cover image Behind Enemy Lines: A Mossad Combatant's Guide to Business Conduct

Behind Enemy Lines: A Mossad Combatant's Guide to Business Conduct

Gerald Westerby. HarperCollins Publishers, $25 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-88730-901-4

To the business-as-war canon you can add this take by a purported member of Israel's clandestine special operations organization, the Mossad. Westerby, a pseudonym for a man described as a ""millionaire"" entrepreneur, tells war stories--both real and apocryphal--by beginning his chapters with reference to a biblical tale from which he then draws inferences. Westerby's stories become business case studies, whether he's rescuing Jews in Yemen, destroying an Iraqi nuclear reactor or even retelling Old Testament stories about the likes of King Solomon and Jacob. He uses the biblical stories to introduce business concepts such as the need for planning, patience and staying focused on what you're trying to accomplish. The stories sometimes go on for too long, and the points will seem obvious to many. Yet in the tradition of military leaders, Westerby is inspirational. He can make starting a business sound as if it truly is equal to starting a war, and if nothing else, a businessperson can always crib a couple of his tales to tell at the next board meeting. (May)