Nimble: Make Yourself and Your Company Resilient in the Age of Constant Change

Prasad, a management consultant, delivers a solid if familiar guide to managing change in the swiftly shifting world of business. According to the introduction, it’s a “no-brainer” that today’s executives need agility in order to succeed, and Prasad sets out to help readers get comfortable with a nimble mind-set at work and at home. He begins by describing how his consultancy work has focused on finding “the equivalent of human intelligence in organizations” and making corporate operations and strategy more responsive to evolving challenges. As a key part of his management philosophy, he introduces five types of agility (operational, analytical, visionary, inventive, and communicative)and his MAST (map, assess, strategize, test) method for using them. The book’s strength lies not in its classification categories and acronyms but in its real-world illustrations—including NASA’s crisis management during the Apollo 13 mission and the rebuilding of an Indian dam—and emphasis on strict, honest self-evaluation. However, the topic of agility has been so thoroughly covered in other business books that it would take a truly revolutionary idea to change the conversation, and this effort comes across as merely another earnest discussion about how change is the only constant in the 21st century. [em](Feb.) [/em]