This was like other business management books I have read. There are some good ideas in it, but overall, the book is one you can scan for the main points. The authors draw on extensive surveys and corporate examples to make their points. However, after a while, you get a bit tired of hearing yet another story from some corporation, and to be honest, at times, some of the stories seemed a bit "pie in the sky." When I read books like this, I am looking to see what I can learn in terms of leadership and management that I might apply to my profession in librarianship. I did find some applicable lessons, and I did take some notes. I may do a longer write-up in my blog later. The main point of the book is getting managers to establish climates of trust and openness so you can then have a good workplace where your workers buy in to what you are trying to accomplish. To me, some of this seems like common sense, but I may well bring the bias that I have experienced some negative workplaces where trust in the management was a significant issue. The steps the authors suggest to improve things, for the most part are viable. Their list in the last chapter is uneven: there are some very good ideas, and there are other ideas that are corny to be perfectly honest. I suppose you can pick and choose what you as a manager think may work in your place. So overall, the book was alright; it had some good ideas, but all in all it was somewhat uneven. This is one to scan, pick the good things, and move on.
