Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Creating the Intrapreneur: The Search for Leadership Excellence

by Victoria C. DePaul
Synergy Books
Paperback, $15.95
270 pages, illustrated
ISBN: 978-1-934454-18-3



Book Review by Kam Williams

“In this age of road rage, and now desk rage, if you are employed, your safety is at risk. As stress levels escalate, employees are increasingly fueled by anger, resentment, pessimism, frustration, anxiety, distrust, and other negative emotions. As a manager employed by a major telecommunications company, I am no stranger to workplace violence. Some years ago, a disgruntled employee with a history of instability called the office to report his intention to kill a manager...
That same year, our office was subject to bomb threats, employee breakdowns, out of control absenteeism, extensive turnover rates, and an overall climate of chaos… If you want new and different results, you need new and different ideas…
To be profitable, and therefore competitive, the business of the future must adopt a strategy based on corporate entrepreneurship -- intrapreneurship. The successful organization of the third millennium will embrace and encourage intrapreneurship.”
-- Excerpted from the Introduction (pages 1 & 10)

Have you noticed that the rate of spree killings has escalated to the point that the society has become desensitized? Another case of multiple killings due to school, church or workplace rage occurs at least once a week, but the incidents are now so commonplace that they only warrant local TV coverage. And if such a story does happen to make a blip on the national radar, it’s merely mentioned in passing as the latest statistic, not as anything worth covering in depth.
Given that employees, students and parishioners going postal are a dime a dozen and have become as American as apple pie, anyone with a highly-visibility position, especially a boss, might want to rethink his or her management philosophy. This is what inspired Victoria DePaul to write Creating the Intrapreneur: The Search for Leadership Excellence, a book designed to help you not just think outside the box but to bust loose from the box entirely.
Ms. DePaul, who has a 24 years-worth of experience working in corporate America to draw on, has an array of forward-thinking, spiritually-oriented ideas to offer about how best to handle office politics in these troubling times at the dawn of the 21st Century.
Putting people first, she starts with notion that “the basic motivation is the person’s desire to be happy,” and she therefore tosses the age-old “my way or the highway” approach to employees out the window. But will this “kindler, gentler” you lessen your odds of being shot by a deranged maniac hunting for humans? Who knows, but I suppose it’ll at least give your office a more pleasant overall atmosphere till you find out.

To purchase a copy of Creating the Intrapreneur, email: booksales@synergybooks.net

No comments: