The Path to a Thriving Organisation
I published my first book last week, “Managed by Morons”. It explains why so many organisations are mediocre and offers some simple steps you can take to improve performance. The cover notes read like this:
What is it About?
After more than 30 years in corporate Britain, I wrote a book about the things I have seen that work and some horrific behaviours I know don’t.
Managed by Morons discusses the three crucial things for a thriving organisation: focus, learning and culture. Using plenty of case studies (and a little bit of theory, but don’t be alarmed), it explains how and why these are so important. It also highlights the behaviour of “managers” who are hell-bent on stopping their organisations from succeeding.
Focus
Is your organisation clear about what it wants to thrive at? Do the ubiquitous corporate mission statements make a difference or are they just so much corporate wallpaper? What have the manufacturers of a mug and an inner-city library got going for them that your business probably hasn’t? Unfortunately, it isn’t enough to have a clear mission. How could an obscure British bureaucrat from the 1970s have predicted a billion-dollar scandal and what can you learn from a nasty dose of cholera in 19th century London?
Learning
An organisation can only improve if it learns. A fighter pilot from the Korean War and the chief executive of the Ford Motor Company explain how to lock organisational learning in, whilst the President of the United States and the British Home Secretary show how to avoid it.
Culture
The ability of an organisation to learn is based on the culture its leaders espouse. The tragic death of a teenager in a British hospital and the trial of 35 teachers for racketeering show how bad organisational cultures can become, whilst the story of Microsoft demonstrates what a roller coaster culture can be.
The book ends with a challenge. How are you going to behave? Do you want to build a thriving organisation that your customers and employees will love and remember you for? Or will you join the corporate clones and become, at best mediocre and, at worst, another management moron?
It is easy to make your organisation thrive if you can hold your nerve and keep the morons at bay.
What Do the Reviews Say?
“A must-read for middle managers and senior managers everywhere.”
“Amusing and quite frankly terrifying examples of management systems gone wrong.”
“Many valuable lessons…delivered in a highly entertaining manner.”
Managed by Morons Cover Notes
This book is dedicated to middle managers – the men and women who make the corporate world go around.
Scorned by their superiors as “stale”, their juniors as “thoughtless” and the public as “bureaucratic”, a middle manager’s lot is not a happy one (until they get home and can uncork a bottle). Yet they hold the keys to their organisation’s success.
At its best, management is full of fascinating challenges, enthusiastic employees, rewarding work and a sense of achievement. At its worst, it is one long battle with constant turf wars, endless repetitive discussions, pointless processes, criticism and rebukes, where the only joy is the slowly dwindling daily countdown to retirement.
If you want more of the best that management has to offer (and less of the political bitch-fest), this book is for you. It is a no-nonsense guide to organisations that will debunk some of the soul-destroying management rituals you must endure. It will also help you make your bit of the organisation thrive and allow you to take pride in a job done well.
It might even get your boss off your back, though there are no guarantees.
Where Can I Buy it?
Funny that you should ask. Managed by Morons is currently only available from Amazon (in hardback, paperback and as an ebook), but I am working on getting it into your local store. You can get a copy here.
Learn a Little More
I pulled together a slideshare trailer to explain what the book is about (relax, it has more pictures than words). I hope you enjoy it.