Thursday, April 26, 2007

Book Review: I Didn't See It Coming

I Didn't See It Coming: The Only Book You'll Ever Need to Avoid Being Blindsided in Business
Authors: Nancy C. Widmann, Elaine J. Eisenman, and Amy Dorn Kopelan

I Didn't See It Coming is less about business than it is about office politics but its authors can draw on their own impressive experience for the lessons. To cite just some of their achievements, Widman was the first woman to serve as president of CBS, Inc., Eisenman is the Dean of Executive Education at Babson College, and Kopelan managed programming at "Good Morning America" for nine years.

Unfortunately, I found this book to be a very uneven read. For example, the section on developing an exit strategy has some creative and practical advice on getting a corporate pre-nup [But try that for a mid-management job!], creating your own personal board of directors, and leveraging your network. This is followed, however, by a chapter on taking the reins which is far weaker and repeats some old bromides such as knowing your strengths and looking the part. Once again though, another strong chapter surfaces with advice on how to maintain your perspective in a high corporate office, noting the danger of using a staff member as a confidante.

The strong parts emerge again at various points, especially with guidance on how to survive a new boss and managing upward, and yet the authors, who work as executive coaches, sometimes toss out observations that I'd expect to hear more from the coached than from the coach.


For example, they argue that "It's all about the money" and "In our experience, whenever anyone says, 'It's not about the money,' they really mean that it's all about the money.'" That may sound sophisticated, but I can counter with plenty of examples in which organizations make decisions that make no financial sense. They do so because of misplaced loyalty, fear of political repercussions, bigotry, and peer pressure. Many careers have been severely damaged because executives and managers thought that their ability to bring in the bucks would protect them against other concerns. Those unfortunates kept citing the bottom line all the way down the drain.

The authors also recommend that, as part of a strategy for dealing with consultants, weaknesses or worries about the strength of the team should never be admitted. Aside from the questionable ethics of that recommendation, it's dumb. Experienced consultants can quickly spot such evasions and the evader's credibility will immediately plummet.


They conclude that "management is building a case" whenever it brings in a consultant to help an executive or manager with conflict resolution. Certainly that is true in many cases, but you can probably find just as many others - and I've seen examples of both types - where management already had a strong basis for termination but brought in a consultant as a sincere effort to salvage a valued team member.

Does I Didn't See It Coming have valuable information for people who need advice on handling office politics? Certainly. But in my opinion it raises as many questions as it answers.

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