The  Guru Guide

The Guru Guide
by Joseph Boyett and Jimmie Boyett , Wiley Books, New York, 1998

Apparently this book got rave reviews. So how come I hadn’t heard of it? When I saw it on the bookshelf and picked it up, I was excited. The idea of getting the current best ideas for the top management thinkers of the last 20 years sounded great. As I skimmed through, it was well organized and the topics relevant. I decided to spend my money and buy it. You have to understand that I have been successfully cutting back on all of the professional books that I buy.

It was an easy read and some of the synthesis was very good. I can even see how I might reference the book occasionally. Never the less, this is really the first review that gets only "two balls". As an individual in the field of organizational development and management change, it wasn‘t as comprehensive as I would have liked. For the lay person, I am not sure that it is helpful enough. The material on high performance teams was useful. Other than this chapter, it is not clear to me what a manager would get out of this other than more theory.

I was glad to see most of my favourites: Chris Argyris, Charles Handy, Henry Mintzberg, Edgar Schein, Margaret Wheatley, Marv Weisbord. But where is Rosabeth Moss Kanter and why does Michael Porter get 15 pages – more than Warren Bennis? John Kotter is referenced a couple of times but not enough on his work regarding leadership. For that matter, the work that James Kouzes and Barry Posner have done beginning with The Leadership Challenge and followed up by Encouraging the Heart: A Leader's Guide to Rewarding and Recognizing Others isn’t even alluded to in the book. This is a grave oversight.

RFH (00/05)

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