bookreviews

by Theodore B. Kinni


The Right Mountain
by Jim Hayhurst, Sr.

Subtitled "Lessons from Everest on the Real Meaning of Success," this book of personal and business wisdom is based on Canadian advertising executive Jim Hayhurst's journey to Mount Everest as part of the 1988 Canadian Expedition. Hayhurst uses his trek as a metaphor for life and his experience as a meditation on success.

As might be expected, Hayhurst presents a substantial number of lessons related to teamwork. There are also lessons on leadership, the value of diversity, goal setting and prioritizing. The key lessons, however, deal with what Hayhurst calls "core values." People must identify and prioritize their own values in order to discover what success means for them. A series of exercises at the conclusion of the book help readers uncover their own core values.

Perhaps the greatest lesson of the book comes when the reader learns that after repeated attempts on Everest's 29,028-foot summit, the expedition did not reach its goal. Nevertheless, the life-changing results of the journey reinforce the notion that even partial completion of projects may be beneficial.

The Right Mountain (John Wiley & Sons, $24.95) is an attractive book that features many pictures and a creative layout. The lessons on which Hayhurst extrapolates are worthy of the presentation, although the many two-page chapters leave certain lessons less than adequately explored.


Real Dream Teams
by Bob Fisher and Bo Thomas

A dream team is a "group of people working together for a common objective who achieve extraordinary success." A prime example of a dream team, according to authors Fisher and Thomas, was the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team.

While the formation of a dream team may appear to be a serendipitous event, Fisher and Thomas believe that these groups can be constructed. To identify the common elements of dream teams, they studied 12 dream team leaders. These leaders, a diverse and fairly well-known group including sports coaches, military officers and businesspeople, are profiled at the book's beginning. The authors find these leaders employ seven practices to build their dream teams.

These seven practices form the heart of the book. Each is covered in its own chapter and is supported by many real-life examples. The practices themselves, however, should not come as a great surprise to those who have read team literature. For instance, Practice #1 is "Commitment to a clear vision." The others, including open communication, individual competence, mutual support and respect, and win-win cooperation, are similarly basic to good teamwork.

Real Dream Teams (St. Lucie Press, $24.95) doesn't break new ground, but it does bring together established elements of teamwork in a compelling and easily accessible package. The dream teams concept is a fine idea and provides a widely understood metaphor for readers. But the title is a touch misleading-the book concentrates more on the practices of team leaders than the dream teams themselves.



Liberating the Human Spirit
in the Workplace
by William Bickham

In a treatise on building an involved, empowered work force, William Bickham emphasizes personal experience, first-person accounts and classic leadership thinking to create an easy-to-read, practical guidebook for managers.

The book begins with the usual exploration of traditional, unenlightened worker/boss relationships. Bickham uses workers' quotes to illustrate his thoughts-an effective way to describe the inherent waste in authoritarian structures.

With a baseline established, the author draws out a basic plan for a changing traditional work environment, starting with fostering respect, trust and communication. Next, he describes the need for "we" instead of "me" thinking among employees and employers. Finally, he describes the new responsibilities of leaders in a participative workplace.

Bickham ends each chapter with a short assessment called "Taking Stock." The answers are rated numerically and, when totaled, give insight into readers' managerial styles and values.

Liberating the Human Spirit in the Workplace (Irwin Professional Publishing, $25) is a good starting point for managers entering the world of employee involvement. It introduces some basic thinking from sources such as Herzburg and McGregor, and balances theories with practical ideas. The book is flawed in only two ways: There isn't a source bibliography for further study, and the cover price is excessive for a book of its length (147 pages).


First Person
edited by Thomas Teal

This collection of 13 "tales of management courage and tenacity" compiled from Harvard Business Review is unrelentingly compelling. It is the perfect refutation for anyone who claims a career in business is boring.

Former Harvard Business Review editor Thomas Teal has loosely organized these first-person accounts into three sections. Each focuses on the sometimes impossible balancing act between business demands and humane decision making, the challenge of change management and the vision and passion that drives managers. Together, they accurately reflect Teal's claim that: "Management is terrifically difficult. It takes exceptional people to do it well. But even doing it well enough is a much more arduous and honorable task than it appears."

All of the stories are highly personal. Some, such as Gary Banas' account of dealing with employees who have AIDS and Bill Sells' account of working in and managing Manville's asbestos hell, are astonishingly direct. And others, such as Ken Veit's account of entrepreneurial survival and the need for constant change and experimentation, illustrate points more vividly than a bookshelf full of theory.

There are few well-known names here. Ricardo Semler, the leader of Brazil-based Semco, and Hal Rosenbluth of Rosenbluth International, have both written books describing their experiences. But, for the most part, these stories come from managers who might have worked alongside the reader at one time.

First Person (Harvard Business School Press, $19.95) is a fine read-it's both interesting and inspirational. Few readers turn the last page without having learned something that will help them do a better job.

booknotes


Keeping the Team Going
by Deborah Harrington-Mackin
(Amacom, 230 pages, $17.95)
A well-conceived sequel to Harrington-Mackin's Team Building Tool Kit, this paperback takes on the latter stages of team growth and performance. As before, the author packs the book with ideas, tools and techniques meant to be put to work immediately.

The Power of Open-Book Management
by John Schuster, Jill Carpenter and M. Patricia Kane
(John Wiley & Sons, 288 pages, $24.95)
This is the first entry in the open-book management library to present a step-by-step implementation model. The first 100-odd pages describe the concept and its value; the rest describe six generic implementation phases.

Baldrige for the Baffled
(Honeywell, 90 pages, $10)
This large-format paperback was developed by Honeywell VP of Corporate Quality and TQM author Arnie Weimerskirch as an aid for understanding Baldrige criteria. Two initial chapters create a context and business rationale for using the Baldrige; the rest of the highly creative presentation clearly describes and illustrates the criteria.

Five Important Things
by Jim Paluch
(Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 137 pages, $14.95)
In this "motivational novel," Paluch offers a simple, sensible five-step plan for achieving success in any endeavor. The steps are: Continue to learn; appreciate people; set goals; maintain a positive attitude; and, finally, never quit.

The Age of Heretics
by Art Kleiner
(Doubleday, 414 pages, $29.95)
This fascinating book traces today's cutting-edge management theories back to their often-surprising roots. Kleiner shows, for example, how work teams grew out of '60s encounter groups and how LSD experiments helped shift corporate mind-sets at Teledyne-proof that yesterday's heresies eventually become today's dogma.

The Dilbert Principle
by Scott Adams
(Harper Business, 336 pages, $20)
Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams' new book mixes text and cartoons to lampoon standard business practice. ISO 9000, says Adams, was developed as a "European prank-so named because of the number of beers that were consumed that night." Adams' cartoons are always funny, but any lessons are left for the reader to figure out.