New addition to the BetaCodex library: "Management Rewired" by Charles S. Jacobs

I am currently reading the book "Management Rewired. Why Feedback Doesn´t Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science" by Charles S. Jacobs. It´s a pretty good book on the rationale for changing organizations and also about the difficulties and success strategies for change.

As the title suggests, the book is based upon the assumption that we have a lot to learn from the relatively recent advancements of brain science. Jacobs is neither a brain scientist, nor a psychologist, as one might expect from the book´s title. He is a management consultant. Thus, the approach presented here is rather surprising, given the author´s biography. The chapter structure of the book doesn´t make much sense, in my views, and the specific advice of how to change processes and tools is half-baked. But that aside, this is a pretty amazing little book. The story-telling and style is crisp and convincing, and the cases and stories are drawn from both consulting (including interesting failures), management history, Greek mythodology, brain science, and more. I found the chapters on Frederick Taylor´s legacy, and on the psychology of change especially convincing.

Overall, the book offers fine, enlightening and enjoyable reading for everyone interested in the underpinnings, and the consequences, of the BetaCodex. You will find many ideas that we have been juggling with in the BBRT and the BetaCodex network. So many actually, that it is somehow surprising that there are no references to Beyond Budgeting in the book. This will especially appeal to all those who fancy approaching transformation and who would like to understand the logic, and the challenges of transformation.

To get the book, try Amazon.com or Amazon.de.
Other recommendations in the same line: "Change or Die" by Alan Deutschman, "Leading Change" and "A sense of Urgency" by John Kotter, and "Managing Transitions" by William Bridges.