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By Marvin Bower. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1997. 224 pages, hard cover, $27.95
Marvin Bower, founder of McKinsey & Company, management consulting pioneer and outstanding business leader, has, in his eighth decade in the business world, written a book providing insight into how businesses should be managed. The Will to Lead is part philosophy, part history, and completely thought-provoking. It follows his popular 1996 book, The Will to Manage, in which he discussed the characteristics necessary for success as a manager.
The reader should know that I had the privilege of working with Bower as a client of McKinsey & Company. I was a senior partner in an international accounting firm at the time and he was the McKinsey partner in charge of the engagement. I learned much from him in a relatively short period of time. Then in his eighties, Mr. Bower could outwork most of us.
Bower's thesis is that we need to move from the hierarchical form of business organization (the traditional command and control company) to an organization where decision making is performed at all levels (the newer leadership company). In a command and control company, most decisions are made at or near the top of the organization. Information flows to the top or the organization, where it becomes diluted because subordinates fear to pass on bad news. In a leadership company, people at all levels of the organization are deeply involved in the business and are encouraged to express their ideas and concerns freely. According to Bower, "Leaders and constituents work out decisions and take actions together. And that's why leadership improves...