The Corporate Fool [Paperback]

David Firth (Author), Alan Leigh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 22, 2001

"A fascinating, thought-provoking and entertainingly written book - a must for anyone who wants to have a stab at upturning the corporate status quo and inspiring some creative, questioning and excitingly unconventional behaviors. This book could be dangerous for people who take themselves too seriously.…" Justin Ockenden Director, Cambridge Technology Partners, New York "A bible on leadership. For, iconoclasts, renegades, and pranksters that want to impact their organization - whether they stand at the bottom or the top." Bryan Finkel Managing Director, Technology Venture Management

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A bible on leadership. For iconoclasts, renegades, and pranksters that want to impact their organization - whether they stand at the bottom or the top." -- Bryan Finkel. Managing Director, Technology Venture Management

"A fascinating, thought-provoking and entertainingly written book - a must for anyone who wants to have a stab at upturning the corporate status quo and inspiring some reative, questioning and excitingly unconvestional behaviours. This book could be dangerous for people who take themselves too seriously...." -- Justin Ockenden. Director, Cambridge Technology Partners, New York

From the Inside Flap

The Corporate Fool Our organizations are in trouble. Beset on all sides by pressure: competitive pressure, market pressure, social pressure, and just plain pressure pressure. As we look at the people in these organizations we see them rotating in a busy, helpless dance - the Jig of Despair - desperately trying to improve the way things are done in the future but constrained by the way things are done now. Now, with the radical advance of technology, with open systems and transparent connectivity, with global interface and network-centricity, there is a feeling that perhaps, just perhaps, things might shift: we might break out of the dance. But this will only happen if we stimulate the dancers to change their steps - to become more open, creative and balanced themselves. This is the essential,wondrous role of a new business professional, the voice of the Third Millennium, the Corporate Fool. This colourful and vibrant book describes a role that our organizations sadly lack, and which they desperately need. The Corporate Fool reveals himself to the court in nine guises:

• Satirist, deflator, pricker of pomposity
• Alienator, representative of otherness
• Contrarian, challenger of the norms
• Jester, entertainer and joker
• Midwife, generator of creativity and problem-solving
• Mediator of meaning
• Mapper of knowledge
• Confidante of the King
• Truthseeker, teller of the difficult truths… …and possibly a tenth.

The Corporate Fool shows:

• how these roles can be accomplished in your organization
• how you yourself can become a Fool
• how you can find and employ one
• how the Corporate Fool can help us break out of the Jig of Despair and usher in the New Fool Order.

Because this is the way things are and have always been…and only a Fool would try to change them.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Capstone; 1 edition (February 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1900961512
• ISBN-13: 978-1900961516
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,867,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very refreshing and worthy of reading., December 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Corporate Fool (Paperback)

This book does not deserve to be that low on the sales rank. It's fresh, it's about looking with a different perspective at business. If you like Tom Peters, you'l definetly like this one.