bookreviews

by Theodore B. Kinni

The Future of Leadership
by Randall P. White, Philip Hodgson
and Stuart Crainer


Managers who long for a stable economy and a peaceful competitive environment won't find much comfort in The Future of Leadership. From the book's first line ("Don't read this book if you can't cope with risk"), authors White, Hodgson and Crainer are plainly suggesting that leaders can't adopt a business-as-usual attitude.

The future, says the trio, is going to be a "white-water" journey. The leaders who prosper will be those who push their organizations into the turmoil of change and the opportunities that exist there. This is the main thesis of the book, and close to a hundred pages are devoted to convincing the reader of its accuracy.

The most useful information comes in Chapter 4, where the authors describe "five skills of white-water leadership." These include: difficult learning-the desire and ability to seek real learning challenges; maximizing energy-the ability to focus resources; resonant simplicity-the ability to communicate clearly and concisely; multiple focus-the ability to maintain a balanced perspective; and mastering inner sense-the ability to use intuition.

The ideas in The Future of Leadership (Pitman Publishing, $25) reveal themselves as mostly recycled. It leans heavily on chaos theory concepts and ideas such as Peter Senge's learning organization and personal mastery. Even the five leadership skills are simply common-sense ideas clothed in new terms. The book's only claim to originality lies in the spin it puts on the material.


Achieving the Competitive Edge
by Harry Jackson Jr. and Normand Frigon

Co-authors Jackson and Frigon create a synthesis of existing and new ideas designed to help companies attain world-class performance. They call the resulting system the Competitive Edge Model.

The examination of this model begins with vision and values, and continues with participative leadership, planning and deployment, and process-based management. The model relies heavily on a methodical approach that involves a series of matrixes and short, step-by-step action plans.

The rest of the book is composed mainly of descriptions of the various tools and concepts that are usually sheltered by the TQM umbrella. Achieving the Competitive Edge (John Wiley and Sons, $39.95) is packed with information, but it is very similar to the authors' 1993 book, Management 2000, which is already out-of-print. It is a useful reference to the major quality tools, and the "Competitive Edge" strategy is a creative spin. Neither, however, offers a strong enough reason to justify the cover price.


Managing Information Overload
by Lynn Lively

There are many methods of organization. My usual choice is the classic quarterly forearm sweep, which moves the contents of the desktop into a trash bin in a single motion. Those seeking a more professional method, however, would do well to check out Lynn Lively's Managing Information Overload.

Reading this book is a lot like spending an hour or two with a workplace organizer. Lively has chosen a practical, action-based format that guides the reader step-by-step through the organizational process. The starting point is the actual definition of each individual's informational needs. The definition stage complete, Lively directs readers to specify their most important tasks and the processes by which they are accomplished.

Part two of the book concentrates on tips for managing specific kinds of media. It includes chapters on hard-copy information, verbal communication and electronic media, such as e-mail.

The goal of all this effort is to become an "information master," according to the author. Information masters concentrate 80 percent of their informational efforts on their three most important tasks: controlling the flow of incoming and outgoing information, using information to continuously improve their own performance and preparing for the future.

Another entry in Amacom's perfectly priced WorkSmart series, Managing Information Overload (Amacom, $10.95) leaves the reader with more than a neat desk. It also provides a rational organizational framework for screening the ever-growing mountains of data that have emerged as the hallmarks of the Information Age.


Process Redesign
by Arthur R. Tenner and Irving J. DeToro

One shortcoming of single-topic business books, such as the best-selling Reengineering the Corporation, is that they tend to ignore the larger picture. Reading such books suggests that reengineering, for example, is all a manager need do to create a successful business. Authors Tenner and DeToro would tell you that there is nothing further from the truth.

In Process Redesign, Tenner and DeToro do an admirable job of creating a full toolbox for process engineers. They weave the tools and techniques of TQM, benchmarking and reengineering together into a comprehensive vision of continuous process improvement.

The authors well understand the systemic foundations needed to support process management. They spend the first section of the book describing the cultural, strategic and leadership elements needed to successfully undertake an ongoing improvement program. Part two describes the components of process analysis. Part three delves into the basics of process management.

In addition to serving as a working reference for managers, the book is also designed for classroom use. Each chapter ends with discussion questions, and cases and exercises are used throughout the text.

The books in Addison-Wesley's Engineering Process Improvement Series usually don't break new ground. Instead, they do a fine job of collecting, explaining and uniting existing techniques into a holistic system. Process Redesign (Addison-Wesley, $34.50) follows the established pattern at a cover price that is more reasonable than some of the series' earlier entries.