Max Stategy

Stranded by a snowstorm at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, with no flight out until the next day, consultant and syndicated columnist Dauten spent most of the night listening to inventor/entrepreneur Max Elmore, who outlined his philosophy of business success. Because Elmore ``doesn't ever look in the rearview mirror'' and didn't wish to write a book explaining his ideas, Dauten did. The central thesis is that once you choose your career, you should innovate, not imitate. Try to be different every day and remember that no experiment fails, because you can learn from it. Do not congratulate yourself on achieving a perfect situation; perfection turns into obsolescence by rendering you impervious to change, the author says. Two final rules: always be better than you have to be, and befriend your problems, for they will stimulate you to further experimentation. A provocative and challenging manifesto. (Jan.)