Business, The Universe & Everything

Ever wondered if Tom Peters has considered writing a sequel to In Search of Excellence? Or what Daniel Goleman thinks our business leaders should be doing about their Emotional Intelligence? Did you know that scenarios maestro Peter Schwartz worked on the visions for the future in the Hollywood blockbusters Deep Impact and Minority Report? What's the idea behind Kjell Nordström's global tribe? All these questions and many others are posed and answered in Business, The Universe and Everything.

Business thinking and best practice is in a constant state of flux. In the business world, ideas change the way we do things, and they are constantly being changed themselves. Of course, the practical usefulness of many ideas is questionable and making things happen is more difficult than the idea may suggest. While there may be nothing so practical as a neat theory, you still have to find the right theory.

This book will not turn a bad business into a good business. Nor will it turn a bad businessperson into an entrepreneurial genius. Life and business life isn't like that. Business, The Universe and Everything is awash with bright ideas. The fascinating collection of interviews gives you first-hand insights from some of the world's most brilliant and compelling business thinkers, offering you a smorgasbord of business ideas. You are free to pick and choose the ideas that resonate most with you, but remember that in the end, ideas are nothing without application.

• Section 1: Leading the Way
• Warren Bennis: Geeks, geezers and beyond
• Rosabeth Moss Kanter: Teaching cowboys Confucius
• Manfred Kets de Vries: The dark side of leadership
• John Kotter: In the field
• Daniel Goleman: Maxed emotions
• Section 2: Selling the Future
• Peter Schwartz: Thinking the unthinkable
• Watts Wacker: Fringe benefits
• John Patrick: The attitude thing
• Charles Handy: Reflections of a reluctant capitalist
• Philip Kotler: Marketing in the digital age
• Section 3: People Power
• Derrick Bell: The ardent protestor
• Jonas Ridderstråle: Emotional capital
• Leif Edvinsson: The context's the thing
• Tony Buzan: Brain power
• Marshall Goldsmith: Coaching for results
• Kjell Nordström: Tribal gathering
• Tom Stewart: Intellectual capitalist
• Section 4: Strategic Wisdom
• Gary Hamel: The radical fringe
• Costas Markides: Escaping the jungle
• James Champy: What re-engineering did next
• W Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne: Strategic moves
• Henry Mintzberg: Searching for balance
• Sumantra Ghoshal: The rise of the volunteer investor

Well, I was a bit surprised on the selection of management thinkers in this book. It seemed extremely populists. There exists some bits of information in this book, but it seems incidental, more than planned…

It seems to be a ad-book for their new website, which even more makes me question the seriousness of these authors.

Leave this book in the shelf, as you wont learn anything useful from it, unless you are heavily into hero-worshiping the latest fad-gurus!