The digital revolution changed everything. Everything, except management.

Managers of the digital age need operating models that are collaborative, ethical, and effective. Models that reveal opportunities for managers to deploy Agile and Lean methods, as well as complex situations where leadership means carefully creating the conditions for success. In other words, models that support managers’ transition from providing all the answers, to leaders who help clarify objectives and discover how to achieve them.

In this short book, I introduce The Chalice as an upgrade on the pyramid metaphor. The chalice represents an operating model that both puts customers on top and engages with the beliefs and diversity of the staff who create value for an entire ecosystem.
Unique features of the chalice include:

• Connecting prioritization and customer value delivery processes using feedback mechanisms as controls.
• Structuring prioritization as a process, whose performance must be measured and improved.
• Achieving predictable and agile delivery to customers by selecting only appropriate agile, or plan-driven, controls.
• Revealing the tension sources that create conflicting priorities and confusion if not addressed directly.
• Creating a pluralistic ecosystem that relies on collaboration and diversity to develop shared understanding and profit from innovation.

I provide just enough information in this book to share the big picture. I trust that more adventurous amongst you will try some of the ideas it generates in your imagination. Subsequent books will explore the sections of the chalice in more detail, building on this foundation.