Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a terrific, insightful book.
In this book, author Rod Collins flatly states that the command-and-control, hierarchic management model is obsolete, and the days of the leader-hero "taking charge" are over. Mr Collins offers rationales based on his real-world and hands-on experience of running a large, complex multi-billion dollar health insurance operation. The main reason the old model is dead is simply this: the world of business is getting incredibly complex, and the top-down hierarchic model cannot cope with all the complexity.
One thing I really liked about the book is the author's willingness to tell it like it is. For example, "When it comes to implementing the insights of the human relations movement, management's efforts have been more about style than substance. Today's managers may spend more time soliciting inputs from their workers, but at the end of the day, managers are still the bosses, the workers are still subordinates, and these professionals are still expected to do as they're told."
Mr Collins notes that this "Do as your told" management style has its origins in the industrial age when mass production ruled, and managers were more educated than their workers. The absurdity is that today we are hired precisely because of our education and knowledge, yet managed as though we're ignorant and clueless.
Fundamentally, as Mr Collins says, "Nobody is smarter than everybody" - yet our management systems treat bosses as smarter than their subordinates. In this situation, the collective knowledge of the organization - so crucial to competitive advantage - is seen to rest with only a chosen few. This leads to knowledge being distorted or lost.
In short, we're managed by methods created for the era of mass production, when instead, we should be managed by new techniques in the era of mass collaboration. And you can't have genuine mass collaboration without changing the underlying power structures in an organization.
Hence, to change things, Mr Collins declares that the sovereignty of the supervisor must end, ie no more bosses. He states, "There is no place for stars and heroes in Digital Age businesses.....there are no bosses and there are no subordinates; there are only workers. And it's the collective organization, not the leader, who is the star."
Often, this approach is misunderstood - both by managers and workers - that leadership is no longer required. Mr Collins explains that in fact, leadership will become even more important. It's just that the nature of leadership will change. Mr Collins says, "The leader's primary responsibility is no longer the content, but rather the context of work."
The book provides several real-world case studies, and practical methods that can be used to change how we work. Mr Collins also introduces the complexity sciences, which will become increasingly relevant as we progress into the 21st century.
If you are truly serious about preparing your organization for an inevitably more complex future, you must buy this book.
Chetan Dhruve
Author, Why Your Boss is Programmed to be a Dictator
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Rod Collins is the owner of Wiki-Management, an innovative consulting company that helps forward thinking business leaders successfully manage complex change by leveraging the power of their collective knowledge. Discover more at www.wiki-management.com "In the age of speed we live in, new rules emerge at a breakneck pace. As a leader, you can either be blindsided by these new rules or let Rod Collins' book give you a welcome heads-up and head start!"~ Vince Poscente, author of the NY Times Bestseller The Age of Speed"Rod Collins has written an engaging and insightful book that clearly answers the question of how the principles of complexity theory can be practically applied to leading large organizations. Leadership in a Wiki World is a timely and highly readable guide that shows business leaders how they can use the rich reservoir of their collective knowledge to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex world."~ Lisa Kimball, President, Plexus Institute"Leadership in a Wiki World provides tremendous insight into how to lead and manage complex, multipartner, large scale business enterprises. Rod Collins' experience as one of the key leaders within the Blues and his accomplishments as the chief operating executive of the single largest employer health plan in the world prepared him well to offer the insights captured in this book. If you want to know what the future of management looks like, I strongly encourage you to read this book."~ Steven S. Martin, Chairman, Board of Managers of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program, and President & CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of NebraskaThere's a revolution brewing that is about to end the world of work as we know it. We are fast approachinga tipping point where new capacities for mass collaboration will completely redefine the work we do and the way we work. Technological innovations now make it possible for large numbers of people to work together without going through a central organization - and they can do it smarter, faster, and cheaper.Discover the revolutionary business opportunities created by today's unprecedented business realities and learn:' Why a 19th century management model is unsustainable in a digital world' How business leaders are resetting management practices to create smarter and faster companies' How companies are gaining access to the most untapped free resource inevery organization to catapult their business performance.Leadership in a Wiki World is a practical guide to the principles and practices of wiki-management, the proven management solution for business leaders who understand that managing great change is only possible if we change how we manage.
