The Management Myth: Why The Experts Keep Getting It Wrong

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If CEOS, consultants, top managers, and other financial wizards are so smart, how come they screw up so badly? Why is there no correlation whatsoever between a business school education and success in business? Why might you be better off studying something as irrelevant as-philosophy? In The Management Myth, Stewart offers: * An insightful romp through the entire history of thinking about management, with memorable sketches of Frederick Winslow Taylor, Elton Mayo, Peter Drucker, Michael Porter, Tom Peters, and other management celebrities * A devastating critique of pseudoscience in management theory, from the scientific management movement to the contemporary disciplines of strategy and organizational behavior * A swashbuckling account of the rise and much-anticipated fall of management consulting, laced with personal tales about cryptic PowerPoint presentations; the bait-and-hold techniques that keep clients paying to be told what they already know; and the colorful internal politics at his own ill-fated consulting firm, where rivals for power found imaginative uses for an in-house shrink * Historical perspective on why so many CEOs make so much more than they deserve * A clear explanation of why the MBA usually amounts to so much BS With wit and wisdom, Stewart makes an electrifying case that the questions and insights of management theorists belong not to the sciences but to philosophy, and that, in the final analysis, "a good manager is nothing more or less than a good and well-educated person." Gleefully revealing the magician's tricks, Stewart takes readers on a whirlwind tour of how this industry came to be a powerhouse. Filled with fascinating insider anecdotes and featuring a who's who in the consulting world, including Peter Drucker, Michael Porter and Bruce Henderson, this wry, absorbing book will enlighten executive about the value consultants bring to their clients. A devastating bombardment of managerial thinking and the profession of management consulting. As a former management consultant, Mr. Stewart lived long enough in the belly of the beast to know its nature. --Philip Delves Broughton At last, a book that knocks the Kings of Consulting off their thrones. The Management Myth is a rare and often very humorous expose on the shenanigans behind the corporate empire that has catapulted us down the current road to economic turmoil. --John Perkins, best-selling author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire Filled with fascinating insider anecdotes and featuring a who's who in the consulting world... this book will enlighten executives. At last, a book that knocks the Kings of Consulting off their thrones. The Management Myth is a rare and often very humorous expose on the shenanigans behind the corporate empire that has catapulted us down the current road to economic turmoil. --John Perkins, best-selling author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire" Filled with fascinating insider anecdotes and featuring a who's who in the consulting world... this book will enlighten executives. " From the Back Cover Praise for The Management Myth At last, a book that knocks the Kings of Consulting off their thrones. The Management Myth is a rare and often very humorous expose on the shenanigans behind the corporate empire that has catapulted us down the current road to economic turmoil. John Perkins, best-selling author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire Filled with fascinating insider anecdotes and featuring a who s who of the consulting world . . . this book will enlighten executives. Publishers Weekly

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