Provocative and Inspirational, 04 Sep 2008
Gary Hamel is one of the world's leading thinkers on business strategy. In this important and ambitious work he reviews current management methods and condemns them as relics of a bygone age. Using case studies including Whole Foods, W L Gore and Google, he argues for a new system of management that is empowering and democratic. His writing style is clear and cogent. The book is easy to read and will stimulate your thinking. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in innovation, leadership and strategy.

Hamel does it again, 28 Jun 2008
I have always been impressed with the writings of Prof Hamel and his work with Prahalad. This book wont let you down. Its thoughtful and reflective and the use of case studies are interesting. Hamel continues to develop his assertion that professional managers can suffer from a `management frame' and identifies how they can overcome this. Its great to read book that is about management and not this on-going media obession with entrepreneurship. Excellent organisations require highly skilled,thoughtful and reflective managers. This book will help all managers.

Great book on innovation and on desirable management culture, 07 Jan 2008
I recently came across this fascinating new book by Gary Hamel in the course of my investigation of Agile.

It's perhaps the best book I've read on innovation - and the best book I've read on desirable management culture. It's a real joy to read.

I'll cast my vote any day for the kind of pro-innovation pro-enablement management culture Hamel describes. It's the approach that has great potential to motivate key employees.

It includes chapters on the remarkable management cultures at Whole Foods Market, W.L. Gore (makers of Gore-Tex etc), and a small little upstart called Google.

Here's a quote from around 20% of the way in: "if you want to capture the economic high ground in the creative economy, you need employees who are more than acquiescent, attentive, and astute - they must also be zestful, zany, and zealous. So we must ask: what are the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving this state of organisational bliss?"

The rest of the book provides answers to this question.

A guide to new ideas in management, 11 Oct 2007
This is a well-wrought, ambitious and fascinating book. For these reasons, and for its specific suggestions about how to produce management innovation, we recommend it to anyone who is interested in innovation, in managing for innovation, and in how management is changing. Gary Hamel's ambition is impressive. He works with the idea of the paradigm shift developed by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Hamel applies Kuhn's concept to management, arguing persuasively for the need to change managerial theories and practices. Where Hamel's study directs you for inspiration is particularly fascinating. How many authors suggest modeling management on Google, evolutionary biology and religion (to name but three examples)? While his examples of organizations that practice management innovation do differ from the industrial-age norm he wants to displace, some of his concepts are not as revolutionary as others, nor as radical as a paradigm shift might mandate. After all, many other experts have already suggested that hierarchical, top-down management may stifle innovation. Nonetheless, Hamel's book fulfills most of its ambitions. It is wide-ranging and quite useful.

An invaluable "guide to inventing tomorrow's best practices today", 09 Oct 2007

As he clearly indicates in his earlier books, notably in Competing for the Future (with C.K. Prahalad) and then in Leading the Revolution, Gary Hamel's mission in life is to exorcise "the poltergeists who inhabit the musty machinery of management" so that decision-makers can free themselves from what James O'Toole aptly characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." In his Preface to this volume, written with Bill Breen, Hamel asserts that "today's best practices aren't good enough" and later suggests that he wrote this book for "dreamers and doers" who want to invent "tomorrow's best practices today." In this brilliant book, he explains how to do that.

In the city where I live, we have a number of outdoor markets at which slices of fresh fruit are offered as samples of the produce available. In that same spirit, I frequently include brief excerpts from a book to help those who read my review to get a "taste." Here is a representative selection of Hamel's insights:

"To thrive in an increasingly disruptive world, companies must become as strategically adaptable as they are operationally efficient. To safeguard their margins, they must become gushers of rule-breaking innovation. And if they're going to out-invent and outthink as growing mob of upstarts, they must learn how to inspire their employees to give the very best of themselves every day. These are the challenges that must be addressed by 21st-century management innovators." (Page 11)

"Many factors contribute to strategic inertia, but three pose a particularly grave threat to timely renewal. The first is the tendency of management teams to deny or ignore the need for a strategy reboot. The second is a dearth of compelling alternatives to the status quo, which often leads to strategic paralysis. And the third: allocational rigidities that make it difficult to deploy talent and capital behind new initiatives. Each of these barriers stands in the way of zero-trauma change; hence each deserves to be a focal point for management innovation." (Page 44)

"Skepticism and humility are important attributes for a management innovator - yet they're not enough. To create space for management innovation you will need to systematically deconstruct the management orthodoxies that bind you and your colleagues to new possibilities. Here's how to get started. Pick a big management issue like change, innovation, or employee engagement, and then assemble 10 or 20 of your colleagues. Ask each of them to write down ten things they believe about the nominated problem. Have them inscribe each belief on a Post-it note. Then plaster the stickies on a wall and group similar beliefs together." Then sustain a rigorous discussion during which all premises and assumptions are challenged. "To escape the straitjacket of conventional thinking, you have to be able to distinguish between beliefs that describe the world as it is, and describe the world as it is and must forever remain." Focus on what can be changed...and should be changed. (Pages 130-131)

I especially appreciate Hamel's analysis of three exemplary companies: Whole Foods Market (a "community of purpose"), W.L. Gore (an "innovation democracy"), and Google ("brink-of-chaos management"). Hamel focuses his attention to how these companies invent tomorrow's best practices today. He cleverly juxtaposes a "management innovation challenge" with each company's "distinctive management practices." Having established and then sustained a one-on-one rapport with his reader throughout the narrative, Hamel makes it crystal clear that that he is not urging his reader to address the same challenges and develop the same best practices for any one of the three exemplary companies, much less emulate all three. That would be insane.

"There isn't any law that prevents large organizations from being engaging, innovative, and adaptive - and mostly bureaucracy free. Even better, it really is possible to set the human spirit free at work. So no more excuses. It's time for you to buckle down and start inventing the future of management...My goal in writing this book was not to predict the future of management but to help you invent it...From the first time since the dawning of the industrial age, the only way to build a company that's fit for the future is to build one that is fit for human beings as well."

So, there's Gary Hamel's challenge: Start your own "revolution" and lead it. If you don't, who will?

When new-car developers at Ford Motor Company wanted to learn why the original Taurus design team was so successful, no-one could tell them. No-one remembered or had recorded what made that effort so special; the knowledge gained in the Taurus project was lost forever. Indeed, the most valuable asset in any company is probably also its most elusive and difficult to manage: knowledge. Authors Thomas H Davenport and Laurence Prusak assert that learning how to identify, manage and foster knowledge is vital for companies who hope to compete in today's fast-moving global economy.

Working Knowledge examines how knowledge can be nurtured in organisations. Building trust throughout a company is the key to creating a knowledge-orientated corporate culture, a positive environment in which employees are encouraged to make decisions that are efficient, productive and innovative. The book includes numerous examples of successful knowledge projects at companies such as British Petroleum, 3M, Mobil Oil and Hewlett-Packard. Concise and clearly written, Working Knowledge is an excellent resource for managers who want to better harness the experience and wisdom within their organisations. --Jake Bond

Provocative and Inspirational, 04 Sep 2008
Gary Hamel is one of the world's leading thinkers on business strategy. In this important and ambitious work he reviews current management methods and condemns them as relics of a bygone age. Using case studies including Whole Foods, W L Gore and Google, he argues for a new system of management that is empowering and democratic. His writing style is clear and cogent. The book is easy to read and will stimulate your thinking. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in innovation, leadership and strategy.

Hamel does it again, 28 Jun 2008
I have always been impressed with the writings of Prof Hamel and his work with Prahalad. This book wont let you down. Its thoughtful and reflective and the use of case studies are interesting. Hamel continues to develop his assertion that professional managers can suffer from a `management frame' and identifies how they can overcome this. Its great to read book that is about management and not this on-going media obession with entrepreneurship. Excellent organisations require highly skilled,thoughtful and reflective managers. This book will help all managers.

Great book on innovation and on desirable management culture, 07 Jan 2008
I recently came across this fascinating new book by Gary Hamel in the course of my investigation of Agile.

It's perhaps the best book I've read on innovation - and the best book I've read on desirable management culture. It's a real joy to read.

I'll cast my vote any day for the kind of pro-innovation pro-enablement management culture Hamel describes. It's the approach that has great potential to motivate key employees.

It includes chapters on the remarkable management cultures at Whole Foods Market, W.L. Gore (makers of Gore-Tex etc), and a small little upstart called Google.

Here's a quote from around 20% of the way in: "if you want to capture the economic high ground in the creative economy, you need employees who are more than acquiescent, attentive, and astute - they must also be zestful, zany, and zealous. So we must ask: what are the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving this state of organisational bliss?"

The rest of the book provides answers to this question.

A guide to new ideas in management, 11 Oct 2007
This is a well-wrought, ambitious and fascinating book. For these reasons, and for its specific suggestions about how to produce management innovation, we recommend it to anyone who is interested in innovation, in managing for innovation, and in how management is changing. Gary Hamel's ambition is impressive. He works with the idea of the paradigm shift developed by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Hamel applies Kuhn's concept to management, arguing persuasively for the need to change managerial theories and practices. Where Hamel's study directs you for inspiration is particularly fascinating. How many authors suggest modeling management on Google, evolutionary biology and religion (to name but three examples)? While his examples of organizations that practice management innovation do differ from the industrial-age norm he wants to displace, some of his concepts are not as revolutionary as others, nor as radical as a paradigm shift might mandate. After all, many other experts have already suggested that hierarchical, top-down management may stifle innovation. Nonetheless, Hamel's book fulfills most of its ambitions. It is wide-ranging and quite useful.

An invaluable "guide to inventing tomorrow's best practices today", 09 Oct 2007

As he clearly indicates in his earlier books, notably in Competing for the Future (with C.K. Prahalad) and then in Leading the Revolution, Gary Hamel's mission in life is to exorcise "the poltergeists who inhabit the musty machinery of management" so that decision-makers can free themselves from what James O'Toole aptly characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." In his Preface to this volume, written with Bill Breen, Hamel asserts that "today's best practices aren't good enough" and later suggests that he wrote this book for "dreamers and doers" who want to invent "tomorrow's best practices today." In this brilliant book, he explains how to do that.

In the city where I live, we have a number of outdoor markets at which slices of fresh fruit are offered as samples of the produce available. In that same spirit, I frequently include brief excerpts from a book to help those who read my review to get a "taste." Here is a representative selection of Hamel's insights:

"To thrive in an increasingly disruptive world, companies must become as strategically adaptable as they are operationally efficient. To safeguard their margins, they must become gushers of rule-breaking innovation. And if they're going to out-invent and outthink as growing mob of upstarts, they must learn how to inspire their employees to give the very best of themselves every day. These are the challenges that must be addressed by 21st-century management innovators." (Page 11)

"Many factors contribute to strategic inertia, but three pose a particularly grave threat to timely renewal. The first is the tendency of management teams to deny or ignore the need for a strategy reboot. The second is a dearth of compelling alternatives to the status quo, which often leads to strategic paralysis. And the third: allocational rigidities that make it difficult to deploy talent and capital behind new initiatives. Each of these barriers stands in the way of zero-trauma change; hence each deserves to be a focal point for management innovation." (Page 44)

"Skepticism and humility are important attributes for a management innovator - yet they're not enough. To create space for management innovation you will need to systematically deconstruct the management orthodoxies that bind you and your colleagues to new possibilities. Here's how to get started. Pick a big management issue like change, innovation, or employee engagement, and then assemble 10 or 20 of your colleagues. Ask each of them to write down ten things they believe about the nominated problem. Have them inscribe each belief on a Post-it note. Then plaster the stickies on a wall and group similar beliefs together." Then sustain a rigorous discussion during which all premises and assumptions are challenged. "To escape the straitjacket of conventional thinking, you have to be able to distinguish between beliefs that describe the world as it is, and describe the world as it is and must forever remain." Focus on what can be changed...and should be changed. (Pages 130-131)

I especially appreciate Hamel's analysis of three exemplary companies: Whole Foods Market (a "community of purpose"), W.L. Gore (an "innovation democracy"), and Google ("brink-of-chaos management"). Hamel focuses his attention to how these companies invent tomorrow's best practices today. He cleverly juxtaposes a "management innovation challenge" with each company's "distinctive management practices." Having established and then sustained a one-on-one rapport with his reader throughout the narrative, Hamel makes it crystal clear that that he is not urging his reader to address the same challenges and develop the same best practices for any one of the three exemplary companies, much less emulate all three. That would be insane.

"There isn't any law that prevents large organizations from being engaging, innovative, and adaptive - and mostly bureaucracy free. Even better, it really is possible to set the human spirit free at work. So no more excuses. It's time for you to buckle down and start inventing the future of management...My goal in writing this book was not to predict the future of management but to help you invent it...From the first time since the dawning of the industrial age, the only way to build a company that's fit for the future is to build one that is fit for human beings as well."

So, there's Gary Hamel's challenge: Start your own "revolution" and lead it. If you don't, who will?

First Great Book of Best Practices for Knowledge Management, 27 May 2004
Although knowledge management is an irresistible concept, your progress in this area is anything but assurred. Knowledge management is a hot topic, but it is usually pushed by people who want to sell you something. As a result, you can end up with a lot of technology that will not help you to manage your knowledge. As insurance against getting started in the wrong direction, I suggest you read Working Knowledge as a first step.

Davenport and Prusak have examined 39 organizations that are well above average users of their knowledge. The case histories will give you a practical sense of what works that would take you years of false steps to duplicate in your organization.

Then, even more helpfully, the authors outline the key lessons of these top performers for you to follow. I especially recommend chapter 9 on The Pragmatics of Knowledge Management.

Any new initiative will run into problems and fall back. A great book to read next is The Dance of Change, which focuses squarely on that issue.

Any book has to narrow its focus to be successful. That focus creates a vulnerability. In this book, the vulnerability is not looking far enough ahead for more effective ways to do knowledge management that no one is yet doing. For example, the potential to share knowledge among top best practice organizations is enormous. More attention is needed here.

But do buy, read, and apply the lessons of this book. It's a great place to start!

The best practical overview of KM I have found, 20 Jul 2001
This is a must-read for anyone interested in knowledge management, especially if they need to understand how knowledge is operating in their organization and how to improve "knowledge efficiency". It avoids all the jargon, contains a lot of appropriate references and mini case studies. It is really easy to read and understand while at the same time giving the topic in its true status.

Not bad - but not good either, 01 Apr 2001
I thought that I should share my knowledge of this title having read it during the last two weeks. ;-) First the good points - it's a good introduction to the subject, it's easy to read, and it's interesting (in parts). But I found the writers a little irritating. Have they ever actually been involved in a knowledge-management project? Or, for that matter, any project? I got a strong sense of their inexperience when I read the book. They also don't appear to like technology - often talking up the company librarian at the expense of the IT department (I don't work for IT!). So a good introduction - but no solutions here.

Excellent book on corporate knowledge management., 06 Jul 2000
One of the very few management books I've read cover to cover in the course of a couple of evenings. The authors have a full understanding of all aspects of corporate knowledge management and put this across in a very informative way. Lots of real world examples - very useful for anyone involved in company training or knowledge management.

Read this early. It is a good starter book., 11 Feb 2000
Interesting and illuminating read. Has reinforced many of the ideas presented by other workers (Nonaka et al, Polanyi etc). Can recommend this book as a good point to start.

Knowledge is power. In corporate terms knowledge means efficiency, productivity and ultimately profit, but too often it is not exploited to the full. Learning to Fly shows how organisations can take the knowledge within a company and turn it to a new advantage. It has been built from the real-world experiences of authors Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell during their time working for BP.

The book is divided into three parts. First the concept of knowledge management is introduced--if you've not come across it before, this section explains the principles. Part two describes how various techniques can be applied in order to share knowledge. The theory is fleshed out with real-world examples. Finally, part three takes a look at how knowledge management can be embedded within an organisation's everyday work rather than be simply applied as if an afterthought. The goal is to achieve a situation in which sharing knowledge is an everyday practice that does not need specialists to manage it. To this end, "Action Zones" encourage the reader to think about their own situation and ideas, and practical suggestions are offered. Learning to Fly puts the theory in place in order to explain how to use it in real-life working environments.--Sandra Vogel

Provocative and Inspirational, 04 Sep 2008
Gary Hamel is one of the world's leading thinkers on business strategy. In this important and ambitious work he reviews current management methods and condemns them as relics of a bygone age. Using case studies including Whole Foods, W L Gore and Google, he argues for a new system of management that is empowering and democratic. His writing style is clear and cogent. The book is easy to read and will stimulate your thinking. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in innovation, leadership and strategy.

Hamel does it again, 28 Jun 2008
I have always been impressed with the writings of Prof Hamel and his work with Prahalad. This book wont let you down. Its thoughtful and reflective and the use of case studies are interesting. Hamel continues to develop his assertion that professional managers can suffer from a `management frame' and identifies how they can overcome this. Its great to read book that is about management and not this on-going media obession with entrepreneurship. Excellent organisations require highly skilled,thoughtful and reflective managers. This book will help all managers.

Great book on innovation and on desirable management culture, 07 Jan 2008
I recently came across this fascinating new book by Gary Hamel in the course of my investigation of Agile.

It's perhaps the best book I've read on innovation - and the best book I've read on desirable management culture. It's a real joy to read.

I'll cast my vote any day for the kind of pro-innovation pro-enablement management culture Hamel describes. It's the approach that has great potential to motivate key employees.

It includes chapters on the remarkable management cultures at Whole Foods Market, W.L. Gore (makers of Gore-Tex etc), and a small little upstart called Google.

Here's a quote from around 20% of the way in: "if you want to capture the economic high ground in the creative economy, you need employees who are more than acquiescent, attentive, and astute - they must also be zestful, zany, and zealous. So we must ask: what are the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving this state of organisational bliss?"

The rest of the book provides answers to this question.

A guide to new ideas in management, 11 Oct 2007
This is a well-wrought, ambitious and fascinating book. For these reasons, and for its specific suggestions about how to produce management innovation, we recommend it to anyone who is interested in innovation, in managing for innovation, and in how management is changing. Gary Hamel's ambition is impressive. He works with the idea of the paradigm shift developed by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Hamel applies Kuhn's concept to management, arguing persuasively for the need to change managerial theories and practices. Where Hamel's study directs you for inspiration is particularly fascinating. How many authors suggest modeling management on Google, evolutionary biology and religion (to name but three examples)? While his examples of organizations that practice management innovation do differ from the industrial-age norm he wants to displace, some of his concepts are not as revolutionary as others, nor as radical as a paradigm shift might mandate. After all, many other experts have already suggested that hierarchical, top-down management may stifle innovation. Nonetheless, Hamel's book fulfills most of its ambitions. It is wide-ranging and quite useful.

An invaluable "guide to inventing tomorrow's best practices today", 09 Oct 2007

As he clearly indicates in his earlier books, notably in Competing for the Future (with C.K. Prahalad) and then in Leading the Revolution, Gary Hamel's mission in life is to exorcise "the poltergeists who inhabit the musty machinery of management" so that decision-makers can free themselves from what James O'Toole aptly characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." In his Preface to this volume, written with Bill Breen, Hamel asserts that "today's best practices aren't good enough" and later suggests that he wrote this book for "dreamers and doers" who want to invent "tomorrow's best practices today." In this brilliant book, he explains how to do that.

In the city where I live, we have a number of outdoor markets at which slices of fresh fruit are offered as samples of the produce available. In that same spirit, I frequently include brief excerpts from a book to help those who read my review to get a "taste." Here is a representative selection of Hamel's insights:

"To thrive in an increasingly disruptive world, companies must become as strategically adaptable as they are operationally efficient. To safeguard their margins, they must become gushers of rule-breaking innovation. And if they're going to out-invent and outthink as growing mob of upstarts, they must learn how to inspire their employees to give the very best of themselves every day. These are the challenges that must be addressed by 21st-century management innovators." (Page 11)

"Many factors contribute to strategic inertia, but three pose a particularly grave threat to timely renewal. The first is the tendency of management teams to deny or ignore the need for a strategy reboot. The second is a dearth of compelling alternatives to the status quo, which often leads to strategic paralysis. And the third: allocational rigidities that make it difficult to deploy talent and capital behind new initiatives. Each of these barriers stands in the way of zero-trauma change; hence each deserves to be a focal point for management innovation." (Page 44)

"Skepticism and humility are important attributes for a management innovator - yet they're not enough. To create space for management innovation you will need to systematically deconstruct the management orthodoxies that bind you and your colleagues to new possibilities. Here's how to get started. Pick a big management issue like change, innovation, or employee engagement, and then assemble 10 or 20 of your colleagues. Ask each of them to write down ten things they believe about the nominated problem. Have them inscribe each belief on a Post-it note. Then plaster the stickies on a wall and group similar beliefs together." Then sustain a rigorous discussion during which all premises and assumptions are challenged. "To escape the straitjacket of conventional thinking, you have to be able to distinguish between beliefs that describe the world as it is, and describe the world as it is and must forever remain." Focus on what can be changed...and should be changed. (Pages 130-131)

I especially appreciate Hamel's analysis of three exemplary companies: Whole Foods Market (a "community of purpose"), W.L. Gore (an "innovation democracy"), and Google ("brink-of-chaos management"). Hamel focuses his attention to how these companies invent tomorrow's best practices today. He cleverly juxtaposes a "management innovation challenge" with each company's "distinctive management practices." Having established and then sustained a one-on-one rapport with his reader throughout the narrative, Hamel makes it crystal clear that that he is not urging his reader to address the same challenges and develop the same best practices for any one of the three exemplary companies, much less emulate all three. That would be insane.

"There isn't any law that prevents large organizations from being engaging, innovative, and adaptive - and mostly bureaucracy free. Even better, it really is possible to set the human spirit free at work. So no more excuses. It's time for you to buckle down and start inventing the future of management...My goal in writing this book was not to predict the future of management but to help you invent it...From the first time since the dawning of the industrial age, the only way to build a company that's fit for the future is to build one that is fit for human beings as well."

So, there's Gary Hamel's challenge: Start your own "revolution" and lead it. If you don't, who will?

First Great Book of Best Practices for Knowledge Management, 27 May 2004
Although knowledge management is an irresistible concept, your progress in this area is anything but assurred. Knowledge management is a hot topic, but it is usually pushed by people who want to sell you something. As a result, you can end up with a lot of technology that will not help you to manage your knowledge. As insurance against getting started in the wrong direction, I suggest you read Working Knowledge as a first step.

Davenport and Prusak have examined 39 organizations that are well above average users of their knowledge. The case histories will give you a practical sense of what works that would take you years of false steps to duplicate in your organization.

Then, even more helpfully, the authors outline the key lessons of these top performers for you to follow. I especially recommend chapter 9 on The Pragmatics of Knowledge Management.

Any new initiative will run into problems and fall back. A great book to read next is The Dance of Change, which focuses squarely on that issue.

Any book has to narrow its focus to be successful. That focus creates a vulnerability. In this book, the vulnerability is not looking far enough ahead for more effective ways to do knowledge management that no one is yet doing. For example, the potential to share knowledge among top best practice organizations is enormous. More attention is needed here.

But do buy, read, and apply the lessons of this book. It's a great place to start!

The best practical overview of KM I have found, 20 Jul 2001
This is a must-read for anyone interested in knowledge management, especially if they need to understand how knowledge is operating in their organization and how to improve "knowledge efficiency". It avoids all the jargon, contains a lot of appropriate references and mini case studies. It is really easy to read and understand while at the same time giving the topic in its true status.

Not bad - but not good either, 01 Apr 2001
I thought that I should share my knowledge of this title having read it during the last two weeks. ;-) First the good points - it's a good introduction to the subject, it's easy to read, and it's interesting (in parts). But I found the writers a little irritating. Have they ever actually been involved in a knowledge-management project? Or, for that matter, any project? I got a strong sense of their inexperience when I read the book. They also don't appear to like technology - often talking up the company librarian at the expense of the IT department (I don't work for IT!). So a good introduction - but no solutions here.

Excellent book on corporate knowledge management., 06 Jul 2000
One of the very few management books I've read cover to cover in the course of a couple of evenings. The authors have a full understanding of all aspects of corporate knowledge management and put this across in a very informative way. Lots of real world examples - very useful for anyone involved in company training or knowledge management.

Read this early. It is a good starter book., 11 Feb 2000
Interesting and illuminating read. Has reinforced many of the ideas presented by other workers (Nonaka et al, Polanyi etc). Can recommend this book as a good point to start.

KM - Before / During / After - A realistic toolkit for professionals, 07 Apr 2008
I was to present the result of a piece of Knowledge Management (KM) work to an organisational development unit in our bank. I thought that I should include some industry knowledge on models and process for KM. After browsing through the amazing amount of KM books, I choosed this book and was more than rewarded for it.

The book formalises many of the steps I have followed myself with success in a number of KM projects. I can really recommend it. If you have never run a KM project, this book gives you reliable process and steps description. It signposts the traps and pitfalls and outline corrective measures.

I particularly like the KM process description, the chapter on peer knowledge sharing and also the information architecture and visuals of the book together with the DVD that present additional material. A book which delivers on its promisses!

Bravo to the authors, two pragmatic practionners who have modellised the success factors of their experience in KM without turning it into a mere experience sharing as also ground KM theory is well present. Hope to meet them in one of their KM events.

Far more than Knowledge Management, 30 Oct 2007
This book is a stunning example of practising what it preaches!
It is so rare to find theory and practice as well combined as they are here. I felt I could walk into an organisation, book in hand, and make KM happen!
Knowledge Management hardly does justice to what is described here, it is the creation of a culture of sharing and collaboration to produce real business results. It blazes a truly inspiring trail to follow!


Want to more about knowledge management? Read this book!, 03 Sep 2001
Collinson and Parcell have produced a book that is both informative and easy to read. It draws primarily on both their experiences of knowledge management with BP. However, the principles and applications contained within the text, are universal.

They provide a plethora of vital information that will allow the reader to improve the management of knowledge on a personal level, and within the Company for whom they work. The book has opened my eyes to possibilities never before imagined and has improved the way I do business on a day to day basis.

I thoroughly recommend this book to any reader who has the aspiration to deliver "best in class" results and the retention and use of that most vital of business resources, knowledge!

Beyond KM theory, 09 Aug 2001
Beyond the theory - here's 'the' hands-on guide to making KM work for real. As a practitioner of KM, I recognise and appreciate many of the initiatives and projects the authors successfully introduced and gained adoption of throughout BP. It's also refreshing to read that they had learning points to review too. This book illustrates how to achieve the ultimate goal - making KM part of the way to do business. KM is, after all, just good management, it shouldn't be regarded as an add-on, something extra to do. I recommend this book unreservedly to all who are engaged in KM activity - from those new to the field to those who (like me) want to make sure that they're doing the right things!

Great book on KM and especially After Action Reviews., 06 May 2001
This must be one of the best books on KM I've seen for a long time. What I love about it - is its lack of focus on technology. Yes - BP are using technology in a big way - but it is just the enabler. The book focuses on the people side - building learning into an organization and on the concepts of the After-Action Review (AAR) - 'Learn Before', 'Learn During' and 'Learn After'.

Last year in the US 1,700 books were published on business and management, 80,000 students enrolled for MBA courses, corporations spent an estimated US$43 billion on management consultancy and a further US$60 billion went on management training. It is quite clear that there is no shortage of information about how to improve business. But it is equally clear that businesses aren't improving as you would expect if mere knowledge were everything. Somehow there is an important discontinuity between knowledge and implementation.

It is this gap that Stamford academics Jeffrey Roberts and Robert Sutton identify and examine for the first time in this truly outstanding and significant book. Their methodology is cast iron. Given that everybody has equal access to knowledge, it is not the knowledge but the ability to act on it that confers competitive advantage, they argue. Four years in research, with dozens of examples and case studies, they rigorously establish not only that there is a knowledge gap, but that it matters. They then identify possible causes and suggest solutions. But the real power of this book lies not in the robustness of its construction but in its sometimes shocking, always provocative iconoclastic conclusions. "Knowledge management and business schools magnify the problem." "Talk, presentations, planning and making decisions are often a substitute for action." "Measurement obstructs good judgement" and "memory can be a substitute for thinking", they write.

As you may have guessed there are no easy solutions to the knowing-doing dilemma. "The problem is not just costs or leadership or some single organisational practice ... The gap arises from a constellation of factors and it is essential that leaders understand them all." However, they do reveal that "one of the most important insights from our research is that knowledge that is actually implemented is much more to be acquired from learning by doing than from learning by reading, listening or even thinking." In the final chapter, they then outline eight guidelines for action which should they say help to close this gap.

This really is an important book. Fresh, beautifully written and as compulsive a read as any book on management could reasonably be. It is not only a worthy read in its own right, it will add real value to all the other knowledge you acquire. --Alex Benady

Provocative and Inspirational, 04 Sep 2008
Gary Hamel is one of the world's leading thinkers on business strategy. In this important and ambitious work he reviews current management methods and condemns them as relics of a bygone age. Using case studies including Whole Foods, W L Gore and Google, he argues for a new system of management that is empowering and democratic. His writing style is clear and cogent. The book is easy to read and will stimulate your thinking. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in innovation, leadership and strategy.

Hamel does it again, 28 Jun 2008
I have always been impressed with the writings of Prof Hamel and his work with Prahalad. This book wont let you down. Its thoughtful and reflective and the use of case studies are interesting. Hamel continues to develop his assertion that professional managers can suffer from a `management frame' and identifies how they can overcome this. Its great to read book that is about management and not this on-going media obession with entrepreneurship. Excellent organisations require highly skilled,thoughtful and reflective managers. This book will help all managers.

Great book on innovation and on desirable management culture, 07 Jan 2008
I recently came across this fascinating new book by Gary Hamel in the course of my investigation of Agile.

It's perhaps the best book I've read on innovation - and the best book I've read on desirable management culture. It's a real joy to read.

I'll cast my vote any day for the kind of pro-innovation pro-enablement management culture Hamel describes. It's the approach that has great potential to motivate key employees.

It includes chapters on the remarkable management cultures at Whole Foods Market, W.L. Gore (makers of Gore-Tex etc), and a small little upstart called Google.

Here's a quote from around 20% of the way in: "if you want to capture the economic high ground in the creative economy, you need employees who are more than acquiescent, attentive, and astute - they must also be zestful, zany, and zealous. So we must ask: what are the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving this state of organisational bliss?"

The rest of the book provides answers to this question.

A guide to new ideas in management, 11 Oct 2007
This is a well-wrought, ambitious and fascinating book. For these reasons, and for its specific suggestions about how to produce management innovation, we recommend it to anyone who is interested in innovation, in managing for innovation, and in how management is changing. Gary Hamel's ambition is impressive. He works with the idea of the paradigm shift developed by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Hamel applies Kuhn's concept to management, arguing persuasively for the need to change managerial theories and practices. Where Hamel's study directs you for inspiration is particularly fascinating. How many authors suggest modeling management on Google, evolutionary biology and religion (to name but three examples)? While his examples of organizations that practice management innovation do differ from the industrial-age norm he wants to displace, some of his concepts are not as revolutionary as others, nor as radical as a paradigm shift might mandate. After all, many other experts have already suggested that hierarchical, top-down management may stifle innovation. Nonetheless, Hamel's book fulfills most of its ambitions. It is wide-ranging and quite useful.

An invaluable "guide to inventing tomorrow's best practices today", 09 Oct 2007

As he clearly indicates in his earlier books, notably in Competing for the Future (with C.K. Prahalad) and then in Leading the Revolution, Gary Hamel's mission in life is to exorcise "the poltergeists who inhabit the musty machinery of management" so that decision-makers can free themselves from what James O'Toole aptly characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." In his Preface to this volume, written with Bill Breen, Hamel asserts that "today's best practices aren't good enough" and later suggests that he wrote this book for "dreamers and doers" who want to invent "tomorrow's best practices today." In this brilliant book, he explains how to do that.

In the city where I live, we have a number of outdoor markets at which slices of fresh fruit are offered as samples of the produce available. In that same spirit, I frequently include brief excerpts from a book to help those who read my review to get a "taste." Here is a representative selection of Hamel's insights:

"To thrive in an increasingly disruptive world, companies must become as strategically adaptable as they are operationally efficient. To safeguard their margins, they must become gushers of rule-breaking innovation. And if they're going to out-invent and outthink as growing mob of upstarts, they must learn how to inspire their employees to give the very best of themselves every day. These are the challenges that must be addressed by 21st-century management innovators." (Page 11)

"Many factors contribute to strategic inertia, but three pose a particularly grave threat to timely renewal. The first is the tendency of management teams to deny or ignore the need for a strategy reboot. The second is a dearth of compelling alternatives to the status quo, which often leads to strategic paralysis. And the third: allocational rigidities that make it difficult to deploy talent and capital behind new initiatives. Each of these barriers stands in the way of zero-trauma change; hence each deserves to be a focal point for management innovation." (Page 44)

"Skepticism and humility are important attributes for a management innovator - yet they're not enough. To create space for management innovation you will need to systematically deconstruct the management orthodoxies that bind you and your colleagues to new possibilities. Here's how to get started. Pick a big management issue like change, innovation, or employee engagement, and then assemble 10 or 20 of your colleagues. Ask each of them to write down ten things they believe about the nominated problem. Have them inscribe each belief on a Post-it note. Then plaster the stickies on a wall and group similar beliefs together." Then sustain a rigorous discussion during which all premises and assumptions are challenged. "To escape the straitjacket of conventional thinking, you have to be able to distinguish between beliefs that describe the world as it is, and describe the world as it is and must forever remain." Focus on what can be changed...and should be changed. (Pages 130-131)

I especially appreciate Hamel's analysis of three exemplary companies: Whole Foods Market (a "community of purpose"), W.L. Gore (an "innovation democracy"), and Google ("brink-of-chaos management"). Hamel focuses his attention to how these companies invent tomorrow's best practices today. He cleverly juxtaposes a "management innovation challenge" with each company's "distinctive management practices." Having established and then sustained a one-on-one rapport with his reader throughout the narrative, Hamel makes it crystal clear that that he is not urging his reader to address the same challenges and develop the same best practices for any one of the three exemplary companies, much less emulate all three. That would be insane.

"There isn't any law that prevents large organizations from being engaging, innovative, and adaptive - and mostly bureaucracy free. Even better, it really is possible to set the human spirit free at work. So no more excuses. It's time for you to buckle down and start inventing the future of management...My goal in writing this book was not to predict the future of management but to help you invent it...From the first time since the dawning of the industrial age, the only way to build a company that's fit for the future is to build one that is fit for human beings as well."

So, there's Gary Hamel's challenge: Start your own "revolution" and lead it. If you don't, who will?

First Great Book of Best Practices for Knowledge Management, 27 May 2004
Although knowledge management is an irresistible concept, your progress in this area is anything but assurred. Knowledge management is a hot topic, but it is usually pushed by people who want to sell you something. As a result, you can end up with a lot of technology that will not help you to manage your knowledge. As insurance against getting started in the wrong direction, I suggest you read Working Knowledge as a first step.

Davenport and Prusak have examined 39 organizations that are well above average users of their knowledge. The case histories will give you a practical sense of what works that would take you years of false steps to duplicate in your organization.

Then, even more helpfully, the authors outline the key lessons of these top performers for you to follow. I especially recommend chapter 9 on The Pragmatics of Knowledge Management.

Any new initiative will run into problems and fall back. A great book to read next is The Dance of Change, which focuses squarely on that issue.

Any book has to narrow its focus to be successful. That focus creates a vulnerability. In this book, the vulnerability is not looking far enough ahead for more effective ways to do knowledge management that no one is yet doing. For example, the potential to share knowledge among top best practice organizations is enormous. More attention is needed here.

But do buy, read, and apply the lessons of this book. It's a great place to start!

The best practical overview of KM I have found, 20 Jul 2001
This is a must-read for anyone interested in knowledge management, especially if they need to understand how knowledge is operating in their organization and how to improve "knowledge efficiency". It avoids all the jargon, contains a lot of appropriate references and mini case studies. It is really easy to read and understand while at the same time giving the topic in its true status.

Not bad - but not good either, 01 Apr 2001
I thought that I should share my knowledge of this title having read it during the last two weeks. ;-) First the good points - it's a good introduction to the subject, it's easy to read, and it's interesting (in parts). But I found the writers a little irritating. Have they ever actually been involved in a knowledge-management project? Or, for that matter, any project? I got a strong sense of their inexperience when I read the book. They also don't appear to like technology - often talking up the company librarian at the expense of the IT department (I don't work for IT!). So a good introduction - but no solutions here.

Excellent book on corporate knowledge management., 06 Jul 2000
One of the very few management books I've read cover to cover in the course of a couple of evenings. The authors have a full understanding of all aspects of corporate knowledge management and put this across in a very informative way. Lots of real world examples - very useful for anyone involved in company training or knowledge management.

Read this early. It is a good starter book., 11 Feb 2000
Interesting and illuminating read. Has reinforced many of the ideas presented by other workers (Nonaka et al, Polanyi etc). Can recommend this book as a good point to start.

KM - Before / During / After - A realistic toolkit for professionals, 07 Apr 2008
I was to present the result of a piece of Knowledge Management (KM) work to an organisational development unit in our bank. I thought that I should include some industry knowledge on models and process for KM. After browsing through the amazing amount of KM books, I choosed this book and was more than rewarded for it.

The book formalises many of the steps I have followed myself with success in a number of KM projects. I can really recommend it. If you have never run a KM project, this book gives you reliable process and steps description. It signposts the traps and pitfalls and outline corrective measures.

I particularly like the KM process description, the chapter on peer knowledge sharing and also the information architecture and visuals of the book together with the DVD that present additional material. A book which delivers on its promisses!

Bravo to the authors, two pragmatic practionners who have modellised the success factors of their experience in KM without turning it into a mere experience sharing as also ground KM theory is well present. Hope to meet them in one of their KM events.

Far more than Knowledge Management, 30 Oct 2007
This book is a stunning example of practising what it preaches!
It is so rare to find theory and practice as well combined as they are here. I felt I could walk into an organisation, book in hand, and make KM happen!
Knowledge Management hardly does justice to what is described here, it is the creation of a culture of sharing and collaboration to produce real business results. It blazes a truly inspiring trail to follow!


Want to more about knowledge management? Read this book!, 03 Sep 2001
Collinson and Parcell have produced a book that is both informative and easy to read. It draws primarily on both their experiences of knowledge management with BP. However, the principles and applications contained within the text, are universal.

They provide a plethora of vital information that will allow the reader to improve the management of knowledge on a personal level, and within the Company for whom they work. The book has opened my eyes to possibilities never before imagined and has improved the way I do business on a day to day basis.

I thoroughly recommend this book to any reader who has the aspiration to deliver "best in class" results and the retention and use of that most vital of business resources, knowledge!

Beyond KM theory, 09 Aug 2001
Beyond the theory - here's 'the' hands-on guide to making KM work for real. As a practitioner of KM, I recognise and appreciate many of the initiatives and projects the authors successfully introduced and gained adoption of throughout BP. It's also refreshing to read that they had learning points to review too. This book illustrates how to achieve the ultimate goal - making KM part of the way to do business. KM is, after all, just good management, it shouldn't be regarded as an add-on, something extra to do. I recommend this book unreservedly to all who are engaged in KM activity - from those new to the field to those who (like me) want to make sure that they're doing the right things!

Great book on KM and especially After Action Reviews., 06 May 2001
This must be one of the best books on KM I've seen for a long time. What I love about it - is its lack of focus on technology. Yes - BP are using technology in a big way - but it is just the enabler. The book focuses on the people side - building learning into an organization and on the concepts of the After-Action Review (AAR) - 'Learn Before', 'Learn During' and 'Learn After'.

How wide is yours?, 27 Sep 2005
With few exceptions, the most valuable business books are those in which their authors share the results of efforts to answer especially important questions. That is certainly true of this book. As Pfeffer and Sutton explain, "We wrote this book because we wanted to understand why so managers know so much about organizational performance, say so many smart things about how to achieve performance, and work so hard, yet are trapped in firms that do so many things they know will undermine performance." Obviously, knowing what to do is not enough. Inorder to identify the causes of what they refer to as the "knowing-doing gap," Pfeffer and Sutton embarked on a four-year research project.

What they learned is shared in this exceptionally informative and thus invaluable book. They organize their material within eight chapters, followed by an appendix in which they provide "The Knowing-Doing Survey." This survey of restaurant managers all by itself is worth far more than the cost of the book. The items to which participants respond can easily be modified to accommodate any other kind of business. Moreover, even in small privately-owned companies, it will enable decision-makers to measure the nature and extent of their own "knowing-doing gap."

Pfeffer and Sutton correctly point out that knowing (in italics) about that gap is different from doing (in italics) something about it. "Understanding causes is helpful because such understanding can guide action. But by itself, this knowing is insufficient -- action must occur." Most executives may not be able to eliminate the gap entirely but, guided and informed by what Prefer and Sutton reveal in this book, they can at least reduce the gap. Moreover, those with supervisory responsibilities will also be able to help reduce the gap for each of those for whom they are responsible.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Sydney Finkelstein's Why Smart Executives Fail...and What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes as well as Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan's Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done.

Packed with Knowledge!, 20 Jun 2005
Comedian Bill Cosby once sang a metaphorical ditty about a man who sat on the railroad tracks each day, only to be hit by a train. He knew when the train was coming, but he just couldn't apply that knowledge to get out of the way. That circumstance will sound hauntingly familiar to corporate consultants. Consider the experience of two consultants conducting deregulation research for a Latin American utility company. They stumbled over an excellent 500-page report completed years previously by a prior consultant. The document had all the information and analysis the company was seeking, but it had never been utilized. Authors Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton expose the alarming gap between what senior managers know and what they actually implement. After four years of intensive research into this issue, they uncover valuable lessons on how to make sure your organization doesn't talk itself to death. Today's companies are struggling to overcome inertia and become more nimble. That's why we strongly recommend this book for managers at every level; if nothing else, you'll know what you ought to be doing.

What keeps firms from implementing what they know?, 27 Feb 2003
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I Sutton are Professors of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford's School of Engineering, respectively. Jeffrey Pfeffer is a well-known author on management issues. This book consists of 8 chapters, plus a short appendix.

Chapter 1 - Knowing "What" to Do Is Not Enough serves as an introduction to the book. It introduces the 'knowing-doing problem' - "the challenge of turning knowledge about how to enhance organizational performance into actions consistent with that knowledge." They discuss the methods they used during a 4-year crusade, whereby the authors have examined a wide range of organisational practices to learn about the knowing-doing gap. In chapters 2 to 6 they discuss the various issues that block organisations from implementing their knowledge. These are respectively: Talk as a substitute for action; memory as a substitute for thinking; fear preventing action; measurement obstructing good judgment; and internal competition resulting into fighting. Although the authors give some advice on methods to decrease the knowing-doing gap in these chapters, they do not really start providing solutions until chapters 7 and 8. Chapter 7 introduces case information on three firms (BP, Barclays Global Investors, and The New Zealand Post) that have been successful at either avoiding the knowing-doing gap or transcending barriers to turning knowledge into action. The final chapter is probably the most useful chapter of the complete book. Pfeffer and Sutton provide us with eight guidelines for action: (1) Why before how; (2) knowing comes from doing and teaching others how; (3) action counts more than elegant plans and concepts; (4) there is no doing without mistakes; (5) fear fosters knowing-doing gaps, so drive out fear; (6) beware of false analogies; (7) measure what matters and what can help turn knowledge into action; and (8) what leaders do matters.

Yes, I do like this book. It discusses a difficult but important issue in management and business - turning knowledge into action. The only disappointment of this book is that the authors spend about 200 pages discussing the issues that stop firms/managers from taking action and only 60 pages on methods for converting knowledge into effective action. In all honesty I would have rather seen it the other way around. The authors do have a very academic background and this is therefore visible in their writing style (business US-English).

What keeps firms from implementing what they know?, 19 Feb 2003
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I Sutton are Professors of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford's School of Engineering, respectively. Jeffrey Pfeffer is a well-known author on management issues. This book consists of 8 chapters, plus a short appendix.

Chapter 1 - Knowing "What" to Do Is Not Enough - serves as an introduction to the book. It introduces the 'knowing-doing problem' - "the challenge of turning knowledge about how to enhance organizational performance into actions consistent with that knowledge." They discuss the methods they used during a 4-year crusade, whereby the authors have examined a wide range of organizational practices to learn about the knowing-doing gap. In chapters 2 to 6 they discuss the various issues that block organizations from implementing their knowledge. These are respectively: Talk as a substitute for action; memory as a substitute for thinking; fear preventing action; measurement obstructing good judgment; and internal competition resulting into fighting. Although the authors give some advice on methods to decrease the knowing-doing gap in these chapters, they do not really start providing solutions until chapters 7 and 8. Chapter 7 introduces case information on three firms (BP, Barclays Global Investors, and The New Zealand Post) that have been successful at either avoiding the knowing-doing gap or transcending barriers to turning knowledge into action. The final chapter is probably the most useful chapter of the complete book. Pfeffer and Sutton provide us with eight guidelines for action: (1) Why before how; (2) knowing comes from doing and teaching others how; (3) action counts more than elegant plans and concepts; (4) there is no doing without mistakes; (5) fear fosters knowing-doing gaps, so drive out fear; (6) beware of false analogies; (7) measure what matters and what can help turn knowledge into action; and (8) what leaders do matters.

Yes, I do like this book. It discusses a difficult but important issue in management and business - turning knowledge into action. The only disappointment of this book is that the authors spend about 200 pages discussing the issues that stop firms/managers/people from taking action and only 60 pages on methods for converting knowledge into effective action. In all honesty I would have rather seen it the other way around. The authors do have a very academic background and this is therefore visible in their writing style (business US-English).

Great advice for curing a pervasive problem, 04 Jan 2003
If you've ever been frustrated by the fact that you *know* how to time manage/delegate/improve a process/manage a project/provide good customer service [delete as applicable or insert any management practice of your own] but just can't implement best practice, for yourself or your organisation, this book is for you.

Given the huge amount of information and management education in most organisations, most managers know what they should do, they just can't or won't do it. This book explains why - and what to do about it. A powerful combination of anecdotes and research findings spell out what causes Knowing-Doing Gaps and gives plenty of examples of organisations that have overcome them.

I was particularly pleased to find that three of the biggest case studies are all non-U.S. organisations (BP, Barclays and the New Zealand Post).

Their research shows clearly that an organisation's structures and culture are the main cause of Knowing-Doing Gaps, so you will need to be in a position to influence these to implement Pfeffer and Sutton's advice.

If you are, be prepared for the fact that this book compels you to do something about it. After all, just reading the book, finding out about the gaps and doing nothing would be doing the authors a disservice!

Provocative and Inspirational, 04 Sep 2008
Gary Hamel is one of the world's leading thinkers on business strategy. In this important and ambitious work he reviews current management methods and condemns them as relics of a bygone age. Using case studies including Whole Foods, W L Gore and Google, he argues for a new system of management that is empowering and democratic. His writing style is clear and cogent. The book is easy to read and will stimulate your thinking. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in innovation, leadership and strategy.

Hamel does it again, 28 Jun 2008
I have always been impressed with the writings of Prof Hamel and his work with Prahalad. This book wont let you down. Its thoughtful and reflective and the use of case studies are interesting. Hamel continues to develop his assertion that professional managers can suffer from a `management frame' and identifies how they can overcome this. Its great to read book that is about management and not this on-going media obession with entrepreneurship. Excellent organisations require highly skilled,thoughtful and reflective managers. This book will help all managers.

Great book on innovation and on desirable management culture, 07 Jan 2008
I recently came across this fascinating new book by Gary Hamel in the course of my investigation of Agile.

It's perhaps the best book I've read on innovation - and the best book I've read on desirable management culture. It's a real joy to read.

I'll cast my vote any day for the kind of pro-innovation pro-enablement management culture Hamel describes. It's the approach that has great potential to motivate key employees.

It includes chapters on the remarkable management cultures at Whole Foods Market, W.L. Gore (makers of Gore-Tex etc), and a small little upstart called Google.

Here's a quote from around 20% of the way in: "if you want to capture the economic high ground in the creative economy, you need employees who are more than acquiescent, attentive, and astute - they must also be zestful, zany, and zealous. So we must ask: what are the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving this state of organisational bliss?"

The rest of the book provides answers to this question.

A guide to new ideas in management, 11 Oct 2007
This is a well-wrought, ambitious and fascinating book. For these reasons, and for its specific suggestions about how to produce management innovation, we recommend it to anyone who is interested in innovation, in managing for innovation, and in how management is changing. Gary Hamel's ambition is impressive. He works with the idea of the paradigm shift developed by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Hamel applies Kuhn's concept to management, arguing persuasively for the need to change managerial theories and practices. Where Hamel's study directs you for inspiration is particularly fascinating. How many authors suggest modeling management on Google, evolutionary biology and religion (to name but three examples)? While his examples of organizations that practice management innovation do differ from the industrial-age norm he wants to displace, some of his concepts are not as revolutionary as others, nor as radical as a paradigm shift might mandate. After all, many other experts have already suggested that hierarchical, top-down management may stifle innovation. Nonetheless, Hamel's book fulfills most of its ambitions. It is wide-ranging and quite useful.

An invaluable "guide to inventing tomorrow's best practices today", 09 Oct 2007

As he clearly indicates in his earlier books, notably in Competing for the Future (with C.K. Prahalad) and then in Leading the Revolution, Gary Hamel's mission in life is to exorcise "the poltergeists who inhabit the musty machinery of management" so that decision-makers can free themselves from what James O'Toole aptly characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." In his Preface to this volume, written with Bill Breen, Hamel asserts that "today's best practices aren't good enough" and later suggests that he wrote this book for "dreamers and doers" who want to invent "tomorrow's best practices today." In this brilliant book, he explains how to do that.

In the city where I live, we have a number of outdoor markets at which slices of fresh fruit are offered as samples of the produce available. In that same spirit, I frequently include brief excerpts from a book to help those who read my review to get a "taste." Here is a representative selection of Hamel's insights:

"To thrive in an increasingly disruptive world, companies must become as strategically adaptable as they are operationally efficient. To safeguard their margins, they must become gushers of rule-breaking innovation. And if they're going to out-invent and outthink as growing mob of upstarts, they must learn how to inspire their employees to give the very best of themselves every day. These are the challenges that must be addressed by 21st-century management innovators." (Page 11)

"Many factors contribute to strategic inertia, but three pose a particularly grave threat to timely renewal. The first is the tendency of management teams to deny or ignore the need for a strategy reboot. The second is a dearth of compelling alternatives to the status quo, which often leads to strategic paralysis. And the third: allocational rigidities that make it difficult to deploy talent and capital behind new initiatives. Each of these barriers stands in the way of zero-trauma change; hence each deserves to be a focal point for management innovation." (Page 44)

"Skepticism and humility are important attributes for a management innovator - yet they're not enough. To create space for management innovation you will need to systematically deconstruct the management orthodoxies that bind you and your colleagues to new possibilities. Here's how to get started. Pick a big management issue like change, innovation, or employee engagement, and then assemble 10 or 20 of your colleagues. Ask each of them to write down ten things they believe about the nominated problem. Have them inscribe each belief on a Post-it note. Then plaster the stickies on a wall and group similar beliefs together." Then sustain a rigorous discussion during which all premises and assumptions are challenged. "To escape the straitjacket of conventional thinking, you have to be able to distinguish between beliefs that describe the world as it is, and describe the world as it is and must forever remain." Focus on what can be changed...and should be changed. (Pages 130-131)

I especially appreciate Hamel's analysis of three exemplary companies: Whole Foods Market (a "community of purpose"), W.L. Gore (an "innovation democracy"), and Google ("brink-of-chaos management"). Hamel focuses his attention to how these companies invent tomorrow's best practices today. He cleverly juxtaposes a "management innovation challenge" with each company's "distinctive management practices." Having established and then sustained a one-on-one rapport with his reader throughout the narrative, Hamel makes it crystal clear that that he is not urging his reader to address the same challenges and develop the same best practices for any one of the three exemplary companies, much less emulate all three. That would be insane.

"There isn't any law that prevents large organizations from being engaging, innovative, and adaptive - and mostly bureaucracy free. Even better, it really is possible to set the human spirit free at work. So no more excuses. It's time for you to buckle down and start inventing the future of management...My goal in writing this book was not to predict the future of management but to help you invent it...From the first time since the dawning of the industrial age, the only way to build a company that's fit for the future is to build one that is fit for human beings as well."

So, there's Gary Hamel's challenge: Start your own "revolution" and lead it. If you don't, who will?

First Great Book of Best Practices for Knowledge Management, 27 May 2004
Although knowledge management is an irresistible concept, your progress in this area is anything but assurred. Knowledge management is a hot topic, but it is usually pushed by people who want to sell you something. As a result, you can end up with a lot of technology that will not help you to manage your knowledge. As insurance against getting started in the wrong direction, I suggest you read Working Knowledge as a first step.

Davenport and Prusak have examined 39 organizations that are well above average users of their knowledge. The case histories will give you a practical sense of what works that would take you years of false steps to duplicate in your organization.

Then, even more helpfully, the authors outline the key lessons of these top performers for you to follow. I especially recommend chapter 9 on The Pragmatics of Knowledge Management.

Any new initiative will run into problems and fall back. A great book to read next is The Dance of Change, which focuses squarely on that issue.

Any book has to narrow its focus to be successful. That focus creates a vulnerability. In this book, the vulnerability is not looking far enough ahead for more effective ways to do knowledge management that no one is yet doing. For example, the potential to share knowledge among top best practice organizations is enormous. More attention is needed here.

But do buy, read, and apply the lessons of this book. It's a great place to start!

The best practical overview of KM I have found, 20 Jul 2001
This is a must-read for anyone interested in knowledge management, especially if they need to understand how knowledge is operating in their organization and how to improve "knowledge efficiency". It avoids all the jargon, contains a lot of appropriate references and mini case studies. It is really easy to read and understand while at the same time giving the topic in its true status.

Not bad - but not good either, 01 Apr 2001
I thought that I should share my knowledge of this title having read it during the last two weeks. ;-) First the good points - it's a good introduction to the subject, it's easy to read, and it's interesting (in parts). But I found the writers a little irritating. Have they ever actually been involved in a knowledge-management project? Or, for that matter, any project? I got a strong sense of their inexperience when I read the book. They also don't appear to like technology - often talking up the company librarian at the expense of the IT department (I don't work for IT!). So a good introduction - but no solutions here.

Excellent book on corporate knowledge management., 06 Jul 2000
One of the very few management books I've read cover to cover in the course of a couple of evenings. The authors have a full understanding of all aspects of corporate knowledge management and put this across in a very informative way. Lots of real world examples - very useful for anyone involved in company training or knowledge management.

Read this early. It is a good starter book., 11 Feb 2000
Interesting and illuminating read. Has reinforced many of the ideas presented by other workers (Nonaka et al, Polanyi etc). Can recommend this book as a good point to start.

KM - Before / During / After - A realistic toolkit for professionals, 07 Apr 2008
I was to present the result of a piece of Knowledge Management (KM) work to an organisational development unit in our bank. I thought that I should include some industry knowledge on models and process for KM. After browsing through the amazing amount of KM books, I choosed this book and was more than rewarded for it.

The book formalises many of the steps I have followed myself with success in a number of KM projects. I can really recommend it. If you have never run a KM project, this book gives you reliable process and steps description. It signposts the traps and pitfalls and outline corrective measures.

I particularly like the KM process description, the chapter on peer knowledge sharing and also the information architecture and visuals of the book together with the DVD that present additional material. A book which delivers on its promisses!

Bravo to the authors, two pragmatic practionners who have modellised the success factors of their experience in KM without turning it into a mere experience sharing as also ground KM theory is well present. Hope to meet them in one of their KM events.

Far more than Knowledge Management, 30 Oct 2007
This book is a stunning example of practising what it preaches!
It is so rare to find theory and practice as well combined as they are here. I felt I could walk into an organisation, book in hand, and make KM happen!
Knowledge Management hardly does justice to what is described here, it is the creation of a culture of sharing and collaboration to produce real business results. It blazes a truly inspiring trail to follow!


Want to more about knowledge management? Read this book!, 03 Sep 2001
Collinson and Parcell have produced a book that is both informative and easy to read. It draws primarily on both their experiences of knowledge management with BP. However, the principles and applications contained within the text, are universal.

They provide a plethora of vital information that will allow the reader to improve the management of knowledge on a personal level, and within the Company for whom they work. The book has opened my eyes to possibilities never before imagined and has improved the way I do business on a day to day basis.

I thoroughly recommend this book to any reader who has the aspiration to deliver "best in class" results and the retention and use of that most vital of business resources, knowledge!

Beyond KM theory, 09 Aug 2001
Beyond the theory - here's 'the' hands-on guide to making KM work for real. As a practitioner of KM, I recognise and appreciate many of the initiatives and projects the authors successfully introduced and gained adoption of throughout BP. It's also refreshing to read that they had learning points to review too. This book illustrates how to achieve the ultimate goal - making KM part of the way to do business. KM is, after all, just good management, it shouldn't be regarded as an add-on, something extra to do. I recommend this book unreservedly to all who are engaged in KM activity - from those new to the field to those who (like me) want to make sure that they're doing the right things!

Great book on KM and especially After Action Reviews., 06 May 2001
This must be one of the best books on KM I've seen for a long time. What I love about it - is its lack of focus on technology. Yes - BP are using technology in a big way - but it is just the enabler. The book focuses on the people side - building learning into an organization and on the concepts of the After-Action Review (AAR) - 'Learn Before', 'Learn During' and 'Learn After'.

How wide is yours?, 27 Sep 2005
With few exceptions, the most valuable business books are those in which their authors share the results of efforts to answer especially important questions. That is certainly true of this book. As Pfeffer and Sutton explain, "We wrote this book because we wanted to understand why so managers know so much about organizational performance, say so many smart things about how to achieve performance, and work so hard, yet are trapped in firms that do so many things they know will undermine performance." Obviously, knowing what to do is not enough. Inorder to identify the causes of what they refer to as the "knowing-doing gap," Pfeffer and Sutton embarked on a four-year research project.

What they learned is shared in this exceptionally informative and thus invaluable book. They organize their material within eight chapters, followed by an appendix in which they provide "The Knowing-Doing Survey." This survey of restaurant managers all by itself is worth far more than the cost of the book. The items to which participants respond can easily be modified to accommodate any other kind of business. Moreover, even in small privately-owned companies, it will enable decision-makers to measure the nature and extent of their own "knowing-doing gap."

Pfeffer and Sutton correctly point out that knowing (in italics) about that gap is different from doing (in italics) something about it. "Understanding causes is helpful because such understanding can guide action. But by itself, this knowing is insufficient -- action must occur." Most executives may not be able to eliminate the gap entirely but, guided and informed by what Prefer and Sutton reveal in this book, they can at least reduce the gap. Moreover, those with supervisory responsibilities will also be able to help reduce the gap for each of those for whom they are responsible.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Sydney Finkelstein's Why Smart Executives Fail...and What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes as well as Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan's Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done.

Packed with Knowledge!, 20 Jun 2005
Comedian Bill Cosby once sang a metaphorical ditty about a man who sat on the railroad tracks each day, only to be hit by a train. He knew when the train was coming, but he just couldn't apply that knowledge to get out of the way. That circumstance will sound hauntingly familiar to corporate consultants. Consider the experience of two consultants conducting deregulation research for a Latin American utility company. They stumbled over an excellent 500-page report completed years previously by a prior consultant. The document had all the information and analysis the company was seeking, but it had never been utilized. Authors Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton expose the alarming gap between what senior managers know and what they actually implement. After four years of intensive research into this issue, they uncover valuable lessons on how to make sure your organization doesn't talk itself to death. Today's companies are struggling to overcome inertia and become more nimble. That's why we strongly recommend this book for managers at every level; if nothing else, you'll know what you ought to be doing.

What keeps firms from implementing what they know?, 27 Feb 2003
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I Sutton are Professors of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford's School of Engineering, respectively. Jeffrey Pfeffer is a well-known author on management issues. This book consists of 8 chapters, plus a short appendix.

Chapter 1 - Knowing "What" to Do Is Not Enough serves as an introduction to the book. It introduces the 'knowing-doing problem' - "the challenge of turning knowledge about how to enhance organizational performance into actions consistent with that knowledge." They discuss the methods they used during a 4-year crusade, whereby the authors have examined a wide range of organisational practices to learn about the knowing-doing gap. In chapters 2 to 6 they discuss the various issues that block organisations from implementing their knowledge. These are respectively: Talk as a substitute for action; memory as a substitute for thinking; fear preventing action; measurement obstructing good judgment; and internal competition resulting into fighting. Although the authors give some advice on methods to decrease the knowing-doing gap in these chapters, they do not really start providing solutions until chapters 7 and 8. Chapter 7 introduces case information on three firms (BP, Barclays Global Investors, and The New Zealand Post) that have been successful at either avoiding the knowing-doing gap or transcending barriers to turning knowledge into action. The final chapter is probably the most useful chapter of the complete book. Pfeffer and Sutton provide us with eight guidelines for action: (1) Why before how; (2) knowing comes from doing and teaching others how; (3) action counts more than elegant plans and concepts; (4) there is no doing without mistakes; (5) fear fosters knowing-doing gaps, so drive out fear; (6) beware of false analogies; (7) measure what matters and what can help turn knowledge into action; and (8) what leaders do matters.

Yes, I do like this book. It discusses a difficult but important issue in management and business - turning knowledge into action. The only disappointment of this book is that the authors spend about 200 pages discussing the issues that stop firms/managers from taking action and only 60 pages on methods for converting knowledge into effective action. In all honesty I would have rather seen it the other way around. The authors do have a very academic background and this is therefore visible in their writing style (business US-English).

What keeps firms from implementing what they know?, 19 Feb 2003
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I Sutton are Professors of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford's School of Engineering, respectively. Jeffrey Pfeffer is a well-known author on management issues. This book consists of 8 chapters, plus a short appendix.

Chapter 1 - Knowing "What" to Do Is Not Enough - serves as an introduction to the book. It introduces the 'knowing-doing problem' - "the challenge of turning knowledge about how to enhance organizational performance into actions consistent with that knowledge." They discuss the methods they used during a 4-year crusade, whereby the authors have examined a wide range of organizational practices to learn about the knowing-doing gap. In chapters 2 to 6 they discuss the various issues that block organizations from implementing their knowledge. These are respectively: Talk as a substitute for action; memory as a substitute for thinking; fear preventing action; measurement obstructing good judgment; and internal competition resulting into fighting. Although the authors give some advice on methods to decrease the knowing-doing gap in these chapters, they do not really start providing solutions until chapters 7 and 8. Chapter 7 introduces case information on three firms (BP, Barclays Global Investors, and The New Zealand Post) that have been successful at either avoiding the knowing-doing gap or transcending barriers to turning knowledge into action. The final chapter is probably the most useful chapter of the complete book. Pfeffer and Sutton provide us with eight guidelines for action: (1) Why before how; (2) knowing comes from doing and teaching others how; (3) action counts more than elegant plans and concepts; (4) there is no doing without mistakes; (5) fear fosters knowing-doing gaps, so drive out fear; (6) beware of false analogies; (7) measure what matters and what can help turn knowledge into action; and (8) what leaders do matters.

Yes, I do like this book. It discusses a difficult but important issue in management and business - turning knowledge into action. The only disappointment of this book is that the authors spend about 200 pages discussing the issues that stop firms/managers/people from taking action and only 60 pages on methods for converting knowledge into effective action. In all honesty I would have rather seen it the other way around. The authors do have a very academic background and this is therefore visible in their writing style (business US-English).

Great advice for curing a pervasive problem, 04 Jan 2003
If you've ever been frustrated by the fact that you *know* how to time manage/delegate/improve a process/manage a project/provide good customer service [delete as applicable or insert any management practice of your own] but just can't implement best practice, for yourself or your organisation, this book is for you.

Given the huge amount of information and management education in most organisations, most managers know what they should do, they just can't or won't do it. This book explains why - and what to do about it. A powerful combination of anecdotes and research findings spell out what causes Knowing-Doing Gaps and gives plenty of examples of organisations that have overcome them.

I was particularly pleased to find that three of the biggest case studies are all non-U.S. organisations (BP, Barclays and the New Zealand Post).

Their research shows clearly that an organisation's structures and culture are the main cause of Knowing-Doing Gaps, so you will need to be in a position to influence these to implement Pfeffer and Sutton's advice.

If you are, be prepared for the fact that this book compels you to do something about it. After all, just reading the book, finding out about the gaps and doing nothing would be doing the authors a disservice!

This is all academic. Very boring. A review of KM literature rather than anything useful., 26 Jun 2008
My word, this is tedious. And repetitive.

It does contain information and good stuff on all that it says it does but is ponderous, over-engineered and stuffy. Little of this book is specific to CRM

If you're not that bothered about every assertion - even the most banal truism - being referenced to the nth degree and prefer not be bibilographised over the head then buy another book.

Reads more like somebody's dissertation than a book that you would pay money for.

great book on Systems Integration, 09 Aug 2007
The book illucidates the neglected soft issues in the systems integration implementaion process and highlights the use of hollistic process mapping approach including mapping the human activity and soft issues.

Provocative and Inspirational, 04 Sep 2008
Gary Hamel is one of the world's leading thinkers on business strategy. In this important and ambitious work he reviews current management methods and condemns them as relics of a bygone age. Using case studies including Whole Foods, W L Gore and Google, he argues for a new system of management that is empowering and democratic. His writing style is clear and cogent. The book is easy to read and will stimulate your thinking. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in innovation, leadership and strategy.

Hamel does it again, 28 Jun 2008
I have always been impressed with the writings of Prof Hamel and his work with Prahalad. This book wont let you down. Its thoughtful and reflective and the use of case studies are interesting. Hamel continues to develop his assertion that professional managers can suffer from a `management frame' and identifies how they can overcome this. Its great to read book that is about management and not this on-going media obession with entrepreneurship. Excellent organisations require highly skilled,thoughtful and reflective managers. This book will help all managers.

Great book on innovation and on desirable management culture, 07 Jan 2008
I recently came across this fascinating new book by Gary Hamel in the course of my investigation of Agile.

It's perhaps the best book I've read on innovation - and the best book I've read on desirable management culture. It's a real joy to read.

I'll cast my vote any day for the kind of pro-innovation pro-enablement management culture Hamel describes. It's the approach that has great potential to motivate key employees.

It includes chapters on the remarkable management cultures at Whole Foods Market, W.L. Gore (makers of Gore-Tex etc), and a small little upstart called Google.

Here's a quote from around 20% of the way in: "if you want to capture the economic high ground in the creative economy, you need employees who are more than acquiescent, attentive, and astute - they must also be zestful, zany, and zealous. So we must ask: what are the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving this state of organisational bliss?"

The rest of the book provides answers to this question.

A guide to new ideas in management, 11 Oct 2007
This is a well-wrought, ambitious and fascinating book. For these reasons, and for its specific suggestions about how to produce management innovation, we recommend it to anyone who is interested in innovation, in managing for innovation, and in how management is changing. Gary Hamel's ambition is impressive. He works with the idea of the paradigm shift developed by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Hamel applies Kuhn's concept to management, arguing persuasively for the need to change managerial theories and practices. Where Hamel's study directs you for inspiration is particularly fascinating. How many authors suggest modeling management on Google, evolutionary biology and religion (to name but three examples)? While his examples of organizations that practice management innovation do differ from the industrial-age norm he wants to displace, some of his concepts are not as revolutionary as others, nor as radical as a paradigm shift might mandate. After all, many other experts have already suggested that hierarchical, top-down management may stifle innovation. Nonetheless, Hamel's book fulfills most of its ambitions. It is wide-ranging and quite useful.

An invaluable "guide to inventing tomorrow's best practices today", 09 Oct 2007

As he clearly indicates in his earlier books, notably in Competing for the Future (with C.K. Prahalad) and then in Leading the Revolution, Gary Hamel's mission in life is to exorcise "the poltergeists who inhabit the musty machinery of management" so that decision-makers can free themselves from what James O'Toole aptly characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." In his Preface to this volume, written with Bill Breen, Hamel asserts that "today's best practices aren't good enough" and later suggests that he wrote this book for "dreamers and doers" who want to invent "tomorrow's best practices today." In this brilliant book, he explains how to do that.

In the city where I live, we have a number of outdoor markets at which slices of fresh fruit are offered as samples of the produce available. In that same spirit, I frequently include brief excerpts from a book to help those who read my review to get a "taste." Here is a representative selection of Hamel's insights:

"To thrive in an increasingly disruptive world, companies must become as strategically adaptable as they are operationally efficient. To safeguard their margins, they must become gushers of rule-breaking innovation. And if they're going to out-invent and outthink as growing mob of upstarts, they must learn how to inspire their employees to give the very best of themselves every day. These are the challenges that must be addressed by 21st-century management innovators." (Page 11)

"Many factors contribute to strategic inertia, but three pose a particularly grave threat to timely renewal. The first is the tendency of management teams to deny or ignore the need for a strategy reboot. The second is a dearth of compelling alternatives to the status quo, which often leads to strategic paralysis. And the third: allocational rigidities that make it difficult to deploy talent and capital behind new initiatives. Each of these barriers stands in the way of zero-trauma change; hence each deserves to be a focal point for management innovation." (Page 44)

"Skepticism and humility are important attributes for a management innovator - yet they're not enough. To create space for management innovation you will need to systematically deconstruct the management orthodoxies that bind you and your colleagues to new possibilities. Here's how to get started. Pick a big management issue like change, innovation, or employee engagement, and then assemble 10 or 20 of your colleagues. Ask each of them to write down ten things they believe about the nominated problem. Have them inscribe each belief on a Post-it note. Then plaster the stickies on a wall and group similar beliefs together." Then sustain a rigorous discussion during which all premises and assumptions are challenged. "To escape the straitjacket of conventional thinking, you have to be able to distinguish between beliefs that describe the world as it is, and describe the world as it is and m