All Hat and No Cattle: Tales of a Corporate Outlaw

By Chris Turner

Book Overview

Are "knowledge-work," "empowerment strategies," and "continuous improvement" making your head spin? Have you heard "let's get everybody on the same page" just one time too many? Was the latest... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738200964
• ISBN13: 9780738200965
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Perseus Books
• Length: 251 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A Rare Diamond

Probably one of the most searing, and brutally honest, books on the subject of business structure and organization of the 20th Century. All is told in an entertaining style, and with refreshing clarity.Chris succeeds in melding the lessons of complexity theory into a comprehensive, and very practical book dealing with the deficiencies of modern business. She does this by constantly ripping apart the prevailing hierarchical mindset so often found in big companies, and by contrasting that to real success stories obtained through viewing business as a complex adaptive system, instead of a machine. Where people get treated like intelligent human beings, and not as second-hand citizens.Through various stories and anecdotes she illustrates the incredible potential of the new way of seeing reality. She excels in making the case for unleashing the creativity and promise of employees, through allowing greater openness, and the freedom to learn, collaborate, and interact across geographical and functional boundaries.Some of her no-holds barred quotes will make the point stronger than I can get across in these few words:1. There is no telling how much 'pee-pee' there is in the corporate coffee. People who feel shat upon often get revenge.2. Executive pay is obscene. I mean, these folks make feudal lords look like philanthropists...Lou Gerstner, who axed two hundred thousand IBM employees in 1993 and 1994, simultaneously tripled his own pay to $12 million. What a guy.3. We should understand that when people are hanging out in the hallways or on the production floor, there is learning going on.4. People are either learning things that support the strategic intent of the organization, or they are learning how to retire on the job.5. Understanding the assumptions underlying current organizational practices is the first step toward creating productive organizations filled with learning, creativity, imagination, energy, fun and meaning.6. The planning process is useful only to the extent that it is thoughtful, that it provokes questioning and causes people to challenge old thinking.7. Given the dollars spent on wooing new customers, wouldn't it make sense, to try to hang on to them? Wouldn't it make sense to design systems and create environments that amaze customers?8. Organizational disturbances should unsettle, cause a commotion, create a ruckus, and shake things up. Designed well, they lead to new thinking, new doing, to questioning the status quo, and to give rise to a new level of consciousness. Good disturbances create the future now.Buy the book!

Enjoyable reading, written by someone who has done it.

Chris Turner has done it. She has written a highly entertaining and insightful book based on lots of experience. Her stories illuminate the main threads of her argument effortlessly. If you want a few dozen ideas on how to create change and democratic environments at work, your time will be well spent with Turner's book.

More than a business book.

A powerful critique of contemporary business culture. Exposing corporate hypocrisy for what it is, Turner makes a convincing case for mindful organizations that foster participation, enrich learning, and understand themselves as living systems in need of disturbance rather than as machines in need of oiling. This irreverent, thoughtful, and engrossing book is a must-read for business people and for anyone concerned with generating institutional change. All Hat & No Cattle suggests actions that each of us can take to create the world we want.

Thought-provoking and provocative.

Ms. Turner's stories and insight makes one not only ponder the system that is business in society, but often makes one blush at seeing both positive and challenging reflections of oneself. This is a good start on deep reflection and dialogue, conversations, even passionate arguments (which might lead to change....)

Insightful and entertaining, with a message.

Ms. Turner tells it like it is. She uses skillful narrative to weave a true tail of corporate intentions gone wrong, and a few that went right. Read between the lines to create a "how to make change happen" manual for yourself and your organization. Read this book for the refreshing writing style and straightforward perspective.