HEADS YOU WIN: How the Best Companies Think

Simon & Schuster February 17, 1997. 1997. Hardcover. 8vo hardcover 304pp very good. Quinn Spitzer and Ron Evans of the Kepner-Tregoe consulting firm believe "critical thinking" is the true route to a winning business. It is the foundation upon which all other management theories are built, they argue, but it has changed over the years in a manner that few truly understand. In Heads You Win: How The Best Companies Think, they analyze the way top corporations are now harnessing the collective brainpower in their organizations to achieve success. Management fads come and go, but there is a constant in the workplace, argue the authors (CEO and practice leader, respectively, of a Pennsylvania consulting firm): Executives need to know how to think. Specifically, they must be able to analyze situations, identify the cause of problems and quickly implement solutions, make applicable decisions and seize opportunities. The authors demonstrate here how successful companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Chrysler and British Airways carry out this process. Consistent with their belief about how to solve problems, Spitzer and Evans break down each step into small bites, using a straightforward approach that recognizes that management books need not be deadly dull. "The initial objective of problem solving is not to solve the problem, but to keep from doing something stupid," they advise. They even provide a lengthy appendix that contains dozens of questions and forms to use in spurring critical thinking. When a new business buzzword is created every few months, a reminder of the importance of the basics is refreshing. .