Coming soon · Book Profile
High Output Management
A practicing CEO teaches managers that their true output is the output of their team, and shows how applying production principles, leverage, and motivation systematically raises that output.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
In High Output Management, Intel co-founder and CEO Andrew Grove distills two decades of hands-on managerial experience into a rigorous, practical system for getting high output from teams. Built on three ideas—that any work can be approached with the discipline of manufacturing, that a manager's output equals the combined output of the organizations he supervises and influences, and that peak individual performance can be elicited as in competitive sports—the book equips middle managers (and 'know-how' managers without direct reports) to choose high-leverage activities, run productive meetings, make good decisions, plan, organize hybrid teams, conduct performance reviews, and train. Concrete, example-driven, and unsentimental, it remains a foundational manual for anyone responsible for the productivity of others.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A middle manager (traditional supervisor or know-how specialist) who wants to be highly effective and increase the output and productivity of their team.
- The problem
- Their day is fragmented by limitless tasks, interruptions, and meetings, with no clear way to measure or raise their team's output. They feel overwhelmed, uncertain whether what they do matters, and unsure they are adding real value.
- The plan
- Treat all work—including administrative and managerial—with production discipline: find the limiting step, use time offsets, and inspect at the lowest-value stage.
- Define your output as your team's output and concentrate your time on high-leverage activities.
- Run regular one-on-ones, staff meetings, and operation reviews; minimize ad hoc mission-oriented meetings.
- Make decisions through free discussion, a clear decision, and full support, structured by the six questions.
- Plan to close tomorrow's gap and cascade objectives via MBO.
- The payoff
- You consistently choose high-leverage activities and your team's output and productivity rise. · Your meetings, decisions, and reviews are efficient and improve performance. · Your people are motivated, well-trained, and increasingly self-actualized.
See our guide
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Additional reading
- Diseases of Workers · Bernardo Ramazzini
Cited as the foundational text of occupational medicine, written in the early 1700s, which describes many occupationally related diseases observed in farm patients that are still recognized today.
- The Triple Bottom Line · Andrew Savitz
Introduces the concept of sustainability resting on three pillars: profit, planet, and people. The book uses this to argue that the 'people' component (human capital/worker health) is often dangerously neglected in agriculture.
- The Omnivore's Dilemma · Michael Pollan
Referenced as an example of popular literature that reflects and advocates for the rising consumer voice and public scrutiny concerning sustainable food systems, which is a major trend impacting modern agriculture.
- Silent Spring · Rachel Carson
Cited as the landmark 1962 book that launched the modern environmental movement and fundamentally shifted public and governmental attention toward the potential harms of pesticides, shaping decades of regulation and risk perception.
- Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies · Charles Perrow
The book's theory of 'system accidents' and 'tight coupling' is used by Gonzales to explain how cascading failures, like the Mount Hood climbing disaster, are inevitable features of certain complex systems.
- The Emotional Brain & The Synaptic Self · Joseph LeDoux
LeDoux's neuroscience research on the amygdala's role in fear and memory forms the scientific backbone of Gonzales's argument about how emotion can hijack reason in a crisis.
- The Survivor Personality · Al Siebert
Gonzales cites Siebert's psychological research on the traits of survivors, such as their use of playfulness and humor to stay in contact with reality and manage threats.
- Touching the Void · Joe Simpson
This book provides one of the primary and most detailed case studies Gonzales analyzes to illustrate the psychology of a survivor, including managing pain, using patterns, and the will to live.
- Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea · Steven Callahan
Callahan's story serves as a textbook example of the ideal survivor mindset in action, demonstrating nearly all of the '12 Rules' Gonzales outlines, such as maintaining routine, finding beauty, and surrendering without giving up.
- All Quiet on the Western Front · Erich Maria Remarque
Gonzales quotes Remarque's novel to illustrate the development of instinctual, life-saving secondary emotions in soldiers, a key concept in how experience rewires the brain for survival.