Business | Bartleby

“Scaling People” is a textbook piece of management writing

Claire Hughes Johnson has gone long on tactics and pragmatism, short on guff

A woman reading a book illuminating her face
Image: Paul Blow

Too many management books rest on a vague idea that has been stretched to breaking point. You can tell from the depth of the margins just how hard an author has had to work to draw the thesis out. Their covers are bright and zingy. Their titles either contain action-packed words like “strive” and “ignite” or give birth to some ghastly new portmanteau like “stressilience” or “charismility”. They are determined to take lessons for bosses from anywhere but an actual business: termites, hunter-gatherers, Novak Djokovic, salad dressing. The unspoken rule of most management titles, it seems, is to avoid the actual practice of management.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Textbook writing”

From the June 24th 2023 edition

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