The Ministry of Common Sense: How to Eliminate Bureaucratic Red Tape, Bad Excuses, and Corporate Bullshit

Description

Where's the common sense? During the COVID-19 pandemic, the TSA is allowing passengers to board planes with unlimited amounts of hand sanitizer, while maintaining its 3.4-ounce limit on all other liquids. You need a chainsaw to pry open your new pair of headphones from their package. Your eighth Zoom meeting of the day keeps freezing, and if you hear "No, wait; no, you go first" again, you will implode. But first you have to sit through an endless PowerPoint presentation that everyone claims they've read - no one has - that could have been summarized in one page. What has happened to common sense? And how can we get it back? Companies, it seems, have become so entangled in their own internal issues and beset by reams of invisible red tape (and frozen screens) that they've lost sight of their purpose and culture. Inevitably, we pay the price. New York Times best-selling author Martin Lindstrom combines numerous real-life examples of corporate common sense gone wrong with his own ingenious plan for restoring logic - and sanity - to the companies and people who need it most. A must-read for today's executives, managers, and office workers, The Ministry of Common Sense is funny, entertaining, and immensely practical. "Essential reading for all of us who feel bogged down in workplace bureaucracy and wish to improve our quality of life at work." - Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO, Thrive Global

MARTIN LINDSTROM is a well-known international management consultant and best-selling business author who routinely sees various kinds of "corporate red tape" on a global basis. Over the years, he has learned how to quickly pinpoint and then eradicate these bothersome hurdles in companies of all sizes. Lindstrom is recognized as one of the world's most influential people (Time) and ranked among the world's top business thinkers (Thinkers50).

Martin Lindstrom's delightful romp shows how too many organizations seem designed to drive their customers and employees crazy. And this gem is filled with useful (and fun) tips and tools that will help leaders build teams and organizations where common sense is the rule rather than the exception. -- Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of bestsellers including The No Asshole Rule and Scaling Up Excellence