Current business ideas of lasting value, like perpetual innovation and the commercial superiority of good design, are examined in the elegantly written and intelligent Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win.

Hardcover, 336pp

HarperCollins Publishers, October 2006

ISBN-13: 9780060779610

Barnes & Noble online price: $21.56

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SYNOPSIS

FROM B&N EDITORS
The days of the Organization Men, those interchangeable, flannel-suited nonentities, are over. Innovators, mavericks, and upstarts are inventing the future of business. Business-as-usual is a bust; stale business ideas pave the way to self-destruction. William Taylor and Polly LeBarre’s Mavericks at Work points you to the fast lane by describing break-the-mold thinkers inside supposedly tired giants like IBM and Procter & Gamble, explaining what they did to conquer inertia. The coauthors also propound key forward-looking concepts such as “Sharing values beats selling value,” “Nobody is as smart as everybody,” and “Great leaders are insatiable learners.”

FROM THE PUBLISHER
Meet the innovators and upstarts who are inventing the future of business. Their unconventional ideas and groundbreaking strategies can become your business plan for the 21st century — a better way to lead, compete, and succeed.

Business as usual is a bust. In industry after industry, the old guard is cutting back and losing ground. Meanwhile, organizations that were once dismissed as upstarts, as wild cards — or mavericks — are making waves and growing fast. There is a reason: In an age of hyper-competition and nonstop innovation, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for something truly original.

That’s the lesson behind the companies, executives, and entrepreneurs you’ll meet in Mavericks at Work. They are winning big in business by rethinking the logic of how business gets done. They have devised exciting new answers to the timeless challenges facing organizations of every size and leaders in every field: how you make strategy, how you unleash new ideas, how you connect with customers, how your best people achieve great results.

Who are these mavericks? They are break-the-mold business units inside giants such as IBM and Procter & Gamble, as well as high-profile innovators such as HBO and Pixar. They are Internet banks and gold mines, fashion retailers and advertising agencies, funky sandwich shops and hard-charging computer programmers. Together, they are creating an inspiring agenda that every business can put to work.

Their success demonstrates that:

-Being different makes all the difference
-Sharing values beats selling value
-The company with the smartest customers wins
-Nobody is as smart as everybody
-Character counts for as much as credentials
-Great leaders are insatiable learners

Whether you’re a young professional setting out on your career, a senior executive looking to make your organization grow, or an entrepreneur building a company from scratch, Mavericks at Work will help you think bigger, aim higher, and win more decisively.