Henry Mintzberg is known as an eminently practical academic researcher: he doesn’t just do surveys and analyses of stock market data and the like. Nor does he do interviews alone – he goes to managers’ workplaces, follows them around, and notes what they actually do – not what they say or think they do. He is also regarded as something of an . . .
The notion that raw intelligence alone might not only be insufficient to predict success, but also an insufficient indicator of a person’s overall ability, effectiveness, and influence has actually been around for a long time. It has been suspected, faintly perceived, and cautiously hinted at for millennia. But people would listen to pithy quotes on the topic, nod their heads in recognition, and then, when push came to shove, make selection and promotion decisions on the basis of traditional intelligence assessments. For the past quarter of a century, though . . .
A good part of Adam Nicolson’s gripping retelling of the great Naval Battle of Trafalgar, “Seize the Fire,” turns out to be an exceptionally insightful depiction of the complex and powerful societal undertows that threw the combatant nations together on that awful day in October of 1805. . .
The word “entrepreneur” is one of those that sends pulses racing and sets hearts a-fluttering among management gurus and organizational “leaders” around the world. It sparks images of boldness and creativity, daring endeavors and world-changing innovation. And so this term, which specifically refers to those who venture to launch new businesses, has become an adjective describing yet a new superlative quality of the ever-celebrated hero-leader. But “Bootstrapping,” by Sramana Mitra . . .
Books on individual leadership, rather amazingly, continue to come out, and continue to promise great things from the superlative leaders their secrets will help readers become. What they also all do, though, is assume that there is no controversy regarding the location of leadership: it is in individuals, and emanates from them into the organizations which they grace with their presence. Indeed, many of these observers go so far as to say that the organization exists to give expression to the leader’s leadership – or, at least, must reform itself around the unique ways each leader exhibits that leadership. William Tate, a consultant in the United Kingdom with a strong background as a senior manager, offers some long-overdue questions about these assumptions in his new book . . .
The star academic, part of the galaxy of high speed intellectuals at a prominent university, had gotten hold of what was being presented as a “big idea.” He professed, with the peculiarly misplaced condescension that this sort often affect, only to the most profound humility, but he knew he had this right, and that those who disagreed with him had it wrong. But, then, there was the problem of why they disagreed with him. . .
Have you ever read a book that trumpets its grounding in “research,” but been left with the nagging sensation that the author really just asked around? The book I alluded to on Wednesday is like that. There is a lot of talk about experience and dedication to researching important questions. But there is no hint of any actual academic or other scientific rigor employed in this quest. So, one is left to wonder, is there any?
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