This book presents an intriguing paradox: that giving up control can enhance the effectiveness of business leaders.

Authors Jessica Kriegel and Joe Terry, one an HR go-getter and recovering alcoholic, the other a former NFL player and serial CEO, challenge what they term “the action trap”: conventional command and control management that assumes that more hard policies and procedures, longer hours, or micromanagement will generate results.

These authors, instead, present the “Results Equation”: “Purpose + Strategy + Culture = Results.” In their framework, a leader’s role is to create experiences for employees that alter their beliefs, leading them to take the actions that drive business results. Both leaders and larger teams are advised to change from a control to a surrendered mindset through creating a “SHIFT,” an acronym for: Stop fighting reality; Have faith; Identify what’s yours (own your place within any situation); Free yourself from fear; Take the next right action.

The authors discuss how to create clarity around the organizational mission, vision, and goals, how to achieve strategic alignment, and how to hold oneself and others accountable in this environment. They also provide the means to implement cultural transformation, including tools for focused recognition, storytelling, and feedback.

The book succeeds in engaging readers to challenge their assumptions about leadership. However, there is much repetition. For example, the chapter “The Surrendered Leader” largely repeats the ideas of previous chapters. This also seems like two books: one about the qualities of the surrendered leader, and another, a more basic business book. Although the anecdotes scattered throughout, many about the authors or their clients, are lively, they are too numerous. Reading story after story after story (even in the conclusion where the authors summarize their findings) becomes stultifying rather than clarifying.

Nonetheless, Surrender to Lead, while not revolutionary, contributes meaningfully to the management literature by articulating why letting go of control can improve corporate culture, increase adaptability, and lead to measurable business results.