Off-Centered Leadership: The Dogfish Head Guide to Motivation, Collaboration and Smart Growth Hardcover - 2016

From the rear cover

Off-centered Leadership reveals an innovative approach to leadership and shows what can happen when companies stop competing and start collaborating both in the marketplace and within their organizations. Drawing on unconventional entrepreneurship and leadership lessons, this remarkable resource is filled with game-changing advice and illustrative examples from someone who has been there. By developing an organization built on communication, trust, and alignment, Sam Calagione--a brash, punk-rock loving, English major--transformed his pint-sized, tiny 12-gallon brewpub into Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, one of the nation's fastest growing independent breweries.

Written in his highly entertaining style, Calagione shows how direct competitors and small, indie businesses can work together to reach a common goal. Calagione rejected the traditional marketing approach and developed an inventive business model that called on musicians, community organizations, and even other breweries to keep Dogfish Head's product development fresh and create engaging customer experiences.

Off-centered Leadership delves into the struggles Sam Calagione and his team dealt with when his company matured from an awkward, early start-up to a sustainable company with hundreds of coworkers. As is typical of most entrepreneurs, in the beginning Calagione oversaw almost every detail of his business. As his company expanded he was able to give up his micromanagement approach and call on others to inspire his company's growth. In candid terms, Calagione explains how he handled the changing leadership--from being the sole creative, strategic director to being one of many people to influence the nature of the company.

Today, Dogfish Head is a thriving company with a diverse leadership team and a robust, holistic approach--all while maintaining the company's innovation and signature off-centered culture. Drawing on the book's myriad examples and hard-won lessons, any business can learn the fundamentals of inter-company collaboration. It begins with making sure everyone is speaking the same language and working from the same foundation. At many companies, that foundation eventually gets translated into statements and documents that are the playbook for the company. Off-centered Leadership is about sharing, updating, prioritizing, and realizing the philosophies embodied in a company's DNA.

Tap into Dogfish Head's "collaboration over competition" approach to foster positivity, productivity, and ongoing success. Sam Calagione's new book, Off-centered Leadership gives any leader the practical information that will go a long way to increase innovation, company growth, and customer engagement.