You shouldn’t lose your team’s best work to distraction and burnout.
With Pause, you won’t.
Pause reveals 12 proven leadership practices to deliberately tap the breaks so your team can move faster and bigger on top priorities.
From original research on leaders at 150 top companies from Amazon to Google to LinkedIn, you’ll learn how to triple your team’s energy spent on the biggest projects—regardless of the chaos that surrounds them.
What the Experts are Saying
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“Shawn Vanderhoven names something every overwhelmed professional feels but often can't articulate: the invisible wake of digital detritus that managers mindlessly create for their teams. PAUSE is a sharp, research-backed argument for why the best leaders tap the brakes—and a clear guide for how to do it without losing momentum. Read it before your next meeting, and then cancel half the meetings on your calendar.”
Daniel H. Pink
#1 New York Times bestselling author of DRIVE, WHEN, and THE POWER OF REGRET
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“You can’t get your team’s attention if you yourself are driven to distraction. Vanderhoven gives you the tools you need to focus on the things that matter. Essential!”
Kim Scott
New York Times Bestselling Author of RADICAL CANDOR: BE A KICK-ASS BOSS WITHOUT LOSING YOUR HUMANITY -
"I've spent years writing about the power of questions. But for good questions to make a difference, there needs to be space to hear them. This book helps you create space and time to have more impact."
Michael Bungay Stanier
International Bestselling Author of THE COACHING HABIT: SAY LESS, ASK MORE & CHANGE THE WAY YOU LEAD FOREVER -
“This book isn’t just a theory. Shawn did the work to find out what leaders are doing to lead great work instead of driving teams to burnout.”
Liz Wiseman
New York Times Bestselling Author of MULTIPLIERS: HOW THE BEST LEADERS MAKE EVERYONE SMARTER
A field guide for leaders drowning in distractions but on the hook for results.
You’re leading in an environment that eats focus for breakfast. Constant collaboration. A boss addicted to speed. You’re watching your team’s talent and time slip between the cracks. You want high-quality work on the most important projects, but the gravitational pull of busyness makes it nearly impossible.
So you turn to productivity books for answers. But individual productivity hacks don’t survive the first meeting on Monday. You look to leadership books, but organizational overhauls are too big for most managers to implement. You’re stuck in the middle, and it's maddening.
The answer is Pause. It puts the solution at your fingertips. You’ll learn how to slow things down to increase your team’s speed. Brilliant work requires concentration on a few priorities. Concentration requires a leader with the rare ability to slow down and clarify what matters. It’s the ultimate competitive advantage for leading in a hyperconnected, workshop-driven world.
Whether you're a knowledge worker, a middle manager, or a senior executive, Pause gives you the strategies to produce extraordinary results while others drown in busyness with little to show for it.
What You’ll Learn - The 12 Pauses
1. PICK THE PRIORITY TARGET - Generate momentum by turning fuzzy goals into crystal-clear targets
2. TURN OUT YOUR POCKETS - Restore deep work by exposing the hidden workload
3. INVITE DISSENT - Leverage your team brain power to make tough trade-offs
4. BE YOUR TEAM’S AGENT - Match your teams talent to tasks that will get you promoted (and them)
5. ESCAPE EMAIL HELL - Identify and replace crazy distracting messaging habits
6. ESTABLISH HOUSE RULES - Design team norms that give focus a fighting chance
7. SPONSOR MONK MODE - Go beyond permission, build an environment where the impossible becomes probable
8. TUNE IN BEFORE YOU JUMP IN - Convert drive-by-delegations into bandwidth-protecting-partnerships
9. CLEAR YOUR DESK - Recognize when your team needs your ear and you’ll double their focus
10. COACH THROUGH FAILURE - Replace rumination with confidence by mastering the art of smart recovery
11. PUT GROWTH ON THE AGENDA - Invest a few minutes exploring someones career growth, get hours of concentration in return
12. HOLD A CLEARING - Make it easy to for people to say what’s stealing their attention so they can get their head back in the game
Download a Free Chapter
About the Authors
Shawn Vanderhoven leads the executive development practice for senior leaders and rising talent at The Wiseman Group. He is a collaborator on the New York Times bestseller Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter (Second Edition).
As a Partner at The Wiseman Group, Shawn co-designs executive development strategies that help leaders and managers amplify their organization’s most valuable asset—its people. He has partnered with leading brands around the globe, including Amazon, Alphabet, Adobe, Capital One, Deloitte, McKinsey, and Salesforce.
He lives in Menlo Park, California, with his wife Anne, and researches how top leaders and teams sustain focus on what matters most—regardless of the circumstances.
Anne Vanderhoven is a writer, marketing strategist and founder of the consulting firm UP.
She has a penchant for medieval and Renaissance history, especially the Black Death (hello, perspective). Fortunately, she balances it with a steady diet of comedians, so her family still invites her to dinner.
Pre-Order Your Copy - International
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Amazon - Blackwells - Foyles - Waterstones - Penguin Books UK
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Amazon - Booktopia - Readings Abbey’s - Fishpond - Robinsons - The Nile - Penguin Books Australia - Find Local Retailers
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Amazon - Hugendubel - Buchhandlung Schüttert
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