GDS works with many senior executive teams, including that of Mars, Incorporated, which was the subject of a Time magazine article. Guttman's work and ideas have led him to be named to Leadership Excellence magazine's list of "Excellence 100 Top Thought Leaders". Guttman's writing and opinions are sought after by well-known publications and in a variety of forums. In 2004, he was asked to sit for an interview as part of Harvard Business Publishing's "Results- Driven Manager" series. His article, "Are Your Global Team Members Miles Apart?" is included in Harvard Business Review collection, "Managing Teams for High Performance". Guttman also frequently addresses corporate and academic audiences, such as the Conference Board and the American Management Association. Guttman is the author of Great Business Teams: Cracking the Code for Standout Performance, named one of the top business books of 2008 by Soundview Executive Book Summaries. He is also the author of When Goliaths Clash: Managing Executive Conflict to Build a More Dynamic Organization, named by Soundview as one of the Top Business Books of 2003. His third book, Coach Yourself to Win: 7 Steps to Breakthrough Performance on the Job and in Your Life, attempts to show individuals how they can apply Guttman's executive coaching process to their everyday lives. Basic ideas Several core ideas run through Guttman's consulting and writings: Horizontal, high-performance organizations Howard Guttman argues that business organizations should abandon hierarchical models and move to what he terms the "horizontal, high-performance model". In this model, decisions are made by teams composed of personnel from different functions within the organization. Guttman defines a high-performance team as a work-group that has reached agreement in five key areas: strategy; operational goals; roles and responsibilities; protocols, or ground rules; and business relationships/interdependencies. In such groups, there should be no leader per se; rather "every member of every team is a leader", and each member holds the others accountable. Executive coaching Guttman's executive coaching theories revolve around attempting to challenge behavior, not thoughts. He believes that a key factor in behavior change is the reframing of perceptions, which he refers to as "going-in stories". These stories make up the inner narrative that people tell themselves about why they behave as they do. Guttman suggests that to break through the barriers that have been holding them back, executives and individuals need to become conscious of their negative "going-in stories" and replace them with positive