Business · Book club
The Clarity Principle book club questions
Here are 11 book club questions for The Clarity Principle by Chatham Sullivan, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
The Clarity Principle argues that the most important task of leadership is not strategy, culture, or execution — it's achieving clarity about what your organization actually is and what it is trying to do.
Chatham Sullivan · 2013 · 3h 45m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 11 questions
- 1.
Sullivan argues that most organizational problems are clarity problems. What is the central unresolved question in your organization right now?
- 2.
Think of a decision your leadership team has avoided making. What competing identities or interests are being protected by that avoidance?
- 3.
How has ambiguity about purpose or priorities affected your own work in the past year? What did it cost in time, energy, or morale?
- 4.
Sullivan says clarity requires disappointing someone. Who in your organization would be disappointed by the clarity decision that is most needed?
- 5.
What is the difference between genuine strategic uncertainty and the kind of ambiguity Sullivan is criticizing? How do you tell them apart in practice?
- 6.
Have you ever worked in an organization that had genuine clarity about what it was? What was different about working there compared to places with more ambiguity?
- 7.
Sullivan notes that frontline employees often see the clarity problem before leadership does. How does information about organizational ambiguity travel — or fail to travel — upward in your setting?
- 8.
The book distinguishes clarity from certainty. Can you think of an organization that was very clear about its identity even when its future was genuinely uncertain?
- 9.
What role does the board, investors, or external stakeholders play in reinforcing or preventing clarity in your organization?
- 10.
If someone outside your organization asked 'what is your company actually for?' how would you answer? How would your CEO answer? Would the answers match?
- 11.
Leaders trained to keep options open and constituencies aligned find clarity uncomfortable. Do you recognize that pattern in yourself or your leadership team?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for The Clarity Principle?
Here are 11 book club questions for The Clarity Principle by Chatham Sullivan, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on leadership, organizational strategy, purpose.
How long should a book club discussion of The Clarity Principle last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in The Clarity Principle?
Leadership, Organizational strategy, Purpose, Decision-making, Culture change. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like The Clarity Principle or questions for other book club picks.
