Essentially the lessons in this book lead to a position and understanding of empowerment within an organisation. That’s a greatly overused word and usually means you expect your boss to give you some autonomy that you’re not so keen to pass down to those who work in your own team. But this is not a book about waiting for the CEO to act and provide visions and instructions. It’s about how anyone in an organisation (including the CEO) can bring about change, although in the process there might be some tough and painful paths to follow – or rather, paths to create. The Spanish poet Machado doesn’t figure in this business book (there are no poets cited at all, but there are some poetic thoughts even in the chapter headings – “Build the bridge as you walk on it”; “The tyranny of competence”) and his oft-quoted Poema Caminante seems apt – caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar (wayfarer, there is no path save the one made by your walking). I can’t wait to see if anyone follows!