Realizing the myriad benefits that come with organizational clarity requires that leaders be 100 percent clear on the most important, foundational question: what is their organization’s purpose? Organizations that take the time to ensure team members have a strong connection to purpose, create enthusiastic brand ambassadors who are deeply committed to helping the organization succeed.

This week, we’re honored to launch a book by award-winning author Karen Martin that provides methods and insights for achieving clarity to unleash potential, innovate at higher levels, and solve the problems that matter to deliver outstanding business results.

Clarity First

Lack of clarity collectively costs companies, educational institutions, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations billions of dollars per year. Ambiguity is the corporate default state, a condition so prevalent that “tolerance for ambiguity” has become a clichéd job requirement. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Clarity First provides methods and insights for achieving clarity to unleash potential, innovate at higher levels, and solve the problems that matter to deliver outstanding business results. Both a visionary road map and practical guide, this book will help leaders:

  • Identify and communicate the organization’s true purpose
  • Set achievable priorities
  • Deliver greater customer value through more efficient processes
  • Provide greater transparency about true versus assumed performance
  • Build strong problem-solving and critical thinking capabilities throughout the organization
  • Develop personal clarity to be a more direct, purposeful, and successful leader.

Drawing on the author’s work with thousands of leaders, this book identifies 5 specific areas of focus that dramatically improve organizational performance — purpose, priorities, process, performance, and problem-solving. It enables leaders to eliminate ambiguity, the first step for achieving strategic goals, and gain the clarity needed to make better decisions, lead more effectively, and boost organizational performance.

In today’s rapidly changing business environments clarity has never been more important and yet more overlooked.  Business conditions may be volatile, uncertain, and complex, but leaders can confront those realities more effectively when their strategy is focused on Clarity First.

Meet the Author

Karen Martin, president of the global consulting firm TKMG, Inc., is a leading authority on business performance and lean management. Known for her keen diagnostic skills and rapid-results approach, Karen and her team have worked with dozens of international clients to develop more efficient work systems, grow market share, solve business problems, and accelerate performance. A skilled change agent, Karen builds energy within work teams by helping them focus an organization’s key performance goals—faster delivery of higher quality products and services at lower cost—while simultaneously building organization-wide problem-solving capabilities and boosting employee engagement.

As a thought leader and skilled teacher, Karen has shaped how leaders and improvement professionals approach business performance in over 45 countries. She informs her audiences with insights on how best to improve organizational performance and inspires them to create work environments that enable the entire workforce to excel. Audiences leave Karen’s sessions armed with practical how-to’s and motivated to carry out the urgent missions that Karen lays forth.

Karen’s broad understanding of work system design and business management stems from her experience building and managing operations for several rapid-growth organizations that each grew into multi-billion-dollar companies. She developed a keen understanding of customer value while serving in sales and marketing roles, and has extensive experience mitigating legal and compliance constraints. While she has worked with clients in nearly every sector, her healthcare-rich background includes clinical, administrative, and regulatory work in hospitals, post-acute care settings, payer services, medical research, clinical laboratories, physician practices, integrative medicine and behavioral healthcare.

Praise from Readers Like You

“Karen Martin has written a wonderful “tough love” guide for leaders to systematically clear away chaos and confusion and bring their organizations to operational excellence. She bravely discusses the feelings involved in this kind of work. The feeling that prevents people from seeking clarity – fear – and the feelings that grab your heart – excitement and pride in serving others. She’s even got a great addendum on how to meditate. Such a refreshing voice in a field that often lacks passion.”
— E. Swan, 5-star Amazon review

“The book is filled with a good mix of practical examples as well as as well as concepts that can be easily implemented. I liked that the examples come from in and out of business. You will find that the book is a powerful book that offers extensive insight into how you can change your own processes. The other thing that is important with this is that the ideas presented are ones that can be used in many different industries, which makes this very versatile.
— Dad of Divas, 5-star Amazon review

“The author of this book gave some great ideas and examples, which made it very understandable and clear. It’s a well-researched and principled look at how to make the message clear and concise.”
— Jane Rosenthal, 5-star Amazon review

Learn More

  • Visit the website to learn more and download a free chapter.
  • Buy a copy of the book, or leave a short review of it, on Amazon.
  • Take the free quiz to discover how you (or your organization) rate.