Uncommon Sense, Common Nonsense

Book excerpt: This is a book for managers who know that their organisations are stuck in a mindset that thrives on fashionable business theories that are no more than folk wisdom, and whose so-called strategies that are little more than banal wish lists.It puts forward the notion that the application of uncommon sense - thinking or acting differently from other organisations in a way that makes unusual sense - is the secret to competitive success.The book consists of some 75 short essays and is divided into four parts: winners and losers, strategy and tactics, organisation and management, biases and remedies. Some of the arguments of the book are grounded in recent economic and psychological research, but most of them are the fruit of working with executives who have attended the management development programmes run by the authors at London Business School over the past 30 years. For those who want to succeed and stand out from the herd - and who dare to be different - it is a book full of useful insights and invaluable uncommon sense.