THE GURU GUIDES

You need quick access to state-of-the-art management information, right? Of course you do. There is just one problem. In today's hectic corporate world, you simply have too much to do and too little time to sift through hundreds of books and thousands of articles to find the advice you need. Which books should you read? What articles could provide you with some insight? Whose writings should you seek on the Internet? Who is the authority on a particular issue? What advice does he or she offer? How do the ideas of one authority complement or conflict with those of another? Most importantly, whose ideas about how to manage and run businesses really produce results? Under what circumstances do their ideas work or not work? You need a guide to help you answer these questions. Congratulations. You have just found it.

The Guru Guide has been designed to provide you with a clear, concise, and informative introduction to the wisdom of the world's top business advisors. It is a highly opinionated but informative guide to the skills, ideas, and concepts of the world's top business thinkers of the 1990s. But this guide was designed to be more than just a digest of current thought about business. The ideas of each business thinker are linked and cross-linked with those of other experts who agree or disagree. The Guru Guide identified the ideas that coincide and those that conflict. It describes how some of the world's most important management theories and concepts have evolved. It also reports on the gurus' methods and the results they say they have obtained. Finally, it provides an evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses.

REVIEWS

* Very skillfully done.
A splendid synthesis, creaming the best of the best.
You'll go bonkers for this collection. FUTURE SURVEY, JUNE 1998

* Provides a clear, concise, and informative introduction to the most prominent management thinkers. [The Boyetts] show where the gurus ideas coincide and conflict, trace how the major management theories evolved, and provide a candid evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses. Organized for easy reading, each of the book's chapters focuses on a critical management issue. INDUSTRY WEEK, JULY 29, 1998

* Anyone who takes business seriously should rush out to purchase [this book]. The Boyetts have gathered their gurus into handy bunches. To their credit, they did not limit the list to the old standbys. The chapter on leadership presents just about everything everyone might have to say about being a great leader, along with caveats that following everyone's advice to the letter might lead to nothing at all. In a world that changes at the speed of light, it's a valuable place to go to slow things down and take the measure of what is actually going on. The Guru Guide is the book to keep the way you would keep a good book of maps, because it always pays to know exactly where you are going in the world of management thought. ACROSS THE BOARD, SEPTEMBER 1998

* The concept...is so simple it will leave other writers envious they didn't think of it first. Better yet, the Boyetts pull the task off well, avoiding the traps they could have fallen into, such as overemphasizing one or two prized gurus or using the material as a springboard to discuss their own theories. The ideas are presented simply but reasonably thoroughly, so the reader...comes away with a good understanding of the basic concepts that guru is purveying. The Boyetts provide syntheses, linking the gurus' ideas so that similarities and differences are clear. That's valuable since it's not common for business gurus, unlike more academic writers, to put arguments in context. The end result is quite spectacular, in its understated way: an easy-to-read, well organized look at modern management writing. If you're looking for a good guru, try them all in one place. THE TORONTO STAR, AUGUST 24, 1998

CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Leadership

Chapter 2: Managing Change

Chapter 3: The Learning Organization

Chapter 4: Creating High-Performance Organizations through Teamwork

Chapter 5: The Pursuit of Market Leadership (Business Strategy)

Chapter 6: Managing and Motivating People

Chapter 7: Business, Work, and Society (Business Structure)



Our Gurus

In total, we selected seventy-nine individuals for gurudom. Some of them are unarguably the best thinkers in their field(s). Others may weigh in a little light in the thinking area, but their bank accounts attest to their popularity.
Karl Albrecht Sumantra Ghoshal David Norton
Christopher Argyris Thomas Gilbert James O'Toole
Ken Bamforth Robert Greenleaf Glenn Parker
Christopher Bartlett Gary Hamel William Pasmore
Warren Bennis Michael Hammer Tom Peters
Warren Blank Charles Handy Paul Platten
Lee G. Bolman David Hofrichter Michael Porter
Juana Bordas William Isaacs C. K. Prahalad
Adam Brandenburger

Laurie Beth Jones
Edgar Schein
Jill Carpenter

Patricia Kane
Peter Scholtes
John Case Robert Kaplan Donald Schön
James Champy Jon Katzenbach Jay Schuster
Jay A. Conger Manfred Kets deVries John Schuster
Daryl Connor Daniel Kim Peter Senge
Stephen Covey John Kotter Henry Sims
Aubrey Daniels Edward E. Lawler Douglas Smith
Terrence Deal Charles Manz Jack Stack
Max DePree Henry Mintzberg Paul Strebel
Peter Drucker Allan Mohrman Noel Tichy
Fred Emery Susan Mohrman Michael Treacy
Richard Farson James Moore Eric Trist
Thomas Flannery Linda Moran Marvin Weisbord
Jay Forrester Ed Musselwhite Etienne Wenger
Timothy Galpin Barry Nalebuff Margaret Wheatley
Howard Gardner Burt Nanus Fred Wiersema
John Gardner John Zenger
Patricia Zingheim

You can order a copy of The Guru Guide or ask for it at your local book store. (ISBN 0-471-38054-7)

Click here to order