The Titans of Saturn

Leadership and performance lessons from the Cassini-Huygens mission
Bram Groen & Charles Hampden-Turner

This book shows how scientists and science fought against the odds, and triumphed spectacularly.

This story behind the brilliant success of the Cassini-Huygens mission to the planet Saturn and its moon Titan details a monumental achievement that took scientists, engineers and government agencies from eighteen countries over 25 years to accomplish. The book tells it like it was and offers profound meaning not only for those interested in planetary exploration, but in general for all global leaders and professionals in business and government. The authors present this extraordinary feat of cross-cultural teamwork through the lens of paradoxical logic, demonstrating how a group of highly diverse people can excel globally if inspired by a unifying super ordinate goal and by discovering how success can be attained though the unity of diversity (be it disciplinary or cultural). Titans of Saturn is full of paradoxes: we travel to the far end of the solar system to discover new truths about ourselves. By reaching for the stars, cross-disciplinary and global teams can transform themselves and shape their own culture. The authors draw several important lessons of importance to dealing with the complexity of any large international or multi-disciplinary undertaking.

“What a wonderful book! Titans of Saturn presents an original analysis of the clever leadership innovations which supported the tremendous achievements of the Cassini-Huygens mission. This daring mission to the Saturnian system and its moon Titan strained the limits of our human capabilities, be they scientific, technological or organizational. The authors have skillfully deconstructed the innumerable challenges and management juggernauts faced by the international team into a series of paradoxes which, at face value, made the mission impossible. The big contribution of this book is how each of these paradoxes was addressed while doing so in clear and easy-to-read analyses and explanations. In a sense, they represent some ideal leadership and diplomatic solutions. I do not hesitate to recommend the reading of this book to those leaders and diplomats who face exceedingly difficult problems. For the layperson, it is just a plain old good read!”
Dr. Dennis Matson, Chief Scientist – Cassini-Huygens Program.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

BRAM GROEN is a management consultant based in Massachusetts, US, specialising in cross-cultural management.
CHARLES HAPMDEN-TURNER is one of the world’s most respected management thinkers and author of the bestselling The Seven Cultures of Capitalism. He is currently based at the University of Cambridge, Judge Institute of Management Studies.

1-904879-41-1
£16.99 HB
Rights: All
Sales territory:World ex. Asia & ANZ
Asia & ANZ sales: MCIA*