a triarchy press recommendation
The Stone Age Company by
Sally Bibb
Publication Date: 2005
No. of Pages: 144
Book type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781904879435
List Price: £9.99
The Stone Age company is an uninspiring place to work .. It is characterised by hierarchy, controlling management techniques, managerial bad behaviour and spin. Sally Bibb challenges leaders to think about their organisations. Her view is that these types of companies need to change: they are outdated and ineffective in the way they are run and they are losing out in the increasingly competitive world of business. Drawing on her personal experience and using examples of successful 'enlightened' organisations such as Innocent Drinks, WL Gore, Timberland and Southwest Airlines she demonstrates how these 'enlightened' companies, where employees feel alive and motivated and innovation is encouraged, are more effective, efficient and dynamic. They are clear in their mission, open in their values and what they stand for appeals to the kind of people whom they want to employ and work with.
This is an inspirational book. Anyone who works and is interested in the way companies and managers tick, and who would like greater insight into what is really going on and what to do about it, should read it.
Some Reviews
"So many businesses go to the wall because they
refuse to change their belief in archaic ways of managing. Sally plots a
new course for decent modern enterprise. She challenges the basis of what
many obese and ageing companies stand for, in a clear and refreshing manner.
Nice to hear some plain talk in a business book for once."
Dan Germain, Creative Director, Innocent Drinks
"The persistence of the myth of organisations as
solid, structured edifices with a man at the top in control, holding things
together with rules and procedures, has always fascinated me. If the myth
were ever true those days are long gone, and in this book Sally Bibb gets
into the guts of why it is such nonsense and how we can set about revealing
the true nature of organisations as groups of willing individuals held together
by a common purpose and trust in each other."
Euan Semple, Director, KM Solutions, BBC
"Too many companies are stuck in the Stone Age.
And too many leaders aren't
willing to speak that simple truth. Thank heaven, then, for Sally Bibb. Her
book is a badly needed call to make out organizations more effective by
making them more humane.."
Daniel H Pink, author of A Whole New Mind and Free Agent Nation.
Sally Bibb's "Stone Age Company" is a wonderful book not just about corporate
culture but about life in general. Pearls drop like water after an afternoon's
rain in this thoroughly readable and insightful book artfully descriptive of
corporate management. I was able to see through what works and what doesn't and
get answers to a favourite question: How did these characters get to be CEOs?"
Albert Capozzelli from New York, NY United States
About the Author
Sally's field of expertise is organisation development and change. She has spent 15 years working with people from different generations and cultures in Europe, USA and Asia. Her passion for understanding people and organisations has led her to write on the subject. And she is an author of several books and articles. She has an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies as well as lots of practical experience of how change happens, what works and what doesn't. Before she joined talentsmoothie Sally held organisational change , HR and learning and development roles at BT, Cable and Wireless and The Economist Group. Sally is a Member of the CIPD and an associate of CRF (Corporate Research Forum). Sally is an Argentine tango dancer in her spare time and is finding herself dancing with all generations as well as working with them!
