles of an intentional organization and how to implement them in any company, at any stage.
Two
Intentional Leadership
The essential ingredient to success is trust. We detail why trust should be your number one priority, and the key elements in building and fostering trust in your work environment.
Three
Making Better Decisions
What constitutes a good decision, who makes them, how to make them better and why documenting your decision-making process is a critical element in creating a reliable structure for your company.
Four
A Culture of Feedback
What is meaningful feedback, what blocks you from getting it, how to ask for and receive it, how to give it with respect, and tested formulas for both the giver and receiver to set you up for success.
Five
Delegating Effectively
Delegation is a skill that can be learned. We identify common delegation styles and how they can impact your team, and we outline a powerful framework you can use to guide you through the process.
Six
The Meaning of Accountability
An exploration of how to increase your team’s success using the three steps to accountability that provide endless opportunities for learning and improving, whether it be with individuals or the organization as a whole.
Seven
Deliberate Collaboration
We take a look at misalignments that can occur in businesses, how to find and identify them, and how to implement a step-by-step approach to solve them.
Eight
Intentional Communication
Communication is a sort of cultural fabric that weaves everything together. Although there are no formulas on how to best communicate, most people follow similar patterns, and we analyze those patterns to help you course-correct for common pitfalls.
Nine
Meetings, Meetings, Meetings
How to schedule them, how to make them more productive and worthwhile, how to minimize them if necessary, and how to get the most out of video meetings and one-on-ones.
Ten
Time Away From Work
An exploration of the benefits of not working, of unplugging completely, of leaders setting the example for their teams, of balancing deadlines and vacations, and of dealing with holidays in a global business.
Eleven
Focus
We talk about our unhealthy relationship with busyness, ways to carve out time for yourself, how to best allocate your time, how to narrow in on what’s actually worthy of your focus time and how to be strategic in going about it.
Plus
Reading List, Further Resources, About the Authors, etc.
We’ve included a list of all of the books mentioned in the book, along with some of our favorite books that have inspired and provoked us as leaders (and even as chefs!), and we mention additional resources that we have available to help managers, leaders, and executives.
Who is this book for?
Our goal is to increase the number of organizations where people are treated as humans, one leader at a time.
We wrote this book for executives, founders, and executive leadership teams in the hope that they will have the starting point we didn’t have. This is the book you can use to solve the most common organizational problems in simple and practical ways. Some of what’s in this book will also prove useful to line managers or middle managers across companies of all sizes and stages. Whether you are a middle manager or an executive, we hope that you can find inspiration on how to lead your teams more effectively and humanely.
Praise for our book
It’s so easy for senior leaders in dynamic organizations to fall into firefighter mode, always reacting to the crisis of the moment. The Intentional Organization is a powerful guide for breaking out of this cycle and leveling up by leading with clarity, purpose, and humanity. This isn’t another book on management theory; it’s a practical, down-to-earth handbook grounded in the real-world experience of the authors and the leaders they’ve coached. Covering essential topics like strategy, communication, trust, and change management, Sara and Mathias describe sensible best practices in plain language for how to approach the most difficult aspects of stewarding a healthy organization. Throughout the book, I found myself nodding along to their insights—recognizing hard-won truths from my own missteps and revelations as a leader, wishing I’d had this book much earlier in my career, and feeling inspired to implement their advice going forward. This is the guide every leader who wants to be more intentional should read—and return to repeatedly. —Gina Trapani former CEO and startup founder
Sara and Mathias distill years of experience into a thoughtful, deeply human framework for leadership. The Intentional Organization provides a thorough guide for anyone looking to create a workplace that fosters trust, clarity, and real collaboration. —Camille Fournier author of The Manager’s Path
This is the book that you will pull off your shelf again and again. Sara and Mathias interweave actionable tactics, philosophy, and storytelling in ways that will be immediately useful to you in your leadership role. If you’re looking to evolve your company with repeatable, human-centered processes that lead to success, this book is for you. —Lara Hogan VP of engineering and author of Resilient Management
I adore this book. The Intentional Organization offers a compelling vision for a more humane and fulfilling workplace. Drawing on their extensive experience, Sara and Mathias guide leaders to cultivate clarity, inclusivity, and a culture of continuous learning. This book challenges leaders to confront difficult questions and encourages them to embrace their role in fostering a positive and supportive work environment. Through its insightful reflections and practical advice, The Intentional Organization provides a valuable roadmap for leaders seeking to create lasting change. —Andy Skipper founder and chief coach at CTO Craft
