The Seven Deadly Sins of Business: Freeing the Corporate Mind from Doom-Loop Thinking

Things change and people really are your most important asset. These are the two common themes in Shapiro's engaging book, designed to get managers to think differently. The first three sins that Shapiro (Fad Surfing in the Boardroom) discusses all involve failures in strategy. ""Trusting in your terrific plan""; concentrating on ""outstanding products""; ""playing to win"": these all have in common a failure to recognize that the market can change quickly, so that blindly following an initial strategy may led to serious problems, as companies such as Western Union, Litton and Digital Equipment Corp. learned the hard way. In the second half of the book, Shapiro, who has her own consulting firm, lists scores of examples of companies that failed to turn their workforce into a competitive advantage. Relying heavily on second-hand sources, Shapiro does not break any new ground here, but that isn't her intention. She wants managers, especially when times are good, to be aware of traps that can lead to failure, and she argues that drawing on the resources of employees may be the best way to stay ahead of the competition. The writing is breezy, and the British colloquialisms--the book was published in the U.K. last year--are not distracting. The ""Devil's Companion to the Fad Surfer's Dictionary"" is genuinely entertaining and helps underscore the author's points. (Apr.)