The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results

With a foreword by Reid Hoffman



"This is a handbook for disruptors." - Eric Schmidt



New York Times bestselling author Andrew McAfee's The Geek Way tackles a fundamental question: why do some organizations perform so well in uncertain, fast-changing environments? In this groundbreaking book, McAfee "makes a fascinating case" (Adam Grant) for a revolution hiding in plain sight, explains the science behind its success, and shows how the geek way can be used by anyone to stay well ahead of the competition.



McAfee, the coauthor of The Second Machine Age, has had a ringside seat for the biggest business battles of the 21st century. They haven't been fair fights. In industry after industry incumbents have been knocked down and a new crop of leaders -- the business geeks -- have appeared. 



What's their secret? McAfee's answer is that they've created a new culture: more freewheeling, fast-moving, autonomous, argumentative, evidence-based, and egalitarian than those that dominated the industrial era. This culture is based on four great geek norms: science, ownership, speed, and openness.



Counterintuitive and paradigm-shifting, The Geek Way does more than just describe these norms and show them in action. It also reveals why they work so well. McAfee explains how they tap into humanity's superpower, which is our ability to cooperate intensely and learn rapidly. By providing insights from the young discipline of cultural evolution, McAfee shows that when we come together under the right conditions -- when we follow the geek way -- culture evolves quickly and an organization excels at innovation, agility, and execution simultaneously. Under the wrong conditions, meanwhile, things grind to a halt and we get bureaucracy, chronic delays, cultures of silence, and other classic dysfunctions of the industrial era.



The Geek Way is a book like no other. It will change and ground your thinking around building healthy, high-performing organizations, empower yourself with the proper thinking and tools that will fuel innovation and allow you to seize opportunities.