Escape from Management Hell: Twelve Tales of Horror, Humor, and Heroism

Twelve executives, heading home after a high-level leadership retreat in Aspen and dozing en route to Denver, crash and find themselves in a loathsome, foul-smelling inferno. Despair envelops them as they realize where they are. And why. And what it will take to escape. There they are confronted by Satan's chief operating officer, who lectures them: . "You know budgets and prices and costs, " says the COO. "You know chains of command and spans of control and sales. You know how to put a positive spin on a disastrous project, how to doll up an annual report. But you are here because you lack management wisdom. Your shortsightedness, your greed, your well-intentioned management styles just don't cut it anymore." The only way they'll get out, he tells them, is to impart to the devil meaningful, entertaining, perhaps even amusing stories. Stories that demonstrate the folly and futility of their own business practices. Knowing that if one falls, they all burn in Hell, the twelve executives have two weeks to compose their tales, and then, in turn, present them to Satan. With Satan, you will learn the mystery of a lost Aztec civilization, witness Rome's most hilarious and deadly chariot race, unravel the secret of a mass suicide, experience civilization's greatest culture change - and its aftermath, and kneel with a penitent captain of industry as he confronts the horrors of his soul. As each executive comes face to face with his or her own management sins, you'll find answers to today's most pressing business issues, including quality, diversity, empowerment, decision making, innovation, risk taking, and consensus building. Managers and employees at every level can use these executives'insights to transform the hell of modern management into a haven of creativity, courage, and lasting change.