Masters of Management: How the Business Gurus and Their Ideas Have Changed the World-for Better and for Worse

Description

"Read it before buying any other business book."-Rosabeth Moss Kanter In this newly renamed and completely updated edition ofthe BusinessWeek bestseller The Witch Doctors with a new Forewordfrom John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridgedeftly sifts the real wisdom from the dross about management theory, sortingthe sages from the charlatans and distilling the true means of success from themany ways to fail. A penetrating and engaging history of management theory,often regarded as one of the most vital and accessible business booksavailable, Masters of Management delivers, in the words of the NewYork Times Book Review, "at last some common sense in the arena dominatedby shark-swimming, chaos-seeking, megatrending,one-minute managing, highly effective people." This updated classic isessential reading for anyone seeking to forge a path ahead in business and inlife.

Adrian Wooldridge is the management editor and "Schumpeter" columnist of The Economist. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and All Souls College, Oxford, where he held a Prize Fellowship. He was formerly The Economist"s Washington bureau chief and "Lexington" columnist. He is the coauthor, with John Micklethwait, of five books-including The Witch Doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus; A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization; The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea; and The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America-and the author of Measuring the Mind: Education and Psychology in England c.1860-1990.

"At last some common sense in the arena dominated by shark-swimming, chaos-seeking, megatrending, one-minute managing, highly effective people." -- New York Times Book Review "At last some common sense in the arena dominated by shark-swimming, chaos-seeking, megatrending, one-minute managing, highly effective people." -- Chicago Tribune "Brings clarity, humor, and historical perspective to a field that rewards gibberish, pomposity, and revolutionaries who want to throw away the pase (and the people that go with it)." -- Wall Street Journal "Micklethwait and Wooldridge have done the near impossible: written a book about management-management-that is lively, engrossing, skeptical, fair-minded, and steeped in a rich sense of history." -- Joseph Nocera "Read it before buying any other business book." -- Rosabeth Moss Kanter "A gem of debunking." -- The Times (London) "Simultaneously smart, insightful, terrifying and humorous... this revised incarnation should overtake its predecessor as the most bracing and relevant discussion of the world created by MBAs." -- Kirkus Reviews "This excellent book encourages thoughtful analysis of the growing management revolution; the combining of knowledge, learning, and innovation; the real meaning of globalization; and boardroom implications." -- Booklist "Without some failures, companies can't ride the crest of the next wave of innovation. If you don't seize opportunity, someone else will...Wooldridge uses the stories of small and large companies to drive home his "how to make it work" advice." -- Biz Books "Skillfully written and sprinkled with interesting observations." -- Wall Street Journal