A BRIEFING FOR LEADERS

In the wake of accepting N.Y.C.'s Catholic Archdiocese as a PR client of Hill & Knowlton Inc. last year, Dilenschneider was obliged to step down as the firm's CEO. The author's loss of a lucrative job is noteworthy because his decision to take on a pro- life account (apparently without consulting associates), subsequent stonewalling of critics, and collateral actions ran counter to the principal advisories offered in his own Power and Influence (1990). Moreover, in the imperious, inch-deep work at hand, there's not a word said about lessons learned as a high-profile party to the abortion debate. Which is not to say that any number of allusions to the year- old flap could have measurably improved a decidedly dispensable management guide more notable for pompous by-the-numbers pronouncements than substantive counsel. Drawing upon an edited version of his own career for anecdotal support, Dilenschneider (who's now in business for himself) offers a wealth of solemn assertions—e.g., ``Leadership is founded on the skilled use of five raw materials: vision, values, time, empowerment/motivation, and objectivity.'' In like vein, he opines: ``Leaders have four primary means [focused research, management of issues, etc.] to achieve their agendas and realize the visions of their organizations.'' Also covered in less than fascinating detail are the exigencies of communicating with various constituencies whose residents, while tuned in, are turned off. A surfeit of reinvented wheels and overbearing, jargon-marred preaching.