The Future of Management

This offering is a great example of the axiom that authors are rarely good narrator/readers of their own work. Gary Hamel is a insightful management thinker, and his books are always worth reading. Unfortunately, this audio book is barely worth listening to. The content is excellent (worth 5 stars, although it echoes 2002's "Leading the Revolution"), but Mr. Hamel's reading is awful. It's full of mispronunciations and atrocious diction (bleeve?). This is one of those rare instances where I have to recommend that you buy the book rather the audiobook. Hamel's words on the page have a much greater impact than his words on your iPod.

A Fascinating look at how management is changing. I found this audio to be a great listen and extremely useful for its specific suggestions and challenges to be innovative.

I had high hopes for this book, but it reads like the author had a thesaurus by his side and the narrator would have been more bearable had he used his best "Charles Emerson Winchester III" impression. At least that would have made it more entertaining. Seriously dry and overladen with fast-talking multiple adjectives and overused rhetorical buzzwords, management has never been this dull.

Discussing how Whole Foods, Google and Gore are leading the management revolution was very inspirational. Hamel discusses in detail how these companies engage in what may seem unorthodox to traditional minded corporate folk. The book makes you think, how can I bring about management innovation at my company, and that's the idea behind the book. In this way the book delivers perfectly. However inspiration doesn't always translate into action. For the listener its difficult to put the lessons learned from this book into action. This book would serve an executive well, someone who has the authority and the ability to affect change at a governance level. If you're a mid level manager who is disillusioned with your company's management style and structure, you'll only be inspired to go work for Whole Foods, Google, or Gore.
I liked the book and anyone who is inspired by it will incorporate some of its principles when they go on to become executives. I enjoyed it.

Great book, awful narrator (dry, boring)

This is a thought provoking book. It was a great challenge to work toward innovative management.

yes - already listened to it twice

Whole Foods, Gore Associates, Google

It's the author. There's something nice about hearing from the author. But he's not an excellent reader.

Hamel's encouragement to give management innovation a try, even though the road is uncertain, is excellent. His work is inspirational and gives plenty of educational content for getting started. I expected to only want to listen to the 3 main company profiles but the entire content was captivating.

Excellent excellent.

I have read many books on the topic of the future of management. My most common complaint is that they get so carried away with their concepts that they take them to unrealistic levels. Hamel/Breen too did this somewhat, but they backed up their ideas with history on the topics and didn't 'leap' too far. They have an uncanny understanding of the forces that actually drive business in my opinion.

They make the point that technology and methodology are exploding but management hasn't really changed for decades; how very true. They get it that we could do things a whole lot more effectively using new management methods and offer many ideas that are exceptionally good and insightful.

Indeed, there are a few companies out there trying better ways, but I do mean few. Hamel/Breen believe that we will eventually have to switch. Will we? I'm not so sure. Human beings are loathe to change, especially if they are comfortable. From my perspective the only thing that will bring change is monetary necessity; if my competition is doing it and being more successful then so must I. I hope they are right.

From my perspective, this is a must-read book. Enjoy.

An excellent approach for future of leadership and management. A challenge to today practices, with good examples of today's innovators.