Have you ever considered that your biggest complaint about running a company might actually be your greatest asset?

In TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments (Jossey-Bass; hardcover; May 2011), co-authors Douglas Conant and Mette Norgaard turn conventional business wisdom on its head. They assert that the daily interruptions leaders face are actually the moments that hold the greatest opportunity for effective leadership.

TouchPoints reveals the theory that helped Conant turn around the Campbell Soup Company and lead Nabisco Foods Company during five years of consecutive growth. Conant and Norgaard argue that the secret to leadership mastery is to use interruptions and other incidental interactions as a method to promote the company’s values, purpose and agenda. The result? Higher employee engagement, improved growth and revenue, and better customer relationships.