Business book review: What Matters Now

I know that with all the claims to our attention books sometimes struggle to be noticed, but I'm not sure the answer is to have a "sell" like this one. Firstly there is the title – which is in shouty capitals. Then the colour of the cover - bright orange. And finally the subtitle (“How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation“) which is exhausting and hyperbolic. None of these do the book any favours, especially since it's not written in that tone at all. In addition, the pull quote from the preface defines the book with a negative, “This is not a book about one thing. It’s not a 300-page dissertation on leadership, teams or motivation.” You then turn to the preface, and the first line says, “This is not a book about one thing. It’s not a 288-page dissertation on leadership, teams or motivation.” So then I got sidetracked counting the pages to see which was right. Anyway, if you can get past all of that, it’s a really good read. It’s well written, persuasive, and succeeds in its intention to be “...an impassioned plea to reinvent management as we know it – to rethink the fundamental assumptions we have about capitalism, institutions, and life at work.” Hamel believes five issues are paramount:

• Values
• Innovation
• Adaptability
• Passion
• Ideology

He gives each of these a section, with five chapters to each one – 25 in total, and all of them have gems. The first section – Values – makes the case against how business in general is currently being run, and the damage that is being caused not only to the world economy, but to people’s opinions of large organisations. Fewer than four out of ten consumers in the developed world believe that large corporations make a “somewhat” or “generally” positive contribution to society (from a McKinsey & Co survey of 2007). As Hamel says, capitalism seems “...to work really well for CEOs, pretty well for shareholders, and no so well for everybody else”. So what? Well... “If you feel your industry is still too lightly regulated, the just keep what you’re doing. If, on the other hand, you’ve had your fill of sanctimonious politicians and meddling bureaucrats, then you must face up to a simple fact: in the years to come, a company will be able to preserve its freedoms only if it embraces a new and more enlightened view of its responsibilities.” Hamel believes that both the global economy amplifies the impact of ethical choices, and so does the web. He’s right about that, and the “intermeshing of big business and big government”, “As citizens and consumers, we’re smart enough to know that when lobbyists and legislators sit down to a lavish meal, our interests won’t be on the menu.” In section 2 - Innovation - there’s lots of sensible stuff, and humour as well “If you work in a company that’s merely human....another chirpy anecdote about Google’s free-wheeling culture may make you puke.” Instead Hamel contrasts his experience on United Airlines domestic (awful) with a Virgin American flight, which has “...seats that actually coddle, a touchscreen allowing you to order food from your seat, pastel mood lighting, a tray table that swivels and tilts to become an easel for your iPad, hip tunes playing in the bathrooms, power outlets at every seat, wifi on every flight, and flight attendants who are energetic and fun.” There is also an excellent few pages on “Deconstructing Apple” at the end of which he asks, “Imagine if Apple’s passions were the norm rather than the exception. What if the world’s leading insurance company or publisher or bank or airline or hotel chain was driven by these ideals....?” Other sections analyse declining Church attendances, consider how to future-proof your company and challenge the ideology of management. The final section on management is a re-tooling of an essay I read in the Harvard Business Review by Hamel, but it's still impressive – and to get a flavour of it, click here (registration required, but you can read three pieces a month, I think.) A great book, loved every minute of it – but I still think the cover needs changing. Tom Otley