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The Future of Management Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Six Elements Review - 7.3/10
Comment: "Why does management seem stuck in a time warp? Perhaps it's because we've reached the end of management."

Content

Part I: Why Management Innovation Matters; in this part, the author stated the problems we face with the current modern management and how can the new management have the "Ultimate Advantage" over the current management.

Part II: Management Innovation in Action; the authors demontrated examples of Whole Foods, W. L. Gore, and Google and how their "Management Innovation" shapes their management philosophies.

Part III: Imagining the Future of Management: in this part the authors showed how we can escape the orthodox management practices and embrace the new principles including Life, Markets, Democracy, Faith, and Cities while overcoming difficult challenges that we are going to face.

Part IV:Building the Future of Management: this part tells us how can we learn the lessons from IBM and Best Buy along with how can we put the beliefs we demonstrated earlier into practices.

Review Method: The score will show how close this book is to the ideal: A business book which is easy to read, distinct, credible, practical, insightful, and provides great reading experience.

Ease of Understanding: 7/10: The Future of Management is a book with a straightforward structure, there are examples followed by the related principles of Life, Markets, Democracy, Faith, and Cities that define the new management. And the conclusion and the "idea" on how to implement them are clear but we couln't say this is the easiest read because of the abstractness of the ideas.

Distinction: 9/10: To be perfectly honest, there are many books on the so-called "future" already, we already talked about Google and the idea of flat organisation is not new. The reason that I give The Future of Management a near-perfect score on distinction is how the book uses some wise definitions of management, Part III, which are stunning. I never thought of comparing an organisation and management to "cities" together with "life", "faith", "democracy", and "markets".

Credibility: 8/10: Gary Hamel and Bill Breen did well linking the examples of Whole Foods, W. L. Gore, and Google to their ideas on how the organisation should, and would be. The linkage and references are solid making us believe that this is probably the way " new management" will be.

Practicality: 3/10: No one will disagree with me on this, this is not Management Guide for Dummies, we know it, the authors know it. The authors stated that they do not know how to achieve this but this is a book that will inspire us on how to invent the future of management.

Insight: 8/10: Very insightful, examples of companies are packed with examples of practices that are thought-provoking. New principles are not loosely described but with solid ideas.

Reading Experience: 9/10: You'll find reading this book is like a journey. It is not futuristic like watching Star Wars but more like watching the Matrix trilogy! The authors portray the current modern management and then "unplugged" you to the new world that you have never imagined. For orthodox managers, you will feel like watching "28 Days (Weeks) Later" where out of nowhere, there are flocks after flocks of zombies (future employees) chasing after you! Beware.

Overall: 7.3/10: excluding "practicality", I'd say The Future of Management is more than 8/10. If you want a book packed with remarkable management examples and motivating ideas on how the future will be without much concern on practicality of ideas; The Future of Management by Gary Hamel and Bill Breen is a safe bet.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Philosophical. Inspiring. Great for top management who think they dont need it
Comment: Key story line: Management innovation is the only long term sure-fire strategy for a business, whereas Whole Foods, WL Gore and Google are elaborated as role models to pitch the author's ideology of the perfect business organisation, which is like the internet: democratic, tightly connected and flat. I am not qualified to comment on the value and practicality of the author's ideas. However, I am obliged to say that this is an inspiring and insightful book that outstands itself from the tons of its genre which had little substance but large portion of business cases. A good food for thought, even if you are not in the very top who can make the change. Recommended!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Absolultely Inspiring
Comment: I just finished Gary Hamel's latest book, The Future of Management. It is absolutely the most inspiring business book I have ever read. Hamel accurately makes the case that management theory has hardly evolved in the past 50 years. There are plenty of reasons why, but the heart of the problem is that restructuring the organization must go through senior executives who are (a) afraid of change, (b) unfamiliar with innovative approaches, and (c) unwilling to relinquish the command and control power they have so deliberately "earned." So it is, quite literally, business as usual.

The book carefully dissects examples of companies that have dared to take a radically different approach and been rewarded with extraordinary results. Gore, Whole Foods and Google were all born from visionary founders who were unburdened by history, dogma or business school educations. And even the changes that Lou Gerstner at IBM or A.G. Lafley at P&G were compelled to make are illustrative of the possibilities for gradual transformation in even the most traditional corporate behemoths.

I experimented with some of these principles as a CEO, but never had the vision to jump in the deep end. As a result of The Future of Management, I now see how much more powerful, innovative, effective and personally fulfilling businesses can be. This is a must read for those executives who are not too timid to shy away from redesigning the organization.
Bill Aho
www.atclevel.typepad.com

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Customer Rating:
Summary: There is a problem in Management!
Comment: Organizations are top heavy. Something needs to be done about it. The future of management is about giving everyone the opportunity to say, "This is not going to happen anymore". Be brave and make change in your organization.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Future is What You Will Make It
Comment: This is an interesting book. While the title says "The Future of Management," the book is about more than just management. It is also about change, change as it impacts an organization's development and resilience/adaptability. This book uses a wide ranging definition of management and management processes.

In today's Web 2.0 environment, Gary Hamel argues that our current command - control type of management practices are actually toxic to organizational success and excellence. Hamel argues that what is needed today is management innovation or Management 2.0. He sees management innovation being needed in the areas of managing talent, allocating resources, organization structural design and the building of operational strategies.

If you are looking for a prescriptive answer to future of management, this book is not for you. Rather than offer his own prescription, Hamel has chosen instead to offer the reader/manager a series of questions throughout the book. Questions designed to help you, the reader, think about the type of management innovations needed within your own organization. Questions designed to help you mold your thinking about the management philosophy and practices you can use within your organization to successfully compete and thrive in the future.

If there is a fault with the book, I would say it lies in the examples Hamel uses to illustrate his key points. I wish he had used more examples (if they even exist) from the more traditional, hierarchical, bureaucratic type organizations in existence today, rather than those organizations specifically created from the beginning as innovative type organizations.

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