Travel where you will in today’s America, and you’re likely to be drawn into a conversation about mistreatment by one or more of today’s organizations. Someone ordered something. But when the order came it wasn’t what they ordered. Or “Your call is very important to us. That’s why you’re number 19 in the queue.” Doctors and hospitals make “mistakes.” Only a few are really fatal. But they have insurance for that.
Even after thousands of books and many thousands of conferences since the 1970s, our organizations don’t seem to be doing much better. This is that rare book that tells you how to perform in the real world. It addresses those problems head-on. It addresses the sources (not the symptoms) of organizational dysfunctions.
Making Competent Organizations is about how you, the CEO or CEO aspirant, need to think about what needs thinking about, for how you think about what needs thinking about will determine who you are. And who you are determines what you can and cannot do about making yours a fully functioning, competent organization.
Just reading about it is not of much help. Aristotle said many years ago, “What you must learn, you must learn by doing.” This book is unique; it tells you how to do just that.
