The business world is filled with earnest managers anxious to do good work, and willing to buy every book that promises to tell them how to do so. So, of course, the race is on to sell them that book. In the resulting frenzy, the victories often go to the ones with the most striking titles, or the subtitles that make at once the most expansive yet reassuring promises. I was recently offered the opportunity to review one of these.
Unfortunately, it fits right in to this miserable mold, shamelessly exploiting an association with a world-famous military organization, a seemingly counter-intuitive title, and a subtitle promising that it will reveal the X number of secrets taught by this military organization that you too must know to be a success. As it happens, impatience with these sorts of products is beginning to mount.
Indeed, one such criticism recently appeared in an essay written by a member of academia – a world that is responsible for perhaps half of these sorts of books, and was published by one of the many consultancies that produce probably the other half. Nevertheless, the critique was stinging and blunt, insisting, very much as has been argued in these pages and in similar terms, that managers need to eschew this sort of nonsense, and instead focus on developing and properly directing their critical thinking skills.
This is an encouraging development. There is room, after all, for consultancies, but they should help develop executive skills, not peddle magic elixirs. There is a role for academics, as well, but they should probably be more cautious and humble before the daunting task they face than is reflected in the juvenile certaintly so many of them display upon hitting on a marketable idea.
We will be discussing both of these – how executives can actually develop their abilities to properly assume and express their singularly important roles, and how they should assess and approach various sources attempting to tell you just how to do that. We will begin with the latter, and attempt to explain how the curious market surrounding it has developed. We look forward to your visits during the next several weeks, and to your feedback.
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