Beyond the Hype

Would give it 5 stars, but it seems to wander a bit. The book started out to be another attempt to imitate Tom Peters and then the authors learned that Tom Peters (and all his imitators) are full of macaca. Which is a great book on its own. The book details how fads come and go. How people try to incorporate earlier fads (TQM, Lean, Six Sigma, etc.) and how we oscilate from centralize to decentralize. How the mantra of computers and empowering employess is not a reaction against 50s work practices, but that the same pabalum WAS already touted in the 50s. The book starts to make some good points about what leaders actually do. Why they oversimplify things, why they have a use for fads. But it wanders a bit at times, when it wants to go back to it's original mission of being a management coaching business book. It's better as an analysis/expose.

Shunning the latest concepts, the authors argue, managers do today what they have always done: mobilize action. Great leadership is achieved by targeting appropriate actions, communicating it using simple and inspiring rhetoric and then getting it done. "Silver bullets," they argue, do not exist. Despite the proclamations of publicity-conscious consultants and revenue-hungry book publishers, the essence of management remains what it has always been: 1. Using and Understanding Rhetoric 2. Taking Action 3. Recognizing Individual Identities. The book's first section posits that management relies on a classical definition of rhetoric. Managers live in a universe where language is used not only to communicate but also to persuade and to create. It acts as a powerful force that is always at work in an organization. Almost every situation a manager faces during the course of his or her day has something to do with rhetoric: one-on-one conversations, team meetings, presentations to large and small audiences, memos, articles, project proposals, appropriate requests, strategic plans, vision statements. In each, managers wrestle with language in their quest to find solutions and the correct courses of action. Second, despite the "flavor of the month" phenomenon common in our organizations, every decision revolves around meeting short-term objectives while retaining long-term flexibility. Finally, managers depend on their people. Their ability to recognize unique talents and abilities plays a direct role in the success of their plans and ventures. This is a book of uncommon wisdom. In my mind it is a sin that it has been allowed to go out of print. Good management comes from targeting correct action and communicating it to the proper people. The formula does not change. It is a message that any serious manager should read and cement into the cornerstone of his or her managerial style.

Since I am the first to review this book, I must assume that this book has never gotten the recognition that it deserves. It is from my point of view one of the dozen most useful books on management that I have run across. Combining this with Sayle's The Working Leader will allow someone who is seriously interested to appreciate the real work of the manager. This probably isn't a page turner for most readers, but it was for me. It is demanding and thought provoking. Yes, insight does require work.