What Matters Now

This is not a book about one thing. It's not a 250-pagedissertation on leadership, teams or motivation. Instead, it's anagenda for building organizations that can flourish in a world ofdiminished hopes, relentless change and ferocious competition. This is not a book about doing better. It's not a manual forpeople who want to tinker at the margins. Instead, it's animpassioned plea to reinvent management as we know it--torethink the fundamental assumptions we have about capitalism,organizational life, and the meaning of work. Leaders today confront a world where the unprecedented is thenorm. Wherever one looks, one sees the exceptional and theextraordinary: * Business newspapers decrying the state of capitalism. * Once-innovative companies struggling to save offsenescence. * Next gen employees shunning blue chips for socialstart-ups. * Corporate miscreants getting pilloried in the blogosphere. * Entry barriers tumbling in what were once oligopolisticstrongholds. * Hundred year-old business models being rendered irrelevantovernight. * Newbie organizations crowdsourcing their most creativework. * National governments lurching towards bankruptcy. * Investors angrily confronting greedy CEOs and complacentboards. * Newly omnipotent customers eagerly wielding their power. * Social media dramatically transforming the way human beingsconnect, learn and collaborate. Obviously, there are lots of things that matter now. But in aworld of fractured certainties and battered trust, some thingsmatter more than others. While the challenges facing organizationsare limitless; leadership bandwidth isn't. That's why you have tobe clear about what really matters now. What are the fundamental,make-or-break issues that will determine whether your organizationthrives or dives in the years ahead? Hamel identifies five issuesare that are paramount: values, innovation, adaptability, passionand ideology. In doing so he presents an essential agenda forleaders everywhere who are eager to... * move from defense to offense * reverse the tide of commoditization * defeat bureaucracy * astonish their customers * foster extraordinary contribution * capture the moral high ground * outrun change * build a company that's truly fit for the future Concise and to the point, the book will inspire you to rethinkyour business, your company and how you lead.