What on earth is happening to management? Formerly self-evident truths are being cast aside. The sacred goal of maximizing shareholder value is now “the dumbest idea in the world”. The search for the holy grail of “sustainable competitive advantage” is now recognized as futile. The “essence of strategy” seen as “coping with competitors” is obsolete. The uni-directional value chain—the very core of 20th Century management thinking—is now a problem, not a solution. The short-term gains of large-scale off-shoring of manufacturing are recognized to have caused massive loss of competitive capacity. Supposed distinctions between leaders and managers have collapsed. To top it off, a slew of recent management books suggest that today’s organizations represent a failure so deep and pervasive that there are hardly words to describe it. A veritable revolution in management is under way.

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