The Leader's Dilemma

This book can be classified among those seeking to “rethink capitalism,” no more, no less. For the authors, the crisis that has shaken the Western world since 2008 is deeply rooted in the failure of a system based on a military business model where people must act within the narrow framework of individual objectives established to serve strategies aimed at maximizing short-term profit.

They propose an alternative vision in which companies are seen as living organisms, composed of “cells,” that is, autonomous units interacting freely with one another, and whose ultimate objective is not to “maximize shareholder value,” but rather to ensure the long-term survival and development of company.

Covering a very broad spectrum of subjects, this book is at its best in the first five chapters, where it underlines the need to free up information, trust employees to get the most out of available information and allow them great leeway for initiative by giving meaning to their work, rather than micro-managing them. This philosophy is illustrated by the success of companies such as Whole Foods Market, Nucor, or the Swedish bank Handelsbanken, examples which are cited recurrently throughout the book.