Better than most books in the genre and a welcome manifesto for creating productive workplaces.
Another entry in the library of special-forces warriors–turned–business gurus, but with many points worth pondering.
“Most people don’t quit their jobs. They quit their bosses.” So write former Navy SEAL Buckett and corporate executive Mefford, who reject the current mania for business-leadership books in favor of what a CEO such as the late Jack Welch would likely consider anarchy. The operative notion is that bosses hinder the more productive organization of loose teams whose members are eager to contribute ideas and actions to the common good, much as military people ideally operate as colleagues in a common enterprise. One exercise to test whether a given civilian enterprise is working as an effective team is “killing the leader,” borrowed from the military as a thought experiment to find out what would happen if the leader were suddenly to be absent, whether because of death, retirement, or vacation. “What we learn from combat,” write the authors, “is that if you are weak, eventually something stronger will come to take you out.” A major contributor to that weakness in the business world, they add, is a bad boss, either uninspiring or incapable—and all too often inclined to petty tyranny. Workers don’t want that, write Buckett and Mefford. Instead, they want to feel as if they’re not cogs in a machine, trusted and as autonomous as possible, with leaders who encourage but don’t interfere. “The solution to workplace dissatisfaction doesn’t lie in high-functioning leaders; it lies in high-performing teams,” they write. The point is well taken not just on the civilian front, but also by scanning the headlines—with, for instance, a democratic Ukraine holding its own against a better-armed and more numerous but poorly led Russian army.
Better than most books in the genre and a welcome manifesto for creating productive workplaces.Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2023
ISBN: 9780063209909
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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