Rating: 
Summary: Not Just For Managers--Presidents and Teenagers Also
Review: <P>
I read this book because it is one of those recommended to the Commanding General of the U.S. Special Operations Command. After reading it, I think the Cliff Notes version would be useful to any President, and I have marked a number of pages for my teenager.
Sadly, the precursor to this book, written in 1984, was largely ignored by mainstream managers, just as proposals for intelligence reform were defeated in 1992 because the Pentagon was unwilling to give up budget authority for the good of the Nation. My point: better late than never. Grab this book and go with it.
I get two core points out of this reading: first, strive to balance opposites rather than going to one extreme or the other; and second, don't focus on resistance, but rather on opportunities. In the military this known as "going for the gap"--instead of pouring your reserve forces into the weakest point in *your* line, that is at risk of collapsing, you focus instead on finding the "gap" in the enemy line, you pour through that, and whip their ass from behind.
Much of this book is critical of both our current educational and our current managerial systems---both spend too much time teaching people what NOT to do, and very little time empowering people to think for themselves and create new "impossible" dreams.
The book has direct application to today's national security environment, when it points out that "pre-emptive strikes" are a form of avoiding reality and being reactive in advance rather than proactive and integrative, or transformative.
The emphasis on starting with the current reality (what my world would call "commercial intelligence") may not be fully understood by most middle managers. When I started my company to do global commercial intelligence, our evaluation of the "competition" produced a surprising result: fully *half* of our competition came from our clients themselves, middle managers who thought they knew everything there was to know about their business, and were absolutely oblivious to the out-sourcing, privatization, plastic for steel substitution and the myriad of other threats that the Internet, Federal Express, tax laws, and Dutch and Chinese investment represented. Any manager reading this book who does not have a corporate "intelligence" capability (visit the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals for a fast read in), should be shocked into starting one immediately.
Visualization of perfection is in direct competition with rote performance and old metrics. Managers today are still largely "Cold War" managers focused on the traditional metrics of cash flow, cost reduction, short-term profit margins, and so on. Imagine what a difference it might make if the metrics could change, to include a focus on the health and knowledge of the individual employees, the health and knowledge of the community being supported and supporting the company, on changing the industry with standards and shared best practices, etc. In order words, managers need to move from a bunker mentality, where there is only one winner, to a network mentality, where multiple winners actually increase the totality of the profit over all and across previously unrelated communities of interest.
The last point that really struck me was the emphasis on transcendence (alluded to above) but interpreted by me, at least, as "born anew." Whatever cost cutting measures we may have condoned in the past, whatever unethical practices including reductions in employee health benefits, etc. there is nothing standing in the way of any company's rebirth or any manager's resurrection and "rebirth" as a decent human being who can factor in human and ecological economics values (see my reviews of Herman Daly's various books).
We're killing America by killing our workers, and we are killing the world with predatory and immoral capitalism. This book is a valuable wake-up call for all managers, both in business and in government.
Rating:
Summary: "It is a great starting point."
Review: "When organizations understand the laws and principles of structure and how these create their paths of least resistances, they can rethink, reinvent, and redesign themselves. They can reach new heights of accomplishment and greatness that had not been within their reach in the past. From our knowledge of structure and how it works, we can begin anew (from the Epilogue p.217)."'The Path of Least Resistance for Managers' is a next generation of its predecessor, 'Corporate Tides'. Throughout this current study, R. Fritz discusses the nine laws of organizational structure : 1. Organizations either oscillate or advance. 2. In organizations that oscillate, success is neutralized. In organizations that advance, success succeeds. 3. If the organization's structure remains unchanged, the organization's behavior will revert to its previous behavior. 4. A change of structure leads to a change of the organization's behavior. 5. When structural tension dominates an organization, the organization will advance. 6. When structural conflicts dominate an organization, oscillation will result. 7. An inadequate organizational structure cannot be fixed. But you can move from an inadequate structure to a suitable structure. 8. When a senior organizing principle is absent, the organization will oscillate. When a senior organizing principle is dominant, the organization will advance. 9. The values that dominate an organization will displace other competing, lesser values. As written by Peter Senge, "The Path of Least Resistance for Managers is not the last word on structure. It is probably more like the first word. But, for many people concerned with building organizations that are more capable and more exciting, it is a great starting point." I highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Finally a r-e-a-l book!
Review: A real thought-provoking book. Deep? yes...and a page turner. I am so impressed with his analogies used to make his points. Good stuff and I would recommend this to anyone who is on a personal mission of life and self awareness. It explains things and goes way beyond the shallow concepts of 'feel-good' psychology. Thank-you!
Rating: 
Summary: Senge's "The Fifth Discipline" Towers Over This Book
Review: After reading this book, I found the positive tone of most of the reviews here unbelievable. I did not feel that the book was "tremendously useful," "profound and practical," "a brilliant job," "thought-provoking," "absolutely breakthrough," etc. Inspired by the 2 June 2001 and 9 May 2000 reviews here, I compared the book side-by-side with "The Fifth Discipline" ("TFD") by Peter M. Senge. TFD outshines "The Path of Least Resistance for Managers" in the following ways: (1) "Path" presents basically a single idea about "oscillations" repeatedly; TFD contains numerous great ideas. (2) TFD gives examples of companies that did (e.g., Royal Dutch/Shell) and did not (e.g., People Express) follow TFD's advice; it is not proven that the ideas in "Path" will actually improve a company. (3) "Path" oversimplifies the complexities of companies, while TFD analyzes these complexities and suggests management techniques that address them. In summary, don't waste your time and money on this two-star book, buy TFD instead.
Rating:
Summary: Senge's "The Fifth Discipline" Towers Over This Book
Review: After reading this book, I found the positive tone of most of the reviews here unbelievable. I did not feel that the book was "tremendously useful," "profound and practical," "a brilliant job," "thought-provoking," "absolutely breakthrough," etc. Inspired by the 2 June 2001 and 9 May 2000 reviews here, I compared the book side-by-side with "The Fifth Discipline" ("TFD") by Peter M. Senge. TFD outshines "The Path of Least Resistance for Managers" in the following ways: (1) "Path" presents basically a single idea about "oscillations" repeatedly; TFD contains numerous great ideas. (2) TFD gives examples of companies that did (e.g., Royal Dutch/Shell) and did not (e.g., People Express) follow TFD's advice; it is not proven that the ideas in "Path" will actually improve a company. (3) "Path" oversimplifies the complexities of companies, while TFD analyzes these complexities and suggests management techniques that address them. In summary, don't waste your time and money on this two-star book, buy TFD instead.
Rating:
Summary: A New Way Of Thinking For Asthma Care
Review: Although intended for the world of business, this book should be basic reading for any physician responsible for helping people with asthma design their long term system of care. Using this concept, one begins at the end: the Vision. Done with the physician, it becomes a vision they share. Made explicit and detailed, it becomes real...not just words. Next, the patient's baseline(current reality) asthma care process is made explicit and detailed in relation to each part of the Vision. Then, together, patient and physician design a path of actions that will enable the patient to move from baseline(current reality) to vision. This is done in a manner that enables each step to reinforce and invite each next step. My enchantment with this system in the care of patients with asthma is that not only is it a highly effective clinical tool, it goes a step beyond: it invites commitment to the care process by both the patient and physician. A committed patient working in cooperation with committed physician to design a system that will deliver desired and clearly defined goals is a formula for success. Thank you, Robert Fritz!
Rating:
Summary: For beginners only
Review: Beginners will pick up some basics, but people experienced in systems thinking or modelling will be dissapointed. This book is really just an introduction to a very constrained set of systems thinking ideas. For people who have not seen the ideas before, it is a very straight forward and readable introduction. However, for people who have already been introduced to these ideas, which includes anyone who has read any of Senge's books, this is 20 pages of ideas crammed into a 200 page book. I would expect that anyone who would seek books out on this topic is already too knowledgable to find it of any use. If you are unfamiliar with the topics, however, it is not a bad first read (though I would still recommend The Fifth Discipline instead).
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Simplicity
Review: Being simple and being simplistic are often not the same. It is shocking that humans condescend to complexity when "simple brilliance" will do. I believe Robert Fritz has done for business what Einstein did for physics. Some reviewers want more theories and more data, when a genuine and workable insight could change everything for their organizations or their lives. E=mc2 is simple, but it is by no means simplistic. For the manager or leader who wants to make sense of his or her organization's struggles, The Path of Least Resistance for Managers is just the ticket. Our own company, TrimTab Solutions specializes in bringing clarity and focus to organizations in transition or crisis. The insights of Robert Fritz are the cornerstone for what we have found to be the most profound and insightful approach to organizational transformation and sanity; it is simple, but not simplistic. The insights in this book, if applied, are destined to influence your organization because they follow the basics of a structure's influence on behavior. Change the structure and the organization will change...Change it intelligently and the organization will advance. Buy the book and step to the forefront of organizational leadership...but be forewarned: Bring a teachable spirit. Be willing to unlearn a few assumptions to make room for Fritz's simple and strategic insights. I wouldn't begin to think about change in an organization without answering the 11 Questions first (they're in the book). Finally, and for Pete's Sake, Peter Senge wrote the forward for his "friend and mentor" Robert Fritz. What further reason do you need?
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Simplicity
Review: Being simple and being simplistic are often not the same. It is shocking that humans condescend to complexity when "simple brilliance" will do. I believe Robert Fritz has done for business what Einstein did for physics. Some reviewers want more theories and more data, when a genuine and workable insight could change everything for their organizations or their lives. E=mc2 is simple, but it is by no means simplistic. For the manager or leader who wants to make sense of his or her organization's struggles, The Path of Least Resistance for Managers is just the ticket. Our own company, TrimTab Solutions specializes in bringing clarity and focus to organizations in transition or crisis. The insights of Robert Fritz are the cornerstone for what we have found to be the most profound and insightful approach to organizational transformation and sanity; it is simple, but not simplistic. The insights in this book, if applied, are destined to influence your organization because they follow the basics of a structure's influence on behavior. Change the structure and the organization will change...Change it intelligently and the organization will advance. Buy the book and step to the forefront of organizational leadership...but be forewarned: Bring a teachable spirit. Be willing to unlearn a few assumptions to make room for Fritz's simple and strategic insights. I wouldn't begin to think about change in an organization without answering the 11 Questions first (they're in the book). Finally, and for Pete's Sake, Peter Senge wrote the forward for his "friend and mentor" Robert Fritz. What further reason do you need?
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Simplicity
Review: Being simple and being simplistic are often not the same. It is shocking that humans condescend to complexity when "simple brilliance" will do. I believe Robert Fritz has done for business what Einstein did for physics. Some reviewers want more theories and more data, when a genuine and workable insight could change everything for their organizations or their lives. E=mc2 is simple, but it is by no means simplistic. For the manager or leader who wants to make sense of his or her organization's struggles, The Path of Least Resistance for Managers is just the ticket. Our own company, TrimTab Solutions specializes in bringing clarity and focus to organizations in transition or crisis. The insights of Robert Fritz are the cornerstone for what we have found to be the most profound and insightful approach to organizational transformation and sanity; it is simple, but not simplistic. The insights in this book, if applied, are destined to influence your organization because they follow the basics of a structure's influence on behavior. Change the structure and the organization will change...Change it intelligently and the organization will advance. Buy the book and step to the forefront of organizational leadership...but be forewarned: Bring a teachable spirit. Be willing to unlearn a few assumptions to make room for Fritz's simple and strategic insights. I wouldn't begin to think about change in an organization without answering the 11 Questions first (they're in the book). Finally, and for Pete's Sake, Peter Senge wrote the forward for his "friend and mentor" Robert Fritz. What further reason do you need?
|
