cover image THE FIEFDOM SYNDROME: The Turf Battles that Undermine Careers and Companies—and How to Overcome Them

THE FIEFDOM SYNDROME: The Turf Battles that Undermine Careers and Companies—and How to Overcome Them

Robert J. Herbold, . . Doubleday/Currency, $26.95 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-385-51067-7

Herbold, a corporate consultant and former COO for Microsoft, finds "fiefdoms"—individuals or groups who control the flow of information out of their offices as a way of gaining agency or power—one of the most dangerous problems a company can face, and he sees them everywhere. Even the collapse of Enron, he argues, can be attributed to the actions of a small cabal in the finance department. The insight isn't quite as groundbreaking as he makes it out to be, however, and the proposed solutions will likely strike readers with even a minimum of substantial work experience as equally obvious. Much of the advice is the sort of boilerplate ("continually strengthen the talent pool") that can be found in nearly all business books, though Herbold's enthusiasm for standardized reporting and evaluation practices is possibly more zealous than his peers'. Illustrative anecdotes drawn from his corporate background do liven things up somewhat, but they also create an emphasis on industries involving product sales. Tantalizing hints about the problems fiefdoms create in other fields, such as NGOs and government bureaucracies, are left largely unexplored, diminishing the potential for generating broader interest. (Aug. 24)