THE CAGE AND THE MIRROR

Entrepreneur McEntire offers guidance on how to avoid corporate dysfunction.

The author draws on more than two decades of management experience in the software and engineering business in this business self-help manual. McEntire describes the titular “Cage” as the conventional wisdom that comes to dominate comfortable and familiar corporate structures, which, he says, leads to the decay of enterprises. Businesses start making choices that seem inevitable, he notes—a tendency that he refers to as “formalization,” which tends to constrict what companies can do. The “Mirror” refers to a company’s capacity for self-criticism, which is something that the Cage can make difficult for leaders to see clearly, according to the author; he describes the Mirror as enabling corporate leaders to take intelligent risks, which will best serve the interests of their companies in the long run. In essence, McEntire is arguing for a coexistence of both of these concepts within corporate structures; companies, he seems to say, must embrace continuity and change simultaneously. Much of McEntire’s advice will be familiar to those with consulting backgrounds, as the language he employs to discuss corporate reforms is similar to the talk of efficiencies and analytics that are the coin of the consultant realm. Overall, this guide breaks down common institutional problems that few will dispute, and it does so in a clear and straightforward manner. Nevertheless, leaders who aim to implement a Cage-and-Mirror-based analysis of their workplace will be hard pressed to turn words into action with the particulars found in this book, which relies too heavily on broad pronouncements and abstract discussions of leadership problems. More specific and tangible advice for carrying out such advice would have made this book a more useful tool.

An earnest business manual that’s long on pronouncements but short on practical advice.