Any management book that concludes with a chapter titled
"My Advice Is Don't Take My Advice" is bound to raise
a few eyebrows-and for good reason. But don't read Richard
Farson's Management of the Absurd: Paradoxes in
Leadership (Simon & Schuster, $21 cloth) for its
entertainment value. Rather, read it to challenge your own
assumptions.
"Examining the absurd is not just a playful exercise,"
Farson stresses. "I believe that many programs in management
training today . . . fail to appreciate the complexity and
paradoxical nature of human organizations."
Without question, Farson faces an uphill battle. He asks readers
to believe that effective managers are not in control and that
praise can actually be a bad thing. Even worse, he makes you
question the very traits you most pride yourself on.
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"Strengths can become weaknesses when we rely too much on
them, carry them to exaggerated lengths, or apply them where they
don't belong," he warns.
It's just that sort of statement that forces readers to do
some serious thinking of their own. And that, undoubtedly, is the
author's intention.
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