Summary The core theme of this book is Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints, otherwise referred to as TOC. Goldratt argues that manufacturing has for too long focused on producing, ignoring what is demanded by the market place, i.e. demand and capacity. Goldratt believes that one should balance flow through a system to meet the demand of
Thirty goals in 63 international matches for England, a remarkable average of more than 20 goals a season in the Premier League and a league championship medal for unfashionable Blackburn Rovers – you’ve definitely done well for yourself. But could you do better? Your decision to quit international football after the European Championships in the
Freud first coined the term ‘wrecked by success’ to explain the recurring phenomenon of people who appear to throw away their best chance of happiness through self-inflicted damage. Maximum Success, written by two Harvard business psychologists and executive coaches, cleverly elaborates 12 different patterns of self-defeating behaviour and ways of tackling them. Take the hero
Summary Handy’s book is a groundbreaking philosophical and practical guide to the inevitable changing ways of organizing work and the workforce. Handy starts from the viewpoint that radical change is not only desirable but essential, if economics and society are not to be irreversibly damaged. The book focuses on the necessity of becoming more creative
Summary Management consultant Bob Garratt told us that he wrote his latest book as ‘a counterblast to myopic thinking’ among senior managers in the quest for company efficiency. Garratt shifts the focus away from the current vogue for downsizing and cost cutting, towards a value-system that preserves and encourages employees at all levels. Get employees doing
Summary In 1979 journalist Keith Waterhouse was commissioned by his editor at UK national tabloid the Daily Mirror to write an instruction manual for the newspaper’s new recruits. The result was a booklet that became an instant success, with half the hacks in Fleet Street trying to beg, borrow or photocopy what had started as
Summary Jack Welch Speaks is precisely what its title suggests: a collection of quotations from the chairman of General Electric Corporation (GE), one of the biggest companies in the world. These quotations are arranged by subject and deal partly with his own life, but mainly with his competitive, ruthless style of management, making it a
According to 3COM 65% of people who bought a Palm Pilot told the firm they heard about it from another person. People rely heavily on personal recommendations and as customers grow more skeptical towards advertising, Palm Pilot deliberately created a sense of something special when it showed its product to a select group of executives
Working on the twin principles that we are all obliged to lead, and that leadership can be learned, the author of the best selling The Tao of Coaching argues people are not led by plans and analysis, but by a trinity of vision, inspiration and momentum. This is more a book for aspiring leaders than
Summary In the introduction, the authors admit that this book was turned down by countless publishing houses with the objection: ‘Who cares? Who wants to read about techies pissed off at their jobs?’ Co-author Bill Lessard says he is a ‘living testament to the fact that most Internet careers are nasty, brutish and short’. So,
Summary Goffee and Jones – the BBC director of human resources – reject the assumption of some business books that the character of a corporation is a uniform, single concept. They see it as complex and multiple-faceted. Every firm is composed of several cultures, they explain. These are fluid, liable to change, and are sometimes
In the fictitious advertising agency Miller Shanks nothing ever seems to go to plan. When The Sun picks up a story that Gloria Hunniford has been groped by a client on an film shoot in Mauritius and PAs are making mock suicide attempts back at the office in London you might be tempted to think
Summary When Giants Learn to Dance sets out to show how truly innovative organizations are winning in the business world, pitting the bureaucratic management of corporate America against the post-entrepreneurial organization.
Summary Tom Peters’ 1994 book, The Pursuit of Wow!, is very much a product of its time, geared towards the contemporary and future marketplace and concentrating its energies upon the Internet, the open-plan office and the happy workforce.
Email etiquette – or ‘Netiquette’ – is causing traditional letters writers to scratch their heads in consternation. For in less than five years, the advent of electronic mail has thrown many writing conventions out of the virtual window. Even Debrett’s has recognised the dilemma and addressed the problem it in its 1996 Guide to
Summary In an easy-to-read and economical style, Mark McCormack, the US founder and chief executive of global sports marketing company International Management Group (IMG), presents a collection of his insights into the complex world of business negotiation. McCormack on negotiating is an engaging and useful step-by-step guide to the most important aspects of cutting a
If someone had tried to sell me the true-life story of a ‘Big Swinging Dick’ I’d have nodded politely while I reached for the mace. If they’d then explained that this particular B.S.D. was a bond salesman on Wall Street, I’d have been far less scared but no more interested. Luckily a friend insisted I
International rowing won’t be the same without Steve Redgrave – five-times Olympic gold medallist and national hero. But will Redgrave be the same without rowing? The commitment demanded by the sport is no less than a lifestyle – on the water seven days a week, 49 weeks a year. When that is gone, what remains?
You are the youngest British prime minister this century, so it is difficult to criticise the way you have planned your career. Anyone who captures the number one job in the country certainly knows how to scale the careers ladder. In order to reach your post you first had to become leader of the Labour
Where did it all go wrong? From military prodigy to exile and death in St Helena. But what a sparkling career you had in between. Perhaps you should have made the switch from fighting to banking while you had the chance, especially since you were good at maths.
